Author Archives: kevin
Links for today
Here are amazing pictures of the Hajj, the religious ceremony all Muslims are expected to undergo.
Here is an explanation of the reconfiguring of Jamarat Bridge, or, how to solve the logistical problem of getting 3 million people to throw rocks at three pillars without any of them getting trampled.
How to talk to girls, the author is 9
The best laid plans going awry
T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, about mediocrity in middle and old age, but written when he was an undergraduate. Is the poem supposed to be a warning or a general complaint about the state of modern life?
NPR has a record number of viewers, but faces a $23 million deficit and thus is cutting Day to Day and News & Notes. This is troublesome but a usual theme in public radio. I am wondering what happened to the $200 million bequest from Joan Kroc in 2003.
The Economist on new technology that allows cars to avoid collisions. The tradeoffs there deserve their own post. I'm not as convinced of the case for driverless cars.
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Give other people a chance to like you
Sometimes you'll be unhappy because things aren't working out socially. No one ever calls/invites you to do things, you feel excluded, you don't know who you're going to live with next year, you're eating alone all the time and you wish you could do things with other people more often. I would know because I've been in this position most places I've been since I finished high school. In this position it's very tempting to blame others. But in most cases, the problem lies particularly close to home. If you've never been in this spot, the rest of this article will feel like absurd cheerleading.
You have to give people the opportunity to like you. I read this in a brochure three months ago and it's stuck with me since then. If you sit off by yourself at meals, in classes, or turn down a social opportunity on the weekend, you're sending a signal that you'd like to be left alone. It's tempting to hope other people realize you don't know a whole lot of people and you're feeling a little intimidated, but this is grasping at thin air; people are more worried first and foremost about their own lives in the worst case. Instead walk with your head up, be positive and make the first move. If this is overwhelming try to do a conversation with just one classmate or one other student each day. My favorite is to say "Hi, I don't think we met, I'm Kevin. I just transferred here. What's your name?"
Second, stop judging people.Just stop. Don't do it. Don't talk behind people's backs, either. Ignore what your peers say about your other peers. Approach every new person like they're the most interesting person you've ever met and you'd love to be friends with them. No one's perfect, not even yourself, so stop blocking until you find that perfect group of friends. You're not.
Lastly, walk with your head up and don't forget to smile a lot. I've noticed confidentpeople and people talking on the phone don't look around - looking straight where you're going, or on who you're talking to, is a sign that whatever you're doing is the most interesting going.
Hope it helps.
Addendum: It appears that happiness is contagious. All the more reason to smile a lot and hang out with cheerful people.
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Thoughts for the day
What if you organized school as a bunch of one or two-week mini-classes dealing with one idea, one book, one poem or one scientific concept? Classes are usually a series of six or ten related ideas. I was thinking about this because my habits are usually excellent at the beginning of the semester and then slowly sink into worse and worse habits. I was wondering if my habits would keep up if the scenery changed once a week. Maybe the only solution is to put money on the line. My initial thought is that this would be chaotic but we have computers to sort out the best schedules. It's hard to evaluate the merits without testing it out. I'm not sure overall learning would decrease. The drawbacks are more obvious than the merits, however.
Also does a companion's level of interest have any bearing on how interested you are? If someone deeply likes you would you be more interested in them, or is attraction based on other factors? Does it do any good to signal a high level of attraction?
I'm taking the Putnam Exam today. I would be pretty happy if I got a 2 on the exam.
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Navy 76 Penn 65
Either both teams stink at scoring or they're both really good at defense. Penn's defense has been good but their offense has struggled.
HD Box score here.
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CMS Beats #15 Whitworth 73-68
I went to the game, in a tournament at Redlands. Every possession was an absolute dogfight. We went up 10 in the first half behind some awesome three-point shooting and then held on in the second half to win.
HDbox score here.
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HD box score for Nova-Penn
Villanova 69, Penn 48 in basketball action at the Palestra. It's never good when your defensive rebound percentage is less than 50%...
Click through for the expanded version.
Penn 47, Villanova 69 Villanova 7-0 vs. Penn 1-5 12/2/08 8 p.m. at the The Palestra (Philadelphia, Pa., -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Penn 47 (1-5) Penn +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF 24 Eggleston, Jack -21 8/36 4-6 0-0 0-0 6/41 2/9 3/59 2/59 1/31 1/29 2/30 3 42 Votel, Brennan -8 4/16 2-3 0-0 0-0 3/16 2/3 0/27 1/27 0/12 0/11 3/16 3 01 Rosen, Zack -23 0/17 0-0 0-3 0-0 3/26 2/6 0/40 3/38 0/26 0/22 1/25 4 03 Bernardini, Tyler -24 12/33 3-6 1-5 3-4 11/37 1/8 0/49 1/47 0/25 1/26 1/23 0 32 Cofield, Remy -9 3/22 0-2 0-2 3-4 4/20 3/8 2/36 2/35 0/18 0/13 1/18 1 13 Schreiber, Andreas -1 2/16 0-3 0-1 2-2 4/16 1/5 1/19 1/19 0/12 0/12 1/10 3 14 Loughery, Larry -11 0/20 0-1 0-0 0-3 1/20 1/7 1/29 1/27 0/20 0/14 1/15 0 15 Egee, Kevin -4 3/29 1-4 0-2 1-1 6/28 0/8 0/38 0/40 0/23 0/20 0/18 1 22 Gaines, Harrison -7 14/38 3-8 2-3 2-2 11/34 0/7 0/46 1/47 0/30 0/22 2/28 0 30 Belcore, Rob 1 0/2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0/2 0/1 0/4 1/3 0/1 0/2 0/2 0 44 Turley, Conor -3 1/6 0-0 0-0 1-2 0/5 0/2 1/8 0/8 0/7 0/4 1/5 1 TOTALS....... -22 47 13 - 33 3 - 16 12 - 18 49 12/16 8/71 13/70 1/41 6/35 18/38 16.394 .188 .667 .750 .113 .186 .024 .171 .474 Villanova 69 (7-0) Villanova +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF 00 Pena, Antonio 16 8/44 2-6 0-0 4-6 6/40 2/13 0/48 3/46 0/16 3/27 3/22 5 33 Cunningham, Dante 27 20/61 8-14 0-1 4-4 15/45 2/14 1/54 2/56 3/29 4/25 7/27 1 01 Reynolds, Scottie 23 10/62 1-3 2-6 2-2 9/53 4/18 0/58 3/62 0/31 1/34 2/30 0 10 Fisher, Corey 13 7/43 3-7 0-2 1-2 9/42 4/13 3/49 2/49 0/21 1/27 5/25 3 24 Stokes, Corey 20 14/50 1-2 4-6 0-0 8/34 1/14 1/45 1/43 1/19 2/17 3/22 1 04 Colenda, Jason -1 0/1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0/1 0/0 0/3 0/4 0/1 0/2 0/2 0 15 Redding, Reggie 12 2/46 1-5 0-1 0-0 6/42 2/14 1/46 0/47 1/23 2/30 4/22 3 20 Clark, Shane 4 5/22 1-3 0-1 3-3 4/21 0/5 0/23 2/27 0/13 3/15 1/13 2 22 Anderson, Dwayne 0 3/12 0-0 1-1 0-0 1/9 0/4 0/12 1/11 0/8 0/4 1/7 0 23 Wooten, Russell -1 0/1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0/1 0/0 0/3 0/3 0/1 0/2 0/1 0 42 Tchuisi, Frank -3 0/3 0-1 0-0 0-0 1/7 0/1 0/9 1/7 0/3 1/7 1/4 1 TOTALS....... 22 69 17 - 41 7 - 18 14 - 17 59 15/24 6/70 15/71 5/33 20/38 29/35 16.415 .389 .824 .625 .086 .211 .152 .526 .829 Efficiency: Penn 0.671, Villanova 0.972 Substitutions: Penn 29, Villanova 31 2 point shot selection Dunks: Penn 0-0, Villanova 2-2 Layups/Tips: Penn 7-12, Villanova 8-22 Jumpers: Penn 6-21, Villanova 7-17 Fast break points: Penn 2, Villanova 2 Points in the paint: Penn 22, Villanova 26
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Why universities spend so much money on sports, and what to do
Athletics demand resources in a fundamentally different way than other fields in higher education. If Pomona and CMC both have excellent cancer research facilities, and make important breakthroughs for cancer, everyone benefits and we can celebrate both labs. We can do the same for every other academic discipline and artistic endeavor; we celebrate excellence where we see it. However, if Pomona and CMC both have excellent basketball teams, we only care if they are good relative to other teams. In athletics the objective is to win, not just to become excellent, so there's a constant pressure for teams to improve relative to other teams. I believe that bad teams playing today could beat good teams from twenty years ago, because for twenty years teams have faced continual pressure to get better or risk oblivion.
The result is that university athletic programs are involved in a continual arms race, as Judge Richard Posner points out (Coincidentally, most professional sports teams lose money because of the constant pressure to spend more money on players). Athletic directors and coaches continually plead for better training facilities, more coaches and/or bigger budgets, citing a need to lure recruits and stay competitive. They succeed when they ask for money because athletics, unlike academic departments, provide immediate feedback about success; if a team isn't competitive, they will lose games. It's much more difficult to receive feedback from investment in academic disciplines than athletics, so a donation to the sports program provides a quick, visible result unlike endowing a professor's chair or paying for a scholarship. As a result, schools are build bigger and better athletic facilities and hire more staff. Salaries for top basketball and football coaches are often higher than salaries for university deans. Most schools boast shiny new weight rooms and/or practice facilities. Our own school has plans to renovate the gym and build a new weight training room.
There's no need for the arms race. All of the external benefits of sports (high attendance, championships, success, school pride) are correlated with winning. Spending money only helps achieve wins if one school can spend more money on its sports programs than the others. As long as one school can spend more money on its sports programs than the others, there will be a constant upward pressure on athletic budgets. We can help stop the arms race by regulating athletic departments, either through the NCAA or through conference organizations. The NCAA already regulates some aspects of athletics, placing limits on recruiting visits and phone calls, ensuring that a team's average SAT is within one standard deviation of the school's average SAT, and limiting the number of athletic scholarships by sport and school division. Granted, many people believe some NCAA rules are dumb, and some of their rules make little sense. However I encourage the NCAA and/or school conferences to take a more active role to stop the arms race among athletic departments. Schools should accept limits on the amount of money schools can spend on their athletic departments. Schools should offer scholarships to athletes based on financial need, and in line with a school's scholarship offers to regular students of the same need, as Ivy League schools do. I believe that attendance, school pride and success won't suffer if we place these restrictions on schools, because teams will still win games and championships, just with lower budgets than they did before.
An example which illustrates my point is the new Speedo LZR Racer Suit, which allows swimmers to shave their times by 1 to 2 percent. The suits cost $600 each and last for four races; a school that had enough money to pay for the suits would have a significant advantage over other schools, unless everyone bought the suits, then the advantage would disappear. In this situation, if the league or NCAA mandated that swimmers could not wear the suits, or could only wear them for the league championships, schools would save tons of money, the swimmers' relative rankings would remain constant, and the overall product would not suffer. In the absence of any regulation, schools will have to spend money on the LZR suits or their swimmers will not be able to win.
I wish that sports were a less important component of higher education. The results can provide the athletes and coaches with important life lessons, and games give students and alumni a fun night out; these benefits should not be overlooked, but the results are ultimately meaningless, unlike a cure for cancer or discovering how our minds work. Unfortunately, it's hard to measure success in academic fields and even harder to predict which students will be academic stars, whereas in athletics, success is measured with every game and one can predict with reasonable certainty the success of high schoolers at the college level.
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Why do I blog
I make no money from blogging, hardly anyone reads my blog and if I ever run/hold a significant public position my blog will probably hurt my job chances. So why blog? I can think of three main reasons.
1) Focus my thoughts - Ideas come through writing and articulating my thoughts can help me give them shape and depth. But I could just as easily do this in a journal, which leads to:
2) Vanity - I can show off on my blog. Because I'm bright but not that bright and want to distinguish myself from the crowd. The blog gives me a place to share what I've been thinking about, and to show off how much I read and know.
3) Historical record - I can track my intellectual progress and what I thought was interesting at various points in time.
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One way to spend your years in college
"He refused to go to college classes and focused his relentless will on bending the Worcester Polytechnic Institute to his purposes. "I said, 'I'm paying my tuition to have the entire faculty as business consultants. I recognize that is not consistent with your model, which is, You know better than I and I have to take this much math and these electives, and all that stuff is valuable, but right now I'm focused, I'm allowed to make a rational decision, I can pay you this tuition and avail myself of this extraordinary faculty, but I'm not going to waste my time in class because the opportunity costs would be too high."
"He" is Dean Kamen.
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