Easing the tension.

Ok, well, to lighten my mood, I searched online for some statistics jokes and witticisms. I found several (many that I didn't even understand, sad to say) at Gary Ramseyer's site. So, I figured I'd post a few that made me smile. I found that the more stressed I got about the concepts I'm trying to burn into my mind, the more pleasure I took in the playful cruelty of statisticians being the butt of so many jokes. Hmm. I wonder if there's a correlation.

Anyway, here's a couple I found amusing:

THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF STATISTICS:

Albert Einstein died, and found himself on the train to heaven. In his car, there were four men sitting on separate benches. He walked up to the first who said, "Hello! My name is Bob, and I have an IQ of 186." Einstein smiled brilliantly, and said "Ah-hah! We shall discuss quantum physics together!"

The second man greeted him with "Hello, sir. My name is Edward, and my IQ is 150." Einstein smiled, replying "Excellent! We shall discuss mathematics together."

Moving on, Einstein shook hands with the third man, who said, "Hello; my name is William, and my IQ is 119." Smiling again, Einstein replied "Very good! We shall talk together about European history."

The last man looked up glumly as Einstein approached, and said "Hi, my name's Chuck, and my IQ's only 87." Einstein replied sadly "I see-- we shall have to discuss statistics."

Ok, this one doesn't contain cruelty to statisticians, but it made me laugh so hard (especially considering our sitting President):

The Secretary of Defense gave President Bush his daily briefing. He concluded by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"Oh No!" Bush exclaimed. "That's Terrible!"

His staff was stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sat, his head in his hands.

Finally, the President looked up and asked, "Just how many is a brazillion?"

Geez, even while typing that joke, I couldn't stop giggling. Here's a few pithy one-liners:

• Every day, innumeracy affects 8 out of 5 people.
• Recent studies prove that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the population.
• According to a recent survey, 78 people say they participate in surveys.
• 97.24% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Wow. I feel much better now. I guess that means it's time to hit the books again (Sigh).

Profoundly Confused

Well, it's Sunday, 1 a.m., and I am still trying to understand the difference between cluster sampling and stratified random sampling in my statistics class. It's not that I haven't read and re-read the text or that I haven't searched online at a dozen places that removed some of the cloudiness, but it's that I don't think I grok it. Two years ago, when I took my first statistics courses (RES/341 and RES/342), I somehow understood it well - but, now the concepts escape me. I wonder if the brain cells that used to hold those bits of crisp comprehension have somehow been destroyed in the interim. It's as if I'm reading the material for the first time - and worse, it's not even like the first time I read about sampling, because then I understood it immediately and was the 'go to' person for other students to check their knowledge. It's really odd how it can all just slip away.

But, in the process of trying to "get" it, I sure have uncovered some great statistics sites. So, to make this a useful post, I've decided to list out several resources and to describe why they were helpful to me. Just in case any of my fellow classmates find their way to this blog and feel as frustrated as I am, please, by all means, check out these sites.

• One of the most descriptive statistics sites I found was StatSoft. And this site has everything the intermediate or advanced student could want. Unfortunately, it had little if nothing to say about the very elementary statistics concepts (like sampling) that I needed. Still, I can foresee a use for it later in this course.
• I also found a link for a variety of online statistics calculators. The calculators always helped me after I set up the problem and solved it correctly. Before hand, it would serve me little good because I would have had no clue how it arrived at its answer. So, if you like to check your work, use these.
• This next site might not be pretty, but it is packed with easy-to-understand statistics explanations. Each of the beginner-friendly lessons provides clear explanations, examples, reasoning behind the explanations or examples, and tips on how to study and retain the information. I've found it useful. Maybe you will too.
• Pink Monkey! Ok, this next site is irritatingly pink and, while it states it is a guide for students in junior high through college, I felt the explanations were geared more toward the former than the latter. Be that as it may, I still found the explanations pretty useful. After all, if they are gearing their site toward kids, I should have even less problem in understanding the material, right? Well, let's just say this site helped me even though it made me embarrassingly self-conscious being a grad student! LOL.
• This Texas A&M University site offers basic statistics information (definitions and formulas). I found that the information provided covered all the areas covered in my MBA/510 course. The only downside to this site is that it is very cursory. But, the upside is that if you're looking for a "Just the facts, ma'am" approach, you can easily get it here. It is little more than a statistics glossary.

If you know of any other useful sites, I'd love to see them. At this point, I'd welcome additional material. Maybe if I read enough of it, it will sink in.

Thoughts Spilling out of My Mind

Well, I used to write in my journal everyday. In fact, I have journals from age 8 for nearly every day until 1995 and thereafter only sparsely until 2002. Then, I switched to computers and wrote my journals in MS Word, only to have them all lost in a computer crash. So, now, I think this is not a bad place to put everything. Sure, it's technically not private - being a blog and all - but, it is more secure from destruction. And, besides, who the hell wants to read someone's private thoughts? None of it will make sense to anyone more than likely.

So, I intend to write when I can - which usually are the peaks and troughs in my life. If anyone does ever read this and it actually helps them think more about their own lives (for the better or the worse), then so be it. I welcome any comments.

In the beginning...

For two or three years now, I've been wanting to get a blog together. I don't know the whys and wherefores, which I suppose is something one must know when deciding to publish (if even only in a weblog), but, here it is nevertheless.