Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Gates' big send-off | CNET News.com
Gates' big send-off | CNET News.com:
Bill Gates on "fungible IQ":
"You even see another company in the industry doing this bit where you'll hire somebody who's a good scientist, and you say they can be a programmer, and you only--you interview them on sort of their--the depth of knowledge about the field they've spent in, and assume they can come to the other field. Some of that is true. But when you go into, say, management-type things or dealing with people-type things, then the number of people whose IQ is fungible is surprisingly low.
The thing that I would drool over is to walk over to Microsoft Research and see that here are people spending full time on vision, full time on speech, full time on machine learning, full time on software proof, where at early Microsoft we couldn't give back to the intellectual base.
I mean, that's the greatest surprise to me of all in my whole business career is that you find people who are so good at one thing, and where the principles and models and approaches in that and in the other area are actually very similar, very similar, and yet they're very poor at the one and just beyond brilliant at the other."
Bill Gates on "fungible IQ":
"You even see another company in the industry doing this bit where you'll hire somebody who's a good scientist, and you say they can be a programmer, and you only--you interview them on sort of their--the depth of knowledge about the field they've spent in, and assume they can come to the other field. Some of that is true. But when you go into, say, management-type things or dealing with people-type things, then the number of people whose IQ is fungible is surprisingly low.
The thing that I would drool over is to walk over to Microsoft Research and see that here are people spending full time on vision, full time on speech, full time on machine learning, full time on software proof, where at early Microsoft we couldn't give back to the intellectual base.
I mean, that's the greatest surprise to me of all in my whole business career is that you find people who are so good at one thing, and where the principles and models and approaches in that and in the other area are actually very similar, very similar, and yet they're very poor at the one and just beyond brilliant at the other."
Itching and perception (kottke.org)
Itching and perception (kottke.org): "Among them is an experiment that Ramachandran performed with volunteers who had phantom pain in an amputated arm. They put their surviving arm through a hole in the side of a box with a mirror inside, so that, peering through the open top, they would see their arm and its mirror image, as if they had two arms. Ramachandran then asked them to move both their intact arm and, in their mind, their phantom arm-to pretend that they were conducting an orchestra, say. The patients had the sense that they had two arms again. Even though they knew it was an illusion, it provided immediate relief."
Games vs. Art: Ebert vs. Barker :: rogerebert.com :: Commentary
Games vs. Art: Ebert vs. Barker :: rogerebert.com :: Commentary: "Barker: 'I'm not doing an evangelical job here. I'm just saying that gaming is a great way to do what we as human beings need to do all the time -- to take ourselves away from the oppressive facts of our lives and go somewhere where we have our own control.'
Ebert: Spoken with the maturity of an honest and articulate 4-year old. I do not have a need 'all the time' to take myself away from the oppressive facts of my life, however oppressive they may be, in order to go somewhere where I have control. I need to stay here and take control. Right now, for example, I cannot speak, but I am writing this. You lose some, you win some."
Ebert: Spoken with the maturity of an honest and articulate 4-year old. I do not have a need 'all the time' to take myself away from the oppressive facts of my life, however oppressive they may be, in order to go somewhere where I have control. I need to stay here and take control. Right now, for example, I cannot speak, but I am writing this. You lose some, you win some."
Monday, June 23, 2008
FARK.com: (3687936) Remember the pictures of that "lost" Amazon tribe last month? Yeah, they were a bit of a hoax
FARK.com: (3687936) Remember the pictures of that "lost" Amazon tribe last month? Yeah, they were a bit of a hoax: "When I was a kid in Africa, my brother was stung badly by a jelly fish on his chest. He was in incredible pain. At the time, we were traveling with an older couple who happen to be American doctors. They FREAKED OUT and were running around getting their bags and taking my brother's heart rate yada yada. Our guide (I forget now what tribe he was) just leisurely pulled out a little vile of clear liquid. He put a few drops on my brother and INSTANTANEOUSLY the pain cleared. The doctors were SHOCKED and were assured that they had just witnessed some amazing tribal medicine, sure to be the medical discovery of the century.
And what was in that vile our guide pulled out? Regular, plain old vinegar."
And what was in that vile our guide pulled out? Regular, plain old vinegar."
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Placebo doping more effective in men - UPI.com
Placebo doping more effective in men - UPI.com: "SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 (UPI) -- If athletes believe they are using a performance-enhancing drug, but it is a placebo, it may still enhance performance, Australian researchers said.
This so-called placebo effect was greater in male recreational athletes than in females, said lead author Jennifer Hansen, a nurse researcher at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney."
This so-called placebo effect was greater in male recreational athletes than in females, said lead author Jennifer Hansen, a nurse researcher at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney."
Monday, June 16, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
After Steady Climb, Childhood Obesity Rates Stall - NYTimes.com
After Steady Climb, Childhood Obesity Rates Stall - NYTimes.com: "Childhood obesity, rising for more than two decades, appears to have hit a plateau, a potentially significant milestone in the battle against excessive weight gain among children."
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Most Curious Thing - Errol Morris - Zoom - New York Times Blog
The Most Curious Thing - Errol Morris - Zoom - New York Times Blog: "Fuzzing it up is a common practice in government. You hide intention and responsibility. You have one person say one thing, and another person the exact opposite. You create a blizzard of paper, so much paper that actual evidence is lost in the glut. And of course, you deny anything and everything you can deny — particularly the obvious. (Denying the obvious is always popular.) You produce noise, distraction and confusion. People rarely think of this as a well-established bureaucratic technique, but it is a tried and true methodology."
Monday, May 19, 2008
Inside the Story: Gary Taubes
Inside the Story: Gary Taubes: "I had spent my career writing about good and bad science and the difficulties of establishing reliable knowledge, so I think I am considerably more open to the possibility that academic 'experts' with impressive credentials can be misguided, if not dead wrong. I think the criteria by which I judge science and scientists is very different than many, if not most journalists, and those criteria were passed on to me by some very, very good scientists in the course of some long and arduous investigations, both scientific and journalistic."
Inertia at the Top - washingtonpost.com
Inertia at the Top - washingtonpost.com: "The first signs of trouble appeared in the late 1970s as rates of overweight that had been relatively stable for years started to rise. In retrospect, they were reflecting societal, technological and policy shifts that would turn the youngest generation into the heaviest to date.
For starters, with more women working outside the home, families were eating more takeout or processed food. Spurred by the profit margins of volume production, fast-food restaurants pushed larger portions. Gadgets such as remote TV controls and video games meant children were planted for longer periods in front of televisions and computers. And on and on.
Through the 1990s, the waistline expansion accelerated. On campuses, once-rare vending machines multiplied as administrators signed exclusive contracts giving their schools a share of sales; the money was considered essential for band uniforms, sports equipment and other unfunded extras."
For starters, with more women working outside the home, families were eating more takeout or processed food. Spurred by the profit margins of volume production, fast-food restaurants pushed larger portions. Gadgets such as remote TV controls and video games meant children were planted for longer periods in front of televisions and computers. And on and on.
Through the 1990s, the waistline expansion accelerated. On campuses, once-rare vending machines multiplied as administrators signed exclusive contracts giving their schools a share of sales; the money was considered essential for band uniforms, sports equipment and other unfunded extras."
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
"In the Beginning Was The Command Line" - by Neal Stephenson | Mirror Site
"In the Beginning Was The Command Line" - by Neal Stephenson | Mirror Site: "The other, somewhat subtler point, was that interface is very important. Sure, the MGB was a lousy car in almost every way that counted: balky, unreliable, underpowered. But it was fun to drive. It was responsive. Every pebble on the road was felt in the bones, every nuance in the pavement transmitted instantly to the driver's hands. He could listen to the engine and tell what was wrong with it. The steering responded immediately to commands from his hands. To us passengers it was a pointless exercise in going nowhere--about as interesting as peering over someone's shoulder while he punches numbers into a spreadsheet. But to the driver it was an experience. For a short time he was extending his body and his senses into a larger realm, and doing things that he couldn't do unassisted."
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Annals of Innovation: In the Air: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
Annals of Innovation: In the Air: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker: "“Lowell is the living example of something better than the Internet,” Jung said after the meeting was over. “On the Internet, you can search for whatever you want, but you have to know the right terms. With Lowell, you just give him a concept, and this stuff pops out.”"
Eric Haseltine (kottke.org)
Eric Haseltine (kottke.org): "Right at the end of the session, interviewer Jane Mayer asked Haseltine if perhaps the Bush administration is overreacting to terrorism...if the mindset that danger lurks everywhere is appropriate and realistic. He replied that since he got involved in the intelligence community, he doesn't sleep well at night. 'I know too much.'"
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times
Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times: "Smith's entire life is like one of her inventions, portable and off the grid. At 41, she has no kids, no car, no retirement plan and no desire for a Ph.D. Her official title: instructor. ''I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. Why would I spend six years to get a Ph.D. to be in the position I'm in now, but with a title after my name? M.I.T. loves that I'm doing this work. The support is there. So I don't worry.'' It was a good thing that she won the Collegiate Inventors award in 1999, she says, because back then she was stretching a three-month graduate-student stipend to last for a year and didn't know how she'd pay her rent. The $7,500 prize came just in time."
Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times
Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times: "Today, Smith is training them to do that. Using a small pump, the students draw the Charles River water through a filter. Smith points to a piece of the testing rig -- what looks like a silver barbell. ''This test stand costs $600,'' she says. ''Personally, I find that offensive.'' When the students work in the field, she says, they will be using a far cheaper setup -- one that she patched together herself for about $20, using a Playtex baby bottle. ''You can do a lot more testing for the same amount of money.''"
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
How to Juice Your IQ Score
How to Juice Your IQ Score: "Want to join Mensa? Or work for the military, FedEx, or the NFL? Plan on taking an intelligence test. They're supposed to be objective and consistent, but don't believe it. By prepping for the verbal, numerical, and spatial problems on a typical psychometric test, you can boost your score. Philip carter, author of IQ and Psychometric Test Workbook, walked us through some sample questions."
Think Positive, and You Will Get Smarter
Think Positive, and You Will Get Smarter: "Learning new things actually strengthens your brain — especially when you believe you can learn new things. It's a virtuous circle: When you think you're getting smarter, you study harder, making more nerve-cell connections, which in turn makes you ... smarter. This effect shows up consistently among experimental subjects, from seventh graders to college students to businesspeople. According to studies carried out by Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck and others, volunteers with a so-called growth mindset about learning ('persist in the face of setbacks') have more brain plasticity. In other words, their noggins are more adaptable. They exhibit increases in cognitive performance compared with those who have a so-called fixed mindset ('get defensive or give up easily'). 'Many people believe they have a fixed level of intelligence, and that's that,' Dweck says. 'The cure is to change the mindset.' Certain that we're wrong? Enjoy stupidity!"
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Oh, To Play Like a Child Again - June 22, 2006 - The New York Sun
Oh, To Play Like a Child Again - June 22, 2006 - The New York Sun: "And why should they? The elasticity of modern American adolescence has occasioned more than its share of handwringing, but Mr. Noxon argues that it may not be such a bad thing after all. He suggests that adulthood as we think of it today is less a biological imperative than a byproduct of the Industrial Revolution, child labor laws, and the ironically named 'play movement' of the 19th century, all of which - along with the need for an increasingly literate, specialized work force - necessitated the creation of a strictly bounded social holding pattern called childhood. 'This shouldn't suggest that people in olden times didn't distinguish between kids and grownups,' he writes."
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Man arrested in Las Vegas ricin case - CNN.com
Man arrested in Las Vegas ricin case - CNN.com: "'FBI searches of Salt Lake City [Utah] storage units rented by Von Bergendorff resulted in the discovery of castor beans, various chemicals used in the production of ricin, a respirator, filters, painter's mask, laboratory glassware, syringes and a notebook on ricin production,' the Justice Department release said.
Bergendorff is charged with possession of a biological toxin, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified by serial number, according to the U.S. attorney's office. If convicted of all charges, he would face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $750,000."
Bergendorff is charged with possession of a biological toxin, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified by serial number, according to the U.S. attorney's office. If convicted of all charges, he would face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $750,000."
Exploding Unicorn: View From Somewhere Else [Update]
Exploding Unicorn: View From Somewhere Else [Update]: "In terms of the raw altruism required, working for a newspaper is kind of like doing a stint in the Peace Corps, only the hours are worse and everybody hates you."
AFP: German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper
AFP: German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper: "Both NASA and Marquardt agree that if the asteroid does collide with earth, it will create a ball of iron and iridium 320 metres (1049 feet) wide and weighing 200 billion tonnes, which will crash into the Atlantic Ocean.
The shockwaves from that would create huge tsunami waves, destroying both coastlines and inland areas, whilst creating a thick cloud of dust that would darken the skies indefinitely.
The 13-year old made his discovery as part of a regional science competition for which he submitted a project entitled: 'Apophis -- The Killer Astroid.'"
The shockwaves from that would create huge tsunami waves, destroying both coastlines and inland areas, whilst creating a thick cloud of dust that would darken the skies indefinitely.
The 13-year old made his discovery as part of a regional science competition for which he submitted a project entitled: 'Apophis -- The Killer Astroid.'"
Exploding Unicorn: View From Somewhere Else [Update]
Exploding Unicorn: View From Somewhere Else [Update]: "This is the point where I should plead for readers to treat reporters decently, but I haven't helped anybody with my articles in the past 12 months and it seems kind of misguided to try to start now. Writing, like any drug, is best enjoyed when done recreationally. I’ll continue to update my Web site, but I don’t have any plans to write professionally in the future. It’s time for me to grow up and focus on a more traditional career path, like professional kickboxing."
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Our Local Correspondents: Up and Then Down: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
Our Local Correspondents: Up and Then Down: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker: "White never went back to work at the magazine. Caught up in media attention (which he shunned but thrilled to), prodded by friends, and perhaps provoked by overly solicitous overtures from McGraw-Hill, White fell under the sway of renown and grievance, and then that of the legal establishment. He got a lawyer, and came to believe that returning to work might signal a degree of mental fitness detrimental to litigation. Instead, he spent eight weeks in Anguilla. Eventually, Business Week had to let him go. The lawsuit he filed, for twenty-five million dollars, against the building’s management and the elevator-maintenance company, took four years."
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Julie's Health Club - Where alternative and mainstream health meet | Chicago Tribune | Blog | Julie's Health Club
Julie's Health Club - Where alternative and mainstream health meet | Chicago Tribune | Blog | Julie's Health Club: "Six years ago, scientists trashed the 'eight glasses of water a day' dictum, in part because no one could figure out where it came from."
Friday, March 28, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Blu-ray's meaningless victory.
Stephen J. Dubner - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog: "In this Computerworld article, for instance, Lucas Mearian writes that Blu-ray’s victory may not be remotely as meaningful as it seems."
Monday, March 17, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Howard Rheingold's Vlog
Howard Rheingold's Vlog
Howard Rheingold's podcast of himself teaching, while simultaneously watching his students or not paying attention. Also mentions the intriguing hecklebot.
Howard Rheingold's podcast of himself teaching, while simultaneously watching his students or not paying attention. Also mentions the intriguing hecklebot.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Technology Review: TR10: Reality Mining
Technology Review: TR10: Reality Mining: "cell-phone data could shed light on workplace dynamics and on the well-being of communities. It could even help project the course of disease outbreaks and provide clues about individuals' health. Pentland, who has been sifting data gleaned from mobile devices for a decade, calls the practice 'reality mining.'"
Monday, March 10, 2008
Fun with statistics
Please respond to this essay below!
Statistical Analysis in Baseball
When professional baseball scouts eliminate prospects from their lists of players, they use different strategies. The goal of a professional baseball scout is to find the players that will be the most productive to his respective team. If you ask different scouts on what they value the most in players, you will get different responses. Of course it depends on if the team is in need of a big time pitcher, hitter, or fielder. Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, made his way up through the front office by starting in 1990 as the team’s major league advance scout. Some scouts really look at things like how many home runs a player hits or how many bases a player is capable of stealing. In the world of scouting, Billy Beane was a little different.
He valued a player’s ability to get on base. He thought that making it to first base was the most important thing. Of course he would still look for the other skills in players to fit what the team needed at the time. In the book Moneyball, Billy Beane is the focus. In one part, the book tells of some scouting meetings with his partners in the organization. In referring to a whiteboard compiled of a list of not so well known players, Billy is quoted as saying, “There’s some serious on-base percentage up there." His work partner and friend named Bogie ads, “There isn’t a board in the game that looks like this one.” So what is the best way to go about scouting and finding the best players? Some would say going by a player’s statistics is the best way. This is important because scouts obviously want to get a hold of the best players possible, and also, players need to do know what Major League scouts really value in a player. My intent in this paper is to figure out how statistical analysis in baseball works and how it is useful.
Sabermetrics is the mathematical and statistical analysis of baseball records. Scouts and team executives use statistics a lot to figure out the quality of a player. Some of the major and most common statistics include a player’s batting average, a player’s slugging percentage, and for pitchers, the earned run average. The batting average is computed by dividing the number of hits a player has achieved by the number of at–bats for that player. An at–bat is anytime a player goes to the plate and does not walk. A walk is a base-on-balls and does not count as an official at-bat. The batting average is a very good indicator of what kind of hitter a player is. Obviously, the higher the batting average, the better the hitter.
The slugging percentage is used to determine how well a certain player is at hitting for distance. The slugging percentage is computed by dividing the total number of bases reached by the number of opportunities. The earned run average for pitchers is based on the average number of “earned” runs a pitcher allows for every nine innings pitched.
These basic statistics, along with others, are used in evaluating players and their ability to perform at a high level. For a player coming out of college or high school trying to get drafted by a Major League baseball team, having good statistics is obviously an important thing.
So what is the best way to go about drafting a player coming out of college or out of high school? Is it more effective to look at the statistics the player comes with, or is it better to look and try to figure out what kind of player he can develop into based on certain skills that can be built upon? As I mentioned earlier in the paper, Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland A’s, really values a player’s ability to reach base. To him, it all starts with being able to get on base. Something interesting about previously mentioned Sabermetrics, is that it is also a tool used to predict how a certain player will perform in the near future, based on what he did in the past. Sabermetrics attempts to answer objective questions about baseball. This study of statistics is able to help scouts determine if certain players are better than others at stealing bases, catching the ball in the outfield, or not letting the ball get out of the infield.
Another thing one should look at when analyzing baseball statistics, is that some statistics are only useful to a certain extent. For example, a batting average may turn out to be an ineffective way of predicting a team’s ability to score runs. With Sabermetrics, a more proper reasoning would say that the ability to score runs wins games, therefore, a good player would be valuable to a team by his ability to reach base and to help his team score runs. That is why Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s sticks to that philosophy. To him, the ability to be a patient hitter and take four inaccurate pitches is almost equally important as the ability to hit for power.
In Michael Lewis’s book, Moneyball, it documents the fact that Billy Beane uses Sabermetrics in going after “hidden talent.” This means that he very often goes after players who are not as well known in the baseball world of scouting. He tries to find players that he thinks can be developed into something great and who are not at the time being fought for by high-market teams like the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. By doing this, he has received a lot of the credit for being able to keep the Oakland A’s competitive and usually a very successful baseball team.
When it comes down to it, scouts will go after the kinds of players that they like and that the team is currently in need of. It is hard to determine which is the best way to go about finding talent that will be successful in the major leagues. It can be argued in different ways. Some players can be really good in high school and college and be highly touted by scouts, and end up never panning out in the majors. Such was the case for Billy Beane. He was one of the most sought after players coming into the league when he was drafted right behind Darryl Strawberry. Moneyball talks about how he had all the great skills and physical skills needed to succeed in the major leagues. He never ended up being the player he could have been because he didn’t have the right mindset. You just never know how a player will turn out once they get to the big leagues.
Sabermetrics though is one effective way of determining the skills a player has and how effective he will be in the next level. Statistics play such a big role in the game of baseball and they always will.
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/team/exec_bios/beane_billy.jsp
http://www-math.bgsu.edu/~albert/papers/saber.html
http://dlserver.samford.edu/essm/studentresearch/ehren_wassermann_fall2003_files/frame.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabermetrics
Statistical Analysis in Baseball
When professional baseball scouts eliminate prospects from their lists of players, they use different strategies. The goal of a professional baseball scout is to find the players that will be the most productive to his respective team. If you ask different scouts on what they value the most in players, you will get different responses. Of course it depends on if the team is in need of a big time pitcher, hitter, or fielder. Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, made his way up through the front office by starting in 1990 as the team’s major league advance scout. Some scouts really look at things like how many home runs a player hits or how many bases a player is capable of stealing. In the world of scouting, Billy Beane was a little different.
He valued a player’s ability to get on base. He thought that making it to first base was the most important thing. Of course he would still look for the other skills in players to fit what the team needed at the time. In the book Moneyball, Billy Beane is the focus. In one part, the book tells of some scouting meetings with his partners in the organization. In referring to a whiteboard compiled of a list of not so well known players, Billy is quoted as saying, “There’s some serious on-base percentage up there." His work partner and friend named Bogie ads, “There isn’t a board in the game that looks like this one.” So what is the best way to go about scouting and finding the best players? Some would say going by a player’s statistics is the best way. This is important because scouts obviously want to get a hold of the best players possible, and also, players need to do know what Major League scouts really value in a player. My intent in this paper is to figure out how statistical analysis in baseball works and how it is useful.
Sabermetrics is the mathematical and statistical analysis of baseball records. Scouts and team executives use statistics a lot to figure out the quality of a player. Some of the major and most common statistics include a player’s batting average, a player’s slugging percentage, and for pitchers, the earned run average. The batting average is computed by dividing the number of hits a player has achieved by the number of at–bats for that player. An at–bat is anytime a player goes to the plate and does not walk. A walk is a base-on-balls and does not count as an official at-bat. The batting average is a very good indicator of what kind of hitter a player is. Obviously, the higher the batting average, the better the hitter.
The slugging percentage is used to determine how well a certain player is at hitting for distance. The slugging percentage is computed by dividing the total number of bases reached by the number of opportunities. The earned run average for pitchers is based on the average number of “earned” runs a pitcher allows for every nine innings pitched.
These basic statistics, along with others, are used in evaluating players and their ability to perform at a high level. For a player coming out of college or high school trying to get drafted by a Major League baseball team, having good statistics is obviously an important thing.
So what is the best way to go about drafting a player coming out of college or out of high school? Is it more effective to look at the statistics the player comes with, or is it better to look and try to figure out what kind of player he can develop into based on certain skills that can be built upon? As I mentioned earlier in the paper, Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland A’s, really values a player’s ability to reach base. To him, it all starts with being able to get on base. Something interesting about previously mentioned Sabermetrics, is that it is also a tool used to predict how a certain player will perform in the near future, based on what he did in the past. Sabermetrics attempts to answer objective questions about baseball. This study of statistics is able to help scouts determine if certain players are better than others at stealing bases, catching the ball in the outfield, or not letting the ball get out of the infield.
Another thing one should look at when analyzing baseball statistics, is that some statistics are only useful to a certain extent. For example, a batting average may turn out to be an ineffective way of predicting a team’s ability to score runs. With Sabermetrics, a more proper reasoning would say that the ability to score runs wins games, therefore, a good player would be valuable to a team by his ability to reach base and to help his team score runs. That is why Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s sticks to that philosophy. To him, the ability to be a patient hitter and take four inaccurate pitches is almost equally important as the ability to hit for power.
In Michael Lewis’s book, Moneyball, it documents the fact that Billy Beane uses Sabermetrics in going after “hidden talent.” This means that he very often goes after players who are not as well known in the baseball world of scouting. He tries to find players that he thinks can be developed into something great and who are not at the time being fought for by high-market teams like the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. By doing this, he has received a lot of the credit for being able to keep the Oakland A’s competitive and usually a very successful baseball team.
When it comes down to it, scouts will go after the kinds of players that they like and that the team is currently in need of. It is hard to determine which is the best way to go about finding talent that will be successful in the major leagues. It can be argued in different ways. Some players can be really good in high school and college and be highly touted by scouts, and end up never panning out in the majors. Such was the case for Billy Beane. He was one of the most sought after players coming into the league when he was drafted right behind Darryl Strawberry. Moneyball talks about how he had all the great skills and physical skills needed to succeed in the major leagues. He never ended up being the player he could have been because he didn’t have the right mindset. You just never know how a player will turn out once they get to the big leagues.
Sabermetrics though is one effective way of determining the skills a player has and how effective he will be in the next level. Statistics play such a big role in the game of baseball and they always will.
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/team/exec_bios/beane_billy.jsp
http://www-math.bgsu.edu/~albert/papers/saber.html
http://dlserver.samford.edu/essm/studentresearch/ehren_wassermann_fall2003_files/frame.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabermetrics
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
I Need a Virtual Break. No, Really. - New York Times
I Need a Virtual Break. No, Really. - New York Times: "For example, Nathan Zeldes, a principal engineer at Intel (employees there read or send three million e-mail messages daily), is running a couple of experiments, one in which people spend a morning a week at work but offline, another in which people consciously reduce their e-mail output. Though he’s not reporting results, he’s encouraged and he says people are participating."
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Latter-day Saint Demographics/LDS Statistics/ Mormon statistics
Latter-day Saint Demographics/LDS Statistics/ Mormon statistics: "Sampling of Latter-day Saint/Utah Demographics and
Social Statistics from National Sources"
Social Statistics from National Sources"
FAIR Topical Guide: Statistics and Demographics
FAIR Topical Guide: Statistics and Demographics: "FAIR Topical Guide
Topical Guide, by Title
Guide Home > Church Organization > Statistics and Demographics
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FAIR Resources
These links are either to Web pages hosted on the FAIR Website, or to FAIR Papers. FAIR Papers are short articles about specific topics or questions, written by members of FAIR. These articles can be downloaded and read in PDF format and are intended to be distributed by e-mail or print for the general use of our patrons. (To read FAIR Papers you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. It can be downloaded free from the Adobe Web site.) Click on a title below to visit a FAIR Web page or to read the latest version of a FAIR Paper."
Topical Guide, by Title
Guide Home > Church Organization > Statistics and Demographics
Additional Topics
The following are additional topic areas related to Statistics and Demographics. If there is a bracket number after the topic, that number indicates how many actual articles there are related to that subject. If the link for the topic is not live, it simply means the topic is a 'planned area' for future growth.
FAIR Resources
These links are either to Web pages hosted on the FAIR Website, or to FAIR Papers. FAIR Papers are short articles about specific topics or questions, written by members of FAIR. These articles can be downloaded and read in PDF format and are intended to be distributed by e-mail or print for the general use of our patrons. (To read FAIR Papers you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. It can be downloaded free from the Adobe Web site.) Click on a title below to visit a FAIR Web page or to read the latest version of a FAIR Paper."
EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost: "The article focuses on laziness. Psychotherapist Kalman Glantz points out that laziness emerged only when planning for the future became possible. People feel oppressed by long-term goals that do not bear directly on survival or status. The author says people are keenly responsive to immediate stimulation and to present-moment distractions and not to future plans. Laziness by definition is not uncomfortable--it is simply an unwillingness to expend energy."
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors - New York Times
The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors - New York Times: "“Closing a door on an option is experienced as a loss, and people are willing to pay a price to avoid the emotion of loss,” Dr. Ariely says. In the experiment, the price was easy to measure in lost cash. In life, the costs are less obvious — wasted time, missed opportunities. If you are afraid to drop any project at the office, you pay for it at home.
“We may work more hours at our jobs,” Dr. Ariely writes in his book, “without realizing that the childhood of our sons and daughters is slipping away. Sometimes these doors close too slowly for us to see them vanishing.”"
“We may work more hours at our jobs,” Dr. Ariely writes in his book, “without realizing that the childhood of our sons and daughters is slipping away. Sometimes these doors close too slowly for us to see them vanishing.”"
Friday, February 22, 2008
PMLA Alternative Source Citing
PMLA Alternative Source Citing: "Newest Rulings on Alternative Source Citing
Rest-Stop Restroom Graffitti
When citing rest-stop graffitti:
1. List the name of the rest area (if it has a name) in italics.
2. Name the state in which it was located.
3. Name the highway it abuts (with direction headed).
4. List the nearest mile marker.
5. List the date the graffitti was observed.
Example: 'Head you wouldn't believe, call 555-3278.' [The Ida C. Collins Memorial Rest Area, Wisconsin; Interstate 94 South (Mile Marker 218): May 14, 1997.]
Magic 8-Balls"
Rest-Stop Restroom Graffitti
When citing rest-stop graffitti:
1. List the name of the rest area (if it has a name) in italics.
2. Name the state in which it was located.
3. Name the highway it abuts (with direction headed).
4. List the nearest mile marker.
5. List the date the graffitti was observed.
Example: 'Head you wouldn't believe, call 555-3278.' [The Ida C. Collins Memorial Rest Area, Wisconsin; Interstate 94 South (Mile Marker 218): May 14, 1997.]
Magic 8-Balls"
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Debunking Bjorn Lomborg: Part I | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist
Debunking Bjorn Lomborg: Part I | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist: "Lomborg mocks the notion that polar bears are 'today's canaries in the coal mine' (p. 3). He uses the polar bears to argue that 'we hear vastly exaggerated and emotional claims' (p. 6) and 'our worry makes us focus on the wrong solutions' (p. 7) because we should be focused on stopping people from shooting bears rather than saving their habitat. For Lomborg, you simply can't do both. You must pick one, and you must pick the one that is easier to do now -- even though failure to save their habitat renders all other solutions pointless."
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Get the Flick: Air Traffic Safety vs. Capacity
Get the Flick: Air Traffic Safety vs. Capacity: "The reason is as old as it is simple -- greed. Airlines can make more money selling 70 airplanes worth of tickets per hour than they could if they limited themselves to the 60 airplanes per hour that the runway can handle. In fairness to the airlines, it’s not in their interest to limit themselves. It is easier to sell the tickets and blame the delays on the weather or the “antiquated” air traffic control system. Especially if the flying public doesn’t understand runway capacity limits and therefore fails to notice that the “antiquated” air traffic control system is delivering more airplanes to the runways than the runways can handle."
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
try two
Comments:
EBSCO Publishing Citation Format: APA (American Psychological Assoc.):
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where is the apa citation?
EBSCO Publishing Citation Format: APA (American Psychological Assoc.):
http://support.ebsco.com/help/?int=ehost&lang=en&feature_id=APA and make any necessary corrections before using. Pay special attention to personal names, capitalization, and dates. Always consult your library resources for the exact formatting and punctuation guidelines.
References
Rudski, J., & Edwards, A. (2007, October). Malinowski Goes to College: Factors Influencing Students' Use of Ritual and Superstition. Journal of General Psychology, 134(4), 389-403. Retrieved January 16, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
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Malinowski and Superstition
See also Csiksent (sp?) Mihalyi and Flow.
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Record: 1
- Title:
- Malinowski Goes to College: Factors Influencing Students' Use of Ritual and Superstition.
- Authors:
- Rudski, Jeffrey M.1 rudski@muhlenberg.edu
Edwards, Ashleigh1 - Source:
- Journal of General Psychology; Oct2007, Vol. 134 Issue 4, p389-403, 15p, 2 charts, 1 graph
- Document Type:
- Article
- Subject Terms:
- *ANTHROPOLOGISTS
*SOCIAL scientists
*RITUAL
*MAGIC
*STUDENTS - Author-Supplied Keywords:
- athletes
attributions
illusion of control
ritual
superstition - Abstract:
- Anthropologists have long noted that the use of ritual and magic is linked to conditions of risk and uncertainty. In this study, the authors examined how perceived task difficulty, participants' level of preparation, and the value of the outcome interact to influence the self-reporting of superstition and ritual. College students rated the likelihood of their using charms or rituals for various scenarios involving academic, artistic, and athletic performances. Reports of use of ritual increased as the stakes of the event increased and decreased with perceived expertise or level of preparation. Additional findings included participants' reporting frequent use of ritual while denying any causal effectiveness. The authors discuss results in terms of the rituals providing participants with an illusion of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Copyright of Journal of General Psychology is the property of Heldref Publications and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)
- Author Affiliations:
- 1Muhlenberg College
- ISSN:
- 0022-1309
- Accession Number:
- 27957552
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- http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=27957552&site=ehost-live
- Cut and Paste:
- <A href="http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=27957552&site=ehost-live">Malinowski Goes to College: Factors Influencing Students' Use of Ritual and Superstition.</A>
- Database:
- Academic Search Premier
Persistent link to this record: Following the link above will bring you to the start of the article or citation.
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Suggestopedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Suggestopedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Suggestopedia is one of the teaching methods developed by Bulgarian psychotherapistGeorgi Lozanov based on the study of Suggestology. The method has been used in different fields of studies but mostly in the field of foreign languages learning. Lozanov claimed that by using this method one can teach languages approximately three to five times as quickly as conventional methods."
globeandmail.com: Climate change a 'questionable truth'
globeandmail.com: Climate change a 'questionable truth': "He adds another unpopular observation: Climate change won't necessarily be all bad. Moderate warming would even have some benefits. Large parts of Canada would become far more pleasant, with longer growing seasons, more arable land and warmer winters. Our energy consumption would go down, as would our heating bills. “The magnitude of the good things could be very large for Canada,” he says, while hastening to add that he hopes we are altruistic enough to curb our greenhouse-gas emissions anyway.
For the record, all these experts are highly critical of An Inconvenient Truth and the scary headlines that regularly sweep the media. (Climate alarmism sells, and the media know it.)"
For the record, all these experts are highly critical of An Inconvenient Truth and the scary headlines that regularly sweep the media. (Climate alarmism sells, and the media know it.)"
globeandmail.com: Climate change a 'questionable truth'
globeandmail.com: Climate change a 'questionable truth': "Because I'm skeptical by nature, I've always discounted the environmental catastrophists. Their message is religious, not rational. But I've also spoken to enough brainy scientists to conclude that human activity is affecting the climate and that global warming is for real."
EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost: "The NCAA's Division I Board of Directors, on which Adams sits, chose Monday not to move on his request for an exploratory committee, saying it wants to confer with university presidents in conferences around the country and those on a panel that oversees the Bowl Championship Series. There was question as to whether the board ultimately would act at all."
Monday, January 14, 2008
EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost: "The article reports on the decision of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to strip the tax provisions from the energy bill and send it back of the House of Congress. It highlights the move of Reid to remove a renewable electricity bill while the White House threatens to go against with the bill if tax provisions will be included. It also presents the attempt of Senate Commerce Chairman Daniel K. Inouye to exempt cement trucks from the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program increase."
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
globeandmail.com: Radically goofy
globeandmail.com: Radically goofy: "And in fact, this might be Mr. Splashy Pants's most significant message: If you presume to speak to the masses about society's ills and how to correct them, do it in their language - and admit it's also yours. Be their conscience, sure, but address them as friends would."
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