Showing posts with label Chris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris. Show all posts
October 09, 2009
Obama wins Nobel Peace Price
All I am saying is this: do we really live in a world where the Arizona State commencement speech committee has more stringent standards than then Norwegian Nobel Committee?
October 08, 2009
Google Wave
Not nearly as cool as they think it is, but still one of those "finally!" moments for the internet.
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/closed.html
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/closed.html
October 02, 2009
Owned!
Chicago eliminated in first round of Olympic 2016 voting. Obama's reputation as being unable to get things done will be solidified by the time you go to bed tonight. Happy 2010 elections! (Oh, and good luck on Iran!)
September 10, 2009
Speech! Speech!
Assuming you saw the President's address to Congress last night. Apparently The Daily Beast has highlights from it. I thought it was a bit professorial, and painfully fast-and-loose with the facts, but overall a pretty decent speech (with quite a finish).
Ultimately, I don't see this changing much. And I believe Joe "You Lie" Wilson, for all his lack of manners, probably did an excellent job of undermining Obama. If you think about the subset of people who came into the speech against Obama's reform efforts but were warming up to it as the speech went on, that sort of outburst is exactly the sort of thing to snap one out of the increasing level of trust building between the speaker and viewer throughout the speech, reminding viewers that there was a reason they opposed this guy before, and his "sweet-talk" shouldn't necessarily win them over now.
As a side note, it is sort of terrifying how divisive this issue has been, given that there's so much everyone agrees on (like pre-ex's). I mean, even the school speech was a bitter partisan issue. And Drudge Report is reporting higher readership than at the same time a year ago, which is astounding given that a year ago we were in the height of the election season (and about two weeks into the Sarah Palin Era).
Ultimately, I don't see this changing much. And I believe Joe "You Lie" Wilson, for all his lack of manners, probably did an excellent job of undermining Obama. If you think about the subset of people who came into the speech against Obama's reform efforts but were warming up to it as the speech went on, that sort of outburst is exactly the sort of thing to snap one out of the increasing level of trust building between the speaker and viewer throughout the speech, reminding viewers that there was a reason they opposed this guy before, and his "sweet-talk" shouldn't necessarily win them over now.
As a side note, it is sort of terrifying how divisive this issue has been, given that there's so much everyone agrees on (like pre-ex's). I mean, even the school speech was a bitter partisan issue. And Drudge Report is reporting higher readership than at the same time a year ago, which is astounding given that a year ago we were in the height of the election season (and about two weeks into the Sarah Palin Era).
July 17, 2009
Governor Sanford *should* resign
Generally speaking, I wouldn't say infidelity necessitates an elected official's resignation (unless they support DOMA or something like that), but the AP reports that the governor spent nearly $40,000 on air travel for five flights to Brazil, sitting in first/business class while he aides sat in coach. And that is grounds for resignation.
July 11, 2009
Public vs. Science: Evolution and Climate
So, Gmail informs me that there have been 42 posts and comments since the last time I read anything over here ... even though I'm still not caught up, I felt compelled to pass on this fascinating study which not only compares what the public thinks about evolution and global warming with what scientists think, but it also shows the difference between what the public thinks that scientists think and what they actually do think.
June 18, 2009
Damn Mahmoud, you don't remember Benford's Law?!
Statistics for the win.
I won't go into to much explanation since Nate does, but check this out. Benford's Law says that, with remarkably few assumptions, an extremely wide range of types of data all exhibit similar patterns when it comes to their values' first digit.
So whether you're talking about the number of people living in each of America's counties or the distance between Earth and each of the Universe's objects, if you took your entire list and only kept the first digits, the proportion of 1s would be about the same on both lists, and the same for 2s, etc. (This sort of makes sense - there are probably more counties with 10-19 people than 90-99, more with 100-199 than 900-999, more with 100,000-199,999 than 900,000-999,999, etc.)
Long story short, Nate's analysis appears to show that one of Ahmadinejad's opponent's vote totals per county(?) behaved extremely well according to Benford's Law - except there were far too many 7s ...
I won't go into to much explanation since Nate does, but check this out. Benford's Law says that, with remarkably few assumptions, an extremely wide range of types of data all exhibit similar patterns when it comes to their values' first digit.
So whether you're talking about the number of people living in each of America's counties or the distance between Earth and each of the Universe's objects, if you took your entire list and only kept the first digits, the proportion of 1s would be about the same on both lists, and the same for 2s, etc. (This sort of makes sense - there are probably more counties with 10-19 people than 90-99, more with 100-199 than 900-999, more with 100,000-199,999 than 900,000-999,999, etc.)
Long story short, Nate's analysis appears to show that one of Ahmadinejad's opponent's vote totals per county(?) behaved extremely well according to Benford's Law - except there were far too many 7s ...
June 12, 2009
May 29, 2009
Shh, don't say anything - you don't want to jinx it!
Not sure how many of you have noticed, but the numbers that keep coming out on the economy are consistently pretty-bad-but-they-could be worse kind of numbers. Also not sure if you noticed, but the news has sort of just stopped talking about the economy ...
So it should come as little surprise then, even with no indication of economic improvement, that consumer confidence numbers are on the rise - and fast! It seems that without hearing bad news about the economy all the time, people are actually starting to think it's improving (even I have to actively resist this trap). But then again, people thinking the economy is better could very well be all it takes to start the recovery.
Don't screw this up for us CNN.
So it should come as little surprise then, even with no indication of economic improvement, that consumer confidence numbers are on the rise - and fast! It seems that without hearing bad news about the economy all the time, people are actually starting to think it's improving (even I have to actively resist this trap). But then again, people thinking the economy is better could very well be all it takes to start the recovery.
Don't screw this up for us CNN.
May 26, 2009
Bacon Explosion!
In a glorious moment that will supply me with chest hair for the rest of my life, we had a "Bacon Explosion" this weekend.
http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/
http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/
May 07, 2009
Interracial Marriage ... Gay Marriage ...
... what's next? Polyamorous marriage.
(I'm not sure if I used the right word)
(I'm not sure if I used the right word)
Pakistan, anyone?
So, have I been watching too much right-wing TV, or do I have my story straight when I say that the Taliban's efforts to capture Pakistan (read: a country with a nuclear arsenal) have resulted in them so far capturing a city as close as 70 miles to its capital?
(Here's a really boring article)
(Here's a really boring article)
May 06, 2009
Way Back Wednesday
For reasons unbeknownst to be, I've decided today would be a good day for posting a few videos from that "oldies but goodies" category. Enjoy, I guess.
May 05, 2009
Heh - Justice Gore
This article takes a fun little look, knowing that there's no chance, at Al Gore as a Supreme Court Justice ... not really notable except for the fun thought of Scalia et al sitting on a bench with the "loser" of Bush v. Gore.
May 04, 2009
Jeb Bush will never be president
You almost have to feel sorry for the guy; he is, after all the less incompetent of the two famous Bush brothers, but the name has tarnished his political aspirations forever.
Well, now none of that matters. To be a Republican President you have to be a Republican nominee for president, meaning you have to win a Republican primary.
And if you say it's time to leave Reagan behind, you will never win a Republican primary.
Well, now none of that matters. To be a Republican President you have to be a Republican nominee for president, meaning you have to win a Republican primary.
And if you say it's time to leave Reagan behind, you will never win a Republican primary.
May 01, 2009
Jon?
I know I don't agree with all my friends on this issue (in fact, I may not agree with anyone more than Cliff May) but agree or disagree, is this not Jon Stewart at his douchiest? All the yelling and interrupting ... (besides being wrong, not to mention his comments on Truman, for which he apologized)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Cliff May Unedited Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
| ||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Cliff May Unedited Interview Pt. 2 | ||||
| ||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Cliff May Unedited Interview Pt. 3 | ||||
| ||||
Science Friday
The abilities of tapping/dancing to music and being able to mimic sounds are related in the brain say researchers. Here's a great video of a cockatoo rocking out to the Backstreet Boys. It's definitely worth a watch, provided you can handle all the high-pitched ear-wrenching screeching (not to mention the birds' wails).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
