a dozen nebulae across the skies

etsy: “I’m a ceramist and painter living on the seaside in...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:23:36 -0400

“I’m a ceramist and painter living on the seaside in Saint-Malo, France. My brand was born here, influenced by natural elements I pick on the beach during every new walk.” - Kahina Loumi

Read more» Featured Shop: By Loumi | The Etsy Blog

Hey world. What’s good?

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 01:35:39 -0400

Hey world. What’s good?

Sunday data/statistics link roundup (6/24)

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:49:00 -0400

simplystatistics:

We’ve got a new domain! You can still follow us on tumblr or here: http://simplystatistics.org/.

A cool article on MIT’s annual sports statistics conference (via @storeylab). I love how the guy they chose to highlight created what I would consider a pretty simple visualization with known tools - but it turns out it is potentially a really new way of evaluating the shooting range of basketball players. This is my favorite kind of creativity in statistics.

This is an interesting article calling higher education a “credentials cartel”. I don’t know if I’d go quite that far; there are a lot of really good reasons for higher education institutions beyond credentialing like research, putting smart students together in classes and dorms, broadening experiences etc. But I still think there is room for a smart group of statisticians/computer scientists to solve the credentialing problem on a big scale and have a huge impact on the education industry.

Check out John Cook’s conjecture on statistical methods that get used: “The probability of a method being used drops by at least a factor of 2 for every parameter that has to be determined by trial-and-error.” I’m with you. I wonder if there is a corollary related to how easy the documentation is to read?

If you haven’t read Roger’s post on Statistics and the Science Club, I consider it a must-read for anyone who is affiliated with a statistics/biostatistics department. We’ve had feedback by email/on twitter from other folks who are moving toward a more science oriented statistical culture. We’d love to hear from more folks with this same attitude/inclination/approach.

3. The “credentials cartel”

“Weary of making bureaucratic appointments solely on the basis of letters of recommendation, Yang set aside a number of posts for applicants who performed well on a new system of imperial examinations… As time went on, more and more people took — and passed — the exam’s first round… there were now more degree-holders than there were positions… their successors… resolved to make the test more difficult. By the middle of the 19th century, 2 million people sat the exam, but just over 1 percent passed its first round; only 300 candidates — .016 percent — passed all three.”

Exams in my experience that this reminds me of: the AMC 10 and AMC 12 (American Mathematics Contest(s)), AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Exam), the Putnam exam (typical median score 0), the SAT and AP exams, and preliminary actuarial exams.

The first ones I mentioned are less for credentialing and so less in the spirit of this article. Passing through math contests like the AMC and AIME are more for bragging rights and, personally I feel, participation is for an excuse for high school math teams/clubs to ask for funding or exist at all. Their purpose is further mathematics education. They are outreach programs.

But the structure of the exams - the process through which one advances - is a model that embodies the meritocratic or elite ideals (or issues). Back when hardly anyone knew about these exams (this from remembered discussions with my high school math team advisor), the first tier AMC’s were rather difficult to pass. Then more people came in. They had to democratize, they didn’t want too many being turned away from math because of devastating scores. The AMC became easier. The AIME, which the top 5% of AMC performers were invited to take, became the real test. And if you topped that, than USAMO (Math Olympiad).

I suppose this structure or process perpetuates the test-taking mentality of American education and the idea that to make it in math you have to be a super genius, but that is a different discussion.

Next are the SAT and AP exams - this fits slightly more for the credentialing purpose we are talking about. I think having these exams brings the model of professional credentialing down to the college and high school education layers. The story being told to me seems to be this: Once upon a time there were plenty of good jobs you could get as a high school graduate. Now, to get a good job you definitely need a bachelor’s degree. Maybe a master’s. And while in college you better have had some industry-relevant experience, like an internship. Of course always better if the degree comes from a shiny name brand college. To get into such colleges, it is “highly recommended” if not required in high school to have a “rigorous course load” of AP classes and top scores on AP and SAT exams. And membership in academic honors societies. (Another tangential topic is what it takes to get into college now because it is/isn’t all about the numbers, but I’m sticking to the commonly accepted tracks to college which involve meritocracy of any kind.) You can incidentally get SAT prep for your elementary or middle schooler now.

It just seems that you have to do more and accomplish it earlier in the process in order to even angle yourself for future opportunities. And the “extra credentials” you have to go through are controlled by monopolies, like ETS, which administers the SAT and AP (and GRE) exams. (On the other hand, what other standard is there? Or should we do away with standards?)

Speaking of professional credentialing…

I’m sure I read a statistic somewhere on how many candidates pass the first actuarial exams. The pass rate is not that high. Yet the entry level job market is glutted with candidates. I even think SOA, the Society of Actuaries, is trying for a monopoly by conferring these credentials… I think CAS, the o

“Introductory economics courses paint “rent-seekers” as gruesome creatures who amass monopoly privileges; credential-seekers, who sterilize the intellect by pouring time and money into the accumulation of permits, belong in the same circle of hell.”

“Over the last thirty years, the university has replaced the labor union as the most important institution, after the corporation, in American political and economic life.”

Anyone who studies labor relations can weigh in on this statement? Berna?

“Our elaborate, expensive system of higher education is first and foremost a system of stratification, and only secondly — and very dimly — a system for imparting knowledge.”

Sob all the lies I swallowed when being courted for applying to college for undergrad

I am a ~~scholar of the liberal arts~~ STEM-trained professional hailing from a college of Arts and ~~Crafts~~ Sciences and I continue a proud tradition of ~~the life of the mind~~ ~~a starving artist~~ working on Wall Street.

“The original universities in the Western world organized themselves as guilds… Those who want to join have to pay to play, and many never recover from the entry fee.”

Well, this statement is about universities. Yet in the guild/apprenticeship advancement model, actuarial accreditation should also be included… except the society (SOA, or CAS) that confers credentials usually advertises itself as an alternative to more years of formal schooling: “learn while you earn” vs “pay to play”.

“The inclusive vision that once drove the labor movement has given way to a guild mentality, at times also among unions, that is smug and parochial.”

Really, what are unions up to these days? Is there a labor movement now?

On the question: With whom does the burden of proof lie?

Sun, 20 May 2012 02:06:38 -0400

Is this a relevant question in a discussion of religion and atheism (etc)?

Sometimes when I learn things, they end up here on my blog. Sometimes when I create things, they end...

Sat, 12 May 2012 09:53:58 -0400

Sometimes when I learn things, they end up here on my blog. Sometimes when I create things, they end up here on my blog. Sometimes my work and friendships and philosophies end up on my blog, and I hope sometimes you will end up here too. Of course I apologize and thank you in advance for helping me straighten up the mess.

I taped this to the door of my friend the humanities student,...

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:00:00 -0400

I taped this to the door of my friend the humanities student, with the following pencilled in on top:

“All the math you will (n)ever need to know”

He later told me that he kept it there to ward off demons. This synopsis of Chapter 1 from Bundrick and Leeson’s Essentials of Abstract Algebra is the first document I ever TeXed to pdf.

—leyn: what the heckkkk.

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:41:02 -0400

—leyn:

what the heckkkk.

"Some of the most creative leaps ever taken by the human mind are decidedly irrational, even primal...."

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 21:25:42 -0400

“

Some of the most creative leaps ever taken by the human mind are decidedly irrational, even primal. Emotive forces are what drive the greatest artistic and inventive expressions of our species. How else could the sentence ‘He’s either a madman or a genius’ be understood?

It’s okay to be entirely rational, provided everybody else is too. But apparently this state of existence has been achieved only in fiction [where] societal decisions get made with efficiency and dispatch, devoid of pomp, passion, and pretense.

To govern a society shared by people of emotion, people of reason, and everybody in between — as well as people who think their actions are shaped by logic but in fact are shaped by feelings and nonempirical philosophies — you need politics. At its best, politics navigates all the minds-states for the sake of the greater good, alert to the rocky shoals of community, identity, and the economy. At its worst, politics thrives on the incomplete disclosure or misrepresentation of data required by an electorate to make informed decisions, whether arrived at logically or emotionally.

”

- Neil deGrasse Tyson (via voguedissent)

LaTeX vs. MS Word/MathType

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:55:00 -0400

LaTeX vs. MS Word/MathType:

Forum discussion

A Human Way of Life: Subjective Worlds, Movies, Theology

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:23:00 -0400

A Human Way of Life: Subjective Worlds, Movies, Theology:

… Gretta Vosper, a pastor in the United Church of Canada, writes that “personal experience can be extremely rich and diverse, allowing for intricate investigations of what is not concrete but still understood to be equally real: thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. Theology provides the perfect language with which to explore such nebulous things.”

mnemaniacs: The time is nigh!

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:39:58 -0400

mnemaniacs:

The time is nigh!

The Problem with Universities: some questions

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:24:51 -0400

simplystatistics:

I have had the following conversation a number of times recently:

I want to do X. X is a lot of fun and is really interesting. Doing X involves a little of A and a little of B.

We should get some students to do X also.

Okay, but from where should we get the students? Students in Department of A don’t know B. Students from Department of B don’t know A.

Fine, maybe we could start a program that specifically trains people in X. In this program we’ll teach them A and B. It’ll be the first program of its kind! Woohoo!

Sure that’s great, but because there aren’t any other departments of X, the graduates of our program now have to get jobs in departments of A or B. Those departments complain that students from Department of X only know a little of A (or B).

Grrr. Go away.

Has anyone figured out a solution to this problem? Specifically, how do you train students to do something for which there’s no formal department/program without jeopardizing their career prospects?

I’ve got pretty little background on these matters so some questions:

Undergraduate students or graduate students? Would the graduates of a training program in X mainly be looking for career prospects in other university departments?
Where does the momentum to start a program/department in X come from? Or does it get going with just, this is fun and interesting? Is someone else interested in the results?

This is from the standpoint of a senior undergraduate in math/stat. Mine will be a liberal arts degree (BA) and I see it not as job training, and much less as training for a job in academia. I also see at my university’s statistics department there is a push to build an actuarial science program - as an X, it’s not the first of its kind but in our area still uncommon - but the push is from a would-be corporate sponsor, though there is certainly interest to study it on the students’ side.

In case my questions seem to point at the answer, Why not go into industry, I emphasize that I really don’t know much about how academia works. I’m working with a limited language so it will tend to allude to the most obvious concepts as dictated by popular media. I also think there should be plenty of people who and opportunities to learn for the sake of learning outside the university. My more fundamental questions are, What makes a topic X really interesting to study? What makes being trained in it worthwhile? How is the 6-step scheme above not counter to the mission of the liberal arts/getting an education?

I would have posted a comment on the original post but maybe reblogging will open the floor—

nebulae12: transition 3

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:34:47 -0400

(view previous nebulae12: transition, nebulae12: transition 2)

Look, it’s the 12th again.

Why the big windup? Why not just change my username and be done with it? It’s not like anyone would notice but me. What are the differences between one tumblog to another? Why change it at all? If it were just names one could say dozennebulae was unique and pretty enough.

Well, it would appear I am superstitious about names.

I’ve only used dozen in the past to cover up other things say where numbers were not allowed. nebulae12 was always the original and authentic, perhaps, and the sleight of hand to create “a dozen nebulae” out of it is exactly that, a deception, fake. I could choose to make it into something but really I also think dozennebulae takes too long to type and I’ve been with nebulae12 for so much longer that I usually end up typing dozennebulae12 and that compounds the problem, of course.

And so I think the blog dozennebulae had been created in bad faith, having weak intent and not being true to myself. If I use a name that I hold accountable to myself, I hope I can be more earnest and sincere about writing this blog.

The name is what it is because I used to watch the stars at night a lot, and was fascinated with astronomical terms whose plural forms end differently than the usual English grammar rule dictates. Twelve is my favorite number because it’s attached to my birthday. That’s why I call attention to other dates that have a 12 in them.

But after all it’s not like I’m chained to this name and not like dozennebulae has turned out so bad for me, so I place a bet that, by the time I graduate which is between May and June 12th and the projected time the blog will transition over, nebulae12 will still be available for the taking and I haven’t changed my mind. If I lose, then I’ll probably decide there is some meaning to it after all that it’s about time I fleshed out, and I’ll stay a dozen nebulae across the skies.

Only in name.

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 10:00:05 -0400

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education

quantummodulus: Delightful little footnote from Calculus:...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 02:09:17 -0400

quantummodulus:

Delightful little footnote from Calculus: Analytic Geometry and Calculus, with Vectors, by Ralph Palmer Agnew of Cornell University, 1962.

"If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help. It is a sign of wisdom and strength."

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:19:53 -0400

“If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help. It is a sign of wisdom and strength.”

- David Skorton
President, Cornell University

nebulae12: transition 2

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:00:05 -0400

(view previous nebulae12: transition)

Happy March 12th!

If you’ll recall, I started dozennebulae to try to record the most memorable moments of nerdiness as I came across them in or out of the classroom. But this seems like a waste of a blog. However brilliant people are in their fields and in teaching/communicating it to students and laypeople, they cannot reel off witticisms on a daily basis - at least not in a way this sleep-deprived student can effectively capture! To avoid this blog devolving into, say, discipline-specific inside jokes rather than posts that even non-experts can actually learn from and appreciate, I want to use the extra energy (and life experience?!) that I will have after May to properly record my learning experiences… and initiate a dialogue with anyone willing to do the same.

This is a transition aka planning post to more concretely lay out what I mean and how things will change. Basically expanding off the last transition post:

Original text posts. This will be more like a research journal than an educational/about cool things blog. I’d like it to be more personal in that sense, chronicling my journey (into the real world…), while also holding me accountable to what I’ve learned and am learning. I’m using writing as learning tool, and hopefully others will join in the conversation :) I’ll also still contribute to Say It With Science! What I’m likely to write about in some rough priority order: life, mathematics, statistics, actuarial science, physics, education, career planning.
Greater reader input. I’ve added disqus commenting to the site, and it’d be neat if there were a comment link on every post so followers wouldn’t have to click through multiple times from the dashboard to get to comment on a particular post. Maybe I can (get a CS/Engineering major to) write a script.
nebulae12. Yep, new name. Symbolic or something. ~~Maybe make it easier to find me on facebook.~~ Hope no one takes it before dozennebulae switches over…

Then things I think I should address before transition is over:

Posting schedule
About me
Advantages/disadvantages of tumblr as a platform
I dunno, what do you think…?

nebulae12: transition

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:44:05 -0500

Happy February 12th!

At this time the tagline/About Me section of dozennebulae reads:

dozennebulae:

I post things here that I’ve learned and taught, quotes from my #teachers, thoughts about #education, illuminating texts or pictures, mostly to do with #mathematics and #physics. But as I hope to call myself a student of life, I may set down some other things. Other things that matter to me are found at joydom.

I contribute to Say It With Science!

Things are going to change in a couple months. I expect I will have more time and desire to write original posts about what I’m learning. Rather than just quoting sources or funny sayings from lecture (etc.) I will be saying what I think about things. I also want to enable greater reader input/interaction through comments and anything else I can think of.

I dunno how I’ll go about it exactly, but that’s what these few months’ transition are for! Every month til this new “launch” I’ll update with my plans and maybe a few narcissistic blogger thoughts.

The name of the site will also change to nebulae12, an internet handle you probably could use to find me in other places.

"All models are wrong, but some are useful."

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:44:55 -0500

“All models are wrong, but some are useful.”

- George E. P. Box

Photo

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:43:10 -0500