The Missing Shade of AWESOME
God, I love Hume.
Now that I’m an actual factual philosophy grad student, I think it’s time we revisited this website. And in the spirit of Hume:
Mr. Vandewalker’s comment, “Look! Hume’s pants are the missing shade of blue!” made me laugh SO HARD when I first read it.
ALSO: I am in a severe music rut, which is bad for this “download a new song every day” business. So friends, neighbors, subscribers, random blog passers-by, could you please suggest some songs for me? I’ll listen to anything at least once.
I’m also thinking of adding a page that actually lists all the songs I’ve downloaded for 2010/2011, so look for that in the next few days if you’re interested at all.
Okay, that’s it.
WOOSH
Yay, social time!
During TA Day last week (or whenever the hell that was), I happened to sit within a cluster of economics grad students. I talked to one of them for a bit, then I didn’t see any of them for a week or so. The other day, though, the guy I talked to (George) caught up with me while I was walking back to the dorm and it turns out that he lives almost directly above me two floors. He invited me up for tea this afternoon, so I went up there and we raved about Fallout and Metalocalypse and Dostoyevsky and our past college experiences. He went to Yale. He’s super smart.
He’s also from THE Moscow (Russia), which I think is pretty freaky.
AND his dad has a PhD in soil science, like my dad. How freaking weird is that?
Haha, okay, that’s all. It’s my first social encounter since leaving Moscow, what do you want from me?
This Week’s Science Blog: What are the Odds?
A recent study has shown that babies as young as twelve months old have a basic understanding of probability.
How did researchers come to this conclusion? They ran a bunch of twelve- and fourteen-month-olds through a series of tests. First, they gave the babies both a black and a pink lollipop and recorded the preference of the baby. Once the preference was recorded, the babies were let go and then brought back at a later date for a second test.
The second test involved showing the babies two clear jars—one of which contained many pink lollipops and only a few black ones, the other containing many black lollipops but few pink ones. With the babies still watching, a researcher reached a hand into each jar and pulled out a lollipop, but concealed with their hand the color of the candy. They dropped the lollipops into separate opaque cups so that the babies still couldn’t see the color, then asked them to choose one of the cups.
The cool thing? The babies consistently chose the cup belonging to the more “likely” jar. That is, they selected the cup that belonged to the candy drawn from the jar containing the greatest number of the babies’ preferred lollipop color. From the article, “this indicates that many kids, even when they’re very young, are able to make the mental connection that a random lollipop picked from a jar that had more pink lollipops, is more likely to be pink than one picked from a jar containing mostly black lollipops.”
How cool is that?
Some Days I Miss My Sanity. Other Days I’m Just a Toaster.
So my first week of Grad School: Take II has passed. I’m taking three classes and TA-ing an undergrad course. REVIEWS!
PHIL 9276: Philosophical Foundations of Modern Physics
Word for word on the syllabus: “Week 2: Newton vs. Leibniz.”
HELL.
YES.
PHIL 9606: Hume and Reid on Mental Representation
Next to the veritable demigod that is Leibniz, Hume is my favorite philosopher. I really like the way he tackled he idea of causality and how simply observing a “cause” action and then an “effect” action doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the cause actually CAUSED the effect.
Anyway, this class will involve reading a metric crap ton of Hume plus many of his critics, including Reid.
PHIL 9889: Environmental Philosophy
This is going to be a near exact repeat of my philosophy senior seminar at UI. Which I’m okay with, ’cause it was interesting stuff.
PHIL 2020: Basic Logic (TA)
Yay, logic! This is an undergrad class full of non-philosophy majors and is taught by a PhD student. Once we get to PhD level we’re allowed to actually teach classes; at the MA level we’re just graders/office-hour-holders. I’m hoping that since I’m TA-ing logic for both semesters now that I’ll be able to ask them to actually let me teach it next year, ‘cause I think it would probably be one of the better classes for me to teach given my background.
Cool, huh?
Next Post
2001. Can you believe that we have only gotten through two fifths of this survey so far?
Balls! I was hoping to finish this before the end of the year. New Year’s resolution. Gotta get movin’!
2002. What is your opinion of Dave Coulier?
Is he the guy who played Joey on Full House? I used to watch Full House all the time in the summer, pre-college. He’s okay, I suppose.
2003. If you were to a write a Choose Your Own Adventure book, what would it be about?
Probably some sort of adventure.
It would involve calculus and Leibniz and Newton and all sorts of fun.
2004. What was your best find from a flea market, garage sale, ebay or thrift store?
Those ostentatious pink Alex Colman bell bottom pants. Freaking awesome.
2005. What do you not have enough money for right now?
Pretty much everything but rent and sometimes food.
2006. Do you believe that Tears for Fears were right when they said, “Everybody wants to rule the world?”
Nope.
2007. What is the design on your beach towel?
I don’t have a beach towel.
2008. What stirs something deep and animalistic inside you?
STATISTICS!
2009. Have you ever cross dressed (even as a joke)?
Hell yes. Claude’s a sex pot.
2010. Do you own anything with a rainbow on it?
Dude.
Do you even know who I am?
2011. What would be the worst object for a child to take on a long car ride with you?
The child itself. Haha. I hate kids.
2012. What’s the Best Beatles song in your opinion?
I really like Ticket to Ride for some reason.
2013. Why do you suppose that diary sites are more popular with females than males?
Ladies like to blah-blah.
2014. What do these color combinations remind you of:
orange and pink: a certain pair of socks I have.
pink and green: Easter.
green and gold: Karma Chameleon (“lovin’ would be easy if your colors were like my dreams/red cold and green/red gold and greeeeeeeeeeen…”)
purple and gold: royalty.
gold and red: 7th grade
red and white: Christmas
blue and grey: 8th grade
2015. What is one selfish thing you tend to do?
I get super pissy if people don’t catch the hint that I like to be alone. I don’t know if that counts, but it’s something.
2016. When do you think technology will catch up with the Jetson’s?
Who knows if we’ll live long enough as a species to see.
2017. What made you laugh today?
I was digging through my old blogs trying to find a specific post and I stumbled upon the Yogi Bear thing. Hilarious.
2018. Do you ever stick your entries in any of the diary circles?
What?
2019. Can you freestyle rap?
Hell to the no, yo.
2020. Are you:
stylish? Hardly.
shiek? I assume you mean “chic”…and no.
smart? I don’t know.
2021. Do you find you self only buying brand name products?
Depends. I’m a brand-whore for some things (SONY!), but some brand name things I buy ‘cause they’re WAY cheaper than everything else around here. Like President’s Choice.
2022. Would you ever want to buy an article of clothing or an accessory because you saw a celebrity wear it?
I’d buy a replica Leibniz wig. ‘Cause that’s totally and accessory. And he’s totally a celebrity.
2023. What song do you feel the sexiest dancing to?
I had this whole elaborate dance planned out for Claude set to Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy. He felt super sexy doing it.
2024. Who do you know who looks silly when they dance?
Me.
2025. Sweaty sex or clean sex?
NO sex. HA!
2026. Which is more important to you: being kind or being right?
Being right.
2027. Can you do any special dances like swing, tap, or ballroom?
Absolutely not.
2028. Are you scared of monsters?
Do you guys remember Gossamer from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons? That thing FREAKED ME THE HELL OUT.
2029. Who would you like to remind people of?
Someone who has done something good with their life.
2030. Do you walk to school or do you bring your lunch?
Um…can’t people do both? I do both.
2031. Rate your skills from one to ten (10 = you are the best at it):
socializing: ha, like a -10,000,000
making friends: 3
working with computers: 10
arts: 9
crafts: 6
dancing: 4
skating: ice skating? 7
talking other people into things: 5
writing: 10 (meaning I do it a lot)
living life to the fullest each day: 3
cooking: 5
gardening: 1
cleaning up after yourself: 10
playing poker: 1
surviving in the woods: 5
managing your time: 8
attracting the opposite sex (or same sex if you prefer)? Again, like -10,000,000
2032. Have you ever been to an Indian reservation?
I’ve driven through many of them. Ah, northern Idaho…
2033. What is going to happen tomorrow that you can celebrate, even if it’s a little thing?
I got through my first week of Grad School: Part II.
2034. Do you save things for special occasions or is everyday a special occasion?
I tend to save things. They’re more special that way.
2035. What is one thing you are terrible at:
Simple math. Like, 5 + 3 type math. Yes, I don’t know what that sum is off the top of my head. I can do singualar value decomposition, but I can’t do one-digit sums.
2036. What’s your favorite odd song?
Does Trololo count? I freaking love Trololo.
2037. What do you get your teacher or your boss for the holidays?
I don’t remember what I used to get for my teachers.
2038. Do you like to read books by Virgina Wolfe?
Eh. She’s okay.
2039. What is your favorite tv show from when you were a kid?
Tailspin is probably the greatest kids show ever made.
2041. What has been passed down through at least two generations to you?
Weirdness.
2042. Do we live in a particularly bad age for romance?
I don’t think so, no.
2043. Have you ever cheated on someone?
I’m a bad human being.
2044. Have you ever gone:
christmas caroling? Yes.
pumpkin picking? No.
on a hay wagon ride? Yes.
on a romantic valentine’s day date? Sorta.
to a new year’s eve party? No.
to a memorial day parade? No.
to the Macy’s thanksgiving day parade? No.
to search for gold coins on st patrick’s day? No.
2045. Have you ever done any modeling?
PFFT, that would be a laugh.
2046. Would you consider yourself to be psychologically damaged?
Nope.
2047. How aware are you of the reasons behind your actions and words?
I am master of introspection.
2048. What is the sickest you ever drank or drugged yourself?
I staggered around for like half a minute when I took two shots of whiskey, but that’s as bad as I’ve ever gotten.
2049. Would you prefer it if clothing was optional?
DUDE. YES.
2050. What is one interesting fact about you:
I’m good at identifying fonts.
2051. Are more people depressed because they are alone, or are more people alone because they are depressed?
Depressed due to aloneness.
2052. Have you ever gotten a mug, t-shirt, key chain, etc. that was personalized with your picture?
I don’t think so.
2053. What was the last thing that you experienced for the first time?
A graduate philosophy course.
2054. If you were going to die tomorrow and you were leaving a postcard for someone to read after you were gone what would it say?
It would direct them to the file on my compy that contains all my posthumous directions.
2055. If you were about to be executed what would your last request be?
A flight to Tucson to see my mom for one last time.
2056. What kinds of people do you find intimidating?
Most people. People freak me out.
2057. How much conviction do you have in your feelings and beliefs?
Meh. I’m all screwed up; I don’t trust myself anymore.
2058. In your house where is the:
crazy glue? In the medicine drawer.
flashlight? In the closet.
2059. Out of everyone you know who has the most personality?
Probably Nick. Or Sean.
2060. If you could go back in time to experince a musical movement or era, which one would you choose to live through?
Does disco count? Disco!
2061. Do you suffocate people with your love?
I don’t think so, no.
2062. Do you feel your life is charmed?
Bah.
2063. What character do you identify the most with from Winnie the Pooh?
I’ve always liked Owl, but probably I’m most like Rabbit. Neurotic little Leporid.
2064. When do you do your best thinking?
Late at night with the music blasting. Or in libraries. Libraries really urge me to think.
2065. What motivates you?
My future plans.
2066. Look back at all the people you’ve dated. Has there been a pattern?
Only that each relationship was longer than the last.
2067. Things change but what will always remain the same for you?
My fear of Google. My love of statistics.
2068. Is divorce something you would ever consider or do you feel that marriage is permanantly binding?
I don’t really know how I feel about marriage itself…
2069. What’s the strangest movie you ever saw?
The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars. What. The. Hell.
2070. If you could go into virtual reality and set up your life there to be perfect and it would seem real but not be real would you trade your life now for the virtual life?
No.
2071. Does it seem like life is more difficult for you than for anyone else?
Only on occasion. Then I get back to reality.
2072. What are you grateful for?
My parents. My opportunities. My physical health (I love you, immune system!).
2073. What was a choice that you didn’t want to make but you had to?
Pretty much everything involving grad school.
2074. Have you ever had dental surgery?
Just getting my wisdom teeth yanked out.
2075. At what point exactly are you grown up?
Growing up is optional.
2076. If there was a weightloss procedure that would destroy your ability to taste food so you wouldn’t be tempted by junk food, would you have it done?
Hey, I don’t need to lose another sense. My taste is screwed up as it is due to the anosmia, anyway. Also, no way in hell is anyone taking away the taste of M&Ms.
2077. What is one thing that happened that you never expected?
Me getting and MA. No freaking way.
2078. If you called one of your friends and they said “It’s nothing personal but I don’t want to talk to anyone right now,” would you take it personally?
Probably not. It’s pretty late at night, even on the West Coast.
2079. What is your favorite girl’s name?
I like the name Becky a lot.
2080. Do you ever feel guilty for being more fortunate than others?
Yes. Especially when I bitch about stuff.
2081. If you had to wear a shirt with one word on it for a year, what word would you choose?
LEIBNIZ
2082. What is evian spelled backwards?
Naïve…
2083. You drop 10 pounds of feathers and a ten pound bowling ball off the top of the same building. Which will hit the ground first?
Depends. Are we in a vacuum? Are the feathers bound in any way? Questions, questions!
2084. Even though you may never get what you want, are you happy because you’re trying?
Sure. Best of all possible worlds, eh?
2085. If you started a petition what would it be about?
Getting Facebook to shut up and GTFO.
2086. When was the last time you asked someone to do something and they said no?
Haha, I don’t remember.
2087. Do bad things happen to you on friday the 13th?
Nope.
2088. What’s your favorite:
Madonna song? 4 Minutes
John Lennon song? Imagine
Michael Jackson song? Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough
Doors song? I’m not familiar enough with The Doors to pick a fave.
Rolling Stones song? Blah.
David Bowie song? Under Pressure (yes, that counts)
Elvis song? A Little Less Conversation
2089. If you had started a relationship with someone and they said that it would be best if no one knew about it just to see how it goes, would you be offended?
I doubt it. I am, unfortunately, okay with that kind of stuff.
2090. Do you know any self defense?
Not formally, no.
How about CPR?
Yes, but I’m not officially certified.
2091. If you had to look into a mirror and see your naked soul stripped of all delusions and pretenses (Never ending Story style) could you handle it?
Dude, I can’t even handle seeing my physical self in the mirror.
2092. Are you a genius?
I’m a durr-durr.
2093. How did you find out that Santa Clause wasn’t real?
I honestly don’t recall.
2094. Which is your favorite tarot card?
The Hermit.
2095. Does the internet separate people or connect them?
Both.
2096. Have you ever written a letter to a soldier?
No.
2097. Does pain and fear make you feel alive?
On occasion.
2098. Are you:
good looking? God no
thin? No
happy? Sometimes
successful? I’m trying to be
confident? Haha, nope
2099. Are you decisive or wishy washy?
Depends on the situation. I have trouble making decisions most of the time, though.
2100. Do you feel pop stars should be morally responsible to set a good example for their fans?
Not really.
Defining the next four years of my life
CRAP I hate applying for funding. For the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, we basically have to write a proposal detailing our research focus for the next four years (PhD). The problem is, we’re not even supposed to pick an area of emphasis until this coming April. But it’s a good thing, I think. It’s forcing me to actually think about exactly what I want to do with my philosophy degree.
What I’m really interested in, thanks to my thesis work, are the philosophical ramifications of assessing model fit, particularly in structural equation modeling (‘cause it’s what I’m most familiar with now), but also in things like factor analysis and regression. What are the best methods to determine appropriate model fit? Should a fit index show better fit for a model with two factors when the factors are nearly orthogonal but the observable variables are all somewhat equally correlated, or should a fit index show better fit for a model with two factors that are more closely correlated but whose observable variables are more correlationally (is that a word?) separated between the two factors? What components of a model should weigh most heavily when determining model fit? Is there an “ideal” index in that sense?
It might sound weird or obscure or pedantic or whatever, but it’s interesting to me. And I think it’s very important that we start looking at the philosophical side of statistics now that we’ve got the software to run mega simulations and Monte Carlos and number orgies and sexy graphs and…
Sorry.
I’m excited.
Waiter! There’s a Y in my Vowels!
Three points of interest today.
1. So CNN has an article on Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who apparently reappeared out of nowhere and has just turned 30. The only reason his name has any significance for me is because when I was younger and the fun thing to do with your friends was to have random sleepovers, my friend Lara used to “sleep talk” about dating JTT. I think we all knew she was faking it, but it was fun to mess with her.
Whenever she’d start her sleep dating, I always pretended to be JTT’s “little brother,” Timothy. Lara’d be having this romantic sleep-talk and I’d jump in with “HI, WHATCHA DOIN’, WANNA PLAY?” in a super obnoxious voice. She’d always respond with a disgusted, “ugh, TIMOTHY…Jonathan, your brother is SO annoying…”
Yeah. That news just dredged up that memory for whatever reason.
2. Apart from Facebook’s inane layout changes and Google’s obvious attempts to take over the world, there aren’t that many things that bother me about the internet. But one thing that really gets under my skin is when parents post excessive pictures of their children online. Some parents are able to do this fairly tastefully, but a great number of them aren’t. Of course, if your kids are no longer kids and have given you some form of consent regarding the posting of their lives on your Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr/blog, no big deal. But when you have pictures of babies, toddlers, kindergarteners…hell, even grade-school-age children plastered all over your site and it’s obvious that they are unable to give consent for this, it’s a problem. Ever heard of privacy?
And it’s not just the pictures. Regardless of whatever silly nickname you assign your child online (usually something like “Peanut” or “Mini Mom” or “Donut Boy” or “Daddy’s Little Marketing Tool”), blogging about personal stuff relating to your child is probably not the smartest move. Sure, little “Mommy’s Big Toe Lookalike” is not going to be known by that moniker once he hits puberty (hopefully), but it’s not unlikely that someone who knows your child—another parent or a teacher or even a classmate—could come across your blog, very easily connect the dots, and discover who that embarrassing story involving diarrhea and Disney’s Haunted Mansion was about.
I don’t know if parents just don’t realize this or if they just don’t care. If I ever, by some divine intervention, wind up with spawn, I will do my best to keep them out of my blogging life. Sure, I might post a (non-nude) baby pic or two and maybe something like a family Christmas pic, but Little Claudia will most certainly be sheltered from the blogging publicity that almost every other aspect of my life undergoes.
3. Is this really necessary? I mean, okay, I get it; we spend an exorbitant amount of time on the web and thus would like a way to document our time spent there, especially if a lot of it involves correspondence with friends (heck, I save my MSN Messenger conversations). But to call it “Egobook,” while descriptive, is kind of…distressing.
That is all.
What is blogging?
I was living in the dank, dull doldrums of Vancouver when Watson debuted on Jeopardy! back in February of this year. However, tonight I was able to catch an old repeat show from when the IBM computer competed against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.
All I have to say is this: how freaking insane is it that we have the technology to create AI computers that are able to not only compete but beat humans in a real time trivia situation? Some philosophers like John Searle argue that Watson can’t really “think,” but how much longer until computers become so sophisticated that the line between computation and thought becomes totally blurred?
Crazy times, 2011, crazy times.
10 Years
It happened before Facebook. It happened before YouTube. It happened before the iPhone. It happened before Wi-Fi became widespread.
But the news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center spread across the country probably faster than any of us could have imagined.
I remember waking up that morning to go to school. My mom already had the news on. It was shortly after the first tower had been hit, and as such there was still a great amount of confusion amongst the news reporters about what exactly had happened. Yes, the tower had been hit by a plane, but there was still speculation regarding whether it was an accident.
I personally remember thinking that’s all it was as I packed up my stuff to walk to school (8th grade). I think my most distinct memory of the day was when I first got on campus a little bit later. Students were rushing into the building, parents exiting the parking lot quickly. I saw my friend Amy, also in a hurry, pass me on her bike.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“The second tower just got hit,” she said. “Big news. Everyone’s talking about it.”
I really don’t remember much else from that day. School didn’t happen, that’s for sure; every TV in every classroom was on, every pair of eyes in every grade watching silently as the events unfolded.
School didn’t happen for the rest of the week, either.
I think if I had been a few years older I would have remembered more. I actually remember September 11, 2002 more vividly because of how afraid everyone was about a similar even occurring on the one-year anniversary.
I guess there’s really not much I can say that hasn’t been said by anyone else today. I hope all those killed (yes, ALL those killed), both on that day and from events resulting from that day, rest in peace.
That is all.
I miss my artsy-fartsy childhood sometimes
When I was a kid in elementary school, I remember my mom always getting a little catalog full of “summer enrichment courses” offered by the city of Moscow. The catalog contained info for both adult and child classes. Being an only child with two working parents, it afforded my family to find me something to do over the summer, something which I readily looked forward to and, because of this, always loved to look through it to find the most interesting summer distractions.
Once, when I was about 6, we found a two-week-long program (that, now that I think about it, ran during the school year and not the summer) that was basically a clay camp—it was for younger kids like myself and it entailed making things out of clay and, after they were fired, glazing them and taking them home.
This was perhaps the greatest activity ever for me.
I remember being totally enthralled by it. This wasn’t the rubbery, neon-colored, oven-bake Sculpey clay I was used to. This was actual moist clay that had to be fired in a kiln before you could do anything else with it. And the glazing? HOLY FREAKING CRAP. I loved how glazes that looked brown or black initially “magically” turned out red or green or baby blue after the clay pieces were fired a second time.
The instructor of this clay class was (and, for all I know, still is) Linda Canary. I really liked her and she really liked me and I really liked clay, so after I had taken clay class several times, she suggested to my mom that I should try out Art Camp, a summer camp she run in which kids not only got to play with clay but also got to use charcoal, oil pastels, acrylic paint, plaster, sculpt soapstone, make books, and (perhaps most importantly) play on Linda’s property, which included a huge field, access to Paradise Creek, like fifteen semi-domesticated cats, a huge dress-up bin, and two treehouses. Not only that, but this camp ran for FIVE HOURS every weekday for TWO WEEKS.
Needless to say, I was thrilled.
I went to this camp until I was older than the upper age limit Linda had written on the flyers. So did I stop going? NEVER! Linda and I had gotten to know each other very well, and she actually suggested once I reached the age of 13 that I should act as her apprentice. What that meant: I would be able to attend the camp without paying the fee, but my job would basically be to assist the younger kids, organize the supplies, set up stuff between activities, and clean brushes/pottery wheels/charcoal-covered tables/charcoal-covered kids. But I could also do as much art as I wanted.
AWESOME.
I think I apprenticed until I was 16 or 17, before I had to go and get a “real” job. Would I go back and do it again if Linda were to ever ask me? Hell yes. Art Camp was one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.
Anyway.
I don’t know what made me think so much about Art Camp this afternoon, but when I got back from walking around London I screwed around on the internet to see if I could find the kiln brands that Linda used, ‘cause if I ever get rich I’m SO building myself a pottery studio. I came across Dogwood Ceramic Supply, which is where I think Linda got EVERYTHING, including glaze.
So hey, if this kind of stuff interests you at all, click on the link and browse around. If I make my own studio, I’m holding adult Art Camps. Because we all need some unabashed creativity in our lives.
The end.
Pi vs. e
So a couple days ago I blogged about why I hadn’t ever analyzed e the same way I had analyzed pi awhile back.And today I said to myself, “hey you idiot, what’s your malfunction? Just break up the million digits into chunks, summarize the numbers within, and then combine all the info in an R-friendly table?”
Yeah, what a genius, eh? Proof that any moron can get a Master’s degree.
(Haha, holy hell, I have a Master’s degree. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever written that.)
Anyway.
So I found a list of the first 1 million digits of e here, broke the list into 10 sections of 100,000 digits, summarized the frequencies, made a fancy-shmancy table, plugged it into R, and did an analysis like the one I did to pi. Specifically, I wanted to see exactly how uniform the distribution of digits were in a number with a non-repeating decimal.
Rather than just showing you the results from e (and to have an excuse to screw around with R graphics), I drudged up the data from my pi analysis so I can present to you a few side-by-side comparisons.
Off we go! And as always, pictures are clickable for fullsize.
Here is a table of the digit frequencies, or how often each number (0 through 9) occurred within the first million digits of the two irrational numbers. Since the distribution of these digits is presumably uniform, the expected frequency for each digit is 100,000. As you can see, there’s a slight deviation from this because my sample size is comparatively very tiny.
Cool, huh? And here are comparative pie charts, which aren’t useful at all because the differences in frequencies—both within and across the two irrationals—are so small compared to the number of digits overall. But they were fun to make and they’re pretty, so you get them anyway.
Here’s a better graphic to show a comparison of the frequencies. Number of instances on the y-axis, digits on the x-axis. The red lines/points represent frequencies for e, the blue lines/points represent frequencies for pi. Look at 6. Isn’t that weird how it’s the most frequent digit in e but the least frequent in pi? And check out 3. There was only one more instance of a 3 in the first million digits of pi than there was in the first million digits of e.
How cool, eh?
MATHEMATICS!
I love this school already
I don’t know how many of you guys follow Piled Higher and Deeper, a comic by Jorge Cham that is the most accurate portrayal of graduate life I’ve ever seen*, but they’re making a live-action movie of it and it’s screening here at UWO on the 23rd.
How freaking cool is that?!
Also, I’m TA-ing PHIL 2020, Basic Logic, class this semester, which is pretty snazzy considering we have to pass a logic competencey exam in our first year of PhD and this will do for a good refresher. Shout-out to Dr. O’Rourke for being an amazing teacher and making logic accessible to me, someone who had no intuitive grasp of proofs prior to the course.
Yay!
*examples from UBC: trying to teach correlation to undergrads, explaining what you’re studying, emailing, and “this might as well have been a screenshot of my compy”
Orientation and grad packets and TA-ing, oh my!
Sock porn time!
I actually need socks (as in, my current ones are holey and worn), but I have no money for such frivolity. Browsing Sock Dreams is therefore painful, but it must be done!
Classes need to start.
Excuses, excuses! (or, “why Claudia sucks”)
Those of you who have been following my blog insanity for several years may remember this post, in which I analyzed pi to determine relative frequencies in the first million digits. I promised to analyze e in the same manner, but I haven’t done it yet. Know why? ‘Cause as much as I love R, R does not love large datasets. Obviously, 1 million individual digits is quite a large dataset.
Once I find a computer with SAS (that’s what I used for pi), I’ll do e. I promise.
Also, have some fun with logic.
Oh crap
OH CRAP I MISSED CLOCK DAY.
And it was the 10 year anniversary of B, too.
Shameshameshameshameshame.
What the hell is Clock Day, you ask? I’ve talked about The Clock Crew on here a few times before, but I don’t think I ever really explained them (well, “us,” since I’m a member too). So I’ll point you to this description on Newgrounds’ Clock Crew page, since it does a fairly succinct job of describing the madness.
In honor of 10 years of B, here’s a sampling of some of my favorite Clock movies, if anyone cares (and if not, too bad, my blog).
B (of course)
The CC’s Humble Beginnings
Ten Commandments
Let It B
The Portal and The Portal Outtakes
Fun times!
Oh internet…
Where would we be without you?
Frivolity, thy name is YouTube.
Sorry these have been kinda crappy lately; not much going on until classes start.
Also, happy birthday, Matt!
To meme or not to meme…
It’s a book meme (or two)! YAY!
Meme #1!
1. Collect the book that you have most handy
2. Turn to page 161
3. Find the 5th complete sentence
4. Site the sentence on your blog
My book is Julian Faraway’s Extending the Linear Model with R (yes, I’m aware of how sexual that sounds). It was sitting on my desk because I needed to look up how to access the logit and probit link functions in R.
The fifth sentence on the 161st page is: “In a model with random effects, the αs are no longer parameters, but random variables.”
Now meme #2!
The book that’s been on your shelves the longest:
Seeing, Saying, Doing, Playing by Taro Gomi. It’s a picture book from my little kid days. There are about twelve scenes depicted within, each containing hundreds of little people going about their days with a little verb hovering around them, describing what they’re doing. I apparently loved this book as a kid. Which, I guess, is obvious by the fact that I’ve still got it on my shelf.
A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time, etc.):
Analyzing Multivariate Data, the course book for Multivariate Analysis taught by Dr. Lee. Yeah, I know, dork fest. This book reminds me of my final semester at the U of I when I was living with the guys in the house and taking noting but philosophy, statistics, and writing classes. This was the best little period of my life thus far. My love affair with factor analysis helped.
A book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used bookstore, prize, etc.):
I have two vocabulary workbooks from the aptitude testing facility I went to back in 2005. They’re levels 7 and 8, purple and yellow.
The most recent addition to your shelves:
The blog archive. Yes, I know it’s not a book, but a) technically my most recent addition was the entirety of my statistics book collection. I moved them from my office at UBC to my apartment, and b) the blogs sit with the rest of my books ‘cause there’s not really any other place for them.
The book whose loss would traumatise you the most:
My stats notes from the last few years. Again, not a book, but something that sits alongside the rest of my library in a massive binder. I would be extremely upset if I were to lose those notes. They contain my initial affair with factor analysis, I mean, come on.
A book that’s been with you to the most places:
I’d have to say Dewey Sadka’s The Dewey Color System. The Color System is a color personality theory with which I was totally obsessed in high school. I actually used it to conduct my first ever major statistical analysis (though it lacked any integrity). I took it to school, I took it to restaurants to read to my parents, I wrote my analyses in it…it’s pretty beat up, haha.
A bonus book that you want to talk about but doesn’t fit into the other questions:
I have to plug Herman Wouk’s novel The Caine Mutiny. It’s my favorite book EVAR and the fact that it’s relatively unknown baffles me. It won the Pulitzer Prize, people! Read it!
Oh hey
Hey, guess what? Today marks my 1-year anniversary on WordPress after freeing my blogs from the tyranny of MySpace.
WOO!
Stats:
Number of views
2,599
Top posts
Scrabble Letter Values and the QWERTY Keyboard
TWSB: Well, it certainly would make the cartographer’s job easier…
Some pretty funny stuff
Claudia’s 365 Days of Music – A Review
An analysis of statewise uniform population density (according to Craigslist)
Top search engine terms
“eigenblogger”
“scrabble letter breakdown”
“scrabble letter values”
“science plushies”
“le seul mot juste”
Here’s to another year!
Float like an ice cream soda, sting like a papercut
OH CRAP August is over. Music analysis time!
Graph of genres
Mean song length: 3:34
NO five-stars!
The end. And no, I don’t know what’s up with the country binge this month.
Uh…
Look at the top headline.
Then read the rest of the headlines.
Um…
I forsee a roadtrip to Toronto…
Today I found an awesome link that pinpoints the most unusual restaurants in the world. Check it out here.
One of the restaurants is here in London—Garlics of London, where, fittingly, everything is made with garlic (including the ice cream). I should go, even though I can’t taste garlic.
Ooh, and in Toronto: Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. We went to a Medieval Times down near Disneyland when my high school band went for the Magic Music Days in 2004. It was awesome.
Life is K
My results from the Big Personality Test (these are all listed in the link above, by the way)
My results from the Art and Personality Test
And perhaps most interesting in my opinion, my results from the Big Risk Test
Check these tests out, they’re awesome.
Saturday. Boredom. Survey.
1902. What takes your breath away?
Lack of oxygen. Beautiful data.
1903. What did you do today that you regret?
Something we shall not discuss.
Will you ever do it again?
Unfortunately.
1904. Is happiness something to be achieved and sought after or is it something to be retained and held onto always, no matter what happens?
Can’t it be both?
1905. Would you rather live in a world of perfection or do you like the world the way it is?
Well, it IS the best of all possible worlds…
1906. Is a frightening world an interesting world to live in?
I would think so.
1907. What gives people depth and character?
Their own personal quirks.
1908. What band, together or not would make you want to JUST FLY after seeing their show?
I think seeing Muse in concert would do this to me.
1909. Speaking of flying, can you fly?
I used to try, man. I used to try every single recess.
1910. Recently a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich in which some people saw the image of the Virgin Mary sold on ebay for $10,000. What do you think of this?
How in the hell did they preserve it for 10 years such that the grilled Virgin Mary portrait is still discernable?
1911. Who is the next person you will hug?
No idea. I know no one in this city.
1912. Where was your last vacation to?
Alaska.
1913. Where was your last car ride to?
Um…Walmart?
1914. Where was your last bus ride to?
Costco.
1915. Where did you last walk to?
Loblaws.
1916. What is the worst band in the universe?
No idea.
1917. What is the next book you want to read?
I’m currently reading Baldwin’s Go Tell it on the Mountain, so I guess that.
1918. What are the 3 most useless items on the planet?
Me, myself, and I.
1919. What gives you a peaceful feeling?
R. Good music. More R. DATA!
1920. Do you ever stay up late watching infomercials?
Haha, I used to all the time when I went to my dad’s for the weekend as a kid.
Did you ever BUY anything from an infomercial?
Nope. But my dad’s a QVC addict.
1921. Are you a light sleeper?
Pfft. Sleep’s for the weak.
1922. Are you a toys R us kid?
I’ve only ever been to Toys R Us once.
1923. Are you part of the mile high club?
HAHAHAHAHA no.
1924. Do you like:
pina coladas? Never had one
getting caught in the rain? SCREW YOU VANCOUVER
yoga? Never understood the appeal much
intelligence? Indeed.
making love at midnight? Oh yes.
health food? Broccoli wins.
champagne? Meh.
the feel of the ocean? The Pacific Ocean? Freaking cold!
1925. What was the funniest way that you ever misheard the lyrics to a song?
I don’t know about myself, but I found out last summer that a friend always thought the lyric “I bless the rains down in Africa” from Toto’s “Africa” was “I guess it rains down in Africa.” It was a lot more hilarious than it sounds.
1926. What have you never seen anything lovelier than?
A tree (KILMER REFERENCE OMFG)
1927. Have you ever painted on a:
wall: yes.
ceramic: oh yeah.
painting: have I ever painted on a painting? That’s…um…
model: like a scale model or a fashion model?
sun catcher: nope.
face: yup.
body: oh yeah.
1928. If you believe in heaven are there separate heavens for different animals (kittie heaven. dog heaven, bird heaven, etc)?
I don’t believe in heaven.
1929. If you could build your body from scratch using the parts from different celebrities who would you combine?
I don’t know. But I recently was made aware of how striking Jennifer Aniston is.
1930. If you could build your perfect match from scratch using the parts from different celebrities who would you combine?
I would just use Tom Hanks. ‘Cause he’s awesome.
1931. Avril Lavigne or Michelle Branch?
Avril.
Vanessa Carlton or Britney Spears?
Britney.
1932. When you sleep next to someone do they fall asleep first usually or do you?
They do.
If they do, do you watch them sleep?
I touch them. NICELY, people, like stroking their shoulder. Not a pervert.
1933. How many people have a piece of your heart?
Two.
1934. What are your day dreams about?
The future. The past. Pretty much anything outside the realm of the current year.
1935. What is your usual breakfast?
Banana + peanuts. Not mixed together, though, ‘cause that’s nasty.
1936. How quickly are you willing to take drugs to numb pain?
Not very quickly.
1937. Finish this sentence. I pity the fool that:
Falls in love with you.
1938. Can you think of three adjectives that DO NOT apply to you even a tiny bit?
We already had this question! I remember it from awhile back.
1939. What do your salt and pepper shakers look like?
They’re small, cylindrical, and say “salt” and “pepper” on them respectively. Livin’ extravagantly.
|1940. When was the last time you hurt yourself?
Um…we’ll not get into that, okay?
1941. Would you rather never have to sleep but also never be able to dream or just leave things as they are?
Never have to sleep!
1942. Have you ever had your car towed?
Nope.
1943. Have you ever used kool-aid to dye your hair?
That would so not work on me.
1944. Would you rather be naked and famous or dressed and non-famous?
I can be naked AND famous? Rock on!
1945. What band or singer do you believe started rock and roll?
Bon Jovi? Haha, I dunno.
1946. Think of an object that is shaped like your body:
Uh…a wonky stick? I’m weird-shaped.
1947. If you had a large black vase-pot-thing in your house what would you put in it?
A vase-pot-thing? Seriously?
1948. Where would you like to live when you want to start a family?
I don’t think I’d want to start a family.
1949. Would you rather live in the city, suburbs or the country?
City.
1950. Were you parents born by the year 1950?
Nope.
1951. Would you ever participate in a ‘sock hop’?
That would be awesome.
1952. Once there was a green house and inside it was a white house and inside it was a red house and inside it was a bunch of little brown babies. What are we talking about? Solve this riddle.
Is it watermelon?
1953. Have you ever built something?
I built the transmission to the Lego Mars Rover we worked on back in elementary school.
1954. What is the hardest thing to face each day?
Myself.
1955. Who’s voice irritates you like fingernails on a blackboard?
No one’s.
1956. What is your favorite plant?
Oregon grapes are badass.
1957. What simple things in life do you appreciate?
Dorky friends. Orgy parties. Dorky friends + orgy parties. Dorky friends + orgy parties – clothes.
1958. Have you ever read a book by Tom Robbins?
Nope.
1959. Are you more of a maker and giver, or a taker and user?
A maker and giver.
1960. What do you contribute to society?
Weird blogs.
1961. Do you take naps?
Hell no.
1962. Do you have any cavaties?
Not that I know of.
1963. What is the difference between art and fine art?
I think “fine art” is used to describe the more aesthetic components of the wide scope of what is “art.”
1964. Do you believe that there has been a man on the moon?
Sure, why not?
1965. What music makes you so happy you could burst?
SLEEPYHEAD
1966. What do you think of the band They Might be Giants?
Eh, never heard much of theirs.
1967. Would you ever go into a sex shop?
I have.
1968. If you had to choose would you rather go into a sex shop with your mom or your dad?
Hahahaha, my mom.
1969. Do you buy holiday gifts early or at the last minute?
Last minute.
1970. What do you want to do today?
Be awesome.
1971. You see a girl in a long ruffled off white dress carrying a bag painted with a sunflower and playing a ukelele while twirling around the cafeteria.
What is your first reaction?
Hi pretty hippy lady!
Could you become friends with this girl?
Why not?
1972. Let’s just say your school team is on a winning streak. One of the cheerleaders cheers both for your team and the other team during games. Does it make you angry?
Nope.
One day you ask her why she does it and she says that, “It’s just so much fun, no matter who wins.” What do you think of that?
She’s rad.
1973. Do you laugh when there is no joke and dance when there is no music?
Have you been in my head?
1974. What would the perfect pair of socks look like?
Toe socks. Rainbow. Maybe sparkly.
1975. What is the longest you have ever gone without sleeping?
Quite some time. Stupid Gritman and their inability to perform an EEG correctly.
1976. Have you ever had a hallucination?
Oh my.
1977. Are you generally happy?
Ehhhhhhhhhhhh.
1978. Are you a:
sore loser?
Sometimes.
sore winner?
I don’t think so?
1979. Were you an 80’s baby?
Yup. 1988.
1980. What’s in the room with you right now that you can’t see?
The wall behind me.
1981. Do you ALWAYS thouroughly wash your hands after going to the bathroom?
Yup.
1982. If someone else were to describe you what would you hope they would say?
That I was smart, competent, and good at statistics.
1983. What is the sound of one hand clapping?
The sound trees make when they fall in the forest when nobody’s around.
1984. You are filling out a 5000 question survey. What would you rather be doing right now?
Dancing.
Why aren’t you doing it?
Because I can’t blast my music at 3 AM.
1985. Do you prefer carnivals, festivals, circuses, parades or fairs?
Parades, ‘cause I’m usually marching in them.
1986. Are you useful?
I would like to be, but I’m probably not.
1987. Are you a:
bitch/bastard?
Nope.
lover?
Yup.
child?
No longer.
mother/father?
Hahaha, nooo.
sinner?
According to the church.
saint?
That would be entertaining.
1988. What is the dirtiest habit you can think of?
Collecting dirt.
1989. What kind of person will you ABSOLUTELY never date?
Someone who’s a jerk to everyone else. Never again.
1990. What were you doing at ten fifteen last saturday night?
Dude, I can’t even remember what I was doing at 10:15 tonight.
1991. Do you ever need ‘quiet time’?
Almost constantly.
1992. What are you made of?
Monads!
1993. What does ‘you are what you eat’ really mean?
That I am broccoli.
1994. What was the last thing you counted?
My M&Ms.
1995. Do you think it is harder for a parent to outlive their child or for the child to lose a parent?
Probably harder for the parent who loses a child, because I think they kind of “expect” themselves to go first.
1996. Do you believe in psychic ability or is it a sham?
Who knows? The universe is a strange thing.
1997. What is your favorite classic rock song?
Peace of Mind by the ever-awesome Boston.
1998. Who are you anyway?
I’m a weirdo.
Are you your resume?
I’m a two-page piece of paper?!
1999. When are you the most insecure?
Probably when I’m one-on-one with somebody. Freaks me out. I need to be with at least two other people to feel comfortable.
2000. Who would your fantasy threesome involve?
Leibniz, Hume, and myself.
Yeah.
Best of all possible threesomes.
Yes, it took me this long to find my camera cord
Hey!
I walked around campus a bit more this afternoon and got some pics. Then I walked south, though not far enough to get to downtown, and captured a few more pics. Observe London and UWO! Clicky for large size.
Outside the front of my dorm.
The library.
The main drag, Oxford Lane.
The other main drag, Western Road.
Coat of Arms
.
Downtown on Oxford Street.
Eigenblogger 
