Saturday, 09 April 2011
So I started reading the book Proofiness today. So far, it’s an absolutely fascinating book – the kind where I would like to just sit down and read it cover-to-cover with no interuptions. The author, Charles Seife, also wrote the book Zero, which likewise was another great read.
Proofiness, subtitled The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception, delves into the world of statistics, charts, graphs, and other number-related areas and discusses how data are misinterpreted and manipulated. I’ve read books like this before, such as 200% of Nothing and (my favorite): Innumeracy. I highly recommend these books for understanding the numbers that we hear and see reported to us from the media and (especially!) from advertisers. Since reading Innumeracy, for example, I have notices all sorts of numerical dishonesty, which has helped me in my pursuit to be a responsible citizen, cautious buyer, and all-around nay-sayer.
The problem, however, is that Proofiness is so popular, I had to wait months before a copy was reserved for me at the library. Now that I have a copy, I am deluged in readings for college and book reviews, so Proofiness is not getting the attention it deserves. In fact, I picked the book up from the library two days ago and I’m only now starting to read it. I fear it will be due before I can finish it – and since it’s so popular right now, I can’t renew my copy.
I just may have to break down and buy a copy. I guess it would be worth it.
Sunday, 10 April 2011
My wife and I are working our way through the entire Seinfeld catalog. (And if you need to click on the link I supplied…jeez, where have you been?) We just started last month, and tonight we watched three episodes from season two, including “The Apartment” (and, yes, every episode of Seinfeld has its own Wikipedia page).
In the apartment, Jerry tells Elaine that the apartment directly above his is open for rent. Elaine literally jumps at the offer and, sight unseen (and sound unheard) accepts the apartment.
Jennifer and I agreed that this is really a New York City thing. This sort of subculture – in which people have to wait until apartments become available seems unique to that metropolitan area. Here in the Twin Cities, it’s different – you pretty much just decide where you want to live, and begin looking in that area. There are plenty of apartments to choose from.
Oh – here’s another fun fact about Seinfeld: all the episodes (except one) begin with the word “The.” This results in some pretty strained names – such as “The Serenity Now” and “The Puerto Rican Day,” but most of the titles make sense. I gotta say, I love the way sitcoms name their episodes, and I don’t know how I managed back in the days before the internet when episode titles were not so readily available.
Monday, 11 April 2011
So, we’ve been very good about going on walks lately. The warmer weather sure helps. I put Isla in an ergo and off we go (hey – poetry!). Today, for the first time in the week that we’ve been venturing outside for walks, Isla started getting fussy and crying. It seems she didn’t want to be in the ergo. We stopped at a playground, Jennifer nursed Isla, Owen played on the equipment, and I just say around. Then Isla was fine and she snuggled right in to the ergo. She’s an easy, easy baby to take care of. I think, if Isla had been born first (and under similar circumstances), we would probably have five kids by now.
Hold it – I just totally said that without thinking it through. The truth is, each of the four subsequent pregnancies, births, and dispositions of the babies would have also had to match up with Isla’s pretty well, and that would’ve been a long shot. Still, I hope you get my point.
Also today, a co-worker sent me this video today: When Harry Met Sally 2. It’s a bit disjointed, but I thought it was funny.
He also sent me this: The Geek Zodiac. The reasons for the years are a bit contrived, though I’m not sure how they could’ve done it otherwise. I was born in the Year of the Superhero.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Exam #2 in class today. Like the first exam, this one consisted of two parts: a matching game (yep, the professor actually calls it a ‘game’) wherein we are given a list of ten excerpts from various narratives and we have to match them up with the appropriate author. I got all of these correct. I mean, unless I made a really stupid mistake that I didn’t even notice – like putting my own name in blank #5 instead of the name of the appropriate author.
The second part of the exam consisted of making a claim about one or more of the texts and then defending that claim with various quotes from the texts. I never really feel comfortable with this sort of test; I’m anxious to see what my score is. The scoring with essays is rather subjective, so I’ll just hope the professor likes what I wrote.
We were also given an assignment today. That’s no surprise, really, as the professor gives us an assignment on most days. But this one was different: instead of having to write a one-page essay, we have to draw a picture. Here are the instructions, word-for-word, as I copied them off the board:
“Draw your picture of The Fall of the House of Usher. You may be realistic, symbolic, stick figurishtic. Write a couple of sentences about what your picture says or what theme it is showing.”
An artist I am not. I’m just a eager to see what I’ll end up drawing as my professor is. If it doesn’t violate any code of academic honesty, I might just go ahead an post a scan of the picture up here on this site. Just, as they say, for shits and giggles.