therandomtexan
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Don’t get caught thinking in public!
Wicked men are unkind to the thoughtful. Tip from John Cook at the Endeavour. Read more
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Oh noes! It’s ‘sposed to go the other way!
Paleoclimatologists working in Lapland have some new and interesting findings: Professor Dr. Jan Esper’s group at the Institute of Geography at JGU used tree-ring density measurements from sub-fossil pine trees originating from Finnish Lapland to produce a reconstruction reaching back to 138 BC. In so doing, the researchers have been able for the first time Read more
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Collegiality…
…is one of those flexible terms academicians use to describe fellow faculty who “do what I like” or “do the committee work I abhor” or “don’t vote for Republicans” or something of that sort. But I’ve come up with a simpler, more objective, and operationally measurable definition: A fellow faculty member is collegial if he Read more
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More Tricks
When I first read about the Juice Labs Chart Chooser, I was decidedly underwhelmed. After a second look, I’m impressed–these guys have some clever tricks, and they’re yours for the downloading. Heck, it’s just fun to resize the browser window on this thing–they’ve done some HTML5 wizardry that’s quite clever. Tip from Flowing Data. Read more
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Analysis or “Analysis”
Scott Adams nails it “No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first–verdict afterwards.” Tip from the Instapundit. Read more
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New Tricks for this Old Dog
Udacity is offering an introductory statistics course this summer, beginning June 25th. I’ve enrolled, to see how the Big Boys do it. This is going to put a lot of pressure on traditional universities–especially here in Texas, where we’re busily hammering out the $10,000 Bachelor’s degree. I figure if I don’t get up with the Read more
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The Man with an Orange for a Head
“…no narrative structure is big enough to contain the infinite perversity of the human heart.” Read more
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KRTU meets Photosynth
I had an opportunity to hang out with the gang at KRTU, my favorite radio station, this morning. During some Standing Around Looking Foolish time, I took the opportunity to try out a cool new toy on my Windows Phone, Photosynth. Here’s the KRTU control room: Read more
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The digitus impudicus and more
Here’s a fascinating primer on gestures. Who knew that the rude finger gesture is more durable than its very name? Tip from the Geek Press. Read more
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Not the conversation he expected, is it?
When he was campaigning for election, Barack Obama said the country needed to have a “conversation about race.” In the wake of the Martin-Zimmerman tragedy, we’re getting it, but I don’t think it’s the I-talk-you-shut-up-and-listen conversation he imagined. Black folks are disenchanted, and some white folks are tired of shutting up. The President may have Read more
The Random Texan 