As I said last night, I wound up watching all of the presidential debate. I turned it on expecting to get disgusted and flip away in half an hour or so, but it was remarkably better than the last two elections’ worth of debates. Almost as if both participants were qualified to be President. I’m… Continue reading Big-Picture Debate Commentary
links for 2008-09-27
Primer: TV Detectives | The A.V. Club "A brief history of–and notable highlights from–television’s long-term love affair with procedurals, mystery stories, and the colorful characters who figure out whodunit." (tags: television review culture avclub)
Everything That Is Wrong With American Political Culture
God help me, I watched all of the debate tonight. I’m not sure why, but I did, and I’ll say something about it in an overall sense tomorrow. It occurs to me, though, that one moment after the debate sums up everything that has gone wrong with this country over the last N years. I… Continue reading Everything That Is Wrong With American Political Culture
Baseball Statistics Are Crap
October is almost upon us, which means that we’ve been subjected to a bunch of long segments on Mike & Mike about baseball. These serve to remind me just how little use I have for baseball, and baseball statistics. I’ve long thought that baseball fans are stat-obsessed dorks, but my opinion changed somewhat when I… Continue reading Baseball Statistics Are Crap
Getting Through the Debates
At the time of this writing, it’s still not clear whether the scheduled presidential debate will take place this evening. If you’d like to be prepared, just in case, here are a couple of links that might help you get through it: FreePress.net is offering a “Rate the Debates” service, where you can sign up… Continue reading Getting Through the Debates
links for 2008-09-26
Good Math, Bad Math : How Mortgages Turned into a Trillion Dollar Disaster "The question is, if mortgages are at the root of the current economic disaster, how can it possibly result in close to a trillion dollars worth of losses?" (tags: US politics humanities math diversity stupid) Easily Distracted » Blog Archive » Trade… Continue reading links for 2008-09-26
Alumni News Update
At my 15th class reunion this past June, I agreed to become the class secretary for the next few years, writing up little news updates for the Cult of the Purple Cow Quarterly, so my classmates can read about the achievements of their fellows. In that spirit, I feel I should note an accolade that… Continue reading Alumni News Update
Science Bailout Needed
In email this morning from the American Physical Society, a call for a financial bailout: Congress has not passed any FY 2009 appropriations bills and is now finalizing a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will keep the government operating when the new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2008. The House is expected to consider the… Continue reading Science Bailout Needed
Thursday Baby Blogging 092508
Behold, the incredible expanding baby: The “Smart Cookie” onesie she’s wearing was also featured in the Week 4 picture, and now, it basically doesn’t fit her any more (it’s not fully buttoned under the blanket). We’ve already had to retire a couple of boxes of little-baby clothes, and she never did get to wear some… Continue reading Thursday Baby Blogging 092508
links for 2008-09-25
Dynamics of Cats : how to buy a house A first-order approximation. (tags: economics society US politics) Good Math, Bad Math : Bad Probability and Economic Disaster; or How Ignoring Bayes Theorem Caused the Mess "One of the big questions that comes up again and again is: how did they get away with this? How… Continue reading links for 2008-09-25