Typealizer

Typealizer attempts to tell you the Myers-Briggs type of your blog based on its content (I think). It's probably doing keyword matching at the very least. It might also use some sort of character analysis, such as punctuation frequencies.

Anyhow, it says that this blog is as follows:

The responsible and hardworking type. They are especially attuned to the details of life and are careful about getting the facts right. Conservative by nature they are often reluctant to take any risks whatsoever.

The Duty Fulfillers are happy to be let alone and to be able to work in their own pace. They know what they have to do and how to do it.

Ok, after you're done laughing about the risks part and the conservative part, I think there might be a grain of truth to this. The type presented there, however, ISTJ is not my Myers-Briggs type. I have pretty consistently come out ENTJ every time I've been measured. The E/I is the closest one to being "middle" and I'm off the charts "N". There's no "S" in me. However, I guess when I'm throttling what I have to say for my "work blog" there is more validity to the ISTJ verdict.

As an aside, when I fed it the URL for my daughter's blog (or rather, the blog I keep about my daughter and my home life), the "F" scale shot way up, and THAT blog actually turned into ESFP or some such. I think that part is amusing. Probably I used more exclamation points in that blog, or pointed to more pictures, or who knows what. Used words like "cute" or "love"...?

Anyways, an interesting experiment. Perhaps Dr. Duvall's AI class could write something better/more accurate.

How to criticize: know something first

Joel Spolsky has a brilliant mini-critique of critiques this week on his blog Joel on Software (good reading for all CS/CIS majors, btw).

[There has been] an unbelievable proliferation of anecdotes disguised as science, self-professed experts writing about things they actually know nothing about, and amusing stories disguised as metaphors for how the world works....[W]eak theories on tipping points, crazy incorrect theories on first impressions, or utterly lunatic theories on experts, it all becomes insanely popular simply because the stories are fun and interesting and everybody wants to hear a good story. Spare me.

Well said. I loved Gladwell back when he wrote interesting stuff like The Ketchup Conundrum but he's gone all to hell lately. (Ahem: Perhaps he needs an editor too?)

Go Back to the Garage

Sage advice for new grads and others who find themselves at a crossroads in The New Economy.

Don't wait for the opportunities to fall in your lap. Economic hard times are a boon to those who know how to be entrepreneurial and inventive. Plus, it's a LOT of fun to live like this. (Take it from me, I really know.)

Take a look at 5 Tips for Startup Success (and I apply 'startup' here to life in general, whether it's starting a new business, or jumpstarting a new career path, or starting a brand new career for a new graduate)...

sql file for Dave's class

Assuming that all goes well with Derby in Dave's class, we'll be using this sample file:

Sample Petstore Database File

a bailout plan for fitness

Students and faculty sometimes get "too busy" or "too tired" or "too cold" in the winter to take care of exercising. Here is a fun article I read about giving endurance athletes a "bailout plan" before disaster strikes:

1. Avoid a credit crisis. Think back to this past year's races and give yourself a pat on the back for training and racing to the best of your ability. Yes, things may not always have gone as planned, but those instances will make you a wiser endurance athlete next year.


2. Avoid a housing crisis and get your Fannie off the couch Freddie! Get outside, no matter the weather. Buy some cold weather attire at your local specialty retail store so you don't have to lock yourself up in the gym or the house all winter long.


3. Being adjustable is not always a good thing when it comes to mortgages, but it's great for keeping you motivated to train. Shake things up by restructuring your tried and true in-season training routine.


4. Get rid of subprime technique. Get a coach, read a book, or attend a local training seminar. Moving with greater efficiency next year will pay big dividends.


5. Deregulation is bad, particularly with respect to your food intake. The obvious holiday eating pitfalls are already lurking. Be smart about what you put in your mouth and your body will thank you.


6. Don't go bankrupt on intensity. Now is the time to build a strong and wide base for the training pyramid by focusing more on longer, less intense, training sessions. Doing so will allow your body to tolerate the higher training intensity that your training plan calls for in a few months.


7. Take stock. Go ahead and assess your strengths and limiters. Be as objective as you can about which areas need attention and which areas need maintenance. Whether it's aerobic endurance, anaerobic endurance, speed, power, muscular endurance, or flexibility none of us have arrived yet and all of us need to return to the drawing board at this point in time. There are surveys out there that will help you with this process.


8. No short selling. Set a few ambitious goals for next year and begin training toward those goals now. Pick one or two A-priority races and build the rest of the racing schedule around them.


9. Ask yourself the $700 billion question: how does taking care of myself positively impact other areas of my life? You probably don't do this often enough, but it's important to keep you from feeling selfish about pursuing your sport of choice.

I have been thinking a lot about the last point on this list lately. I have found it recently invaluable to have an "endurance perspective" in my life. There are all sorts of trials and tragedies in life that you will have to endure as we grow and change. Becoming an endurance athlete has many parallels to becoming the type of person who can endure and persevere - and maybe even triumph - in the face of extreme adversity. We can only hope.

The truth about that "projector" earmark

Senator McCain blasted Senator Obama during the Tuesday debate about Obama's support of a $3million replacement "overhead projector" for a planetarium in Chicago.

The true story behind the planetarium earmark:

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support - which was not funded - to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler's Zeiss Mark VI projector - not an overhead projector - is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler's projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the Adler's 78 years of operation.

Science literacy is an urgent issue in the United States. To remain competitive and ensure national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Senator McCain's statements about the Adler Planetarium's request for federal support do not accurately reflect the museum's legislative history or relationship with Senator Obama.

back to IT?

Students are coming back to technology majors, after leaving us for finance.

The Four Kinds Of Free

Here is a nice infographic showing the 4 kinds of "free" business models in the world.

Security Blunder

Students, take note. When you get famous and successful, remember me fondly for telling you this serious piece of advice NOW while you're still young and you have time to really benefit from this: don't ever conduct state business out of a Yahoo email account, and don't put your zip code in as your password.

Governor Palin's Yahoo email account was hacked. I'm sure we could debate the use of the word "hacked" here, but the point is, the damage is done. Be smart.

rhetoric: part two

Here's another part to my spotty attempt to comment on the use of various rhetorical devices in contemporary politics.

I am NOT interested in discussing the "sides" or the "right" or "wrong" of each candidates position on issues here, rather let's look at some of the argumentation techniques they are using. This might be helpful to my GST students who will be learning about making good arguments themselves in our Galileo game next week.

First, the article. George Lakoff takes on the maverick label, and more interestingly, drilling. The article has two interesting parts:

1. Certain TV ad spots being run by Candidate A still manage to let Candidate B frame the debate, specifically around the "maverick/anti-maverick" moniker. Running an ad with the theme of "He is not a Maverick!" like saying to someone "whatever you do, do not think of an elephant!" The person, of course, starts thinking about elephants. They can't help themselves.

To the Linceans in my GST class, this is similar to letting the Conservatives call Galileo a heretic, and you blast back about whether he is or is not a heretic. Stop only using their word and start using your own word to define your guy. We can't say scientist because they didn't have that word yet. But certainly "heretic" is not where you want to be on this issue. Bring the words closer to your home base.

Instead of saying, "Don't think of an elephant!" and stopping there, why not try, "Think about flamingoes!" or if you must invoke the elephant, how about "Don't think of an elephant, think of flamingoes instead. Flamingo, flamingo, flamingo." Not as effective, because there's still a fleeting discussion of elephants, but better than just mentioning elephants by themselves.

2. The second great point to this article is the way it breaks down the drilling debate in simple terms. Lakoff talks about "the drilling frame" to mean an assumption by common people about the way drilling works, fed by advertisements and pro-drilling sentiment. Again, just an example issue. I'm less worried about the "sides" on this issue, and more interested in the argumentation. To wit...

The Drilling Frame works like this:

You drill. You hit oil. You pump it up. There's lots of it. Prices go down.

What is left out of the frame are all the crucial facts.

The timeline: It's ten years from drilling to getting gas at the pump.

The amount: It's very small compared to what we use. We'll barely notice it. There isn't enough to significantly bring down prices.

The danger: Drilling is killing: Offshore spills can destroy fishing grounds.

The world market: The oil will go on the world market, which means that China, India, and other countries will drive up the price. There may be no saving at all.

Global Warming: More oil can only increase global warming.

A Diversion: Drilling takes investment away from alternative energy.

This is a great way to explain how to take a position from your opponent and methodologically explain why it is wrong, clearly and succinctly -- while still respecting the many facets of the issue as a whole. Brilliant.