therandomtexan
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Update, update, have another update
Is it just me, or is are software developers slinging out patches to their half-assed software even more frequently than usual? I just had to restart my PC, and, as is more and more typical, Java and Adobe both had another friggin’ update to install. I begin to wonder if anybody ever codes anything right Read more
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I’m sorry, but GFY counts as three words.
The next time some chickenshit tofu-eating progressive tells you how great things are in C-A-N-A-D-A, tell he/she/it about this wonderful bit of asshattery. Read more
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I’m surprised she eats food that doesn’t have a Michael Pollan logo on it
Check out this latte liberal and her parochial views on food and nutrition. For breakfast, I usually have a cappuccino—espresso made in an Alessi pot and mixed with organic milk, which has been gently heated and hand-fluffed by my husband. I eat two slices of imported cheese—Dutch Parrano, the label says, “the hippest cheese in Read more
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Friedman’s “Law of Statistics”
Kaiser Fung craps all over the latest Tom Friedman column, deservedly. Apparently Friedman never learned any quantitative critical thinking. Read more
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Screen for thee, but not for me
Surprise, surprise. Government bigwigs don’t have to submit to TSA screening. That’s not special treatment, says Armed Liberal over at the Winds of Change. Yeah, I should start traveling with MY Federal Security Detail. “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in Read more
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Fair of face with feet of clay
I think these two articles go together. Virginia Postrel writes on “The Allure of Techo-Glamour” and says “you can’t counter glamour with statistics.” BLDGBLOG reviews Robert Sullivan’s Rats, which reminds us that hip infrastructure has its own set of problems. ‘They design buildings to support pigeons and for infiltration by rodents because they don’t think Read more
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R bubblecharts
Nice R bubblechart tutorial at Flowing Data. Since ggplot2 is all the rage, I thought I’d give it a spin. Here’s the result qplot(data=crime, x=murder, y=burglary, main="2008 State Crime Data", xlab="murders per 1000", ylab="burglaries per 1000") + geom_text(aes(label=state), size=2.25, angle=45, hjust=1, vjust=1, color="blue") + geom_point(aes(size=population/1000), color="orange", alpha=0.7) + scale_size(to=c(3,15)) Read more
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More explication of the obvious
Even Al Gore admits that putting corn likker in your gasoline is a dumb idea. Knowing Congress, they’ll probably renew the tax credit anyway. Wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of ADM. Update (23 November). Jonathan Adler discusses growing congressional opposition to extend the tax credit, and makes the stakes clear: “If Republicans Read more
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Who pays the piper, calls the tune
I’ve got a great idea: let’s borrow a few more trillion from the Peoples’ Republic of China, and then WE can boycott the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, too. Am I the only one in this country who thinks this is a bit much? Read more
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Flash! Smoking dope makes you stupid.
Scientists make a career out of explicating the obvious Teenagers respond differently to drugs than adults, and early use may lead to long-lasting effects on brain development, according to new research. A study presented at the Society for Neuroscience meeting, in San Diego last week, shows people who start using marijuana at a young age Read more
The Random Texan 