Giancarlo Angulo's Blog
got this from Hacker News
It’s a talk a Stanford dropout gave, I really enjoyed it, I just didn’t relish the wierd looks I got from my officemates whenever I laughed out loud!
the talk is here:
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://i0.wp.com/img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?w=525)
I graduated from UP (University of the Philippines). In the Philippines there is really no comparison with other universities here in my country (although a few friends would definitely disagree, this is my blog so bugger off). I’d have to say that one of the major reasons that UP is different is the diversity you have when your tuition fee is worth not even half a Play Station Portable and only a handful of your science programs are not the centers of excellence of your country(Electrical Engineering program in UP is the center of excellence for EE in Phils., It’s really disheartening that a few departments have the swagger but not the chops to be the best at least in the Here and be respected elsewhere). from my own experiences a UP diploma is good enough for a middle to upper middle income household if you start from scratch, and in a lot of ways helps open doors for you. I’ve always wondered about the people who refuse to study what they really want to study in lieu of studying something because that is the course that they got into in UP. It’s probably because of this, I think that either the median income of most professions in the Philippines really fall within a narrow field and this makes where you graduate almost as important as what was your course when you graduate. Well what do I know??
Returns to good universities
New research confirms what we’ve long suspected but not quantified – that it does matter what university you attend.
This paper shows that there are significant differences in graduate earnings, depending upon the quality of university. For example, if a university has an RAE score one standard deviation above-average, its graduates earn, on average, 4% more than the average graduate. And a graduate of a top quartile university earns 10-16% more (depending on which measure of quality is used*) than a graduate of a bottom quartile institution.
These differences control for students’ A level scores and other things, and so try to correct for the fact that better universities attract better applicants.
There seems to have been a rise in these returns over time, which suggests that as university numbers have expanded, so too has the premium upon attending a better one.
via Stumbling and Mumbling: Returns to good universities.
You cannot quit me so quickly
There’s no hope in you for me
No corner you could squeeze me
But I got all the time for you, love
The Space Between
The tears we cry
Is the laughter keeps us coming back for more
The Space Between
The wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep safe from the pain
But will I hold you again?
These fickle, fuddled words confuse me
Like ‘Will it rain today?’
Waste the hours with talking, talking
These twisted games we’re playing
We’re strange allies
With warring hearts
What wild-eyed beast you be
The Space Between
The wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep safe from the pain
Will I hold you again?
Will I hold…
Look at us spinning out in
The madness of a roller coaster
You know you went off like a devil
In a church in the middle of a crowded room
All we can do, my love
Is hope we don’t take this ship down
The Space Between
Where you’re smiling high
Is where you’ll find me if I get to go
The Space Between
The bullets in our firefight
Is where I’ll be hiding, waiting for you
The rain that falls
Splash in your heart
Ran like sadness down the window into…
The Space Between
Our wicked lies
Is where we hope to keep safe from pain
Take my hand
‘Cause we’re walking out of here
Oh, right out of here
Love is all we need here
The Space Between
What’s wrong and right
Is where you’ll find me hiding, waiting for you
The Space Between
Your heart and mine
Is the space we’ll fill with time
The Space Between…
This makes me wonder what is far stronger the need to signal what you are reading or the ability to hide what you are reading?? See, I’ve read a few books that I’d call my guilty indulgences, books I wouldn’t read in public or without their covers covered. And yes if you look at my desk I have a couple of these books, and with the ability to hide them effectively they would comprise a larger percentage of the books I own.
I wonder if Kindle advocates are underestimating how important it is for people to show those around them not just that they like to read, but also what they like to read?
via Marginal Revolution: Tom Foster on the Kindle.
Except for the fact that he is at the top of his niche I think this is repeatable in many other context!
“I mean,” Vicki said, “what’s the hook?”
Now, the Great Zucchini was eating toilet paper.
“I mean, are you that desperate?” she asked.
On the floor in front of us, the kids — 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds — were convulsed in laughter. Literally. They were rolling on the carpeted floor, holding their tummies, mouths agape, little teeth jubilantly bared, squealing with abandon. In the vernacular of stand-up, the Great Zucchini was killing. Among his victims was Trey, who, as promised, had indeed been re-transitioned into his own party.
The show lasted 35 minutes, and when it was over, an initially skeptical Don Cox forked over a check without complaint. The fee was $300. It was the first of four shows the Great Zucchini would do that Saturday, each at the same price. The following day, there were four more. This was a typical weekend.
Do the math, if you can handle the results. This unmarried, 35-year-old community college dropout makes more than $100,000 a year, with a two-day workweek. Not bad for a complete idiot.
If you want to understand why the Great Zucchini has this kind of success, you need look no further than the stresses of suburban Washington parenting. The attendant brew of love, guilt and toddler-set social pressures puts an arguably unrealistic value on someone with the skills, and the willingness, to control and delight a roistering roomful of preschoolers for a blessed half-hour.
That’s the easy part. Here’s the hard part: There are dozens of professional children’s entertainers in the Washington area, but only one is as successful and intriguing, and as completely over-the-top preposterous, as the Great Zucchini. And if you want to know why that is — the hook, Vicki, the hook — it’s going to take some time.
via The Peekaboo Paradox – washingtonpost.com.
I find myself sometimes pausing when I feel I am saying something that even I cannot do. I sometiomes think that staying quite is the most optimal course of action because I do not fancy being called a hypocrite , which I confess that I am often called. The thing is I have a simple heuristic when to shut-up and when to bring it. I state my case whenever I believe that the person can still change his/her mind or to be more exact if I believe the words from a hypocritical me can still change his/her mind, otherwise I shut-up.
Read the whole thing it’s short and at least for me a little poignant!
Through all my years in school, my best teachers jumped into the pool all the time and came up laughing and snorting with water up their noses. They wrote prose and code. They read about new ideas and wanted to try them out in the lab. Their excitement was palpable. Fun was part of the life, and that’s what I wanted.
I hope I can embody a little of that excitement and fun as a faculty member to our students, as a father to my daughters. But some days, that is more of a challenge than others.
via Knowing and Doing: March 2009 Archives.
Thanks to Tyler Cowen of Marginal revolutions for the pointer here, I think his points are interesting and quite valid.
AS for my views.; There is a certain rhythm to interacting with people. There is a certain rhythm in being friends with people. Honestly I had to learn that whole thing in college. Compare the highschool me and the me now, I was socially inept and something of jerk. Now I’m still a jerk, less socially inept , but this is mainly because I learned the types of people that I can interact well with.
And that is I think the thing, Because I am less scared with social interactions now I tend to meet more people now than I used to. I have to credit the understanding that people tend to be good. This knowledge help me to be less afraid of going to situations where interactions were totally not in my control.
How did I gradually become less socially inept?
-Striking up conversations with random people. Helped overcome this fear of talking with people. For me this is easier because I can make myself believe that even if I say something stupid, we are not going to see each other again.
-Striking up conversations with people not really part of your circle of friends but you see relatively often. After having a feel for small talk try talking with people you normally encounter, this may include the office security, custodians, or office mates from different departments.
-Going to clubs(not night clubs, hobby clubs etc)/meetups/organization. This might mean volunteering for something, or doing something together like hobbyist events. You get to meet like minded people, and chances are good that you have at least one topic of common interest!
-Reconnecting with peole form the past. This may mean a simple poke in facebook, or a private message in one of the tens of hundreds of social networks now existing. From personal experience this is best done when combined with actual face to face time. Like if you saw someone at a mall or a grocery but you can’t talk for some reason, or its his/her birthday. From the experience of a friend you may freak out some people if you suggest meeting up to catch up on old times, so this I believe is best done when there is an excuse, like homecoming etc.
-Face to Face meetups are important to personalise increasingly mobile/online connections. This must be done with care because as I stated earlier you may freak out some people. If you are meeting people you used to know well but has since lost touch with; best if you leave you old impressions of him or her ot turn your filter down a little. Remember that change is constant and some people reinvent themselves constantly. If you are meeting someone for the first time my advice would be leave your prejudice or what I call isms at home. Don’t judge people automatically or if you can’t do that at least try to act friendly towards everyone, Its easy to cutoff connections with people Its hard to create connections so don’t let superficial things get in the way of a possible real (not just online) friendship.
hope the few notes help my imaginary reader! have any more advice for people who are socially inept???
They find that each extra close friend in high school is associated with earnings that are 2 percent higher later in life after controlling for other factors. While not a huge effect, it does suggest that either that a) the same factors that make you popular in high school help you in a job setting, or b) that high-school friends can do you favors later in life that will earn you higher wages.
The Economic Value of Popularity – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com.
This is sad to read. In the Philippines people are labeled early on because of close family ties, where 2nd or 3rd degree relatives see each other at least once a year. One thing I observe in these awkward situation is the way people give young kids labels that tend to be based on superficial reasons that then I believe sometimes become self fulfilling.
The power of stereotypes
Reputations can be self-fulfilling prophecies ; if you give a man a bad name, he‘ll live down to it. A new paper (pdf) by Thomas Dee shows this.
He did an experiment at Swarthmore College, asking a group of students to take a GRE test. Before the test, some students were asked about their sporting activities, and whether these conflicted with their academic work, whilst others were not asked.
And Mr Dee found that the athletes who were asked these questions performed significantly worse than the athletes who weren’t.
This suggests that when people are primed to be aware of a stereotype – “jocks are dumb” – they are more likely to behave in accordance with it.
Stumbling and Mumbling: The power of stereotypes.
![function Sqrt[z] in the complex plane](http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Complex_sqrt_leaf1.jpg "function Sqrt[z] in the complex plane")
3/3/09: Math fans to observe Square Root Day
03/03/2009 | 08:58 AM
REDWOOD CITY, California — Dust off the slide rules and recharge the calculators. Square Root Day is upon us.
The math-buffs’ holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).
GMANews.TV – 3/3/09: Math fans to observe Square Root Day – Odds and Ends – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News – BETA.
I’m digging through unpublished/drafts in the blog and I found this. Its march already and students are starting to deal with finals and afterwards graduations, and finally the drudgery of work for most other people! Thought provoking!
Finally, consider the hundreds of thousands of students who go to college just because they have had it pounded into their heads since childhood that the good jobs require a BA The wage premium that shows up in regression equations may or may not apply to them. In Real Education, I offer an extended example involving a hypothetical young man graduating from high school who is at the 70th percentile in intellectual ability–smart enough to get a BA in today’s world–but just average in intrapersonal and interpersonal ability. He is at the 95th percentile in the visual-spatial and small motor skills useful in becoming a top electrician. He is trying to decide whether to go to college, major in business, and try to become a business executive, or instead become an electrician.
Cato Unbound » Blog Archive » Down with the Four-Year College Degree!.