B. David Tyler

@drbdt.bsky.social

1426 Followers 203 Following

UMass faculty. Notre Dame & UMass alum. Studies rivalry, identity, social sport consumption. Has unabated love of data. Causes existential crises through Excel.

I'm not saying that was written by AI. But it was written by AI. (meme of Ancient Alien guy)
Headline: Ford rehires engineers after AI fails quality checks. (Summary of the article) Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.
Tree diagram showing the long-term impact of the Dallas Cowboys trading away Herschel Walker. Short version: It was a great move.
Landing page for Canvas LMS stating that "Canvas is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. Check back soon."
Screenshot from Garden State. Zach Braff is wearing a shirt with the same pattern as the wallpaper behind him, such that it looks like his head is just sticking out the wall.
Screenshot showing email from @google.com in the spam section of a GMail inbox.
Afro Thunder, from the Ready 2 Rumble Boxing franchise
A Google Search for "IPL season dates 2026" shows options for "Women's cricket" and "Men's cricket".
Image and alt text from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias Illustration of hypothetical damage pattern on a WW2 bomber. Loosely based on data from an unillustrated report by Abraham Wald (1943), showing that a similar plane survived a single hit to the engine 60% of the time, but a hit to the fuselage or fuel system closer to 95% of the time. Picture is based on US Air Force "hit plots", such as this F-4 hit plot published in 1991. New version by McGeddon based on a Lockheed PV-1 Ventura drawing (2016), vector file by Martin Grandjean (2021).
A weather report showing that it is 2°, but feels like -7°, with a high of 11° and a low of -14°. The AI weather report says, "Clear and cold tonight, but warmer weather is on the way." The weather insight headline says that tomorrow's temperature will be 8° higher.
A Notre Dame Fencing hoodie
Two button meme: Title: deciding how I feel about WNBA players' demands Left: WNBA players are right to want to abolish the draft Right: I love using the WNBA draft data set in class
DownDetector report for Netflix, showing a giant Spike at the moment season 5 of Stranger Things was released (Wednesday at 5pm PST)
Hotel sign that reads, Dial "911" for emergency Dial "0" for front desk
Text message with the following (all sic): Was your question, request or concern resolved by the Delta representative? Please reply "yes" or "no". 1) Yes 2) No
G-Forces meet graphs screenshots
Hot air balloon outside of Bromery Center for the Arts at UMass Amherst.
Screen capture of the Box Factory from The Simpsons episode where the kids tour the facility.
RENT BOOK Due back 12/19/2025 $21.56 BUY NEW $26.68 RENT DIGITAL - Best Value $32.34 MARKETPLACE OPTIONS Sarting at $11.08
The "Combine" section of the Home Ribbon in Power Query, which shows Merge Queries, Append Queries, and Combine Files. But this is all irrelevant since the OP was talking about something else entirely and I just didn't read closely enough.
Single cell comic showing people sitting in hell. One of them is blowing bubbles through a bubble wand, another is playing the accordion, another is hitting a ball with a paddle, and another doesn't have anything. The caption is the bubble guy talking to the guy without anything: "Oh, they'll find something for you real soon.... Me? I'm forever blowing bubbles."
A screenshot of the Styles gallery in MS Word's Home ribbon
A screenshot of fake text showing the style separator, which looks like a paragraph mark with a dotted box around it.
A snippet from the article. Heading: Valuation explanation Chelsea reported £11.5 million ($15.4 million) in revenue for the 2023-24 season. That number is not quite what it seems and includes significant intercompany transfers — what’s known as “group income” — from the men’s team. Strip that away, and actual revenue falls by at least half to £5.75 million ($7.7 million) or less. At a £245 million valuation, that implies a 42.6x value-to-revenue multiple. Even without adjustment, the deal sits at 21.3x. For comparison, Angel City FC, the NWSL’s most valuable team, last sold for close to seven times its revenue. If the same 42.6x were to be applied to Angel City’s $31 million in organic revenue, their value would be over $1.3 billion. Interestingly, Ohanian is also a member of the original investor group in Angel City.
A snippet from the article. Header: Bottom line To be clear, European women’s teams still hold long-term promise. <emphasis>The current valuations, though, are tethered to assets they don’t control, revenue that isn’t recurring and holding structures that obscure financial exposure.</emphasis> For investors looking to place capital in the space, these shouldn’t just be red flags; they should be bright, flashing warning signs.
LinkedIn post from Philip Morris International. Main photo with text: "Philip Morris International recognizes the importance of taking risks and learning from mistakes--two concepts that are at the heart of innovation." Woman in photo is listed as Moira Gilchrist, Chief Communications Officer, PMI Text of the post: We're embracing change. We're taking risks. We're disrupting an industry we created and leaping into the heart of innovation. So says our Chief Communication Officer, @Moira Gilchrist, who knows that innovation is not without its risks.
A Chevy Volt car with the license plate "STEVOLT!"
A plush demogorgon (from the Stranger Things TV show) being held by a child's hand. In the background is the entrance to Stranger Things: The First Shadow, at the Marquis Theater in New York.
GMail inbox showing an ad from Google Fi Wireless
An espresso macchiato from AmCo (Amherst Coffee)
Picture of a UMass police pickup truck with a hobby horse attached to the back
Screenshot from The Departed, showing the scene where characters joke that anyone who ignores them is a cop.
Magazine cover for Spalding's Official Foot Ball [sic] Guide for 1904, Edited by Walter Camp, published by American Sports Publishing Co.
Screenshot of a Wikipedia page with the title "Tappan Zee Bridge (2017–present)" It also shows "(Redirected from Cuomo Bridge)," indicating that Tappan Zee is the preferred name.
Screenshot with this text: Thank you for using Mass.Gov/RMV . Follow us on Twitter @MassRMV
Photo of a used Zamboni with the Heineken star and American flag
A quote from The Princess Bride movie, with the terms "land mass" and "Greenland" highlighted: Fezzik: You never said anything about killing anyone. Vizzini: I've hired you to help me start a war. It's a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition. Fezzik: I just don't think it's right, killing an innocent girl. Vizzini: Am I going MAD, or did the word "think" escape your lips? You were not hired for your brains, you hippopotamic land mass. Inigo Montoya: I agree with Fezzik. Vizzini: Oh, the sot has spoken. What happens to her is not truly your concern. I will kill her. And remember this, never forget this: when I found you, you were so slobbering drunk, you couldn't buy brandy! [turning to Fezzik] Vizzini: And YOU: friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, in Greenland?
An AI-generated report titled "The Academic Field of Sport Rivalry." Most of it is a list of codes like S_S1, S_S2, S_S7, etc.
Still image from SNL "First Citywide" commercial: "Our customers often ask how we make money doing this. This answer is simple: volume."
An AGGREGATE formula with boolean indexing returns #VALUE! error. =AGGREGATE(9,0, C2:C9 * (B2:B9="LAA")) The same data table is shown, but with a helper column in D2:D9. D2 formula: =IF(B2="LAA",C2,NA()) An AGGREGATE formula referencing that column works fine: =AGGREGATE(9,6, D2:D9)
Same data as above, but there are two other cells populated. E1: Team E2: LAA
Excel with cells E1:G9 populated. There are formulas in row 1. E1: =C2:C9 F1: =B2:B9="LAA" G1: =E2:E9 * F2:F9 E2:E9: All player salaries, just like in column C F2:F9: True/False values. They're all false except rows 7 and 8, which have players from LAA G2:G9: All $ except rows 7 and 8, which have the salaries from the players from LAA
Sample of SUMIFS function in action. Formula is the same as in the post text.
Dataset in Excel in cells A1:C9. Headers are in row 1. Column A: Player names Column B: Team abbreviations Column C: Player salaries
Screenshot of the Google Calculator, showing the π symbol in the entry window.
Scene from Ted Lasso: Ted: "How many countries are in this country?" Beard: "Four"
Dropdown choices showing - UK (England) - UK (Northern Ireland) - UK (Scotland) - UK (Wales)
Plotted data in the shape of a t-rex. The mean of the Xs is 54.3 and of the Ys is 47.8; the standard deviation of the Xs is 16.7 and the Ys is 26.8 . The XY correlation is -0.06.
The "Forgot password" page with a banner stating, "Your new password must be different than your current password."
Screenshot of the AI dropdown menu in Notepad. Choices are Rewrite, Make shorter, Make longer, Change tone, Change format.
Google search results for the sewer Museum in Brussels. It notes that the museum has a bathroom.
Headline of a news article that reads, "Guinness shortage will continue into new year, says brewer"
Top NBA rivalries: LA Lakers give 52.8 points, Boston Celtics give 51.0 (aggregated score of 103.7) Philadelphia 76ers give 60.4 points, Boston Celtics give 14.6 (aggregated score of 75.0) Dallas Mavericks give 41.0 points, San Antonio Spurs give 28.1 (aggregated score of 69.2) LA Clippers give 52.3 points, LA Lakers give 12.5 (aggregated score of 64.8) Houston Rockets give 39.5 points, Dallas Mavericks give 21.3 (aggregated score of 60.8)
Drones making the Longhorns logo in the sky while shooting fire.
Emphasis from the post: << Mayor Vi Lyles added that the “yes” vote shows “what Charlotte is all about.” Couldn’t agree more, but maybe not quite in the way she meant it. >>
Cartoon of a stressed Satan in a business suit and tie, surrounded by paperwork, looking exasperated and stressed. Art created by Dall-E 3 from the prompt, "Cartoon image of Satan as a middle manager looking less menacing and more exasperated/stressed while trying to meet his quota before the end of the fiscal year"
Pie chart New team: 33%, Same team: 67% Line chart Title: Coordinator/ Position Coaches on new team since previous season Notes: Data source: @DrBDT using data from the McIllece college football coaches database Inclusion critieria: Only coordinators and position coaches (no GAs, strength coaches, etc.) at FBS institutions A "new" team: This person wasn't a HC, coordinator, or position coach for this team in prev year Data: 2006: 24% | 2007: 33% | 2008: 28% | 2009: 28% | 2010: 29% | 2011: 29% | 2012: 38% | 2013: 37% | 2014: 30% | 2015: 27% | 2016: 38% | 2017: 33% | 2018: 39% | 2019: 36% | 2020: 34% | 2021: 32% | 2022: 42% | 2023: 37%
Headline on a news article says "Massachusetts BBQ joint is now the best BBQ spot in MA"