I was very thrilled to be invited to speak to six classes of seventh- and eighth-grade students at an urban school. Actually, they wanted me to speak to seven classes but there is no way on earth I am getting up at 6:30 a.m. or whatever ungodly hour would be required for me to make…
You know those people who have perfect theories about raising children and then they give birth to an actual child who (surprise, surprise) progresses from throwing up baby food on the cat to staying out after curfew? Well, the open data initiative seems to be like that. The people who are full of hype about…
Yesterday, Matt Keranen (a.k.a. @HybridDBA) made the comment about SAS giving free software to universities as response to R << “Would be nice if they did the same for developers” The more I thought about that, the more convinced I became that he is right. There are a few reasons. First, let’s look at the…
Well it appears that you have followed the advice of the narrator from Rocky & Bullwinkle and “tuned in next time” to read Part 2 of my rant on what I am passionate about, which happens to be data, math and cutting through the bullshit. Hmm … may I respectfully suggest that you consider getting…
I was at a conference recently when someone asked me what I was passionate about and I answered, “Data”. He seemed very disappointed and wandered off in search of someone more interesting who would give a better answer like curing AIDS or ending world hunger or solving global warming. I could have added , “and…
than the answers. This was certainly the case at the Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch Competition at UCLA last Thursday. In this competition, ten finalists are selected to give a 90-second pitch on their start-up. The presentations are rated on investment potential and presentation with members of the TCA holding up cards like a gymnastics…
I was debating whether or not I should go to the Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch competition last night since I had to catch a cross-country flight out of LAX less than two hours after it ended. In the end, I decided I would be crazy not to go. It’s less than ten miles away,…
I’ve just been hired on a project that uses SAS and I know nothing but SPSS, but I know that really well. Can I come over to your office tomorrow? … so began a very interesting afternoon, where the new employee would show me code that she had written, say VALUE LABELS and ask, “Can…
The first programming language I learned, 36 years ago, was BASIC, followed by Fortran the next semester. A couple of years later, my employer had me learn COBOL, FORESIGHT and M (the successor to MUMPS). Haven’t touched either in decades and of the three, COBOL is the only one that I’m sure still exists. In…
We invest in our 401ks, we need to think about investing in our government. A new way of thinking about investment, from Alan Silverman That’s a great idea. Especially from the point of view of parents who are wanting to have a better world for their children. There is the opportunity to invest locally in…