The Home for Wayward Statisticians

Greenies care about the fish, but not the fishermen

therandomtexan — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:05:01 +0000

Debt slavery is alive and well in the (Korean) commercial fishing industry. And some of our hippest destinations, from P.F. Chang’s to Whole Foods, are aiding and abetting.

Tip from Via Mead.

He’s making us crazy!

therandomtexan — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:18:29 +0000

First it was Time Tebow, now it’s Jeremy Lin. They’re driving the glitterati crazy, ’cause they won’t Play the Game:

As an expression of the collective consciousness of the cultural elite, the media’s memes are nothing less than a kind of insanity; a window into an dreamscape in which everything is inverted; where ordinary people are seen as freaks and freaks are seen as paragons of sanity.

“…go to Europe and America and get a good education.”

therandomtexan — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:25:26 +0000

Progressives pounce on hipocrasy as a cardinal sin. They should have a field day with this guy.

Tip from Via Meadia

Good for what ails you

therandomtexan — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:39:03 +0000

Naw, it can’t be that simple. But it is.

Tip from American Digest, where vanderLeun almost learned this too late.

Update (16 February). “Everyday I’m shuffling” probably isn’t the key to longevity. Not unless you do it LMFAO-style.

Look out, custodians!

therandomtexan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:57:34 +0000

UTSA’s University Center is starting a demonstration of a new SMS-based feedback system, so clients (mainly students) can report on the quality of meeting rooms and restrooms. I suspect the restrooms will quickly become a lot tidier. I hope the system is not so successful that it gets cancelled…

The Super Bowl Finger Malfunction

therandomtexan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:18:23 +0000

So let me get this straight: Madonna is working her butt off trying to punch up a career which is getting a little long in the tooth, so she puts together a Super Bowl halftime show that very graciously showcases a whole gang of pop entertainers. In return, singer M.I.A. expresses her appreciation for being put in front of 110 million views by flipping us all the Bird.

M.I.A., REALLY? That’s your quintessential artistic statement, the way you want to be remembered? That your public image is a crass, graceless, and vulgar one-hit wonder who bites the hand that feeds her? Go back to London and puke in your own streets with your pathetic chav homies.

Web Equation

therandomtexan — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:03:27 +0000

Check out this great web-based gizmo for translating pen strokes into LaTeX or MathML. I’m going to be doing a lot more LaTeXing on my tablet PC with this!

Tip from Andrew Gelman

Two-fourths of a good idea

therandomtexan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:33:58 +0000

Uncle Sam wants kids to read more, so he blankets the web with ads like this:

Which I think is pretty cool because

(1) I’ve been an Edgar Rice Burroughs junkie since junior high school; John Carter and Tarzan turned me into the voracious reader am I today, and

(2) I can’t wait to see the movie, and I’m sure a whole generation of boys are going to read the books to get “the rest of the story.”

But it’s also not so hot an idea because

(3) It wouldn’t hurt to get GIRLS to do a bit more reading, as well, and

(4) There’s more to reading–even for young folks–than pulp fiction. Long before the pulps, one of my heroes was the “real” Indiana Jones, Dr Roy Chapman Andrews, who popularized paleontology with, among others, his “All About” books.

Greenie Fratricide

therandomtexan — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:39:34 +0000

Your energy-efficient windows are melting my Prius! Am I the only person who finds this amusing?

Tip from Drudge.

Inside a Death Panel

therandomtexan — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:08:37 +0000

This is how it happens, with some faceless bureaucrat hoping people will knuckle under to their inhuman policies. But some folks fight back.

Tip from the Instapundit.