Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike spam.
I think the idea of e-mailing a brief post to a blog is more natural than composing blog entries at the blog software’s website. So I’m going to give this “blog instead of e-mailing Jaime” thing another try.
Why America Sucks at Math
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/education/10math.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
I am still reading the actual paper, but this comes as no surprise to me.
Key quote:
"The study found that many students from the United States in these competitions are immigrants or children of immigrants from countries where education in mathematics is prized and mathematical talent is thought to be widely distributed and able to be cultivated through hard work and persistence."
In other words, my theory that everyone is capable of doing a lot of math (maybe not exceptional math, but at least college-level) is probably accurate, and this is true in other countries. The problem here is not that only geniuses can do math... it's that we are teaching our children we will only value their accomplishments if they're on the football field.
Yet another reason, in my view, why sports (outside of basic physical education for fitness) should be banned from all schools at all levels. Linking football to high school or college sends precisely the wrong message to the entire student body and all the students' parents. Get rid of it all.
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Ahh... Irony
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/17/dallas.schools/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
The Dallas school board is out $84 million because of an arithmetic error.
I wonder if any of those teachers, or the parents of those students, will every say, with a laugh, "oh I suck at math" in public ever again?
Me... I'm betting they will. Pitiful.
The Dallas school board is out $84 million because of an arithmetic error.
I wonder if any of those teachers, or the parents of those students, will every say, with a laugh, "oh I suck at math" in public ever again?
Me... I'm betting they will. Pitiful.
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Interesting Idea
I read a complaint about income redistribution. I had a thought.
The idea is that if some people do well, they should pay taxes for those who didn't to even things out… even if only a bit.
The complaint is that it's not like some people "accidentally" got more allowance money for free, or more rain fell on them than someone else. Every dollar redistributed has to come from SOMEWHERE. It's more that some people went out and did work that was valued more so they made more. Some of it is luck but a lot of it is a matter of deliberate voluntary choices.
Here's my
take: If someone thinks the rich should have to pay more, compare that with
their spouse. They were "lucky" enough to have a good looking woman as a wife.
(They'll never DENY this in front of their wife, right?) Well… to be fair, they
have to give one night a week of their wife's service to someone less
fortunate.
It's not charity now, it's a tax. You have to give up one night. Because the majority of those less fortunate just SAID SO.
If they say "but that's different" make them DEFINE the difference. What precisely is the difference between me making more money than you because I went to school, and you deciding to take my money and give it someone else, and some schmuck just out and out taking a night with your wife?
I can think
of the difference and it's the reason I've become more of a fan of income redistribution lately.
But it's got nothing to do with the poor or feeling sorry for them or thinking
that they're poor because their unlucky. It has nothing at all to do with any
of those things.
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New Down's Syndrome Test - Mother's Blood Only
Coming soon, $300 test for Down's Syndrome at 12 months using only the mother's blood.
That doesn't change much for us, but for couples who would abort the fetus it makes a big, big difference.
That doesn't change much for us, but for couples who would abort the fetus it makes a big, big difference.
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We Should Let Mark Know
China monitoring Skype conversations
Key quote: "He said that in addition to capturing the Skype messages sent between Tom-Skype users, international conversations were recorded as well, meaning that users of standard Skype software outside China were also vulnerable to the surveillance system when they had text conversations with Chinese users."
What this means: At minimum, certain keywords used in text IM conversation between Mark in China and his family here in the US probably resulted in logging of details on Chinese surveillance computers.
Risk: The hole used for Chinese surveillance is probably being used by US surveillance in violation of the US constitution, due to executive orders after 9/11.
Idea: Ask Linda and Terry if they feel "fine" about their conversations with Mark being monitored. Ask them whether they'd feel OK with the Bush administration doing the same thing. Mention that it is probably already happening. Have a nice day.
Key quote: "He said that in addition to capturing the Skype messages sent between Tom-Skype users, international conversations were recorded as well, meaning that users of standard Skype software outside China were also vulnerable to the surveillance system when they had text conversations with Chinese users."
What this means: At minimum, certain keywords used in text IM conversation between Mark in China and his family here in the US probably resulted in logging of details on Chinese surveillance computers.
Risk: The hole used for Chinese surveillance is probably being used by US surveillance in violation of the US constitution, due to executive orders after 9/11.
Idea: Ask Linda and Terry if they feel "fine" about their conversations with Mark being monitored. Ask them whether they'd feel OK with the Bush administration doing the same thing. Mention that it is probably already happening. Have a nice day.
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Too Awesome
How have I gone through life not knowing about this stuff? I need me a stack in my bookbag.
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Explaining Bad Software to Engineers
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Sticking-to-the-Method.aspx
My father-in-law should get a kick out of this (he's a Mechanical Engineer and a damned good one). I frequently have run-ins with programmers over this kind of thing. The essential point is that "doing it right" usually means two things "more work" and "more complexity". To create a piece of software that's really useful for someone else usually requires a lot of effort, a lot of listening, a lot of iterative refinement, a ton of testing, and finally a willingness to tackle a high degree of complexity so your user doesn't have to.
The catchphrase I frequently resort to, in an attempt to smack my peers verbally and get them to see reality is: "If solving this problem is so easy, what do they need us for?"
But it doesn't help. WTF, indeed!
My father-in-law should get a kick out of this (he's a Mechanical Engineer and a damned good one). I frequently have run-ins with programmers over this kind of thing. The essential point is that "doing it right" usually means two things "more work" and "more complexity". To create a piece of software that's really useful for someone else usually requires a lot of effort, a lot of listening, a lot of iterative refinement, a ton of testing, and finally a willingness to tackle a high degree of complexity so your user doesn't have to.
The catchphrase I frequently resort to, in an attempt to smack my peers verbally and get them to see reality is: "If solving this problem is so easy, what do they need us for?"
But it doesn't help. WTF, indeed!
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I think we do this already...
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=207
Great article that cuts a lot of the hype surrounding food choices and nutritional claims at supermarkets.
I read it and thought: I've been eating this way for 10-20 years. Not because it's "healthy" but because I like it. I like a wide variety of food. I like high-quality food. Overly processed food is cloying and I can't eat much of it because of the poor taste. If a food seems particularly rich (read: fat) I try to enjoy a smaller portion as a delicacy.
The one thing we need to do more of is substitute more plant food. Appetizers need to be one more plant and one fewer meat, a few days a week. We need to make a point of eating salad more days before dinner and cutting the portion size of dinner substantially to compensate.
I don't think you're ever going to convince me to stop enjoying a nice steak or a juicy pork chop though. Live ten more years and never savour a good steak? No THANK you.
Great article that cuts a lot of the hype surrounding food choices and nutritional claims at supermarkets.
I read it and thought: I've been eating this way for 10-20 years. Not because it's "healthy" but because I like it. I like a wide variety of food. I like high-quality food. Overly processed food is cloying and I can't eat much of it because of the poor taste. If a food seems particularly rich (read: fat) I try to enjoy a smaller portion as a delicacy.
The one thing we need to do more of is substitute more plant food. Appetizers need to be one more plant and one fewer meat, a few days a week. We need to make a point of eating salad more days before dinner and cutting the portion size of dinner substantially to compensate.
I don't think you're ever going to convince me to stop enjoying a nice steak or a juicy pork chop though. Live ten more years and never savour a good steak? No THANK you.
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Quote of the Day
"We have some cultural biases
in North America around math skills," says Ansari. "We think that
people who are good at math must be exceptionally intelligent, and even
more dismaying and damaging, we have an attitude that being bad at math
is socially acceptable. People who would never dream of telling others
they are unable to read, will proclaim publicly they flunked math."
I couldn't agree more. I think I'm going to make a policy of this now: Whenever someone says "Oh, I suck at math" I'm going to say "Oh, are you illiterate too?"
Probably not a good way to make friends, but then... who wants to be friends with someone who's illiterate?
(And no, I don't mean to insult those with real learning disabilities.)
I couldn't agree more. I think I'm going to make a policy of this now: Whenever someone says "Oh, I suck at math" I'm going to say "Oh, are you illiterate too?"
Probably not a good way to make friends, but then... who wants to be friends with someone who's illiterate?
(And no, I don't mean to insult those with real learning disabilities.)
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