Cantor

Lately, I've been cross-posting quite a bit. This discussion is yet another example of that trend. Here's the Ubuntu Forums Link.

I just saw an interesting here about a new program called Cantor. It looks like KDE 4.4 (hopefully out in time for the next LTS) will include a KDE-based front-end for Sage, Maxima and R.

I thought Sage was a front-end too which doesn't make much sense to me, but assuming this announcement comes to fruition, this could be a useful tool.

I'm interested to see how the develop an interface that is flexible enough to handle multiple mathematics packages via a GUI. If it's nothing more than a glorified editor with pretty graphics output, it's not that interesting. If it's a genuine attempt to build a modular GUI to a diverse set of mathematics tools, thereby lowering the learning curve necessary to use them, this could be really really exciting.

Really Cool R Graphic

Really cool R Graphic
Recently I needed to make a funky graphic-table combo in R. Here's the challenge - To combine a vertical bar chart and the data table in a single graphic.

As much as I like R, it's graphics systems are mind-bogglingly complex. You have the base graphics system PLUS Lattice, ggplot, iplot, etc. There are way too many graphics systems. I couldn't even figure out which one I should focus on learning.

When in doubt, turn to the appropriate forum. I posted some stuff on the R-Users mailing list and got a fantastic reply from a guy named Marc. View via Nabble.

I was able to take what he sent me, and learn from it. After playing around with it a little, I got the hang of it and I was able to adapt what he sent and use it for my project at work.

Below is the full version of what he sent me. There is further discussion about this here.

Enjoy!


#---------------------------------------------------------
# Create data
MyData <- matrix(c(57.1, 52.3, 13.5, 13.9, 7.9, 8.8, 5.4, 5.6, 16.1, 19.4), nrow = 2) # Note that by using '\n' in the text, the label will be plotted on # two lines. '\n' is a newline character colnames(MyData) <- c("0 occasions", "1-2 Occasions", "3-5 Occasions", "6-9 Occasions", "10 or more\nOccasions") rownames(MyData) <- c("Androscoggin", "Maine") > MyData
0 occasions 1-2 Occasions 3-5 Occasions 6-9 Occasions
Androscoggin 57.1 13.5 7.9 5.4
Maine 52.3 13.9 8.8 5.6
10 or more\nOccasions
Androscoggin 16.1
Maine 19.4


# Set graph margins to make room for labels
# See ?par
par(mar = c(5, 8, 4, 1))


# Set colors
MyCols <- c("black", "grey80") # Set label size MyCex = 0.75 # Set lines for table data MyLines <- 2:3 # do barplot, getting bar midpoints in 'mp' # See ?barplot mp <- barplot(MyData, beside = TRUE, ylim = c(0, 100), yaxt = "n", cex.names = MyCex, col = MyCols) # mp contains the following. The mean of each column # is the horizontal center of each pair of bars > mp
[,1] [,2] [,3] [,4] [,5]
[1,] 1.5 4.5 7.5 10.5 13.5
[2,] 2.5 5.5 8.5 11.5 14.5


# Put a box around it
box()


# Draw y axis tick marks and labels
axis(2, at = seq(0, 100, 10), las = 1)


# Draw values below plot
# Use the values of 'mp' from above.
# See ?mtext
mtext(side = 1, text = MyData,
at = rep(colMeans(mp), each = nrow(MyData)),
line = MyLines, cex = MyCex)


# Get min value for the x axis. See ?par 'usr'
min.x <- par("usr")[1]


# Draw categories using mtext
# See ?strwidth to get the length of the labels in
# user coordinates, which is then used for 'at'
# Setting 'adj = 0' left justifies the text
mtext(side = 1, line = MyLines, text = rownames(MyData),
at = min.x - max(strwidth(rownames(MyData), cex = MyCex)),
adj = 0, cex = MyCex)


# Draw the colored boxes
# Same here for strheight as with strwidth above
# Part of this is getting the vertical positioning to align with
# the text and the horizontal position at the beginning of the labels
# Note that we have to set 'xpd = TRUE' so that the points are drawn
# outside the plotting region. See ?par and 'xpd'
# We just need a single capital letter for strheight() to get the value

VertOff <- strheight("X", cex = MyCex) * c(6, 8)
HorizOff <- min.x - (0.85 * max(strwidth(rownames(MyData))))

points(rep(HorizOff, nrow(MyData)),
par("usr")[3] - VertOff, bg = MyCols, pch = 22,
xpd = TRUE, cex = MyCex)
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gun control is a complicated issue. It is too often dumbed down into 10 irrelevant talking points that have nothing to do with the situation on the ground. Unfortunately, this is not unlike many other political discussions in our society. The talking points from the previous post are easy for people to understand (mis-interpret) and are used to convey a message that is largely at odds with reality. Let me be clear. I fully respect people's right and intellectual ability to look at a set of facts and come to a conclusion different than my own. What I do not respect is the accumulation of "facts" which are clearly cherry-picked and manipulated to present a facade, rather than the grounds for vigorous debate.

The data provided by my friend is irrelevant to a discussion based on reality. I will divide this discussion into two parts, because there were two different types of misinformation in the "facts" sent to me. Many of the facts concern disarming various minority groups by a repressive regime. The rest present a set of facts, that lack the broader historical/political/economic context. Information does not exist in a vacuum. It fits into a context. When we ignore the context, it becomes impossible to know whether or not the facts are useful.

Most of the facts are historical examples from other countries. These facts rely on things that happened years ago in countries most Americans know little about. They also focus on various repressive regimes taking guns away from minority groups which had been long repressed by the local majorities. This makes the parallel to today's politics irrelevant unless you are simultaneously arguing that the American government is planning on repressing us (gun-owners). The majority of legal gun-owners (I include myself in this group) in this country are white males. Have you looked at Congress lately? They are overwhelmingly both White and Male. I find it unlikely that a government composed of middle-class (read rich as hell) White men is intent of persecuting me, a White male. I would instead posit that this selection of facts has more to do with creating an atmosphere of fear/distrust than it does in providing reasonable grounds for discussion.

It is also interesting (amusing) that American History is completely ignored in these facts. Historical facts are more dangerous when everyone understands the broader context of the discussion. It's easier to have talking points that people don't understand, rather than talking points that people can actually challenge you on. It's a debating trick that I am personally quite fond of although it is a little under- handed. In this case I will try to apply some lessons from our own history to set the record straight(er).

The US government actively disarmed Native Americans during the 1800's. Why? Simple greed. We (Americans) intended to persecute these peoples so Americans (mostly White) could take their land/gold/buffalo. It's easier to beat-up on unarmed native populations. My favorite example here would be the massacre at Wounded Knee. If you aren't familiar with this tragedy, look it up. Similarly, slaves (again, a minority group), were prohibited from owning anything that could be easily used as a weapon. You don't humiliate a grown man for every day of his life and then give him a gun unless you are suicidal. These two American examples are similar in nature to many of the facts presented in the original email I am responding to. The people who are disarmed (or prevented from arming themselves in the first place) are a persecuted minority group. For example, the original facts referenced the tragedies which befell the Turkish Armenians, Ugandan Christians and Guatemalan Mayans. Comparing these tragedies with the situation faced by members of the NRA is both laughable and an insult to those who perished. I don't really see myself as a persecuted minority (and I have a Jewish last name). Rather than relying on sound-bites comparing Obama to Hitler, people need to accept that our government is unlikely to repress Americans in a manner similar to that faced by the Turkish Armenians or Native Americans.

Conveniently, there are other relevant facts from American History. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, and several other Western Marshalls went down in pop- history because . . . . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . . . . they unarmed
the Wild Wild West. You see, the Western Boom Towns had a problem. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry carried at least one gun. Carrying guns was clearly necessary in the vast expanses of country-side between these towns (we had not yet disarmed all of the Indians we were trying to repress), but in the Boom Towns these guns caused a lot of problems. The solution was to disarm, everyone, except the local law enforcement. In this example, the government (local) did not intend to repress anyone. The goal was to make the entire community safer. They couldn't close down all of the bars or prevent the cow-boys from getting rowdy, but they could make sure that people weren't shooting one another. Thus more people lived to carouse another day. This example seems especially apropos because of the problems we experience today. New York City, Washington
DC, etc. are all trying to respond to the problems inherent in having lots of guns in a community with lots of poverty, drinking, drug-abuse, etc.

Let's be clear about something. Americans ARE dieing and they are dieing because someone shot them with a gun. To pretend otherwise is ridiculous. It is equally true that suburban/rural Americans are not experiencing these problems. Life in South Central LA is very different from the lives of Americans going down to the mall in suburban America. I believe this divide is the fundamental source of the tension in this debate. Upper-class Americans (suburbia) and rural Americans are not dieing on a regular basis due to gun-fire. But urban areas like Albany, NY are experiencing these problems every single day. Albany alone has experienced multiple shooting fatalities this summer involving adults, children, men and women. No citizen is truly safe in the West End (ghetto) of Albany but citizens in Guilderland (suburb) are. Unfortunately, I see very little public discussion about this tension from the left or the right. An policy discussion that fails to address this tension is doomed to fail and the consequences are as immediate as they are tragic.

When the talking points rely heavily on historical examples where disarmament is followed by repression, there is an often unspoken rationale. These groups want to encourage people's distrust in our government. This is especially true when there is a Democrat in the White House. Fear mongering is always good for a quick sound-byte. Think about it. How many of these sorts of forwards and discussions did you see during the Bush Administration? Yet, Bush's policies of spying on Americans and creating loop-holes around Habeas Corpus actively infringed on our Constitutional Rights (although not Amendment 2). I don't remember any conservatives out in the streets beating their drums when this happened. The complaints now are classical political opportunism. The conservative machine is very savvy politically. It knows that gun-control is a hot-button issue for many Americans. Remember that tension I pointed out?) It's not in their best interest to fuel a real discussion. It's easier and better politically to get everyone . . . up in arms (sorry, I had to use the phrase) . . . over this stuff. The Obama administration has not once suggested about gun-control, but here we are sending having a discussion based on carefully selected points that have more to do with scaring people shitless than it does with providing information to empower individuals to participate in a policy discussion.

Now, let's look at some other quick facts. Yep. Washington DC and New York City both have some of the strictest gun-control rules in the nation. Interestingly, they have had different results. New York City today is actually much safer than it was in the 80's at the height of the Crack Epidemic. Additional police resources, gun-control and other measures have made it difficult for NYC gangs to get guns, which in turn limits how many idiots on the street are packing illegal heat. Ironically, our nation's capital has not been as successful. But, I find it interesting that L.A. was ignored. Here is a sprawling metropolis where buying a hand-gun may actually be as easy as buying an ice-cream cone. In L.A., gang-warfare, yes, warfare is a way of life. The Finger Lakes in upstate NY will never (I pray) experience gang-warfare. In L.A. it's a daily way of life. Arguing that guns aren't part of the problem in South Central L.A. isn't useful. Guns are part of the problem. Of course they aren't the entire problem, but cute sound-bytes like this:

"Guns, don't kill people, people kill people."

is an insulting thing to say when American citizens (just like you and I) are mowing each other down in a haze bullets. The pursuit of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness (property) is an empty dream when guns deprive you of that same life. Yet, I recently saw a guy on TV wearing a shirt that said guns aren't the problem (see above).

As a citizen of an urban area that struggles with gun violence on a regular basis (Albany, NY) I also recognize another important fact that must be recognized and acknowledged to find policies that will address the fundamental problem. The shooters and their victims are not NRA members. They are not hunters (with the rare, tragic exception). They are children, teens, and adults living in densely packed urban centers. Last time I checked, the NRA had not run a successful recruitment campaign here in down-town Albany, although there are many many gun-owners. The NRA isn't interested in these gun-owners because the guns are illegal and the owners really should not be owning or handling fire-arms. They are not responsible gun-owners and they are rarely model citizens. As with many other things, lumping everyone who shares a common trait into one big pile is rarely a good idea. Gun-owners are no different.

Returning to the "facts" from the email. . . . If we are going to have a discussion that includes examples from other countries that Americans may or may not really understand, I would also suggest Mexico and Colombia. Neither country has meaningful gun- control. It's easy to get a gun. Anyone can get one. Sadly, the end result has not been a utopia. In a manner than looks a lot like South Central LA, people are dying in droves from lead poisoning. I could also suggest that you look at German gun-control laws. These are considered some of the tightest laws in Europe. Here is an excerpt from the US State department website to Americans thinking about traveling to Germany:

CRIME: Violent crime is rare in Germany, but can occur, especially in larger cities or high-risk areas such as train stations. Most incidents of street crime consist of theft of unattended items and pick-pocketing.

This is what the same state department says about Switzerland, which has a very different out-look on gun-control.

CRIME: Switzerland has a low rate of violent crime. However, pick-pocketing and purse snatching do occur in the vicinity of train and bus stations, airports, and some public parks, especially during peak tourist periods (such as Summer and Christmas) and when conferences, shows, or exhibits are scheduled in major cities.

Do you see any similarities? When traveling in either country, tourists should be concerned about pick-pockets! Now, it should be noted that Germany does actually have a higher crime rate than Switzerland. Although most of that crime is concentrated in what was once the Soviet Bloc. If you compare Western Germany to Switzerland, you will discover that the statistics are very very similar. This highlights an important point. It is inappropriate to use examples from another country unless those examples are well understood.

Anti-gun-control activists often point to Switzerland's policies and (inappropriately) conclude that the low-crime is a result of these gun-control policies. To be blunt, that is a shallow fabrication. Equally shallow is an argument that access to guns inevitably leads to violence. Crime statistics MUST be assessed in a broader context. Switzerland is an overwhelmingly middle-class country. In fact, it has a larger middle class (as a proportion of the population) than we do. It also has a much stronger social safety net than our own - something Americans would call socialism. In discussing Switzerland's low crime rate, ignoring these two factors is truly disingenuous.

Equally disingenuous is my use of Mexico and Colombia as examples where gun- control is essentially nil, and yet violent crime is high. It's inappropriate because many of the guns on the street are paid for (lock, stock and all smoking barrels) by the American government/American tax-payers as part of our war on drugs. Yep. Those Colombian para-military death-squads use guns that are often paid for by Uncle Sam. Many of the other guns are purchased from American gun manufacturers, thus our economy actually profits from the insanity. But, here's the important lesson. These facts are essentially useless. Just like the naked numbers from Switzerland don't help us understand their meaning, my cherry-picked facts about Mexico and Colombia are misleading garbage. There are other things that contribute to the violence in those countries. Both countries are also comparatively poor and have small middle classes (among other issues). In fact, I would argue that violent crime statistics are more closely tied to the size of the middle class (this is an over-simplification, but fine for right now) than it is to any gun-control policy.

So here we are. I've wasted a bit of time writing this and you've wasted a little bit of time reading it. Americans are still shooting one another in the streets of LA and red-necks in Georgia are still talking trash about the low-
crime rate in Switzerland. The former is tragic while the latter is actually quite humorous. What has this taught us? Probably not much. In order to make REAL progress on an issue like gun-control or health care we need to talk to one another. We need to take these bullshit talking points (and the bullshitters who propagate them) and put them into time-out or possibly the bottom of the ocean (concrete shoes are nice). Once we do that, we can actually sit down as a nation and talk about the real issues here. A real solution will require us, as a nation, to balance the needs of urban population centers (like NYC, and Boom Towns like Dodge) with the needs and desires of suburbia and rural America. Yes, the Constitution must be respected, but so must we respect the lives of the people dieing in the violence that is consuming parts of the nation. But, we can't do that as long as we rely on shallow comparisons to a middle-class country better known for it's lederhosen than for it's gun-control laws.

Gun Control?

I recently received an email from a friend full of "facts" to show why gun control is not necessary. I was surprised, and disappointed when I saw this.
First I will post what my friend sent me. The next post will be my reply. Note: While I did remove the formatting, I did not modify the content.

---

A Gun History
After reading the following historical facts, read the part about Switzerland twice.

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

1. In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control.. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
2. In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
3. Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
4. China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
5. Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
6. Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
7. Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
8. Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
9. It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own Government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:
   

List of 7 items:

1. Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.
2. Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent.
3. Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
4. In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!
5. While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.
6. There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort, and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.
7. You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politiciansdisseminating this information.
   

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes,
gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens. Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late! The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them
of this history lesson. With guns, we are 'citizens.' Without them, we are 'subjects'. During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!

Communist Doctrine says that they must DISARM the Population, before they can dominate them!
If you value your freedom, please spread this anti-gun control message to all of your friends.

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

SWITZERLAND ISSUES EVERY HOUSEHOLD A GUN! AND They Train every Adult that they issue a Rifle
SWITZERLAND HAS THE LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF ANY CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!

IT'S A NO BRAINER! DON'T LET OUR GOVERNMENT WASTE MILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE ALL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS AN EASY TARGET.

I'm a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment! If you are too, please forward. Just think how powerful our government is getting! They are out of Control! They think these other countries just didn't do it right.
We MUST keep our Constitution and especially the 1st and 2nd Amendments INTACT! Don't let them take it away from us!!! Learn from history.

FOOTNOTE: NYC & WASHINGTON, DC HAVE HAD STRICT GUN CONTROL LAWS FOR MANY YEARS. THEY ARE 2 OF THE HIGHEST CRIME RIDDEN CITIES IN AMERICA. ANY IDEA WHY

---

How

Yeah, I don't actually need this here, but I do need to put the image on the net, so that's what I've done.

Structure? Who needs it.

I've got more going on in my life than I can keep up with. Work, fun, Karen, etc. It all adds up. I do so much that it's hard to know what I want to write about here. Decisions will be made soon. In the meantime, here are some updates related to other posts written here.

1. Ubuntu 9.04 is incredible. I am using it on my primary work laptop and both of the home desktop systems and a few other computers as well. It's terrific and 9.10 promises to be even better. I have a 75% operational MS Office installation working via Wine which gives me the degree of file compatibility that I need (Access files).
2. In the end, I had to upgrade the bicycle. Although my very first "real" mountain bike was a Specialized Hard-Rock, the version I bought was just too damned heavy. It's funny. Somehow that bike felt top-heavy to me. Don't know why. Fortunately Plaine & Son, where I bought the bike, have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and they mean it absolutely. They let me trade up to a base-level Rock Hopper and I couldn't be happier. I've already ruined one rear wheel and I'm positive that more damage is sure to follow.

Jaunty, Relased

After 6 months of hard work, the Ubuntu community is proud to release
Ubuntu 9.04, the Jaunty Jackalope. Silly names aside, this is release
continues to affirm the community's ability to release solid, cutting
edge software to the world for FREE. (as in speech AND $$)

A basic install requires only 1 CD and comes with more software than
anything ever produced by Apple of Microsoft. A single CD includes an
open-source office suite (compatible with MS Office), web-browser
(firefox) email client (compatible with Exchange 2003), multimedia
software, image software, and other goodies. For us geeks, it includes a
basic install of tools such as perl, python, xulrunner, etc.

In an economy that's diving faster than a submarine, it's nice to know
that some things are getting better every single day.

The first two links are official Ubuntu marketing stuff. The last link
goes to a site called phoronix that is well known for reviewing
open-source software and being brutally honest, warts and all. (Hey,
nothing's perfect.)

http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-9.04-desktop

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904overview

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_904_features


If anyone reading this would like a free CD, let me know. I'm going to place my
order this week.

Everything is Temporary

In recent months, the government has "bailed out" a number of large financial institutions, such as AIG, who were "too big to fail". In spite of the great cost (and risk), I think the government made the only rational choice.

However, now that we have averted (at least temporarily) the imminent meltdown of the US economy, I think we should re-visit the idea of a company that is "too big to fail". It is ludicrous that the US, or any other nation, should be so dependent on any corporation of set of corporations. Companies such as AIG, GM, etc. should be broken up into small competitive companies that can survive in a global market place. As an added benefit, the failure of any one of these companies would not result in an imminent financial disaster.

Everything is temporary. Pax Romana ended. The British Empire crumbled away. America's time as the global supoer-power will one day come to an end. Rather than deny this fact we should prepare ourselves and the structure of our economy on the assumption that someday we may be #2. I do think it is entirely rational for the US to take effort to preseve it's position of global power, but preparing for a future where we may not be a lone super-power only seems prudent. I believe an important aspect of this preparation is to make sure the economy is adequately diversified to survive global competition in a world where we do not necessarily dictate the terms of the marketplace.

It's Coming

It's Coming

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904overview

Synergy

I would like to introduce you to, Synergy. This incredible cross-platform application makes it EASY to use a single keyboard / mouse combination to control multiple computers. It even syncs the system clipboards, screensavers, etc. Today, more and more of us use more than one computer at a time. There have been hardware solutions to this challenge for years. Synergy is a software solution, eliminating the need for clunky switches and other hardware-hacks.

Right now I have two computers sitting on my desk at work. My "primary" machine uses Ubuntu. My secondary system is a Windows XP machine with SQL Server 2005. Ever since my neck-pain / headaches returned a couple of months ago, I have tried to improve the rather dismal ergonomics of my workstation. Running two laptops on a desk is hardly "ergonomic" but it does have it's uses. I have considered buying an external keyboard/mouse combo for work, but I didn't feel like playing the plug-it-in game. Synergy eliminates this dilemma. With this and a few other tweaks, it should be possible to really create something nifty.

First Ride

I took my new mountain bike out for a spin today. It was a damned cold day, but I wore plenty of layers and was fine. I thought I would ride out at a local state park called Thatcher State Park. Before I rode, I went in to their main office to ask what trails were OK for me to ride. Turns out that most of the trails at Thatcher are not "zoned" for multi-use, so I drove back to Albany and rode at the Pine Bush. It's a little flat, but the bike handled well and I had fun. Other than getting a little lost at one point, the ride worked out well.

I'm going to enjoy this whole mtn. biking thing. I can tell that already.

Tonight Karen and I are going to a friends's birthday party. Should be fun.

Data should tell a story

Data isn't useful because it's fun to look at. It's only useful, when it is used to tell a story. In turn, that story affects how people make decisions. Otherwise, it's just math.

http://www.intelligententerprise.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196602724

Duh!

I rode my bike today for the first time in 2009. I crawled out of bed to the sound of Karen harassing the cat and the opportunity to pedal in a crisp 45 degree, foggy morning. I put on my riding clothes, mounted the bicycle and headed off for work.

I took my time, but it was a beautiful ride. A touch chilly in the beginning, but I was nice and toasty by the time I got to work 50 minutes later.

When I pulled into the office, I realized that somebody needs to beat me with the stupid stick. Yesterday, I left a clean change of clothes at the office. Unfortunately this stack of clothes does not include a belt (minor problem) or a pair of shoes (more significant problem).

So if you see a shoe-less guy walking down 4th Street in Troy holding up his khaki pants, it might just be me.

Why I Don't Care

The recent spat of the AIG bonuses serves as an excellent example for why I think tools like the Google Visualization Toolkit API are important. Here are the basic facts. AIG received something on the order of 170 billion dollars from the US government. That is A LOT of money. They then paid executives, including executives who helped cause the mess, 165 million dollars in bonuses.

In was, politically, stupid as hell. In the middle of a financial crisis, you don't reward failure. In fact, I don't understand why a company would ever reward failure, but that's not really the point.

My point is that this got BLOWN wAY oUt oF PrOpOrTiOn. Click on the convenient picture to get a graphical understanding of AIG's financial malfeasance. A mere 165 million is a laughably small proportion of 170 billion, although it doesn't look like it until you stick in all the zeros.

Bailout - 170, 000, 000, 000.00
Bonuses - 165, 000, 000.00

I'm not going to sit here and defend the logic of rewarding failure. It doesn't deserve the effort. But, the resulting hoopla has been equally outrageous. To help us all understand this, let's break this down into numbers we have all dealt with. If I give you 100 dollars because you are in financial trouble, I am not going to worry too much if you spend 10 cents on a piece of bubble gum at Wal-Mart. The bubble-gum isn't actually necessary and is probably not a good use of the money I lent you, but it is nearly the exact same ration as the bonuses paid by AIG. It is literally pennies on the dollar.

For the Precision Nazis - I rounded. It would be more accurate to say that it would be as if you spent 9.7 cents of the $100.

Data Presentation - The future is the web.

After watching a recent Hand Rosling video (this guy is incredible), I started thinking more and more about how we use data to inform our understanding of the world around us. Before reading any further, you gotta watch this first:

Hans Rosling Shows the Best Stats You've Ever Seen

There are two important things that I want to focus on in his presentation, and neither of them have to do with his actual message regarding our understanding of the "Third World".

1. The presentation is NOT boring.
2. Because it uses dynamic graphics (video).

Rosling does a good job keeping his presentation engaging and focused. He does this by being an entertaining presenter and using rich multimedia presentation methods. This is not another boring Power Point presentation. Instead, it uses complex graphics to make it easy to see the relationships and ideas that he thinks are important. Furthermore, you don't really need Rosling to tell the story. Because the technology he uses can be embedded into any website, there's no reason why his presentation could not be prepared and presented by a website, in an entertaining and engagin manner. The only thing you would lose are his fun jokes about the state of medical students and faculty as they relate to the understanding of chimpanzees.

Compare his presentation to a typical government report, written by a consulting company like the one I work for. Sure, we have graphics and data in our report; but it is not engaging like Mr. Rosling's presentation. In fact, our report can never be as captivating as Mr. Rosling's presentation because our work is always designed to be presented on paper. Paper is not a dynamic medium. We can show two dimensional graphics, but showing how relationships change over time would require the use of 3-D graphs, which tend to confuse most people. Rosling's presentation is incredible simply because you don't have to be a quant to get something out of it.

Fortunately, this software was deceloped in an open manner and is now being made available by Google for everyone to play with. The software is called gap minder. To play with a version similar to what Mr. Rosling was using follow this link. To learn more about the current underlying Google API, see this link.

Not that I need "Yet Another Project" but I really want to look at this some more. I am a real nut when it comes to data analysis. Typically I use tools like R, PSPP, etc. Although these tools are good, I have typically used them to present data in a traditional chart or graphic on a piece of paper. But, both of these tools (especially R) are much more flexible and could be used to prepare an analysis that is more dynamic. Plus, programs like R and PSPP provide a way to test hypotheses, which I presume the Google Presentation API does not. (I could be wrong about this, I haven't looked yet.)

I think technologies like this can be and SHOULD be used to engage the general public more in data-driven debates. Often these debates are dominated by a simplistic understanding of the numbers, driving the discussion in directions that are not always in our best interest. Numbers do not lie, people do. (In fact, people use creative numbers to lie.)

More thinking must be done. And, in a moment I will give you an example of how the public can be easily led astray by faulty numerical analysis.

I am required to use Microsoft Access at work. I don't like it, but that's how life is. Unfortunately, OpenOffice.org does not provide file compatibility with Access .mdb files. This has been a real problem in my efforts to use Ubuntu as my primary desktop operating system at work (quietly).

When I'm in the office, it's not a problem. I have another computer with Access on it that works just find. But, when I'm on the road, it's not fun to carry two computers around, just to make sure I can open an Access file. To solve this problem, I started Googling. Most of the stuff on the Internet makes it clear that you can not use Access under Wine emulation. Fortunately for me, these resources are wrong. It can be done. In fact, I posted a long How-To on the Ubuntu Forums this morning. Here's a link.

Hardrock Sport Disc

This spring I have dealt with a "mid-life" crisis. I'm only 30, so I feel obligated to put the words mid-life into quotation marks hen referring to my current "crisis". When I was 18, I went rock climbing for the first time in my life. I went with the Outdoor Recreation Group at Georgia Tech. We went top-roping at Rock Town, Georgia. Over the next 12 years, I would spend most of my free time climbing or traveling to climb.

Let me be blunt. Climbing is one of the best things that ever happened to me.

When I moved to New York a few years ago, I started ice climbing as well. I also did a little skiing (XC & downhill) but mostly I climbed. I've led 5.10 trad in the Gunks and 'Daks and I've led W4 in the winter.

When I graduated from the SUNY MSW program, I started working with a consulting firm based in Troy. This job requires an obscene amount of travel. As a result, it is often difficult for me to get into the rock climbing gym to train. When I'm on the road, I am often in random small rural towns that don't have much in the way of rock climbing gyms. Equally difficult is the amount of time climbing takes. A day of climbing is . . . an entire day. (or most of it.) When I get in at 11:30 on Frida night from XXXXX, XX it is really hard to feel motivated to get up at 6:00 the following morning to go rock climbing all day.

I need a break from climbing. My climbing partners all feel like I've abandoned them, (Sorry guys.) but that's what I need to do for right now. I am going to take the spring and summer off from climbing. In the fall, I will re-evaluate my decisions.

In the meantime, I need something hair-raising to do. When I was in undergrad, I owned a tricked out little hard-rock mountain bike. That bike and I went everywhere together. My old ride was a nice little 17 inch red chomolly frame, no shocks. It's been a long time since Specialized sold a bike like that. I wanted to buy a bike with an aluminum frame, good components, and no front shocks, but I settled on an aluminium frame, OK components and a front shock. Oh well.

If this bike is 1/2 as dependable as my old ride, it will serve me well. I can't wait to get it.

A little more Jaunty

I've been playing around with the latest version of Jaunty in Gnome rather than KDE. I like them both, although Gnome does feel a little more polished and professional. It should feel mature since it is based on the Gnome 2.x series, which is several years old and is currently at release 26. The KDE 4.x series is only at release number 2, but is maturing nicely.

I am glad to see more cooperation between the two projects. While there will always be differences (Linux = Choice), it is important for the two major desktops to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. For example, both are using dbus for IPC. FreeDesktop.org has done a good job encouraging and facilitating the development of common frameworks and sub-systems between the two desktops.

Linux @ Work

Back in August of 2008 (has it really been that long) I made an executive decision. I quietly took an old laptop at work and installed Ubuntu on it. Since then, I have used this old laptopn (Intel Centrino, 1GB RAM) as my primary system. It's not the fastest computer in the world and the "ancient" ATI card has caused me considerable grief, but I have succeeded.

Earlier in 2008, I tried to convert to Ubuntu at work and failed. I reinstalled Windows and took a few months to learn what I could to address the shortcomings of Linux and my understanding of it.

In the intervening months, I became the Network Administrator in the office. Among other duties, I was asked to maintain the office's supply of computers, including several old laptops. In August, I installed Ubuntu on one of these laptops. It's an old reliable Dell and with a quick memory upgrade, it was once again ready to be a road warrior.

Although I have successfully used Linux for my primary system, I have only been able to do so because I have a second system with Windows on it. I have used this "secondary" system for working on complex Word files and Access databases. I also installed SQL Server on it for projects that would have been too much effort to do in Access. Although I don't like their products, I do have to be able to work with them.

This set up worked acceptably well in the office, but was a real PITA when I was on the road. Recently I took a copy of Office 2003 and installed Word and Excel via Wine. I was impressed. Recently I have been working on getting Access to work as well. I Googled and I Googled but was unable to find any directions to installing Access on Linux.

My solution? Start experimenting. Although it's not the perfect solution, yet, I have succeeded. It is possible and I think it could work even better with more effort and attention. I'll write more later today.

New Focus

I haven't written anything here since October. Although it's only been a few months, the world is a very different place. Obama won the election. The economy drove off the cliff. More importantly, I turned 30.

I'm still trying to figure out what all of this means. I'm sure I'll write more about that in the coming month or so. Some of the things that seemed so important to me, only a few months ago, don't seem as important now. For example, my interest in climbing seems to be in decline. I have been thinking more and more about buying a mountain bike.

I have decided that I need to change the focus of this blog. In October, when I was writing here more regularly, I was caught up in the excitement of the election season. I wrote about it extensively. Although I suspect I will continue to write about politics, I am going to start focusing more attention on other things that interest me. Most importantly, I am going to spend more time writing about K/Ubuntu and my efforts to use it as my primary desktop operating system at home and at work.

Stay tuned. The fun has just begun.