Sitting around the airport for five hours really sucks.

Why does Comcast suck so goddamn bad? Why can't I go one day without an outage?

Fuck you, Comcast.

I probably won't post again until next week, after I'm finished with this conference. Of course, I have to attend another about two weeks after that. I'm sure that won't eat up any of my time.

Here are some pre-conference observations in no particular order:

• Conference clothes are lame, but fashion rules are even lamer.
• Overpriced conference hotels suck, not to mention food and alcohol expenses.
• "Networking" sucks, but becomes increasingly tolerable as blood alcohol level increases.
• Your research is not as exciting or as interesting as you think it is. More people should remember that.
• Warning: There is a variable threshold for blood alcohol level where interesting and exciting become irritating and boring. Chances are you'll find it. Buying drinks for your audience may delay this qualitative change, however.
• Smaller poster sizes from previous years sort of sucks. They're cheaper to make, but limit your content.
• Statistical methods for qualitative data suck, especially compared to quantitative methods.
• Using complex, obscure statistical methods when something simpler is available doesn't make you cool.
• Not testing to ensure your data meets test assumptions of your analyses is lame.
• Non-normally distributed data suck, but not as much as missing observations.
• Outliers suck, but then again outliers can be very interesting and informative.
• Non-parametric statistics are useful, even if people seem to forget about them.
• R kicks ass.

Oh. Blogging sucks too.

And editing.

That is all.

Joking about the president’s lack of bowling skills, Leno quipped, “I imagine the bowling alley [in the White House] has just been just burned and closed down.”

“No, no. I have been practicing,” the president said. “I bowled a 129.”

“It's like — it was like Special Olympics, or something,” he joked.
[From CNN Political Ticker - Obama makes late-night gaffe]

I hope we can focus on this outrage instead of our ongoing financial crisis.

Dead Milkmen - Takin' Retards to the Zoo

Just got this via email:

Out of the crisis: Building a new era of justice and peace

a speech by Sam Webb, National Chair of the Communist Party

LIVE streaming video
Saturday, March 21
9:30 am Eastern

This Saturday, March 21, Sam Webb, the national chairperson of the Communist Party USA, will deliver a speech titled, “Out of the crisis: Building a new era of justice and peace.” The speech will be streamed live via the web on the website www.cpusa.org

The speech is the opening address to the organization’s National Committee, which includes leading communists from around the country.

For press inquiries email communications@cpusa.org or call 646-437-5338

(Please forward widely)

Looks like the stream will be on the front page of their site.

Tell your friends.

Richardson said the criminal justice system is "inherently defective" in its use of the death penalty, noting that four death-row inmates in New Mexico have been exonerated in the past 10 years.

"Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime," Richardson said in a statement Wednesday.

"If the State is going to undertake this awesome responsibility, the system to impose this ultimate penalty must be perfect and can never be wrong."

The bill replaces the death penalty with life without the possibility of parole

[From New Mexico governor repeals death penalty in state - CNN.com]

I'm glad Richardson didn't veto this bill. He made the correct choice. The bolded text above sums up my thoughts on a key methodological issue of the death penalty. One incorrect execution invalidates the system. While it is also a travesty if one person is locked up for any duration for a crime they didn't commit, at least a living person's can be cleared and compensated in the face of exculpatory evidence. Correction is impossible if the State has executed the person.

Whether the execution as punishment is defensible from an ethical stand point or if execution is an effective deterrent is another question entirely. Never mind the issue of whether certain groups of people actually receive fair trials within the justice system.

For those keeping score, here's what I bought this week. Nothing to say about them right now. I haven't even read everything from last week.

I finally got around to seeing Watchmen last night. I'd heard the movie was long, but I didn't realize how long. Two hours and 45 minutes. It's a good thing they didn't try to fill out some of the missing pieces of that movie. It would have been six hours long. I read somewhere that the director's cut DVD will be even longer, with over an hour of extra footage. I'm not sure if that's with or without the Black Freighter stuff woven into the movie. Frankly, I'm too lazy to look it up.

I can't help but be disappointed by Watchmen. Sure, there are significant parts faithful to the original text. Plenty of little things bugged me, but the ending just killed it for me. So here's some brief, day-after thoughts (and spoilers) after the break...

Continue reading "Watchmen" »

"Under these circumstances, it's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. I mean, how do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?"

[From Obama tries to stop AIG bonuses: 'How do they justify this outrage?' - CNN.com]

Criminals acting like criminals. Imagine that.

Maybe it's time to start nationalizing companies that receive taxpayer funds. Why should we accept all of the risks in these bailouts and forego the benefits?

Why isn't Washington talking about single payer healthcare? Why isn't an option?

Here's where you can join up to help: Single Payer Action

Here's two good segments from Democracy Now! about single payer healthcare:

1. Burn Your Health Insurance Bill Day: New Group Advocates Direct Action to Demand Single-Payer System


2. Dr. Quentin Young, Longtime Obama Confidante and Physician to MLK, Criticizes Admin’s Rejection of Single-Payer Healthcare

The US needs single payer.

[Note: I signed up. I even used my real name. You can too.]