therandomtexan
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“I can’t pick out a nail polish now without a pendulum!”
Call me old-fashioned, but I think I can skip a $1500 shamanic closet cleanse. I’ll stick with the milk crate I toss my gently-(ab)used and out-of-date clothes into. I’m so square. Tip from Ed Driscoll, trying to make sense in a world gone mad, at the Instapundit. Read more
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The Vinyl Detective
If you’re a fan of British TV sci-fi, you’ve probably seen several episodes of Dr Who written by Andrew Cartmel. Now he’s gone full geek at right angles with a new mystery series, The Vinyl Detective. Our unlikely hero is a jazz aficionado who ekes out a living buying and selling rare vinyl recordings, and Read more
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Time for some Doubleplus Ungood Badthink
The Brat Pack of science fiction has concocted a cynical ploy to disturb the genre’s Purity of Essence; they’re giving away e-books. I wasn’t too sure about this until I read John Scalzi’s pithy recommendation. “This is bullshit” exactly sums up my opinion of his latest strawman social-justice snoozer Locked In. So he’s become my Read more
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UTSA ‘fesses up
My university’s dirty little secret about graduation rates isn’t secret any more. One thing that will need changing is getting a stronger GRIP. Treating our incoming freshman like trauma victims doesn’t seem to be working. Read more
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R Tutorial: the non-linear equation solver
Need a numerical solution to simultaneous non-linear equations? The nleqslv package is just what you’re looking for! The coding required is minimal; just define the equations you want solved in a function, set some initial values, and let ‘er rip. Here’s an example that uses the method of moments to estimate the parameters of a Read more
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The Cool Just Keeps on Comin’
Remember this guy? Turns out he’s got competition from this guy. Tip from American Digest. Update: And here’s a Texan who spent 10 years getting the US Constitution amended; that’s cool the hard way. Update: Let’s not forget this old fart who broke the sound barrier gimmicking the controls of his Bell X-1 with a Read more
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Some Hard Stats about University Teaching
Thinking about becoming a university professor? Read Kevin Birmingham’s “The Great Shame of Our Profession” before making definite plans. A 2014 congressional report suggests that 89 percent of adjuncts work at more than one institution; 13 percent work at four or more. The need for several appointments becomes obvious when we realize how little any Read more
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Reports of its death are greatly exaggerated
The ability of statistics to accurately represent the world is declining. In its wake, a new age of big data controlled by private companies is taking over – and putting democracy in peril. begins William Davies tale of woe in the Guardian. Unfortunately, he confuses credible statistics with modern state-istics*; and seems impervious to the Read more
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Multiple Comparisons, Made Easy
Adrian Colyer at the morning paper, takes a stab at explaining the problem with p-values and multiple comparisons. He shoots! He scores! The crowd* goes wild! Tip from an O’Reilly Daily Newsletter, which I found languishing in Clutter purgatory. *OK, the crowd of two or three statistics lecturers who struggle to explain the multiple comparison Read more
The Random Texan 