April 2009
4 posts
“I want to be a scientist because then I get to play with dry ice.”
– Rosa
In the Washington Post today, a puff piece about one of my wife’s cousins. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but let’s call it what it is.
March 2009
28 posts
I submitted an abstract to the AAAs: Can simple cooperative norms promote risk-pooling? An agent-based model of a traditional gift-giving system. Abstract: Gift giving is a classic topic of anthropology but one which has received reduced attention in recent years, despite the advent of analytical tools that may shed new light on these systems. We use an agent-based model to explore Osotua, a...
I can’t even believe how big a disaster this house is. Molly is coming home tonight, and she would be really appalled. Fortunately, she’s not going to see it. Because I’m burning it to the ground.
Apparently ivory tower academics think I’m some sort of wizard with Excel. Which I am, but it’s nothing to be proud of.
“Today seems like a perfect day for a horse.”
– Rosa
I don’t really believe in studying. Tests are supposed to measure knowledge and studying, in my experience, does not enhance knowledge. Short term memory packing is not worthwhile knowledge, in any case. Though I hated taking them, Dr. Trivers’ oral exams were an actual evaluation of one’s knowledge. He sat down with you in a room and said “What was the major conclusion of...
Elena is a little seamstress and yesterday she made a very cute little drawstring notions bag for her teacher. If I were a good parent I would have taken a picture of it, but maybe Molly did. Anyway, I said to her: “Why don’t we sell these on Etsy?” and she just about died and went to heaven. Here’s how I say it should work. Using the materials she has on hand, she should...
“Is there a gravity company somewhere?”
– Rosa
Writing exam questions is a labor of love. I don’t even know what that means, except that it’s a lot of work, and I love it. I love it less when there are five people writing questions on the same material and I’m afraid that all our questions will be redundant, but nevertheless, I do enjoy it.
I had this problem with iTunes where somewhere in its little head it was convinced I had some old podcast files on my disk. I didn’t, but every time I synced my iPod, I’d get a message about “30 errors” finding files. But iTunes does not give you the option of getting at all podcast entries through the interface… if a track is marked “podcast=true” then...
I love “Trenchtown Rock” more than any other Bob Marley song, though I would hear arguments in favor of a few others.
Yeah I’m pretty sure this whole “work in the coffee shop” is not going to work for me. FFS, it’s like being at home but with more expensive coffee. What’s it like to have discipline? Ritalin, take me away!
2 tags
Way to go, Cuba. You go out and shit the bed in the second round, losing both of your games to Japan by a total of 11-0. This is the first time in 50 years that Cuba has failed to reach the final of an international baseball tournament—an amazing record, even if for most of that history it’s been Cuban men vs. other countries’ boys. Anyway, we would all be blessed to see Yulieski...
Ah Yuengling. You really are delicious and cheap. And that is why you are the most wonderful beer. But really, don’t you think Charlie Brown’s is kind of making a killing selling you for $3.99 a pint when I can get you for $4.99 a six pack about 50 yards away? Doesn’t that bother you? Probably not. You’re too proud.
I’m trying to get a handle on the relationships between belief, cognition and culture in a religious context. Religious belief is a component of religious cognition. Cognition is related to culture, of course. People far smarter than me (I?) have thought about this. Ultimately, how do any of them relate to behavior? Are these the things that keep me up at night?
My distaste for American Public Media’s Marketplace is profound. Its “Morning Report” runs on our NPR affiliate WNYC, from 8:30 to 9:00. I don’t really have a substantive critique; I just remember reading an article on NPR in a left wing magazine 10+ years ago, describing Marketplace as “grotesque.” I think that’s right, and if I knew more about...
Get them to sign on the line which is dotted.
From the “It’s a Small World After All” file. A girl who lived around the corner from me in high school in Florida—yo, we are in the same prom picture!—is the cousin of a friend here at Rutgers. Worlds collide!
Lingk: What are the police doing here...?
Williamson: We had a slight burglary last night.
Roma: It was nothing...I was assuring Mr. Lingk...
Williamson: Mr. Lingk. James Lingk. Your contract went out. Nothing to...
Roma: John...
Williamson: Your contract went out to the bank.
Lingk: You cashed the check?
Williamson: We...
Roma: ...Mr. Williamson...
Williamson: Your check was cashed yesterday afternoon. And we're completely insured, as you know, in any case.
: Pause.
Lingk: (to Roma) You cashed the check?
Roma: Not to my knowledge, no...
Williamson: I'm sure we can...
Lingk: Oh, Christ... (starts out the door) Don't follow me...Oh, Christ. (pause, to Roma) I know I've let you down. I'm sorry. For...Forgive...for...I don't know anymore. (pause) Forgive me.
: Lingk exits. Pause.
Roma: (to Williamson) You stupid fucking cunt. You, Williamson...I'm talking to you, shithead...You just cost me six thousand dollars. (pause) Six thousand dollars. And one Cadillac. That's right. What are you going to do about it? What are you goin to do about it, asshole. You fucking shit. Where did you learn your trade. You stupid fucking cunt. You idiot. Whoever told you you could work with men?
When we get to the last bowl of a box of cereal, I get out the colander and pour the cereal into it. All of the nasty dust and crumblies and bug parts fall through into the sink, and my children can enjoy pure, healthy Trix.
2 tags
Webkinz is a window to the soul
A window into my daughters’ respective psyches. Elena, 8, has K41,000 and all of her Webkinz are at 95+/100 for happiness, health and hunger (actually the opposite of hunger). Rosa has K6,000 and at least one of her pets has a hunger rating below 30.
I built the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies website out of Joomla! Holy overengineering, Batman. Wordpress would have been a great option. Joomla is like giving a Swiss Army knife to a baby for its applesauce.
I love BibDesk. EndNote costs money and RefWorks is, like seemingly every piece of software sausage that Rutgers forces down our throats, pretty offensive. BibDesk (Mac only) is nice and closely integrated with LaTeX, which the masochist procrastinator inside me likes.
I tell Elena it’s OK to watch TV but that I’d prefer she watch something like Animal Planet rather than Noggin. I tell her that she can play Zack and Wiki on the Wii, but that she has to play it, and not watch the videos. I want her to maximize her sedentariness (really? is that a word?)
If the grind is great, the coffee is high quality and I pack it well, I can make an excellent espresso with my Rancilio Silvia. But if any of those go wrong, then it’s a steaming brown puddle of shitwater. Enter the Nespresso. I feel guilty drinking those, but they’re just so much easier.
My first R function
I needed to create a couple of graphs showing necessary distributions required by a couple of variables in a model I’m helping build with a couple of colleagues. There’s probably an easier way to do this but I used R, and wrote a function:
plotnormalrange <- function ( mean = 0, sdcount = 3, rangesize = 2 )
It’s pretty specific but does just what I wanted: shows a normal curve with a certain...
plotnormalrange <- function ( mean = 0, sdcount = 3, rangesize = 2 ) { max <- mean + rangesize / 2 sd <- ( max - mean ) / sdcount range <- c ( mean - 4 * sd, mean + 4 * sd ) x <- seq ( min(range), max(range), len=200) plot(x,dnorm(x,mean=mean,sd=sd), type=”l”) x <- seq(mean - sdcount * sd, mean + sdcount * sd, len=100) y <- dnorm(x,mean=mean,sd=sd) polygon(c(x,x[100],x[1]),...