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} </style> <meta name="application-name" content="Ellie Asks Why"/><meta name="msapplication-window" content="width=device-width;height=device-height"/><meta name="msapplication-tooltip" content="Things I found and thought were interesting... maybe you'll think so too"/><meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Subscribe;action-uri=https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/feed/;icon-uri=https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/c13e95902c39b0a84325c834aea6ab5d?s=16"/><meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Sign up for a free blog;action-uri=http://wordpress.com/signup/;icon-uri=https://s2.wp.com/i/favicon.ico"/><meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=WordPress.com Support;action-uri=http://support.wordpress.com/;icon-uri=https://s2.wp.com/i/favicon.ico"/><meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=WordPress.com Forums;action-uri=http://forums.wordpress.com/;icon-uri=https://s2.wp.com/i/favicon.ico"/><meta name="title" content="Ellie Asks Why on WordPress.com"/> <meta name="description" content="Things I found and thought were interesting... maybe you'll think so too (by Ellie Kesselman)"/> <style type="text/css" id="syntaxhighlighteranchor"></style> <script type="text/javascript" src="//web.archive.org/web/20150314081846js_/https://use.typekit.net/vci4auy.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">try{Typekit.load();}catch(e){}</script> </head> <body class="home blog mp6 typekit-enabled customizer-styles-applied highlander-enabled highlander-light"> <div id="rap"> <div id="header"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/">Ellie Asks Why</a></h1> <h3 class="description">Things I found and thought were interesting… maybe you'll think so too</h3> </div> <div id="content"> <div class="post-2373 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-mathematics-and-statistical-analysis tag-statistics"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2373"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/cornucopia-of-mathematics/" rel="bookmark">Cornucopia of mathematics</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <p>This image was originally developed as the focal point of the Math Awareness Month poster of April 2000. The theme was “Math Spans All Dimensions”. It was too lovely to be retired, and appeared again at <strong><a title="Thomas F. Banchoff Department of Mathematics " href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.math.brown.edu/TFBCON2003/about/welcome.html" target="_blank">TFBCON2003</a></strong>.</p> <p style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.math.brown.edu/TFBCON2003/art/JPG/Other/MAM2000.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter" style="border:2px solid #000000;margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i2.wp.com/www.math.brown.edu/TFBCON2003/art/JPG/Other/MAM2000.jpg" alt="Dimension Cornucopia via TFBCON2003" width="471" height="292"/></a></p> <p>According to the artist, Brown University professor Thomas Banchoff, it is suffused with joy, just as I had hoped!</p> <p>It begins with mere points, then a curve that flares into a spiral and eventually a colorful 3-d <strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.math.brown.edu/TFBCON2003/art/HTML/Other/MAM2000.html">cornucopia of mathematical plenty</a></strong>:</p> <blockquote><p>…suggesting the possibility of further dimensions yet to come.</p></blockquote> <p>Professor Banchoff’s art work has even graced some book covers, including <strong><a title="Iverson & Gergen. Statistics: The Conceptual Approach" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.math.brown.edu/~banchoff/howison/newbanchoff/references/cover1.php" target="_blank">this one</a></strong>, written by <strong><a title="Statistics comes to Swarthmore College" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/statistics-at-swarthmore-college-young-tufte-visits/" target="_blank">my favorite statistician</a></strong>.</p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/mathematics-and-statistical-analysis/" rel="category tag">Mathematics and Statistical Analysis</a></li></ul> on February 27, 2015 at 12:33 am  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/cornucopia-of-mathematics/#comments" title="Comment on Cornucopia of mathematics">Comments (2)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/statistics/" rel="tag">statistics</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2375 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-economic-sciences tag-behavioral-economics tag-bio-fuel tag-energy tag-epa tag-federal-reserve-bank tag-public-policy tag-rin"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2375"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/the-epa-is-not-the-federal-reserve-of-oil-markets/" rel="bookmark">The EPA is not the Federal Reserve of oil markets</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <p>Energy market pricing behavior seems contrary to the relationship between supply and demand. The oddly behaving RIN market is an intermediate factor that influences gasoline prices for automobiles. RIN (Renewable Identification Numbers) should be decreasing. Instead, they are too high.</p> <h3>Bio-fuel pricing anomaly</h3> <p>RIN establish compliance with standards for non-fossil fuel usage, specifically, for corn-based ethanol as a blend in gasoline. In 2007, legislation was passed to encourage greater use of ethanol. The percentage requirement of ethanol is set by the EPA. It increases annually, and is calculated at an aggregate level, measured volumetrically, over <strong>all</strong> U.S. domestic consumption.</p> <p>My <strong>favorite</strong> energy blog, <strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://blogs.platts.com/" target="_blank">Platt’s <em>Oil Barrel</em></a></strong>, featured a guest post<strong>*</strong> by former Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change of the National Security Council <strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://sipa.columbia.edu/faculty/jason-bordoff" target="_blank">Jason Bordoff</a></strong>, explaining anomalous RIN price behavior, and what the EPA is doing about it. He noted two reasons for the seemingly anomalous pricing.</p> <h4>Hitting the blend wall</h4> <p>Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) were revised in 2007, based on the assumption that gasoline usage would increase over time. In fact, it has not done so, not consistently. Instead, it decreased during 2011-2013, yet the schedule of increasing amounts of ethanol has remained, as legislated. As a result, according to Bordoff, we are now hitting the “blend wall”, when <strong><a title="Bordoff explains EPA action on biofuels" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://blogs.platts.com/2013/08/09/rins-bordoff/">blenders physically cannot put enough ethanol into the gas supply to comply with RFS law</a></strong>.</p> <p>Bordoff identified a second reason:</p> <blockquote><p>broad-based skepticism in the market that EPA will use its waiver authority to avoid the blend wall—even though EPA just went to unusual lengths to signal precisely that it will.</p></blockquote> <h4>Federal Reserve v. EPA: Powers and purpose</h4> <p>The bio-fuel situation bears an odd resemblance to the rational expectations based logic of monetary policy. It is difficult for the Federal Reserve to effectively signal to markets, e.g. the anticipated (and appropriate!) end of quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve System has taken measures to increase transparency. Fed Governors Bernanke and Yellen hold scheduled press conferences. Bernanke was the first Federal Reserve governor to do so. The Fed was audited by the GAO in 2012. Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting notes are published and posted online.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>wow.. just wow.. Citi talking of QE4 now with inflation expectations collapsing <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://t.co/ZzH2u7nrA8">pic.twitter.com/ZzH2u7nrA8</a></p> <p>— Chris (@lebullmarche) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://twitter.com/lebullmarche/status/519820539657846784">October 8, 2014</a></p></blockquote> <p>The Fed also has the necessary tools to carry out monetary policy e.g. quantitative easing known as QE. </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://twitter.com/lebullmarche">@lebullmarche</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://twitter.com/LadyFOHF">@LadyFOHF</a> OMG | QEn s.t. n = 1 ~> ? It is unnatural. Fed wasn’t intended for this; is worse than a centrally planned economy</p> <p>— Ellie Kesselman (@EllieAsksWhy) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://twitter.com/EllieAsksWhy/status/519824312996335617">October 8, 2014</a> </p></blockquote> <p>Despite all of the above, the “job creators” aren’t investing, and the Fed is now contemplating QE4. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/the-epa-is-not-the-federal-reserve-of-oil-markets/#more-2375" class="more-link">(more…)</a></p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/economic-sciences/" rel="category tag">Economic Sciences</a></li></ul> on October 13, 2014 at 7:54 am  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/the-epa-is-not-the-federal-reserve-of-oil-markets/#comments" title="Comment on The EPA is not the Federal Reserve of oil markets">Comments (5)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/behavioral-economics/" rel="tag">behavioral economics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/bio-fuel/" rel="tag">bio-fuel</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/energy/" rel="tag">energy</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/epa/" rel="tag">epa</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/federal-reserve-bank/" rel="tag">Federal Reserve Bank</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/public-policy/" rel="tag">public policy</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/rin/" rel="tag">rin</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2414 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-mathematics-and-statistical-analysis tag-data-visualization tag-education tag-statistics tag-swarthmore-college tag-tufte"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2414"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/statistics-at-swarthmore-college-young-tufte-visits/" rel="bookmark">Statistics comes to Swarthmore College</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <p>Some years ago, I studied mathematics and statistics. At that time, there was only one statistician among the mathematics department members, maybe the entire Swarthmore College faculty, <strong><a title="G. Iversen PhD professor emeritus, Swarthmore College faculty bio" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/cwareha1/iversen.html" target="_blank">Gudmund R. Iversen</a></strong>. He was my academic adviser. Professor Iversen was grey, tweedy and Norwegian. He always addressed me as Miss Kesselman, which helped alleviate my shyness at the time.</p> <p>Professor Iversen got his PhD in statistics from Harvard University in 1969. I noticed only one other familiar name on that very short <strong><a title="Harvard Statistics PhD Alumni" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.stat.harvard.edu/alumni/PhD.html" target="_blank">list of all Harvard Statistics PhD alumni</a>:</strong> Columbia University political science and statistics professor <strong><a title="Gelman recounts an incident from his Harvard days" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://andrewgelman.com/2014/05/07/cause-thinks-hes-phisticated/" target="_blank">Andrew Gelman PhD in 1990</a></strong>.</p> <h3>Lunch with Tufte</h3> <p>Professor Iversen had a group of colleagues, all statisticians from other academic institutions. They would visit Swarthmore to give lunchtime talks, or more typically, late Friday afternoon presentations to mathematical statistics students.</p> <div style="width: 370px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://scimaps.org/mapdetail/napoleons_march_to_m_9" target="_blank"><img style="border:2px solid #000000;margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;" title="Napoleon's March 1812-1813 - Click on image for full-size view" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i1.wp.com/scimaps.org/exhibit/maps/9_______jpg_600x600_q85.jpg" alt="Diagram of Napoleon's Russian campaign by Minard" width="360" height="212"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Napoleon’s March to Moscow. Charles J. Minard, 1869</p></div> <p>I recall one particular guest statistician. Edward Tufte was on the faculty of Princeton University, and had recently written his first book, <em>The Visual Display of Quantitative Information</em>. The venue was a small private room in Sharples dining hall. I was one of maybe 20 attending. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/statistics-at-swarthmore-college-young-tufte-visits/#more-2414" class="more-link">(more…)</a></p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/mathematics-and-statistical-analysis/" rel="category tag">Mathematics and Statistical Analysis</a></li></ul> on September 10, 2014 at 3:12 pm  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/statistics-at-swarthmore-college-young-tufte-visits/#comments" title="Comment on Statistics comes to Swarthmore College">Comments (5)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/data-visualization/" rel="tag">data visualization</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/education/" rel="tag">education</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/statistics/" rel="tag">statistics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/swarthmore-college/" rel="tag">Swarthmore College</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/tufte/" rel="tag">Tufte</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2399 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-economic-sciences tag-bitcoin tag-currency tag-monopoly"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2399"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/just-a-little-bit-more-bitcoin-trouble/" rel="bookmark">Just a Little Bit More Bitcoin Trouble</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <p>There has been so much tumult in bitcoin and crypto currencies over the past few days! Interest and concern extends far beyond arcane online communities. Motives vary.</p> <div style="text-align:left;"> <div style="width: 350px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://cryptojunky.com/blog/2013/03/26/absolute-beginners-guide-to-gpu-mining-bitcoin/" target="_blank"><img style="border:2px solid #000000;margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i0.wp.com/cryptojunky.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BitcoinMining.png" alt="screenshot of currency miner" width="340"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Mining with Windows 7</p></div> </div> <h2>Decentralized and anonymous</h2> <p>There are two conceptual pillars of trust that uphold bitcoin as being superior to fiat currency. The first is <b>decentralization</b>.</p> <p>The fiat currency of reference is primarily the US dollar, for the time being. Why? Because the $US is the world’s reserve currency, for now. If Germany weren’t part of the EU, if Japan weren’t still in its lost decade and England weren’t so afflicted with problems, the Deutsche mark, Yen or British Pound Sterling would be attractive alternatives to the $US as a <strong>fungible</strong>, stable store of value. As ideological (not market) confidence in the $US has diminished, the appeal of an apolitical, modern alternative increases. I won’t go off on a tangent as to why a currency printed by the U.S. Treasury in support of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy isn’t as highly esteemed as it was in the past. Obviously the $US dollar is a highly centralized currency.</p> <p>The second conceptual pillar of bitcoin is <b>anonymity</b>. US dollars held as cash will be anonymous until one wants to use them for exchange for commercial transactions of size. Bitcoin has some anonymity short comings, too, but there <strong><em>may</em></strong> be tractable remedies.</p> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Centralization of bitcoin</h3> <p style="text-align:left;">All markets are game theoretic. Bitcoin is more transparently so. I really wish we could ask Professor John Nash what he thinks of bitcoin! Nash actually wrote a pleasant, accessible article about bitcoin-like currencies a few years ago.</p> <p style="text-align:left;">I mention game theory because bitcoin’s most acute concern now is loss of decentralization. It is due to the documented, persistent existence of a 51% majority mining pool controlled by gHash.io. gHash is owned and operated by a private entity, cex.io. gHash’s market dominant behavior was noted in March 2014, but the situation was transient, unlike now. Monopolists, <b><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2227.0;all" target="_blank">and cartels</a></b>, can assert control as a function of mining power. See <b><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://hackingdistributed.com/2014/06/16/how-a-mining-monopoly-can-attack-bitcoin/">How a mining monopoly can attack bitcoin</a></b> for a chart of strategies that mining pools can pursue as a function of hash power. It was recommended by Ed Felten in his post, <strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/bitcoin-mining-now-dominated-by-one-pool/">Bitcoin mining now dominated by one pool</a></strong>.</p> <h3>Production and transaction costs</h3> <p>In theory, bitcoin is a perfectly smooth, zero transaction cost medium of exchange. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/just-a-little-bit-more-bitcoin-trouble/#more-2399" class="more-link">(more…)</a></p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/economic-sciences/" rel="category tag">Economic Sciences</a></li></ul> on June 17, 2014 at 12:41 pm  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/just-a-little-bit-more-bitcoin-trouble/#respond" title="Comment on Just a Little Bit More Bitcoin Trouble">Leave a Comment</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/bitcoin/" rel="tag">bitcoin</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/currency/" rel="tag">currency</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/monopoly/" rel="tag">monopoly</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2351 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-social-sciences tag-charter-schools tag-critique tag-education tag-tech-culture"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2351"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/my-opinion-public-school-education/" rel="bookmark">Public school education</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <p>Today’s post is somewhat of a departure for me. I try to avoid writing of subjects about which I have no formal training nor experience.</p> <h3>Not an autodidact</h3> <p>My only education-related experience has been passive, as a recipient. From kindergarten through 12th grade, I attended public schools in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I loved learning algebra, calculus, chemistry, English literature, French, U.S. history, physics, drafting, home economics, and orchestra. I find it difficult to learn from self-instructional materials. Learning by doing is effective, but requires some guidance.</p> <h3>Education from kindergarten through high school</h3> <p>I perceive betrayal of public interest throughout the U.S.A., due to federal government educational policy. New York City is especially troubled. Exceptionally wealthy individuals with <strong>ZERO</strong> experience or training in education have decided that they know what is best for America’s children.</p> <h3>The 0.1% of the 0.1%</h3> <p>The Brookings Institute describes them as the 0.1% of 0.1% in assets. Assets held is a robust metric for gauging wealth. It is important to distinguish between wealth and income. Income fluctuates from year to year, even for the wealthy. Causes vary. Some have profound impact, such as significant reversals of fortune. Some are merely transitory, e.g. accounting losses reported in order to minimize impact of tax law changes. These 0.1% of 0.1% individuals choose to actively direct the projects that are beneficiaries of their philanthropy.</p> <h3>Philanthropy, education reform and charter schools</h3> <p>Most education reform activists, or perhaps investors, have no knowledge, nor experience in public school education. Rather, they are exceptionally capable <strong><a title="A teacher's plea to Bill and Melinda Gates" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://dianeravitch.net/2013/06/30/a-teachers-plea-to-bill-and-melinda-gates/">leaders of global software conglomerates</a></strong>. Others have great prowess as <strong><a title="A charter school bill and the 0.01 percent - an analysis via Univ Washington by way of Dora's blog" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/the-charter-school-bill-1040-and-the-1-an-analysis/" target="_blank">hedge fund managers, venture capitalists or real-estate moguls</a></strong>. Several are Wal-Mart family scions. Education reformers who have children educate them at private schools like Philips Andover or Choate, yet they claim that charter school operators provide a superior education, compared to public schools in the U.S.A. The same story can be told regarding MOOCs.</p> <div style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a title="Charter school versus public school education comparison" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Charter_School_Performance_Study.svg/300px-Charter_School_Performance_Study.svg.png" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured " style="border:2px solid black;margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;" title="Comparison of school performance" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i2.wp.com/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Charter_School_Performance_Study.svg/300px-Charter_School_Performance_Study.svg.png" alt="Comparison of Charter v. public ed" width="300" height="228"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Statistically questionable comparison of charter v. public school performance via Wikipedia</p></div> <p>Charter schools are similar to private schools, yet they are financed by public, i.e. taxpayer funds. They are not fiscally accountable, unlike public schools. Charter schools do not resemble Exeter or Choate-Rosemary Hall as far as quality of instruction or facilities, not at all! An increasing body of empirical evidence and peer-reviewed research indicates that charter schools are inferior to public school education, in <strong><a title="Current education reform perpetuates rather than curbs inequity" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/current-education-reform-perpetuating-not-curbing-inequity/" target="_blank">myriad ways</a></strong>. The same is true for the uniformly despised Common Core Standards, by everyone other than ALEC and those who hold copyright to them.</p> <div id="attachment_2392" style="width: 233px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/commoncore2.png" target="_blank"><img class="wp-image-2392 size-medium" style="border:1px solid #000000;margin:1px;" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://myindigolives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/commoncore2.png?w=223&h=300" alt="common core is an unpopular ed policy" width="223" height="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Local radio poll</p></div> <h3 style="padding-left:240px;">Anti-Schumpeter</h3> <p style="padding-left:240px;">Schumpeter wrote about creative disruption. I think that the current school reform movement is better described as <strong>destructive disruption</strong>.</p> <p>Unfortunately, the media tows the line of those who claim that teaching must be disrupted. This is because those who are wealthy are influential, and LOUD. They like to say that teaching must be disrupted, in order to keep pace with the inexorable path of scientific progress.</p> <p>Why the need for disruption? We live in an era of technology! Existing pedagogy is allegedly archaic, resembling that which was used for the past 1000 years. <strong><a title="EXCELLENT post via Audrey Watters on edtech as false prophet panacea and Schumpeter disruption terminology abuse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://hackeducation.com/2014/05/14/innovation-cnie-2014/" target="_blank">Silicon Valley is especially fond of saying that</a></strong>. In fact, 20th century teaching methods were similar to those used for the past 1,000 years, and for good reason: <strong>Our brains haven’t changed in the past 10,000 years! </strong>Our cognitive processing and synthesis of information into knowledge has not evolved over such a short time span.</p> <p>Technology is great, but technocrats who want to replace teachers with robots and mobile phone apps will do great damage. That isn’t how <strong>THEY</strong> learned math, reading or anything else! Yet most websites where programmers, PhD educated mathematicians or physicists gather, cannot say enough bad things about how repressive, stifling, corrupt and inadequate our public education system is. Where did most or all get their educations? Surprise: K-12 public schools, often followed by land grant universities! Most excel in their careers, in STEM fields. We are now said, as a nation, to be grossly deficient in STEM skills, although <strong><a title="Many STEM graduates, too few employers who want to pay market wages" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth" target="_blank">IEEE has evidence to the contrary</a></strong>. Trans-humanists such as Sugita are given $10 million grants to run schools without teachers, only the internet. And then there is the <strong><a title="The Duckworth grit deception" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://arctanh.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/too-much-grit/" target="_blank">recent fascination with grit</a></strong>…</p> <h2>Root-cause medley of societal malaise</h2> <p>So, just maybe, status quo pedagogical methods, as applied before 1990 (and Common Core), were exceptionally effective! And the problem, now, is not teacher inadequacy and the lack of iPad’s from kindergarten on. Instead, there are profound societal inefficiencies due to a decade or three of so-called Democrats, who are neither Democrat nor GOP nor libertarian. They are crony capitalists, neo-liberals, oligarchs in the wings. What’s happening now is a logical consequence of:</p> <ul> <li>a Byzantine tax code full of loopholes</li> <li>inconsistently applied, sometimes adversarial regulation</li> <li>no protectionism or support of American products in global markets</li> <li>anti-union federal government policy under the Obama Administration</li> <li>dismantled immigration policy</li> <li>never-ending wars, yet not calling it war, but rather “conflict”</li> <li>anti-intellectual wisdom of the crowds and the sharing economy, euphemisms for exploitation of foreign workers/U.S. underemployed youth and feasting off The Commons, respectively</li> <li>anti-intellectual arrogance, that is, too much Thomas Kuhn, not enough Thorsten Veblen!</li> <li>“questioning everything” including mainstream scientific thought, while blindly following life coaches, anti-vaccination celebrities and pseudo-religious demagogues</li> <li>dissolution of local community, partly due to unfair competition from huge e-commerce retailers; note that small e-commerce is hurt by this too!</li> <li>ridicule and intolerance of religion, of any sort</li> <li>failure to value the independent 3rd party press, e.g. “news is a commodity, distributed freely by the internet”</li> <li>failure to distinguish between intellectual property laws that oppress innovation e.g. nutty software patents, NPE’s a.k.a. trolls versus copyright as a basic human right, that is, the right to be paid for one’s original work</li> </ul> <p>I’ll stop now.</p> <h3>Disclaimer</h3> <p>In the style of <em>Seeking Alpha</em> investment analyses, I disavow any agenda, nor will I benefit in any way from this post. In fact, the contrary is far more likely, particularly since I am in search of employment. My passive experience with public education, that I mentioned earlier, is based on observations made by my mother and two aunts, each of whom has 20 years experience as public school teachers. Also, I have tutored college students who had trouble with calculus. I do that at my kitchen table, free, yet many can’t make time in their busy schedules, until failing out and retaking the class.</p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/social-sciences/" rel="category tag">Social Sciences</a></li></ul> on May 17, 2014 at 9:28 am  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/my-opinion-public-school-education/#comments" title="Comment on Public school education">Comments (9)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/charter-schools/" rel="tag">charter schools</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/critique/" rel="tag">critique</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/education/" rel="tag">education</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/tech-culture/" rel="tag">tech culture</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2339 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-social-media tag-quora tag-url-shortener"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2339"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/how-to-clean-the-goo-dot-gl-virus-when-you-run-it/" rel="bookmark">How to clean the Goo dot gl virus</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <p><a title="Virus icon via Wikipedia" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Virus_rezon.gif" target="_blank"><img class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured alignright" style="border:1px solid black;margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;" title="virus image via Wikipedia" alt="computer virus" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i0.wp.com/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Virus_rezon.gif/75px-Virus_rezon.gif" width="75" height="78"/></a>This is an example of an exceptionally false-positive computer virus concern. More accurate: General lack of having a clue.</p> <p><span style="color:#800000;">How to clean the goo dot gl virus when you run it?</span></p> <blockquote><p><em>The worm spreads on Twitter as a link. Careful with this.</em></p> <div><img class="qtext_image zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed alignnone" style="border:1px solid red;" title="goo gl not virus" alt="quora query" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/http://qph.cf.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-26a1cb9d391bef61bb8c078e361c1488" width="437" height="155"/></div> </blockquote> <p><span class="qlink_container">Computer Viruses: <strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.quora.com/Computer-Viruses/How-to-clean-the-Goo-dot-gl-virus-when-you-run-it">View the question and associated answers on Quora</a></strong>. </span></p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/social-media/" rel="category tag">Social Media</a></li></ul> on December 21, 2012 at 4:54 am  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/how-to-clean-the-goo-dot-gl-virus-when-you-run-it/#comments" title="Comment on How to clean the Goo dot gl virus">Comments (4)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/quora/" rel="tag">Quora</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/url-shortener/" rel="tag">URL shortener</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2204 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-security tag-prng tag-random-numbers tag-spam"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2204"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/the-problem-with-randomness/" rel="bookmark">The problem with randomness</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <div id="attachment_2449" style="width: 480px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25" target="_blank"><img class="wp-image-2449 size-large" style="border:1px solid #000000;margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;" title="Dilbert classic PRNG comic - 25 October 2001" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://myindigolives.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/dt011025.gif?w=470&h=139" alt="dilbert comic strip 2001-10-25" width="470" height="139"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Random number generators: The devil is in the details</p></div> <h4>How to generate random numbers from spam</h4> <p>I found this the other day, via <strong><a title="WPRandom: The early version" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.andresilaghi.com/?page_id=1668">WPRandom</a>:</strong></p> <blockquote><p>Generating random numbers is pretty complicated if you need them for cryptographic algorithms. This software generates them based on spam comments…</p></blockquote> <p>It caught my eye as a sort of “spinning spam into RNG gold”, or more likely, PRNG (pseudo-random number generated) gold. Many WordPress blogs, whether self-hosted using WordPress.org or not, effectively use <strong><a title="Akismet Protip: Tell Us Your Comment Spam" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://blog.akismet.com/2012/06/19/pro-tip-tell-us-your-comment_type/" target="_blank" rel="blog">Akismet as a comment spam sieve</a></strong>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/the-problem-with-randomness/#more-2204" class="more-link">(more…)</a></p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/security/" rel="category tag">Security</a></li></ul> on October 5, 2012 at 3:51 am  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/the-problem-with-randomness/#comments" title="Comment on The problem with randomness">Comments (8)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/prng/" rel="tag">PRNG</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/random-numbers/" rel="tag">random numbers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/spam/" rel="tag">spam</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2271 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-security tag-information-security tag-search-engine tag-shodan"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2271"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/shodan-related-infosec-assortment/" rel="bookmark">SHODAN related infosec assortment</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <div style="width: 85px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a title="Nuclear alert status" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Dc_two_1.svg/75px-Dc_two_1.svg.png" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" style="margin:2px;border:1px solid black;" title="Defcon" alt="wiki defcon 2" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i2.wp.com/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Dc_two_1.svg/75px-Dc_two_1.svg.png" height="177" width="75"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The other Defcon</p></div> <p style="padding-left:100px;">I never attended DEFCON, though it remains a dream I hope to realize one day, soon. It may soon become too logistically awkward due to increasing numbers of attendees.</p> <p style="padding-left:100px;"><strong><a title="Zanran and SHODAN" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/zanran-is-a-new-data-search-engine/">Shodan is a remarkable search engine</a></strong>. Traditional search engines use “spiders” to crawl websites. Shodan culls data from ports. It was created by John Matherly in 2007. He continues to develop it.</p> <p>Shodan is helpful for locating web server vulnerabilities. It is available as a free service, for up to 50 searches. Query syntax includes searches by country, host name, operating system and port. Shodan can search for software AND hardware. It has been acknowledged by mainstream media. The most prominent coverage was in early June, via <em>The Washington Post</em>, when Stuxnet received so much press attention.</p> <h4>Me and Shodan</h4> <p>Next is my <strong><a title="Infosec docs on Scribd" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.scribd.com/collections/2567972/Infosec">Scribd infosec collection</a></strong>. It isn’t exclusively Shodan-related. This is why. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/shodan-related-infosec-assortment/#more-2271" class="more-link">(more…)</a></p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/security/" rel="category tag">Security</a></li></ul> on June 13, 2012 at 9:24 pm  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/shodan-related-infosec-assortment/#comments" title="Comment on SHODAN related infosec assortment">Comments (2)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/information-security/" rel="tag">information security</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/search-engine/" rel="tag">search engine</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/shodan/" rel="tag">SHODAN</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-1129 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-physical-sciences tag-chemistry tag-elements tag-history tag-periodic-table"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-1129"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/periodic-table-gallery/" rel="bookmark">Periodic Table Gallery</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <h4>An exciting time for chemistry</h4> <p>Two <strong><a title="Periodic table to welcome two new elements!" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1202/Periodic-table-to-welcome-two-new-elements">new elements</a></strong>, <em>flerovium</em> and <em>livermoreium</em>, also known as <code>Fl</code> and <code>Lv,</code> and formerly known by the much blander names of <code>ununquadium</code> and <code>ununhexium,</code> have been approved for entry[1] into the Periodic Table of the Elements!</p> <div style="width: 346px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a title="Periodic table tattoo via Flickr" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.flickr.com/photos/_tim/149500684/" target="_blank"><img class=" " style="border-image:initial;margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;border-width:2px;border-color:black;border-style:solid;" title="Periodic Table of Elements right forearm tattoo via Flickr" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i0.wp.com/farm1.static.flickr.com/45/149500684_b7084f5aee_n.jpg" alt="timmurtaugh via Flickr" width="336" height="269"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Periodic Tattoo of Elements</p></div> <p>In honor of the event, I assembled a minor gallery of favorite periodic tables.</p> <p>The <strong><a title="Periodic table by U.S. Energy Information Administration" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=periodic_table">children’s Periodic Table</a></strong> on the U.S. EIA site provides the basics. Better yet, it links to the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) <strong><a title="Los Alamos Nat'l Labs' Periodic Table" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://periodic.lanl.gov/index.shtml">Periodic Table</a></strong>, which is just as impressive and complete as I would expect.</p> <div style="width: 275px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a title="Dave Hobart, PhD, Los Alamos National Labs" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.lanl.gov/copyright.shtml" target="_blank"><img class=" " style="border-image:initial;margin-top:2px;margin-bottom:2px;border-width:2px;border-color:black;border-style:solid;" title="Dave Hobart, Actinide Analytical Chemistry Research, Los Alamos National Laboratories" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i1.wp.com/pearl1.lanl.gov/external/Research/images/dave-hobart.jpg" alt="Mendeleev and Dave Hobart" width="265" height="251"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Celebrating the 175th birthday of Mendeleev’s Periodic Table</p></div> <p style="padding-left:300px;">While viewing, consider a recent post by senior LANL employee David Hobart, Actinide Analytical Chemistry, <strong><a title="D. Hobart PhD and the history of the elements" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://pearl1.lanl.gov/external/Research/hobart.shtml">History of the periodic table…and my history with it</a></strong>, which was charming, as well as educational.</p> <p>There is an “evolution of the table” section, facts about the table’s inventor, Dmitri Mendeleev, born 175 years ago[2], and this:</p> <blockquote><p>As the legendary physicist Richard Feynman put it, “<em>If some universal catastrophe was to engulf the world and humankind could retain only one scientific concept to rebuild civilization, what would it be? The chemist’s answer is almost invariably the Periodic Table of the Elements.</em>“</p></blockquote> <h4>Memorable periodic tables <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/periodic-table-gallery/#more-1129" class="more-link">(more…)</a></h4> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/physical-sciences/" rel="category tag">Physical Sciences</a></li></ul> on March 24, 2012 at 9:02 am  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/periodic-table-gallery/#comments" title="Comment on Periodic Table Gallery">Comments (7)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/chemistry/" rel="tag">chemistry</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/elements/" rel="tag">elements</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/history/" rel="tag">history</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/periodic-table/" rel="tag">periodic table</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="post-2229 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-social-media tag-text-analytics tag-twitter tag-word-play"> <h2 class="storytitle" id="post-2229"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/ad-hoc-text-analytics/" rel="bookmark">Ad hoc text analytics</a></h2> <div class="storycontent"> <div class="mceTemp"> <dl class="wp-caption alignright zemanta-img"> <dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.flickr.com/photos/82298325@N00/3346248321" target="_blank"><img class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured " style="margin-top:1px;margin-bottom:1px;border-color:black;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;" title="Twitter logo map 2009" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://i0.wp.com/farm4.static.flickr.com/3578/3346248321_259f26a0fe_m.jpg" alt="Twitter 2009" width="150" height="240"/></a></dt> </dl> </div> <p>I found an old sentiment analysis application. It has very unglamorous packaging but a good algorithm under the hood. I ran the Twitter user id’s of the brightest people I know. well, <em>know of</em>, who are active Twitter users. The assessment of “bright” was subjective by me. All are acknowledged experts or advanced degree holders. Maybe half speak English as a second language, but are sufficiently articulate that their “essence”, well, intelligence shines through.</p> <p>Guess what: It worked! I don’t know if anyone cares about this sort of thing, that really sharp successful people score well on this sentiment analysis indicator. That doesn’t necessarily mean it would have any predictive value. And no one seems to care much about this anyway. But what I’m saying is that most of these people only have okay-ish Klout scores e.g. 40’s. But they’re not trying to use Twitter for any particular social media purpose. Well, I don’t know that with certainty.</p> </div> <div class="meta"> Published in: <ul class="post-categories"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/category/social-media/" rel="category tag">Social Media</a></li></ul> on February 13, 2012 at 6:00 pm  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/ad-hoc-text-analytics/#comments" title="Comment on Ad hoc text analytics">Comments (6)</a>   <br/> Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/text-analytics/" rel="tag">text analytics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/twitter/" rel="tag">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/tag/word-play/" rel="tag">word play</a><br/></div> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/quentin/images/printer.gif" width="102" height="27" class="pmark" alt=" "/> </div> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/page/2/">« Older Entries</a></div> <div class="alignright"></div> </div> </div> <div id="menu"> <ul> <li id="gravatar-3" class="widget widget_gravatar"><h2 class="widgettitle">Collecting the Oinkworthy</h2> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://gravatar.com/ellieaskswhy/"><img alt="" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846im_/https://2.gravatar.com/avatar/8cce7b70d30f42045bc6c8569f5549e2?s=96&d=wavatar&r=G" class="avatar avatar-96 grav-widget-center" height="96" width="96" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;"/></a></p> </li> <li id="categories-2" class="widget widget_categories"><h2 class="widgettitle">Topics</h2> <select name="cat" id="cat" class="postform"> <option value="-1">Select Category</option> <option class="level-0" value="256">About  (1)</option> <option class="level-0" value="999">Curiosities  (15)</option> <option class="level-1" value="7697053">   Multimedia Fun  (5)</option> <option class="level-1" value="32683189">   Text Non-analytics  (6)</option> <option class="level-0" value="7932280">Economic Sciences  (8)</option> <option class="level-0" value="2054">Law  (3)</option> <option class="level-0" value="47237002">Mathematics and Statistical Analysis  (6)</option> <option class="level-1" value="942203">   Data Analytics  (1)</option> <option class="level-0" value="324881">Natural Sciences  (9)</option> <option class="level-1" value="471163">   Human Biology  (2)</option> <option class="level-0" value="199121">Physical Sciences  (3)</option> <option class="level-0" value="23195">Pigs  (5)</option> <option class="level-0" value="215401">Political Sciences  (5)</option> <option class="level-0" value="1314852">ProTips  (3)</option> <option class="level-0" value="2964">Second Life  (5)</option> <option class="level-1" value="17034">   Viewers  (2)</option> <option class="level-0" value="34301153">Secured Access  (2)</option> <option class="level-0" value="801">Security  (20)</option> <option class="level-1" value="4843">   Hacks  (4)</option> <option class="level-1" value="40461">   Social Network  (3)</option> <option class="level-0" value="49818">Social Media  (20)</option> <option class="level-0" value="20727">Social Sciences  (1)</option> <option class="level-0" value="36216402">Tech Science and Innovation  (13)</option> <option class="level-1" value="262">   Computing  (2)</option> <option class="level-0" value="44111">Visualization  (10)</option> <option class="level-1" value="33416823">   Historical Progress  (4)</option> <option class="level-1" value="9719">   Process  (3)</option> <option class="level-0" value="4400293">Web Developments  (14)</option> </select> <script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var dropdown = document.getElementById("cat"); function onCatChange() { if ( dropdown.options[dropdown.selectedIndex].value > 0 ) { location.href = "https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://myindigolives.wordpress.com/?cat="+dropdown.options[dropdown.selectedIndex].value; } } dropdown.onchange = onCatChange; /* ]]> */ </script> </li> <li id="linkcat-1356" class="widget widget_links"><h2 class="widgettitle">Blogroll</h2> <ul class="xoxo blogroll"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/historical-echoes/" title="Historical echoes from the Federal Reserve" target="_blank">Liberty Street Economics – NY Fed</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://www.theusrus.de/blog" title="Graphics applications for statistical analysis" target="_blank">Statistical Graphics</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://dicook.github.io/" rel="colleague" title="For the love of plotting data! 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I admit, the temptation is difficult to resist. I was always sorry when I followed the herd. I lost $$$. Bye for now!| <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/EllieAsksWhy/statuses/576615845629022208" class="timesince">2 hours ago</a> </li> <li> @<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/deepakkanungo">deepakkanungo</a> Fed thinks so, as a short-term trade, based on one highly liquid, large-cap NYSE stock. In general, it's bad for mkt clearing| <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/EllieAsksWhy/statuses/576615080105619456" class="timesince">2 hours ago</a> </li> <li> @<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/PorphyConob">PorphyConob</a> Close. Read the post. It's short and written by NY Fed. The behavior can make economic sense as a day trade, not long term tho| <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/EllieAsksWhy/statuses/576611239968702464" class="timesince">3 hours ago</a> </li> <li> @<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/mat_kelcey">mat_kelcey</a> Your turn now. @<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/ramhiser">ramhiser</a>| <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/http://twitter.com/EllieAsksWhy/statuses/576610002997133312" class="timesince">3 hours ago</a> </li> </ul></li> <li id="blog_subscription-3" class="widget widget_blog_subscription"> <form action="https://web.archive.org/web/20150314081846/https://subscribe.wordpress.com/" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" id="subscribe-blog"> <p>Join 63 other followers</p> <p><input type="text" name="email" style="width: 95%; padding: 1px 2px" placeholder="Enter your email address" value="" id="subscribe-field"/></p> 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