EXCITING NEWS MAYBE
HEY!
I might have some exciting news soon, depending on how things go!
Stay tuned!
INFINITE WALKING
I have a portable recharger/extra battery thingy for my iPod already, but ohmygod.
I could just wear this thing along with my iPod on my walks.
And I would
NEVER
NEED
TO
STOP.
(Well, okay, food and water and sleep and all that nonsense, but I don’t need much of any of that anyway.)
The April List – 2015
IT’S THE APRIL LIST
- I wish I knew when I was TA-ing in the spring/summer.
- Yes, I said “spring/summer” because U of C is weird. “Fall semester” is like UI’s fall semester (September to December). “Winter semester” is like UI’s spring semester (January to April). “Spring semester” is like the first half of UI’s summer semester (May to June) and “summer semester” is like the second half of UI’s summer semester (July to August). Odd news.
- May needs to get here for two reasons: 1) I’m ready for this semester to be over, and 2) I really, really need new shoes.
- Holy hell, do I need new shoes.
- I should bring those “This Week’s Science Blog” posts back.
- Tomorrow I’m going to see Age of Ultron with Nate and I’m super excited. Excited enough to make it a point in the April list, apparently.
- Um, iPod? I’m not sure that conversion is correct.
- I have a very strong and sudden urge to write a biography of John Tukey. Statisticians need biographies, too! It’s too bad I suck at writing in general and suck even more at nonfiction writing.
- HAHAHA, I accidentally hit the “random blog post” button on my blog and it brought me to this page and I remember finding that damn picture on the Australian Chicken Meat Federation webpage. WTF, Australia?
FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
If you ever want a nice application-based introduction to principal component analysis, check out this article.
It’s short, an interesting example, easy to read, and easy to understand. It also shows a very clear application of PCA for dimension reduction, which is snazzy.
Book Review: The Stranger (Camus)
Hey, look who finally finished another book. It’s Camus party time!
Have I read this before: Um, I want to say yes, but it wasn’t familiar at all.
Review (spoilers): It’s an okay book. It’s not my favorite of Camus’ (that would be The Plague), but it’s not bad. You can really get a sense of the absurdity through the main character and the way he’s so emotionally detached from everything. Hell, he randomly murders two dudes. The pace is a bit slow, but hey, that’s Camus for ya. It is an interesting read, especially if you’re into the philosophy of the absurd and/or existentialism, but there’s a lot more of the former than the latter in here.
Rating: 5/10
aLDSKFJALKGHALDKFHS
People who comment on the eating habits of others drive me up the freaking wall.
Like, it’s okay if you’re good friends with the someone and you’re both okay with the comments, but if you’re acquaintances/friends that aren’t too close/strangers, then it’s like…seriously?
Who even cares, anyway? What business is it of yours? So Person X eats more than you/less than you/rarely/frequently/constantly/late at night/only on odd days of the month/food you’d never touch with a 10-foot pole? Unless you’re legitimately concerned about their health (and even then it can be iffy), don’t comment on it. Because it doesn’t concern you.
Also, some people just don’t like talking about that kind of stuff, so if someone says to them, “why do you [some obnoxious comment about food habits]?” it might make them feel super awkward or embarrassed.
So shut up.
It’s not a new blogging month without a survey.
Do you believe in destiny, fate or free will?
Free will is a LIE! I believe in destiny/fate in terms of determinism, if that counts.
If you could talk to one species of animal which would it be?
Domestic cats! Easy choice.
If you had friends ’round, what DVDs would you have to watch?
I don’t have friends ‘round.
Do you like vanilla or chocolate?
Vanilla. Especially when it comes to ice cream. I’ve never liked chocolate ice cream.
Are you a giver or a receiver?
I like giving.
Do you have any enemies?
Doubtful.
Are you scared of needles?
Not particularly, no.
How many piercings do you have–if any?
One in my left earlobe, two in my right earlobe, and an industrial in my right ear.
Have you ever got majorly lost trying to get somewhere?
Ha. HA.
Do you say “Zee” or “Zed” to describe the letter Z?
I say “zee” ‘cause I’m from ‘Murica. Though every once and awhile I say “zed” because that’s what they say up here in Canada.
What was the last thing to make you feel happy?
This weekend was pretty great.
What was the last thing to make you feel angry?
My inadequacies.
You are walking to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss told you if you are late one more time you’re fired. Do you save the dog?
If my boss won’t take saving a drowning dog as a valid reason for being late, I’m working for the wrong boss.
Are you the kind of friend you’d want to have as a friend yourself?
HAHAHA no.
If you were a wrestler what would your stage name be?
SIR FREDERICK POOPENSTEIN
I’d wear a monocle and a diaper and I would KICK ASS.
(I’ve watched the AH boys play WWE2K13 and WWE2K14 waaaaaaaay too many times)
Albrrrrrta
Welcome to April in Alberta!
To be fair, this was just south of Calgary; the city itself was cloudy but snow-free. We were down in Crowsnest Pass for the weekend and there was quite a bit of snow going on today in that area. Still better than that September storm, though, haha.
Blah Blahson
I’m having one of those “why do I even bother blogging?” days. Hence, this blog is just going to be me saying that I’m having one of those “why do I even bother blogging?” days.
Sorry.
I AM A VINTAGE CACTUS
I like looking at recipes, even though the vast majority of them contain way too many ingredients for my taste and are probably not something I would enjoy. Every once and awhile, though, I find some that sound good.
Sweet Poppy Seed Pasta
I don’t know about the sweetness aspect, but this looks really freaking pretty. Do poppy seeds taste sweet on their own?
Easter Zoodles
Leave out a few things and this looks really good. I have one of those veggie spirallers, too!
DONE! Sorry, I’m super busy.
Edit: have some more that I’ve found in the past few weeks, since this is an older post:
Skillet Bacon and Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Creamy Boursin Spring Pasta
Everything but the lemon zest looks good to me. Boursin is a type of cheese.
Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe
Basically spaghetti with cheese and pepper. I’ll take it.
I am, indeed, an April fool
When I get super sleep deprived, I tend to make/write/blog things I don’t remember making/writing/blogging about. For example, I found this thing on my USB this morning. Its “date modified” is last night (this morning?) at 3:43 AM.
THIS IS NOT FUNNY ON ANY LEVEL
THAT’S NOT EVEN HOW YOU PRONOUNCE “OREGON”
GOD DAMMIT, BRAIN
The Proclaimers, where are you?
500 walking miles since January! That’s approximately the distance between Moscow and Calgary.
If I keep this pace, I’ll hit 2,000 miles by the end of the year.
Have some chill music to celebrate.
Steppin’
I’ve walked a million steps this year! That’s probably not at all impressive, but whatevs.
Have some Powerthirst, because Powerthirst.
One of my good friends has the nickname “Fizzbitch” from these.
Oh, brain…
I had this super elaborate dream last night, which I was trying really hard to remember this morning, but the only phrase that I could recall from it was this:
“Whenever you accidentally start taking Idaho seriously, remember that a guy named Butch Otter is the state governor.”
True that, brain. True that.
OK!
So guess who Nate and I got to see in concert tonight?
Hint:
Okay, that’s less of a hint and more of a giveaway, but whatevs.
We saw OK Go!
It was super awesome. It was also super loud (we’re pretty much concert newbs so we didn’t bring earplugs), so we just stood out in the hallway—which gave us as good a view as any of the band given the number of people at the venue—and danced and sang along with the songs we knew.
I was surprised that they played Here It Goes Again and Get Over It, since both of those songs are older, but they did! They also played I Won’t Let You Down near the very end, which was pretty much the one song I was waiting for the whole night.
There were a few other songs that they played which I’d never heard but liked, so those will likely be my daily downloads for the next few days.
WOO! First concert!
Yes, I’m going to keep doing these until the U of I no longer exists
The UI schedule for fall is out! You know what this means…
HYPOTHETICAL SCHEDULE MAKING TIME!
Because why not.
There’s only one stats class posted for the fall that I haven’t already taken, and most of the math classes are super upper division stuff that I don’t think I could ever do, so let’s make it an artsy-fartsy semester, eh?
MTHF
GERM 101: Elementary German I (9:30 -10:20)
MWF
STAT 507: Experimental Design (12:30 – 1:45)
TR
ART 111: Drawing I (10:30 – 12:20)
ART 261: Ceramics I (2:30 – 5:20)
W
GERM 101L: Elementary German I Lab (9:30 – 10:20)
That’s only 13 credits! There’s not a very good offering in the fall.
CELESTIAL GOAT
It’s 4 in the morning and I’m like negative amounts of tired, so rather than sleeping I decided I wanted to play some sort of video game. I was originally going to play some Half Life, but as I was going to click on the desktop icon, I caught a glimpse of The Neverhood icon and decided to play that instead.
I’d forgotten how fun this game is!
Since I seriously doubt any of my readers ever played this late ‘90s claymation game, have a 10 minute review and then a play-through if you’re interested.
It is a super hard game to find (and it’s not cheap when you do find it), but I still have my original CD!
(Also, Hoborg rules.)
Shamrockin’
I’m getting good at this minimal food/minimal water/minimal sleep thing. If there’s ever some huge crisis and stuff needs to be super rationed, I’ll be set.
Hopefully that won’t happen, but you never know.
WOOOOO I’M HYPER TONIGHT!!!
You know you’re in Canada when…
I’m at Safeway and in the checkout lane next to a checker who’s just turned her light off to go home. A guy drives his cart up to her conveyor and starts unloading stuff.
Checker: I’m sorry, sir, I’m closed.
Guy: What?
Checker: I just closed, sorry.
Guy: Oh! I’m sorry!
Checker: It’s alright, sir!
Guy: I’m sorry, let me take this stuff off the belt.
Checker: I’m sorry; here, let me help.
Guy: Sorry!
Checker: Sorry!
This goes on for like a minute while they clear off his stuff and he runs off, apologizing, to the next open checker.
Oh, Canadians.
Mental Math: The Struggle is Real
Alright fools, sit your butts down. Today’s blog post is an important one.
I’ll start this whole thing off with a confession. You’ve all heard me say that I can’t do math in my head, right? Well, that’s a lie. I am perfectly capable of doing math in my head.
I just can’t do it when others expect me to be able to do math in my head.
Elaboration: like a lot of people, I’ve always equated math ability with intelligence. I know that’s a narrow and inaccurate way to define intelligence, but for the longest time, math was my go-to smarts-o-meter. That’s probably because I used to be hella afraid of it and thus considered anyone who wasn’t hella afraid of it to be way smarter than I was.
But anyway.
I’ve long since redefined how I view intelligence. Namely, it’s very obvious to me now that people can easily be “intelligent” in a wide variety of things (think Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences). A dude who’s fantastic at painting but horrible with numbers, for example, can be just as intelligent as a dude who’s amazing with numbers but not so much with paint. And people who are not “book smart” (or “school smart” or whatever) can be ridiculously intelligent in other aspects of existence that just aren’t captured by that book smartness/school smartness.
I’m sure most if not all of my readers would agree with this.
However, if you’re someone who likes math and are around people who know you like math, they’re probably going to expect you to be good at mental calculations. That’s always been my experience, at least.
And that makes me panic like you wouldn’t believe.
Especially since going into the quantitative/statistics side of things, my ability to do math in my head—“on the fly”—has gotten worse. And I think that’s because if the people I’m around know I’m into stats, I suspect they automatically assume I’m some sort of human calculator. And if I can’t prove my amazing calculating abilities, then I’m too stupid to be studying something like stats. After all, who wants a statistician who can’t add 23 + 27 in their heads?
Here’s the thing. I can add 23 + 27 in my head. It’s super easy to do. But if you just ask me to do it, I will panic and not be able to because I’m too busy freaking out about being judged on if I’m doing the calculation quick enough or what would happen if I make an error.
That sounds really stupid and maybe a bit unclear. Let’s use pictures to clear it up a bit.
Here’s what I would suspect loosely happens in the head of a person without this “math on the fly” anxiety when they’re asked to add 146 + 279:
And here’s what happens to me and, I suspect, a good deal of others:
I’m not exaggerating. When someone poses a math question—even something simple like basic addition—I automatically lose focus on the numbers and start freaking out about how dumb they think I am if I don’t answer it right away.
Ridiculous? Yes.
Reality? Yes.
And I can’t be the only one. However, most of my friends (based on just watching them answer impromptu math questions) don’t experience this, so I just wanted to show you how it is for me.
So there you go.
Zah, Zah, Sis Boom Bah
Do you see this?
Do you know what this is?
This is the page count/word count for the longest coherently-themed story I’ve got on my computer right now.
Do you know what the story is? It’s freaking fan fiction.
What is wrong with me.
BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH! Wait, it’s the 20th? Well…well I hope you bewared on the 15th, then!
Today Nate’s family came up form Crowsnest Pass and we spent the afternoon walking in what was practically hurricane-force winds.
We are nothing if not stubborn.
Also, I suck at chess, but I’m getting a little better. Bishops are not my friends in that game.
Preachin’ the Teachin’
We had to write a teaching philosophy statement, summarizing our approach/attitude towards teaching math and stats, for our seminar class. I’m going to post mine here. It explains how I like to think about teaching stats and emphasizes what I consider to be the most important things to keep in mind while delivering the subject to students who may be less than enthusiastic about anything number-related.
I have, for the majority of my life, been a student, but only recently have I taken on the role of a teacher. From 2012 to 2014, I worked as a lecturer at the University of Idaho, teaching introductory statistics to undergraduate students. Though I was brand new to teaching and wary about teaching material that had the reputation of being boring, difficult, or both, it took me only my first semester to solidify my teaching philosophy and to develop instructional techniques that have been proven effective in getting students interested in and engaged in learning statistics.
My approach to teaching can be best broken into four key components: empathy for the students, flexibility in the teaching techniques and methods, enthusiasm for the material, and the ability to show real-world application of the material. These four components work together to emphasize my core teaching philosophy and goals: in order to best foster learning, teaching should not only cater to the student but cater to the subject being taught as well, allowing for students to have a learning experience that allows them to see both the technical and the practical side of the material.
Unlike many who end up as lecturers in mathematics or statistics, I come from a background heavy in the humanities and the social sciences. Due to this background, I am able to easily empathize with students who may lack a strong mathematical background and thus may be intimidated or nervous about taking a statistics course. Such students are common in introductory courses similar to the ones I have taught, as these courses are usually used to fulfill a course requirement and are often the only classroom exposure to statistics that many students get.
An empathetic mindset—especially when introducing “basic” concepts and notations that may be brand new to many of the students in the class—is a mindset I try to adopt when teaching. Telling students that it’s okay if this is the first time they’ve seen how to calculate a mean or how to read summation notation, and then to walk them through it slowly but without condescension, can go a long way towards fostering a good relationship with them while also making them feel more comfortable with the material. In my two years of lecturing, I had many students comment that they appreciated the fact that I took the time to teach them the very basic components of statistics before delving into the more complicated material and that this helped them feel more at ease in the class.
Along with empathy for the students, another important component in my approach to teaching is to be flexible with how the material is taught. Most statistical concepts can be explained in several different ways—showing students the equations, explaining a concept using an analogy, creating a visual representation of the concept, among others. I have learned that it is important to try to approach and explain a concept from several different angles to allow as many students to grasp the concept as possible. For example, when students are learning about analysis of variance, I have found that some students understood it by looking at the equation for the F statistic, while others understood it by seeing a visual of the variances that the F statistic is actually comparing. Being able to explain a concept from multiple angles helps to make sure that every student is able to grasp the concept and understand it in a way that’s best for them.
The third component to my teaching approach is one that I feel is especially important but often overlooked in the field of statistics—showing enthusiasm for the material. In my own experience as a student, when an instructor fails to show interest for the topic they are teaching, it becomes difficult to remain engaged in the class and ultimately more difficult to learn. For a subject like statistics, which already seems to have a reputation of being dry and boring for many students, it is important for an instructor to be able to show that the material and concepts that they are teaching are more than just equations on a page.
For me, part of showing my enthusiasm for the subject is to really try to give students an “under the hood” look at statistics. Rather than just show them a formula or tell them a theorem, I’ve found that students remain much more engaged if they are shown why a formula is the way it is or why a theorem is important. For example, when teaching students the general formula used to calculate binomial probability, I choose to “derive” the formula by using some basic probability examples and then work up to the actual formula itself. Giving them this deeper glimpse into why the formula is written the way it is not only gives them a better understanding of the formula itself (they are no longer just “blindly” using it but understand the reasons behind it), but it also engages them in the process of seeing how and why the formula works.
Another way of showing enthusiasm for the subject is to present students with fun and interesting examples of concepts they are being taught. For example, after students learn about visuals like bar charts and histograms, I like to take a few minutes and show them some examples of poorly constructed or exaggerated graphs used by the media or by politicians. Bringing some humorous or interesting examples into the classroom can help keep students engaged and make them more interested in the subject.
Related to the concept of showing enthusiasm for the material, the fourth and final component of my approach to teaching is to make sure to give students some real-world applications of the material they learn in the classroom. This is a component that I think is especially important in teaching an introductory statistics course, as nearly all academic fields employ statistical procedures to some degree, but students from other disciplines often think that they will never use the techniques they learn in class. The main way I employ this component is by using actual data from various different fields in my in-class examples. When teaching regression, I use data from a published psychology study. When teaching analysis of variance, I use data from a plant breeding program or data from a business-related study. I feel that it is important to emphasize to students through examples that the techniques they learn in their statistics courses can and often are applied in their own fields.
My application of these four key components in my teaching has proven effective in providing a good learning experience for students. I consistently received positive teaching reviews during my time at the University of Idaho, with many students commenting that they felt like they truly understood the material and had actually developed some enthusiasm for the field of statistics. I have also recently received a Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence Award from the University of Calgary for my work as a TA in the fall of 2014. I plan to continue to adapt and modify my teaching strategies and techniques to further my goals as a teacher and to provide a comfortable, thorough, and enjoyable statistics education for students in both introductory courses and more advanced courses.
Give me surveys or give me death! (Sorry, Patrick Henry)
Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you?
You mean like Solipsism? Eh, not really.
On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you?
Over NINE THOUSAND!!!!!
What is your favorite word?
Syzygy.
If you were a type of tree, what would you be?
I’d like to pretend I’m cool and say I’d be a redwood or something, but I’d probably be a Lombardy Poplar or something equally as obnoxious. Nobody likes the Lombardy Poplar.
When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought?
Ew.
What shirt are you wearing?
A black one?
What do you label yourself as?
A turnip.
Bright room or dark room?
Bright as the sun!
What were you doing at midnight last night?
Making dinner, haha.
Favorite age you’ve been so far?
19 wasn’t bad.
Who told you they loved you last?
Nate!
Your worst enemy?
Twitter.
What is your current desktop picture?
The Companion Cube from Portal.
Do you like someone?
Damn straight.
The last song you listened to?
The Gabe Flaherty remix of Stacy’s Mom.
Who would you really like to just punch in the face?
Chippy McPunchMyFace.
What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional)
I don’t really have one. My lips maybe? My eyelashes?
Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it?
IT’S A SECRET LOLOLOLOL
What is one unique thing you’re afraid of?
Not a fan of dragonflies, but I’m not sure how unique that is.
You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal.
I don’t have sandwiches very often, actually. I’ll just go with a regular grilled cheese sandwich with Colby Jack cheese and potato bread, like my mom makes it.
You just found $100! How are you going to spend it?
YAY! Probably school stuff or groceries. I’m one exciting person.
You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go?
HANOVER! QUICK PACK YOUR BAGS LET’S MOVE IT YYC HERE WE COME
An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be?
THE BOOZE ANGEL COMETH!
Hell, I don’t know. I don’t drink. Um…maybe vodka. Like regular vodka. I’d open up a little vodka store or something, maybe earn a little money. Maybe I could earn enough to pay the Broccoli Angel to come visit me.
Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno?
My laptop! It’s got all my stories/pictures/blogs/nonsense on it. Though it would be REALLY hard to lose all my stats/math notes that I’ve been saving over the years.
You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?
Am I erasing it from existence (like it never happened) or just from my memory? If it’s just from my memory, I’ll erase my first grad school experience in Vancouver. I don’t think I’ve had any experiences horrible enough for me to want to erase them from existence.
You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world!
(Can I say Hanover again?)
Wait, which country am I getting kicked out of, the US or Canada? I could always move to the one I didn’t get kicked out of, I guess.
The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the person of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back?
Really? You really have to ask me this question? Really?
Are you a good….[insert anything you’d like here]?
No.
Have you ever been admitted to the hospital?
Yes. We’ll leave it at that.
Have you ever built a snowman?
Indeed.
What is the color of your socks?
I’m not wearing socks at the moment, but the socks I wore today were my Starry Night socks, which are pretty much the coolest socks in existence.
What type of music do you like?
Does it have a good beat? Yes? Then I like it.
Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets?
Sunsets. I was just going to say that it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a sunrise, but that’s a lie. I usually stay up until the sun starts coming up.
What is your favorite milkshake flavor?
The ones that bring all the boys to the yard.
What football team do you support?
None? I guess I kind of have to support the Vandals, but…eh.
Do you have any scars?
Lots.
What do you want to be when you graduate?
DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I’VE GRADUATED?? DO YOU?!?!?!?!?
(I want to be a stats professor.)
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I don’t know if I could narrow it down to one thing.
Are you reliable?
I certainly try to be.
If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?
“ARE YOU DONE WITH SCHOOL YET, YOU FOOL?”
Do you hold grudges?
No, they’re too prickly.
If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create?
I would breed a human and a manatee just so it could be called a humanitee. Because PUNS.
Are you a good liar?
Is there a good way to answer this question?
How long could you go without talking?
Probably quite awhile if I didn’t need to teach labs.
What has been you worst haircut/style?
Once in high school I cut my bangs way too short and walked around looking like a total idiot with mini-bangs and my dumb little bowl cut thing. It was fantastically horrible.
Have you ever baked your own cake?
Nope.
Can you do any accents other than your own?
Meh. I can do the Barney Rubble laugh, does that count for anything?
What do you like on your toast?
Just a little bit of butter. Though I haven’t had toast in like 800 years.
What is the last thing you drew a picture of?
Uh…that spirally thingy I posted awhile back.
What would be you dream car?
I need no car! WALKING POWERZ!
Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain.
I have a tendency to sing in the shower, but I also have the tendency to sing in general when I’m alone.
Do you believe in magic?
In a young girl’s heart.
(And how the music can free her whenever it starts.)
Do you often read your horoscope?
I don’t actively seek it out, no. But on the rare occasion I see a horoscope listing, I always read Aquarius.
What is your favorite letter of the alphabet?
I have a bias towards C, but I also don’t mind H.
Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons?
Dragons are pretty cool.
What do you think about babies?
None for me, thanks.
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