I find it really weird that a discussion on the state of SQL right now doesn't include any mention of Snowflake or dbt. SQL is _everywhere_ in the data engineering world right now.
The Open University runs a Master's program in systems thinking (which I'm currently studying). There's a free primer course called 'Mastering systems Thinking in Practice' that gives a good overview and is full of references for further reading in the field: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/mast...
The articles, books, and guides available (free) at https://thesystemsthinker.com/ are also worth a look. This mostly pertains to system dynamics rather than any other traditions, but it's a great resource for understanding complexity.
I visited Boston from the UK last year and was struck by the lower level of traffic noise. I attributed it to there being far fewer diesel cars and more EVs & hybrids. In the UK we have diesel powered buses and taxis everywhere as well as lots of personal cars, and the engines all have a much deeper and louder rumble than petrol engines.
Oh that last point! My friends and I used to just strafe along every single wall and all you could see was the wall texture until it was time to shoot. We knew all the levels so well that just the changes in lighting, or sometimes how quickly a door opened, were enough for us to tell where someone else was (avoid the coloured corridors in Complex).
Screen cheating is a skill, countering it is a skill, and countering THAT is an even bigger skill.
Oh the sounds too. You knew when someone opened a door and there are only so many doors and if they opened two doors in rapid succession.. they were gonzo. The game is really a game of mastering all senses I guess lol.
The all-Europe equivalent is ENTSO-E[1], which has down to 15-minute granularity (depending on operator I think) data for every generation unit in Europe.
There's a similar platform for the gas network too[2] - only daily data but it does have a map interface where you can see the main transmission pipelines across the continent.
I work in energy markets analytics, so grab data from these on a regular basis for SMEs.
Agreed. I read the Mistborn books a few years ago and just found them very... sanitised, especially compared to other prominent fantasy novels by the likes of Scott Lynch or the brilliantly sweary Joe Abercrombie.
This is a great use of digital elevation data to generate images of what's visible from various places. It appears to be a real labour of love from the author.
My favourite kind of web scraping is when you have to pick apart some undocumented API that serves up data to an SPA, then figure out how to tidy up the response(s) into a single pandas dataframe. Always a satisfying feeling to solve one of those little puzzles.
