therandomtexan
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The ’60’s, the gift that keeps on giving
From CBS News: The 1960s songbird Joan Baez is “resting comfortably” at an undisclosed location after falling 20 feet to the ground from a treehouse – a treehouse she purposely had built without walls because she wanted to sleep among real birds at her home in Woodside, Calif. Read more
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“Comply with me”
Iowahawk’s lyrics have been made into a music video: Apropos of all this searching and probing, Mrs RandomTexan asked me this morning, “Aren’t these TSA searches supposed to be same sex? With so many people of indeterminate gender out there, how do you know that TSA agent is really the same sex as you?” A-r-r-r-gh! Read more
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Wow! An instant solution to the National Debt Problem!
Some thumbsuckers in Congress have proposed we solve the Debt Crisis with innovations like a tax on soft drinks. One of the Rivlin-Domenici proposals is “an excise tax on the manufacture and importation of beverages sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup.” Others are cutting farm payments and tinkering with Social Security. OK, geniuses, it’s Read more
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Of course, this ALWAYS works
I see the government has a new campaign to reduce cigarette smoking. It seems to be modeled on the Gringo technique for communicating with English-challenged Mexicans: JUST SHOUT LOUDER. Of course, this campaign is absolutely imperative for the Health of the Nation. It couldn’t possibly be some sort of payoff or iron rice bowl for Read more
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It’s hip to be square
I’m not sure how many students it will attract, but who cares? I like having Science Cheerleaders. Tip from the Geek Press. Read more
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I lack confidence in Confidence Intervals
From a comment I posted over at Will Briggs’ excellent site: Confidence intervals crack me up. When I teach these to my students I remind them that the word “confidence” has two opposite meanings, and that confidence intervals have much in common with confidence games. If you go the extra mile and explain that a Read more
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Bayes, lingustics, and Alan Turing
Language Log has an interesting post on using Bayesian statistics to combine several items of weak evidence to arrive at a strong conclusion. Better yet, it contains an interesting reference to the cryptanalysis work of Alan Turing! Read more
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Unreasonable search?
A lot of folks, including some airline pilots, aren’t too happy with the TSA’s new body scanners and pat-down procedures. Nevertheless, Princess Napolitano persists. Doc Hsieh says the scan is the lesser of two evils, and some folks are doing protest tees: Update (16 November). Well, that was fast. The first leaked photos are on Read more
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What it will take to get US back on budget
Make your own choices on how to restore our fiscal responsibility with this NY Times interactive page. While I suspect this is a somewhat abstract and incomplete model, it’s a great starting point for injecting some reality into the Unavoidable National Conversation. Tip from The Corner. Update (14 November). Don’t want to budget? We can Read more
The Random Texan 