adunno

All That Math

A new study reported just recently claims to show some real hard data that in the world of particle physics, women people just aren't given the same opportunity to speak up as the men people.

The actual paper on the study can be found here.

"The study finds that the female researchers were on average significantly more productive compared to their male peers, yet were allocated only 1/3 the amount of conference presentations based on their productivity. The study also finds that the dramatic gender bias in allocation of conference presentations appeared to have significant negative impact on the academic career advancement of the females."

Comments from this report:

"Female thinking seems to be more lateral then vertical. ... women in physics are generally harder working than male colleagues and are great co-workers in terms of encouragement, diligence, and backup support. They do not, however, contribute a great deal of original ideas and rigorous logical analysis to the research. Female judgment seems to more emotionally biased." - an annoying guy.

"My dad was a solid state physicist and president of a prominent university. He claimed throughout my life that women did not have the innate ability to perform well in math, and were inferior in analytical thinking ..." - girl kid with annoying guy father.

Interestingly, my mom would agree with these guys, she told me that women should not work to be surgeons as they are not capable enough emotionally - especially during that time of the month - to work with the knife in a proper way.

Well, I was always good in math, but since I was told that I was not supposed to be good at it, I now think I really suck at it - my obedience to society!  Milgram splendidly showed this relationship between society and the human brain with this great zapping experiment:

They say this is how Hitler was able to become so successful.  We humans are indeed a miserable lot, though interestingly enough, this brain lying mechanism may have served us a purpose back when we had to chase mammoths for food.

Girls brains have been lied to all their lives. Unfortunately this way of the world isn't going away anytime soon. 

The Rice Equation

So I was reading this article about the rice hoarding happening in my good old Indonesia.  I don't get why the Indonesian government is doing this.  Someone should enlighten me? There are many things I don't know about why the Indonesian government do their thing.

So then they are putting armed guards all over the porous Indonesian border to stop people from smuggling rice out of the country. I wished I could draw, I have some funny ideas of how to make a comic out of this.

So what's the equation happening here?  Indonesia had real good weather recently and it is producing a surplus of rice than usual.  On the other hand the world is in high demand for rice, due to some drought in Australia or something and pest attack in Vietnam, and those Chinese are somehow eating more rice than usual.

But why Is my poor not so poor Indonesia hoarding instead of of letting go and make money out of this - to feed the poor farmers say?

I can imagine how a lot of rice is actually leaking out and some border patrol people make money out of all of this.  It is what just happens in Indonesia. I used to pull my hairs out thinking about this. But my more enlightened self of the now is slowly learning how to "let go".

So now I act all smiley like and just listen to this John Mayer song - it might help the learning process go better.
 

Some equation that links this Indonesian act to my eggs in New York City would be useful.

 

Our Egg Crisis

I'm sure that the price of eggs have risen.  I've never taken notice of specific exact prices of things, so I don't specifically know by how much. I usually do "blind grocery shopping" - taking things in without looking the prices.

I assume that if I average out whatever I buy all over the place, taking into account the price of my energy used to go to these places - assuming also that the bargained priced places take more stress and energy out of me - everything would even out as "fairly priced" for me.

I don't believe in "saving extra" to "buy more" things - doing that extra work to go to odd places to get the most bargained priced things.  I just figure don't buy those extra things if I can't - simple rule of economics.   It just takes too much energy for me to think about these things. I have a low threshold level of stress hormones trigger.  Such things might lead me to take out even more resources out of me to pay for medical bills say - in effect, making things more expensive in the end.

I assume that there are no places where I shop that is offering a significantly higher than pricing rate of goods compared to other places.  I assume also that the secluded place of the world I am now living in (Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City) is economically stable enough that the price distribution of say, eggs, for most grocery shopping place is normal. 

Anyway, in my head these prices are put all in a fuzzy range.  Eggs have been priced within my lifetime, living in east coast USA, between $1.50 - $2.50 a dozen.  That's what's in my head.  Now I'm thinking I'm seeing something like $3.50 on up just for regular eggs.  There are also those caged free , hormone free, organic and/or vegetarian ones that are usually $1 higher or something - I can never keep track. The oblivious me is starting sense some weird-oddity here.

So now I try eat most of my eggs only on the weekends.  We usually go out for brunch Saturdays or Sundays - but nowadays we brunch at home, which is when we eat our eggs.  Extra energy for me to cook and wash those dishes.  But then we are in a crises.  They say we are experiencing something that has never been seen before in America since the depression.

So moral of the story is, nowadays, I can't go around just chucking things into my basket without actually looking at the prices of these things.    Blind priced shopping was how my mother taught me to do grocery shopping.  It's getting tough.  I'm just so used to doing things one way. I like to eat eggs.

Idol Mania: "Surely You're Joking Mr. Cook"

Question: What is your favorite childhood memory?

Mr Cook: Those 1 month old baby pictures of him with paper cup covering intravenous tube sticking on head, ready for corrective surgery of "pyloric stenosis" or knot of tube in stomach disease. Thinks pictures make him look like a baby shriner (= Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine).

Question: Best Skills?

Mr. Cook: Considers self as Jack of all trades ... a master of nothing, "I am what one would call an 'entry level Renaissance man'...  I have logged on many hours watching television....".

Question: "What will you name your 'first' album?"
Mr. Cook: "Anakarne"
Question: "What's that mean?
Mr. Cook: "It is the name of the largest star in the milky way galaxy that is rumoured to explode in the next 50 to 10 thousand years... "... correction ... "they are expected to 'plode'" (stars plode, not explode).

Mr Cook, you are my dreamy "word nerd", though I have yet to google proof the validity of your claim for the existence of such a named large star, nor the correct usage of such words as plod vs explode in reference to star phenomenology.  I might have misheard what you said ... what did you say Mr. Cook?  I can't seem to find those words in my dictionary??!?!

Surely, I too have nothing better to do than look at idol interviews and reference them in my blog.  Nothing.

References:

1. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character, Richard Feynman, Ralph Leighton (contributor), Edward Hutchings (editor), 1985, W W Norton,

2. Word Nerd:

3.  Ploding Star

4.  Baby Shrine 

5. Entry Level Renaissance Man

The Self-Centered Blogger

Hello world.  I figure it's spring time, and somehow this year, I am feeling some sort of revolutionary transformation of being inside of me.  Sounds pretty silly.

Anyway, as blogging is indeed a form of expression, I am feeling that I need yet another blog to spew out all the leaks, my old ones just won't do -- too many reminders of my third past. I need to move on. 

So with this post I hereby announce my movement to a new era of bloggering for me.  Accepting that blogging is about being indulgent of oneself, overly selfish of the self, a self centered act.  So here I am.  It's not about moving anything.

Idol Mania: David Cook

I've never been into Idol until one day I was flipping channels and saw this guy:

My favorite performance following the above so far, he got better looking too:

This guy is great, this is one of his pre-idol performance  creep by axium.

If you are not into American Idol this year, you are not my friend.

So then I decided to give birth this blog, all a tribute to why I am now seeking freedom from my thrid world past -- I don't know where I am going, but I'm sure not going to walk backwards.  American Idol, you actually got to me.  Dream big.  Thanks Mr. Cook - and maybe Simon too.