Neil & Prey
So I had this dream last night in which I developed practically an entire season’s worth of a TV drama called Neil & Prey. The show centers around Victor Neil and Alexander Prey, two undercover cops who disguise themselves as priests to bust crime. Most specifically, church-related crimes.
Like in one episode they thwart a parishioner who was poisoning the congregation via the holy wafer thingies (what are those called? I totally forgot), or another episode where a congregation member deeply involved in church activity starts selling the church wine on the side to make a little profit (hahahaha, profit from the prophet…okay, I’m done).
And, for a bit of a comedic element, Alexander develops a crush on Mary Anne, one of the nuns they’re always around, and Victor does his best to keep his companion from showing any inappropriate outright interest in her.
Yeah. Welcome to my dreams.
Click Clack Bric-a-Brac
BAM, new WordPress theme! Like it? I like how the sidebar (the content to the right) is separate from the main blog. I also like how each post gets its own little box.
Anyway, I’m still having the WordPress vs. Typepad argument in my head. If I stay on WordPress, I’m going to buy my own domain and be www.eigenblogger.com, because that looks awesome and I think (nearly) six years of blogging deserves its own domain.
Okay, that’s all. Sorry. Short blog time.
Blah, blah, blah, Valentine’s Day, blah, blah blah.
Valentine’s Day is such a polarizing holiday. You’ve got people saying “OMG I LUVS IT” and others saying “KILL IT WITH FIRE.” What about not giving it a second thought?
So I’ll leave you with this (even though it’s old). Particularly for you, Matt, ‘cause of your bio background. :)
Weekly Wiki: Waffle House Index
Y’all ever heard of Waffle House? It’s a chain of restaurants located in many of the US’s southernmost states. There’s one about half a mile from our house here, actually. The waffle-centric restaurants sell (apart from waffles) soup, chili, coffee, and pretty much every breakfast item you can think of.
What’s surprising about Waffle House, though, is the fact that it is one of the top four corporations in the US for disaster response.* Says almighty Wiki: “Waffle House has an extensive disaster management plan with on-site and portable generators and pre-positioned food…This helps mitigate the effects of a storm on the power grid and the supply chains.”
In fact, this provider of syrup-pocket goodness is so disaster-ready that an unofficial gauge of disaster severity is based on the status of any Waffle House restaurants located within the disaster area. This gauge is known as the Waffle House Index and is used by FEMA. They employ a rough three-level guide based on Waffle House’s restaurant status to assess storm/disaster impact:
- Green: Waffle House is open and serving its full menu. Nothing too serious. Carry on. Buy some pancakes.
- Yellow: Waffle House is open but is serving a limited menu. Moderate damage; there may be no power and/or food supply may be low.
- Red: Waffle House is closed! Severe damage. No waffles. Apocalypse now.
Also, a quote from FEMA admin Craig Fugate: “If you get [to the disaster site] and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad. That’s where you go to work.”
Guess there were no Waffle Houses in New Orleans for them to gauge the severity of Hurricane Katrina’s impact…?
*The other four companies are WalMart, The Home Depot, and Lowe’s.
People suck
So tonight my mom and I watched the Grammys. Adele, as predicted by many, pretty much took the whole show, winning every award she had been nominated for (I think). CNN.com posted an article about her sweeping success tonight and, unfortunately, opened the article up for comments.
Why “unfortunately”? Here are a few of said comments:
- “Adele is such a fat pig. I hope she has a heart attack.”
- “a fattie that hollers & screams and it’s accepted as music”
- “Oh, dont get us wrong, her singing sucks too. We hate that as well.”
- “its just the sounds of a hefty woman cackling & yelling”
- “british singers used to be great… before you started exporting chubbies”
- “she is hefty & homely hence the 2lbs of makeup caked on her mug”
We all know how I feel about size and sizeism, but putting all that aside—seriously, people? The woman has an amazing voice and you can’t get past her physical appearance? Chill the hell out and appreciate her talent, you jealous plebeians.
Holy freaking crap.
B-B-B-Blog!
Instructions: Run a Google image search to your answer to each of the following questions, and post the result. You must choose an image from the FIRST page of results. This is important.
1. Age on your next birthday.
2. A place you’d like to travel.
3. Your favorite word. (it’s “syzygy”)
10. Name of a past/current pet.
12. Your favorite TV show.
13. The President in office when you were born
14. Your first name.
16. Your last name.
18. Your first job.
Is a gluon that’s not completely dry simply a tachyon?
So unless I’m hallucinating (it’s like 5 in the morning and I had Red Bull), the University of Arizona nursing department’s looking for a stats instructor to develop/lead an online intro stats course.
HOW COOL?
I’m totally going to apply. That would be a super awesome job. I think I’d be good at teaching stats just because I’m so obsessive about them and I really like to explain them to people.
Anyway.
In the meantime, here are some of my favorite internet-found recipes, ‘cause for some reason I really feel like cooking at 5 AM.
- Eggplant Hummus – based on Trader Joe’s BADASS eggplant hummus. Best hummus ever.
- German Chocolate Cake – My grandma used to make me this for my birthday. It freaking rocks.
- Green Monster Muffins – Spinach muffins? Rock on! These are really good.
- Peanut Butter Blondies – Also known as “these will kill anyone allergic to peanuts if they’re even in the same room.”
- Poppy Seed Loaf (run this through a translator) – Safeway used to sell these all the time, but now they only sell the muffins. Poppy seed-saturated sweet bread is best in loaf form.
- Potato Sour Cream Biscuits – Pretty much everything Noble Pig has posted is amazing, so check out the blog.
- Rolled Spinach Omelet – Made this for my mom and she loved it.
101 in 1,001? Haha, maybe some day…
Happy birthday, Sean!
I had my older 101 in 1,001 list on here quite awhile back, but it’s changed/grown (ever so slightly) and I’d like to put it up somewhere other than the 101 in 1,001 site just in case it goes down for a long while again. 101 in 1,001 is a challenge prompting people to come up with 101 goals they wish to acheive within the span of 1,001 days. I created my (still lacking) list on December 5, 2010, and therefore must have it complete within the next 570 days. That’s why none of my goals are very “long term.”
Crossed-out items are ones I’ve completed, obviously.
- Answer the “50 Questions that will Free Your Mind” survey
- Attend burning man
- Become more familiar with proof theory
Blog every day in 2010Blog every day in 2011- Blog every day in 2012
- Buy a car
Change my hairstyle(sawed about a foot of it off at the beginning of last year)- Complete my 200-book reading list
Complete NaNoWriMo 2011- Complete the “5,000 Question Survey”
- Contribute substantially to a Wikipedia article
- Create a website for myself
- Don’t use the internet for a week
- Donate blood
- Donate bone marrow
Download a new song every day in 2010Download a new song every day in 2011- Download a new song every day in 2012
- Get a piercing
- Get a tattoo
Get my MA in psychologyGo on a cruise(went to Alaska with my dad last July)- Go on a spontaneous vacation
- Go sailing
Go see an opera(saw Mozart’s The Magic Flute in Vancouver)Go skydiving- Go to a concert
- Go without dairy for a week
- Learn how to play chess
- Learn to write with my left hand
- Leave a letter in a library book
- Obtain a patent
- Participate in a bike race
- Publish a novel
- Read Newton’s Principia
- Ride in a hot air balloon
Run a 10k race(Vancouver Sun Run 2011)- Run a 5k race for a charity organization
- Run a half marathon
Sell/give away superfluous posessions- Start and maintain a cooking blog
- Start and maintain a statistics blog
- Take a class in a subject way over my head
- Take a class in Metaphysics
- Throw pottery
- Visit Antarctica
Visit Mount Rushmore- Visit the Basque country
- Visit the Grand Canyon
- Volunteer somewhere
- Walk 2,500 miles in 2012
Walk the equivalent length of Romania in 2011Walk to every mall in Vancouver- Write my will
Claudia Presents: “Let’s get ready to Stuuuuuumble!”
Ready for another romp around the internet?
Of course you are!
ONWARDZ!
- Love your 90’s music? Click here.
- Want to see if your favorite nickname/tag/username is available on a given site? Click here.
- Want to test your vocab? Click here.
- Interested in Google’s (playful) deceptions? Click here.
- Fan of obscure words? Click here.
- Are you getting high from all the clicking and wish you could do more of it? Click here.
AND:
The best OK Cupid match question ever.
The end.
The Logic of Lightening
As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve been a major slacker with respect to my This Week’s Science Blog posts. Sad day, huh?
This is mostly due to either:
a) just completely forgetting to do one, or
b) having difficulty finding a *recent* article that’s interesting enough to blog about.
So I decided I’m going to change things up a bit. Rather than have a weekly post dedicated to science, I’m broadening my horizons and starting a Weekly Wiki blog in which I find an interesting (or unusual or hilarious or all of the above) Wikipedia article and elaborate on it here for you. And see how many pages it takes me to get from that article to the “Pornography” article.
Cool? Cool.
Let’s go!
This week’s Weekly Wiki: Vexillology. I’ll give you three guesses what a vexillologist studies.
Any guesses?
Anyone?
Bueller? Bueller?
Vexillology is the study of flags! HOW COOL?! According to Wiki, it is encompasses “the creation and development of a body of knowledge about flags of all types, their forms and functions, and of scientific theories and principles based on that knowledge.”
I’ve always held a bit of an interest in flags and flag designs. Back in high school in our mandatory speech class I did my informative speech on the major flag color families. Color families, as you may have guessed, are groups of flags that are similar both in colors and (generally) geographic location. Color amilies include the Pan-African colors, the Pan-Arab colors, and the flags including the Nordic Cross.
Does flag design sound interesting to you? Check out this link. It’s like if Emily Post were vexillologist.
DONE!
Blaaaaaaaaaaaah SCREW YOU, Big Pharma
Me @ 7:30 AM: I am SO PUMPED TODAY, I’m going to be SUPER PRODUCTIVE and get everything done!
Me @ 9:30 AM: Oh crap, gotta take my med.
Me @ 10:45 AM: Woah, feeling exhausted all of a sudden.
Me @ 11:00 AM: I will start stabbing people if I don’t get to go to sleep NOW.
Me @ 11:15 AM: Supervisor, I cannot stay awake. Please let me go home.
Me @ 12:00 PM: [sleep]
Me @ 2:00 PM: [still sleep]
Me @ 4:00 PM: [more sleep]
Me @ 5:15 PM: [finally woken up by my mom]
So yeah. Screw you, Saphris. I have no idea how people take this med TWICE a day and function. But then again, I’m super sensitive to side effects like super sedation.
Side note: Super Sedation would be a fantastically worthless superhero.
In a world of blogs, we lose our minds
3301. When someone is ‘crazy’ why do we call them ‘nuts’ or ‘fruitcakes’?
Good question. I don’t know.
3302. What’s the dillio?
I always thought that was spelled differently.
3303. Where did the slang term ‘dillio’ come from?
Good question. To Wikipedia!!
3304. How many even whole numbers are there between -5 and 5?
Six (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).
3305. What words can you make using only these letters: E N O?
On, no, en, one, eon.
3306. What’s the differance between foods that are low fat and foods that are lite?
Aren’t “lite” foods lower in calories than the “regular” versions?
3307. White or brown rice?
I like white rice.
3308. Can you be content if you are physically uncomfortable?
I think so, yes, but it’d be tough.
3309. What is the differance between discomfort and pain?
I see pain as a “warning sign” and discomfort more as a sign of something being worked or something unpleasant being noticed.
3310. What is the most uncomfortable thing you can think of?
Akathisia. Holy lord.
3311. What do these names make you think of:
britney spears?
Titanic.
walt whitman?
Leaves of Grass
buddha?
Siddhartha
william shakespere?
Macbeth.
pablo picasso?
Freaky looking women.
adam ant?
Cartoons, haha.
franz kafka?
Giant cockroaches.
nietzche?
Existentialism.
madonna?
Pointy bras.
orson scott card?
Did he do Ender’s Game?
frieda kahlo?
Who?
god?
Jesus!
salvidor dali?
Clocks.
david bowie?
Crotches.
jesus?
God!
lars ulrich?
Metallica!
jim henson?
Kermit.
3312. What are your favorite games to play?
The coolest game I’ve ever played was Mille Bornes, a French board game about driving. It was badass…I wonder if we still have it?
3313. Are you quick to judge something as stupid just because you don’t understand it?
Nope. I try to understand it better.
3314. Are you obnoxious to others?
Probably.
3315. Do you feel superior to anyone?
Hahaha, no.
3316. Shouldn’t people take a good look at themselves before they criticize others?
Yes indeed. We should leave others alone if they aren’t harming anything.
3317. Which is better and why:
writing or saying obnoxious things about someone who isn’t around to defent themselves or saying it straight to them?
Saying it straight to them. Saying bad things about someone behind their backs is scum.
Which do YOU do more often?
I try to do neither, haha. I don’t like saying bad things about others.
3318. Do you appologize too often?
I probably do, but I try not to.
3319. Does your mind play tricks on you?
It does indeed.
3320. Have you read (any of):
the bible?
Yes.
the koran?
I might have in The Sacred Journey.
the torah?
A little.
the kama sutra?
Nope.
the satanic bible?
Nope.
Are these mystical texts or historical ones?
Probably a mixture of both.
3321. Do you own any possetions that you hide from parents, friends, visitors?
I don’t think so.
What?
Haha, I used to though.
3322. Why does the cheese stand alone?
Because that’s just its whey.
3323. Do you watch any soaps?
I’ve never been into soaps.
3324. Have you learned something new today?/
Probably, but I can’t think of it right now.
3325. Do you believe in an ‘oversoul’ of all humanity?
Nope.
3326. Have you invented your own style, just for you?
Have you seen my clothing?
3327. have you invented your own religion, just for you?
I’m closely aligned with hylozoism, which isn’t really a religion per se, but I guess I’m closest to that.
3328. What files have you recently downloaded?
A bunch of music. Some Word docs from work.
3329. Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard but I think:
That kids scare me enough that I wouldn’t protest this for girls OR boys.
3330. Do you dance around a lot?
I groove while I drive. People think I’m nutso.
3331. Is the unexamined life worth living or not?
YAY A SOCRATES QUOTE! No, it’s not worth living in my opinon.
3332. What are you like when you’re at your most beautiful?
No idea.
3333. What are you like when you are at your worst?
A freaking disaster of a human being. It’s not pleasant to witness.
3334. Why do you hide things about yourself?
I’m not telling!
3335. Why is anything ‘too personal’ to talk to others about?
Because we’re private beings. Sometimes we’re embarrassed.
3336. Why should we be embarressed, afraid, or appologetic for ANYTHING we think, say or do?
Who knows? We’re conditioned to be that way.
3337. Can true freedom exist in this world of doubt and guilt?
Depends on how you define “freedom.”
3338. What do you have no control over?
Everything. But such is a deterministic universe.
3339. Do you own a vibrating pillow?
Haha, that sounds dirty.
How about a vibrating back massager?
Nope.
3340. Can you dance away your emotional pain?
Not effectively enough to use it as any sort of coping mechanism, no.
3341. When you dance is it a celebration of life?
It’s a celebration of awkwardness.
3342. When do you feel the most immortal?
When I’m running. That’s my “I AM A GOD” time.
3343. Are you more of a painting, a poem or a song?
A painting. Loud without words.
3344. Is lonliness a crowded room full of open hearts turned to stone?
Why does that sound so familiar?
3345. Is YOUR heart ever stone?
GRANITE SOUL
3346. Are we alltogether all alone?
Sometimes. Welcome to the internet.
3347. Does life end in a happily ever after way?
It can if we make it.
3348. What’s the warmest part of your body?
Crotch? Haha.
3349. Are you more verbal or visual?
Both. I like visual accompaniments to my verbal explanations.
3350. What do you long for?
Knowledge.
3351. True or false: When someone hates you it is because:
they’re jealous of you?
False.
the things you say are frightening to them because what you say makes them think about things they would rather avoid thinking about?
True sometimes.
they don’t understand you?
True sometimes.
3352. True or false: When you hate someone it is because:
you’re jealous of them?
False, usually. I’m trying to fix this.
the things they say are frightening to you because what they say makes them think about things you would rather avoid thinking about?
False.
you don’t understand them?
True.
3353. Have you ever been fascinated by someone who hated you?
I’d like to think I’ve never been hated, but I think I have by at least one person. I wasn’t fascinated by them, though.
3354. Since the human brain has defense mechanisms against feeling bad (meaning the brain lies to itself to avoid feeling bad about something it said or did) how can we ever know if we are truly being honest?
I don’t think we can.
How do we know our brains are not tricking us into believeing we are good people when we aren’t all good?
We don’t.
3355. How highly do you value innovation?
Pretty highly.
3356. Is there a name where all the people you’ve ever met haveing that name had something in common with each other(ex. all the jens you’ve ever met had blue eyes)?
All the Merediths I’ve ever known went to elementary school with me. Does that count?
3357. Are you focused more outward or inward?
Inward.
3358. What is the most affectionate nickname you ever came up with for someone?
Haha, I have no idea.
3359. Are the questions STILL still interesting this deep into the survey?
Eh. There are a few interesting ones.
3360. If someone else makes their desicions based on their intuition instead of on facts and proofs what do you think of that person?
Meh.
3361. Do you trust your own intuition?
I should. It’s proven pretty reliable in the past.
3362. Finish the phrase…
danger is the: motivator.
just keep: on truckin’.
never trust: a politician.
the way I live my life: may not work for you, but it works for me.
don’t change: ‘cause I like you the way you are.
maybe someday: things will be better.
3363. Would you rather live in Frodo’s world or Harry Potter’s?
Neither, but if I had to pick, Harry Potter’s.
3364. Do you believe that the dead are with us?
Sure.
If yes in what form?
They’re still components of the universe.
3365. Do you believe that those who haven’t been born are with us?
Yes.
If yes, in what form?
Matter is neither created nor destroyed in the universe; therefore, they’re here in some form.
3366. Are you made of timid stuff?
I am made of livid fluff.
3367. Is there anyone in this world who is not CRAZY?
We’re all nutso.
3368. What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Short?
3369. Can you mashed potatoe?
Only if I’m Dan Quayle.
Can you do the twist?
Possibly.
3370. What does your family do for thanksgiving..or if you don’t celebrate it what do you picture when you think of thanksgiving?
We make broccoli, mashed potatoes, and sometimes turkey. We sit around and pretend to be normal.
3371. What is your earliest memory?
I remember getting the chicken pox. I remember getting my first concussion. I don’t remember which of these events came first, though.
3372. Have you ever taken an IQ test?
Just the ones on the internet.
What’d you get?
I think my scores ranged from like 144 to 171.
What do you think of those things?
BAH. They only measure how good you are at taking those sorts of tests.
3373. How do you make ‘fishcakes’?
I’ve never heard of such things.
3374. Which is the better band..the offspring or the damned?
I’ve never heard The Damned.
3375. Do you ever think about world destruction?
Yup.
3376. Do you think humans are becoming more robotic?
Our world is, but humans aren’t, necessarily.
3377. Do you think we’ll ever be replaced by robots?
As in, our species being replaced by them? That would be…weird.
3378. What do you feel a part of?
The universe.
3379. Does it freak you out to know that yogurt is ALiVe??
Hahaha. No.
3380. What current band do you think is doing something particularly interesting or innovative?
Can Lady Gaga count? I love her.
3381. Golf course, do you remember?
What?
3382. Which is more important, books and cleverness or friendship and bravery?
Laziness…THEIVERY!!
(Sorry, this one reminded me of a Brian Regan routine)
3383. If i promise to miss you, will you go away?
Sure.
3384. stool, ball, powder…Can you think of a 4th word that connects these three?
Gun?
3385. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
Timid pigs.
3386. Why are blondes considered ‘dumb’?
Because people are obnoxious and love stereotypes.
3387. What’s more important..intuitiveness/creativity or factual knowledge and practicallity?
BOTH!
3388. Who are the two worst terrorists you can think of?
Pick a politician, any two politicians. Haha.
3389. What is jello made of?
Gelatin and colors!
3390. Pick a country:
Canada.
What do you believe is wrong with that country?
Vancouver.
3391. Do you have strong opinions?
Depends on the subject.
3392. Do you do what it takes to stand up for those opinions?
I try.
3393. Have you ever been to a rally, protest or demonstration?
Not actively.
If yes was it effective and in what ways?
It caught my attention, which I’m assuming it was supposed to do.
3394. When people say, ‘yeah it sucks but there’s nothing I can do’ do you believe them?
Sometimes.
3395. Do you know what you can do to make this world a better place?
Yes.
Do you care?
Of course. I’d like to make life as fun and easy for others as possible.
3396. Why is peace so important anyway?
Because we should all try to get along and make life as good for each other as possible.
3397. As long as you have your house and your family and you can go to the movies and the mall who cares about peace and freedom. Right?
Wrong!
3398.Do you try to avoid anything involving work?
I like to work. Makes me feel useful.
3399. If you are not actively working to stop the horrors and injustices of the world (war, hunger, poverty) than aren’t you partially responsible for them?
I wouldn’t say you’re partially responsible for them, but you’re certainly not responsible for lessening them.
3400. Are you in denial?
Me? Denial? NEVER!
iBlog
Woohoo, I finally have money! That means only one thing: new iPod!
My new sleek white iPod Touch is 32 GB in size, which means it’ll probably last me about two more years until it’s completely full, haha. Hopefully it’ll last longer than that; my “download a new song a day” thing is bringing in about 2.3 GB of music a year. Add random videos and such that I dig up and add to my iTunes library and hopefully we’ll still be okay for a bit.
OH, and check out this badass case:
How freaking cute is that? I love it.
Pasta Junkie
Do you guys wonder if the course of one’s life kind of follows the same pattern as the course of human history? Like, do we each of us have our own Dark Ages? Our own Age of Enlightenment? A Post-Modern era? If so, do we pass through these stages in generally the same order that humanity did? My own life has some strong parallels in terms of “periods” and general sequence, but that just might be me and my overanalyzing.
Anyway.
OH, and here’s something to brighten your day:
This is DJ Earworm’s mashup of the top 25 Billboard hits of 2011 (I was going to post this at the beginning of the year, but nooooo). He’s been doing these since 2007, so if this kind of stuff appeals to you, check out the rest of his YouTube channel. He’s fantastic.
END!
Today is February 2nd
Birthday #24.
Also: it’s the 33rd day of the year. There are also 333 days left in the year.
Famous individuals born on February 2nd:
– James Joyce
– Ayn Rand
– Farrah Fawcett
– Shakira
Famous individuals who died on February 2nd:
– Dmitri Mendeleev
– Bertrand Russell
– Sid Vicious
Events that occurred/are still occurring on February 2nd:
– Groundhog Day (duh)
– Inventor’s Day
– World Wetlands Day
– the first polygraph machine was tested (1935)
– the Groundhog Day gale hit eastern North America (1976)
– the first sled in the “Great Race of Mercy” reaches Nome, AK with the diphtheria antitoxin in tow (1925).
Exciting times.
Do all path diagrams want to grow up to be models?
HI!
Remember this?
This is probably the strangest result I found while writing my thesis. I’ll explain what it’s showing ‘cause it certainly isn’t obvious from this graph (especially if you don’t know structural equation modeling, aka SEM) and then tell you why I’d like to study something like this in depth.
SEM 101!
SEM is basically the process by which researchers attempt to construct models of the relationships amongst variables that best fit a given data set. For example, if the data I’m interested in are a bunch of variables related to the Big Five personality factors and I as a researcher have evidence to support a specific structure of relationships amongst these variables and factors, I can construct a structural equation model that numerically represents how I think the variables are related. I can then test my model against the actual relationships amongst the variables in the actual data.
Fit indices, the whole topic of my thesis, are calculations which allow researchers to quantify the degree to which their hypothesized model accurately represents the real structure of the relationships amongst the variables in the data. Most fit indices range from 0 to 1, though the meaning of scores of 0 and 1 differ depending on the index. Model fit can be affected by a bunch of stuff, but most obviously (and importantly) it is affected by inaccuracies in the hypothesized model.
For example, say I had a model in which I had variable A, variable B, and variable C all related to factor X but all uncorrelated with one another (good luck with that setup, but it’s good for this example). I fit this to data which, indeed, has A, B, and C all related to X but also has B and C covarying via their errors. The fact that my model is missing this covariation would factor into the calculation of the fit index, lowering its value.
Got it?
Okay.
Without going into the gory details of how these simulations were constructed and what model misspecification we added so that the fit index would have a discrepancy to work with (that is, the proposed model in the simulations purposefully didn’t match the underlying structure of the data and thus would have a fit index indicating a certain degree of misspecification), I’ll tell you what we did for this plot. I’ll tell you as I describe the plot, actually, ‘cause I think that’d be easiest.
Recall from like 20 sentences ago: SEM is about creating an accurate representation of the real relationships that exist amongst a set of variables. This representation of the true relationships amongst the data (called the “true model”) takes the form of a researcher’s proposed model (called the “hypothesized model”). I’ve labeled the pic above appropriately.
For the plot at the beginning of this blog, there were actually 18 simulated models—each with two factors and 24 indicator variables. The only differences between each of these models was how many indicator variables loaded onto the two factors. For example, one model looked like this (click to make these pics bigger, BTW):
(Three indicator variables loading onto Factor 1, 21 indicator variables loading onto Factor 2)
And another model looked like this:
(An equal number of indicator variables (12) loading onto both Factor 1 and Factor 2).
For each model, all the errors of the indicators were uncorrelated except for V1 and V2 (indicated by the crappily-drawn red arrows). You don’t really need to know what that means to get the rest of this blog; basically all you need to know is that each of the models had one extra “path” (or relationship between variables) in addition to the relationship between the two factors and the 24 indicator-to-factor relationships. So for each model, there totaled a number of 26 pathways or relationships between variables.
Now remember, I said these were simulated models. These models are actually what the data I created are arising from. Hence, they can be considered in the context of SEM as “true models” (see above).
Okay, so we’ve got a bunch of true models. How in the heck do we assess the performance of fit indices?
Easy! By creating a “hypothesized model” that (purposefully, in this case) omits a pathway that’s actually present in the data arising from the true model. In this simulation, that meant that for each true model, there would be a hypothesized model created that would fit every path correctly BUT would omit the correlation between the errors for V1 and V2 (the red-arrow-represented relationship between V1 and V2 would not exist in the hypothesized model).
See what I’m getting at? I’m purposefully creating a hypothesized model that doesn’t fit the true model exactly so that I can analyze what fit indices appropriately reflect the discrepancy. Indices that freak out and say “OH YOUR MODEL SUCKS, IT’S TOTALLY NOT AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF THE UNDERLYING DATA STRUCTURE AT ALL” would be too sensitive, as a model that accurately represents 25 out of 26 possible pathways is a pretty damn good one (and is almost unheard of in psychology-related data). However, an index that says, “Hey, you’re a pretty badass researcher, ‘cause your model fits PERFECTLY!” isnt’ right either; you’re missing a whole pathway, how can the fit be perfect?
ANYWAY.
Wow, that was like 20 paragraphs longer than I was expecting.
[INTERMISSON TIME! Go grab some popcorn or something. I’m watching Chicago Hope at the moment, actually. Love that show. Thank you, Hulu. INTERMISSION OVER!]
Back to the plot.
So now you know what the models were in this case, I can tell you that the x-axis of this plot represents the 18 different models I had created. You’ll note the axis label states “# of Indicators per Factor with Misspecification.” This means that for the tick labeled “3,” the correlated errors of V1 and V2 in the true model occurred under the factor with three variables (with the other factor, Factor 2, having the remaining 21 indicator variables loading onto it). The hypothesized model, then, which omits this relationship, looks like this:
On the opposite side of the plot then, the tick labeled “21” is opposite—the error covariance occurs between variables that load onto the factor with the 21 indicator variables loading onto it.
Make sense?
Probably not ‘cause I’m writing this at like 5 AM and sleep is for wusses and thus I haven’t been partaking in much of it, but I SHALL CARRY ON FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION!
Remember, for each of the 18 true models, I fit a hypothesized model that matched the true model perfectly, except it OMITTED the error covariance occurring between two indicator variables.
Now let’s look at the y-axis, shall we? You’ll see it’s label reads “SRMR,” which stands for the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual fit index. This index, as can be seen by the y-axis values, ranges from 0 to 1. The closer the index gets to 1, the better the hypothesized model is said to fit the true model, or the true underlying structure of the data.
Okay, and NOW let’s look at the colored lines. The different colors represent the different strengths of correlation between the two factors in the model. But that’s probably the least important thing right now. So I guess just ignore them, haha, sorry.
Alrighty. Now that you (hopefully kind of sort of) mucked through my crappy, haphazard, rushed explanation of what this graph is showing, take a look at it, particularly at how the lines change as you move left to right on the x-axis.
Do you all see how weird of a pattern that is? This plot is basically showing me that the fit index SRMR is sensitive to misspecification in the form of an omitted pathway (relationship between variables), but that this sensitivity jumps all over the damn place depending on the size of the factor on which it occurs. Notice how all the lines take a dive toward a y-axis value of zero (poor fit) when there 7 indicators belonging to the factor containing the misspecification (and 17 indicators belonging to the factor without the misspecification). Isn’t that WEIRD? Why in the hell does that particular shaped model have such a poor fit according to this index? Why does fit magically improve once this 7:17 ratio is surpassed and more indicator variables per the factor with the error are included?* By the way, that’s this model:
Freaking SRMR, man. And the worst part of all this is the fact that this is NOT such an aberrant result. ALL of the fit indices I looked at (I looked at seven of them), at least once, performed really, really poorly/counter-intuitively.
This is why this stuff needs studying, yo. Also why new and better indices need to be developed.
Haha, okay, I’m done. Sorry for that.
*Actually this sort of makes sense—the more indicator variables there are loading onto the factor with the error, the more “diluted” that error becomes and it’s harder for fit indices to pick it up. However, there’s not really an explanation as to why the fit takes a dive UP TO the 7:17 ratio.
Runaway
“Run, Forrest, run!”
Total distance in January: 262.89 miles
Total distance necessary in January to keep pace with 2,500 miles for the year: 211.75 miles
Rockin’.
Internet Explorer Cannot Display This Blog
This list describes the “10 reasons Ph.D. students fail”, and it bugs the hell out of me.
Okay, I guess the list itself doesn’t bug me; the fact that the list contains the items it contains bugs me. Even had things been better in Vancouver in terms of…let’s just say “interpersonal relationships”…I probably still wouldn’t have stayed on for the Ph.D.
Why?
Read on, dear blog followers, and see all the reasons why I think the pursuit of a Ph.D. has been corrupted to the point where, in my opinion, it can no longer be considered a road to acquiring substantial knowledge of a specific subject and is instead a road to appeasing the “higher ups” in academia and a horribly misguided competition of who can get the most publications the fastest. PLEASE NOTE that while I’ll be ranting about this article, I’m not personally criticizing the author, Professor Matt Might, or his views/opinions. I agree with this list, actually. But like I said, it still pisses me off BECAUSE of its truth.
Professor Might thinks that a student can fail a Ph.D. if they:
1) Focus on grades or coursework. “During the first two years, students need to find an advisor, pick a research area, read a lot of papers and try small, exploratory research projects. Spending too much time on coursework distracts from these objectives.”
I disagree with this—in part. If coursework is so unimportant to the Ph.D. insanity, why do almost all Ph.D. programs require at least two or three classes? If taking classes truly detracts from research/reading/projects, why make it a requirement? Also, I think the importance of classes is underemphasized at the graduate level. I learned more in the seven or so classes I took in grad school than I did in the majority of undergrad (at least in statistics). ALSO also…shouldn’t the objective of a Ph.D. be “learning”?
2) Learn too much. “Some students go to Ph.D. school because they want to learn…but, it requires focused learning directed toward an eventual thesis. Taking (or sitting in on) non-required classes outside one’s focus is almost always a waste of time, and it’s always unnecessary.”
So in other words, learn only enough to get you to that peer-reviewed publication! Don’t waste your time with such frivolities like learning for learning’s sake or trying to expand your knowledge on your topic of choice by seeing how it relates to other areas of study! Don’t even bother with trying to get one step ahead on your subject matter by auditing/sitting in on a class that’s only slightly relevant to your specific project but may make what you’re studying easier to understand in general!
I took two classes in the statistics department that I didn’t need to take for my Master’s. In terms of being able to bend R to my will, one of them was the most useful class I took in the two years I was at UBC.
3) Expect perfection. “Perfectionism is a tragic affliction in academia, since it tends to hit the brightest the hardest.”
I think this is totally subjective. Some people work their best when they aim for perfection; others don’t.
4) Procrastinate. “Chronic perfectionists also tend to be procrastinators. So do eternal students with a drive to learn instead of research.”
I’ll talk about this one later.
5) Go rogue too soon/too late. “Going rogue before the student knows how to choose good topics and write well will end in wasted paper submissions and a grumpy advisor. On the other hand, continuing to act only when ordered to act past a certain point will strain an advisor that expects to start seeing a “return” on an investment of time and hard-won grant money.”
I understand the importance of this point, but not the reasoning behind it. Yes, it’s important to “break free” of your advisor at the appropriate time, but that time shouldn’t be based on grant money or number of publications or anything like that. As I’ve already mentioned, it should be about the learning process. The advisor/student relationship should develop and diverge when both parties feel that the student KNOWS enough to work more on their own, not when the student has PUBLISHED enough or the grant money is near depletion.
6) Treat Ph.D. school like school or work. “Ph.D. school is neither school nor work. Ph.D. school is a monastic experience. And, a jealous hobby. Solving problems and writing up papers well enough to pass peer review demands contemplative labor on days, nights and weekends.”
ASLdjfalgajfoifjdweojsagjafasf. The Ph.D. should not be school. It should not be work. It ALSO should not be “writing up papers well enough to pass peer review demands.” Yes, that’s important, especially in today’s hyper-competitive “if you’re not published you’re nobody” academic world (as sad as that is). But that’s NOT all a Ph.D. should be, and I think you’re screwing yourself over if you go in thinking that’s all there is to furthering your education.
7) Ignore the committee. “Another student I knew in grad school was told not to defend, based on the draft of his dissertation. He overruled his committee’s advice, and failed his defense. He was told to scrap his entire dissertaton and start over. It took him over ten years to finish his Ph.D.”
I can’t really assert my position on this point, as I had a fantastic committee with members who were super understanding of the circumstances surrounding my (slightly delayed) defense and who didn’t flip out and want my draft ten weeks prior to the defense. I think as long as you go to them and make clear what your plans are, then further discourse should be reasonable enough to avoid issues with the committee. Unless you get a bunch of jerks or something.
8) Aim too low. “This attitude guarantees that no professorship will be waiting for them.”
Or, more importantly, “this attitude guarantees that the student will not get out of the learning experience what one would hope one would gather from a 3-5 year stint in graduate school, or that it’s reflective of the fact that maybe they shouldn’t have chosen this educational path in [insert discipline here].” Again, I agree with the point, just not the reason behind it. Is the professorship the ONLY important thing one will get out of a Ph.D. program?
9) Aim too high. “It does not matter at all what you get your Ph.D. in. All that matters is that you get one. It’s the training that counts–not the topic.”
DISAGREEEEEE! Why in the hell would someone spend a good portion of their life pursuing a degree in a specific field while focusing on a single topic in that field that bores them to tears/annoys them to no end/makes them want to curl up in a ball and cry/makes them want to throw themselves off a bridge? How can the topic NOT matter? Of course I know that most Ph.D.s are not world-changing pieces of work that win Nobel Prizes, but should that be a reason for not selecting a topic that interests you? How does one not loathe the training if it is done so via a topic that doesn’t hold their interest? Sure, my research into fit indices used in structural equation modeling may not have saved the world from inevitable destruction, but (once I finally figured out what the hell I was doing) I enjoyed what I was studying. Plus, now I’m not finished with my Master’s and stranded alone without a topic of interest in my field of study.
10) Miss the REAL milestones. “Most schools require coursework, qualifiers, thesis proposal, thesis defense and dissertation. These are the requirements on paper. In practice, the real milestones are three good publications connected by a (perhaps loosely) unified theme.”
What about learning-/knowledge-related goals as the REAL milestones? Why shouldn’t “understanding the material well enough to consider yourself able to teach it to others” or “learning enough about the material to become excited about what you’re studying” considered milestones? They may not be as “practical,” but I don’t think that diminishes their importance. I also think such milestones are better in terms of avoiding burnout on your topic. If you’re focused solely on getting three publications under your belt, you’re probably much more likely to burn out than if you’re focused on truly understanding the material and becoming more enthusiastic about it.
[rant complete]
Claudia’s Random Observation of the Day
Have you ever noticed that when one of the TV shows you like does a parody or interpretation of another TV show/movie/book, the character you like best in that TV show plays the character you like best in the adapted TV show/movie/book?
For a random example, take Family Guy’s parody of Star Wars. Did your favorite Family Guy character play your favorite Star Wars character? Mine did.
Haha, now that I’ve said this I can’t think of any other examples. But I know they’re out there. Does this happen for you guys, or is it just me?
Short blog.
Weekends suck
I had a really super craptastic day today. So all you get is this:
From OKCupid: “Personality traits are based on answers to Match Questions as compared to the OkCupid population. The length of a bar represents how strong that trait is [compared to the average scores for your age] and how confident Staff Robot is in the analysis.”
In other news, I have to redo my “About” page. I’ll do it later when I don’t feel like jumping off a bridge.
CLICK-CLICK-BOOM-BOOM-SNAP-POP-WATER-WEDGE
So 23andMe has a bunch of little surveys you can opt to take. Once you answer them you’re shown the stats for each question based on the people who have already taken the surveys.
Three interesting tidbits about our fellow humans. My answers are starred green.
IN OTHER NEWS! New plan for completing my walking distance goal this year: because I finally am working a full-time job, I can no longer walk my 10 (or 12 or 15 or 22) miles per day, ‘cause that obviously takes a long time to do. So I decided to count running distance toward my final goal. To reach my 2,500 I’ll need to either:
a) run 5 miles four days a week (one day off during the week) and two 15-mile walks on the weekends, or
b) run 10k (approximately 6.2 miles) four days a week and two 12- or 13-mile walks on the weekends.
I’ll probably do b) while the days are still relatively short, but once it’s light longer I’ll probably switch to a).
ParaLOLogram
Approximate Number System aptitude!
I don’t remember how/when I found this, but it’s an interesting little test of your ability to determine quantity ratios.
Combinations of blue and yellow circles are shown to you, each for a fraction of a second, and you have to choose which there are more of—blue circles or yellow circles. They call this ability your “gut number sense” and good performance on the test is apparently correlated with good math performance in school.
My results:
Lower Weber fraction = better gut number sense.
I don’t remember if I liked math in elementary school, but I was pretty good at it. I was one of three in my sixth grade class in the advanced math “class” (aka, me and two dudes in a broom closet. All of us with dorky math nicknames. Go St. Mary’s.), and I was pretty good throughout junior high except for Algebra I (though I’m 90% sure my issues in that class stemmed from the fact that I missed a very crucial week due to my grandpa getting sick and my family having to spend a week in Seattle for his hospital stay). I stopped taking high school math after Algebra II ‘cause the teacher was a jerk and I would have had him for both trig and calc.
Also, I had stopped caring about school at that point.
But, as in every other area, there is a difference between ability and effort. So who knows.
Take it, it’s fun!
ALL BIRDS ALL THE TIME
I just discovered the meme in which people (poorly) Photoshop human arms onto birds. The more you know.
Examples:
(This is the greatest picture ever, in my opinion)
Sites/pages dedicated to this:
http://www.iywib.com/birds_with_arms.php
http://4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=305700903&x=Birds+With+Arms
http://birdswitharms.tumblr.com/
Oh, internet. Where would we be without you?
Eigenblogger 
