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The Random Texan

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Dilletante * Raconteur

therandomtexan

  • Another giant passes

    David Blackwell passed away on July 8.  “Basically, I’m not interested in doing research and I never have been,” he said. “I’m interested in understanding, which is quite a different thing. And often to understand something you have to work it out yourself because no one else has done it.” Tip from Andrew Gelman.Update (25 Read more

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  • Buy something, you cheap rich bastard!

    The latest excuse for our slow economic recovery:  rich folks aren’t spending as much; they’re saving their money.  In my experience, this was inevitable.  Not because wealthy folks have suddenly turned frugal (although there is some of that), but more so because smart "wealthy" folks tend to be  value-oriented rather than price-oriented.  This means that Read more

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  • Liars, Outliers, and Out-and-out Liars

    Will Briggs blows the whistle on p-values and statistical significance (what’s with 0.05 anyway?).  Sorry, Will, no one will listen. Tip from John Cook at the Endeavour. Read more

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  • Don’t let someone drown

    READ AND HEED: Drowning doesn’t look like drowning.  I learned this several years ago while hosting a pool party.  One of the kids got in over her head and was in serious trouble, not ten feet from her parents, who stood paralyzed like deer in headlights.  I downed tools, stepped into 6 feet of water, Read more

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  • Not everyone’s reading is logical

    The Wason Test can reveal whether someone can think scientifically. Read more

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  • 31% default rate?

    Another sign of the coming Higher Education Bubble: " The 15-year default rate is 31 percent for those who went to a community college…"  It looks like going to college DIDN’T increase income for those folks.  Tip from Joanne Jacobs, who also has a link explaining why community colleges in California (and elsewhere, I suspect) Read more

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  • People who live in glass ghettos…

    "I am disinclined to take lectures on racial sensitivity from a group that insists on calling black people, ‘Colored,’ " Tip from Language Log, where the commenters remain blissfully unaware of any organization changing its name, like BP or NPR. Read more

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  • We’re broke–so let’s spend some more money!

    Columbia University President Lee Bollinger thinks we should spend it on newspapers and TV networks who are losing their shirts.  I think he should go piss up a rope. Read more

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  • Antisemitism — it’s never out of fashion!

    "In reality, it is not Israel that our intellectuals despise, for that hatred is simply the latest pattern in a long century that the West’s self-loathing has taken. It is ourselves that we cannot abide." Tip from the Instapundit. Read more

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  • Outing illegal immigrants

    Someone has figured out an Information Warfare end-run around our nation’s lackadaisical immigration enforcement.  The big question here is "are these people really in the US illegally?"  Of course, the only question that the media and government will address is "who compiled and circulated the list?" Read more

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