“CLT never faileth: but whether there be speculations, they shall fail; whether there be talking heads, they shall cease; whether there be punditry, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we expound in part. But when the election actually happens, then that which is observed in sample shall generalize to the population. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish ideas that polls were deliberately biased. For now we see as through a homophilous social network; but then directly observe the population: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as my secret ballot remains unknown. And now abideth parameter, error, CLT, these three; but the greatest of these is CLT.” — Paul’s Letter to the Unskewers « Code and Culture
(via ayjay)
(Source: teachingliteracy, via amandaonwriting)
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“It is said that every people has the Government it deserves. It is more to the point that every Government has the electorate it deserves; for the orators of the front bench can edify or debauch an ignorant electorate at will. Thus our democracy moves in a vicious circle of reciprocal worthiness and unworthiness.” — George Bernard Shaw, Heartbreak House (via demons)
Literary Birthday - 13 November
Happy Birthday, Robert Louis Stevenson, born 13 November 1850, died 3 December 1894
Five Robert Louis Stevenson Quotes
- Fiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.
- The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.
- All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.
- It is not likely that posterity will fall in love with us, but not impossible that it may respect or sympathize; so a man would rather leave behind him the portrait of his spirit than a portrait of his face.
- I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
By Amanda Patterson
From Writers Write
“It’s important to understand that already today the “college experience” is experienced by only a minority of students. Say “college student” and the image may be of a young person just out of high school living in a dorm pursuing a four year degree with few financial constraints. The reality is that more than a third of college students are over the age of 25, nearly half are enrolled part-time, and most are working. About one quarter of college students have children of their own! The traditional college experience does not meet the needs of most of today’s students.” — Cato Unbound » Blog Archive » Why Online Education Works (via pegobry)
(via pegobry)
(via npr)
(Source: succinctt)
“I teach you the superman. Man is something to be surpassed.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (via luniversale)
Why This CEO Doesn't Own A Car: The Rise Of Dis-Ownership -
Smart companies have shown Americans how greener choices can actually save them money in one fell swoop. And the people have spoken: If they can go green and save green, they will. In a recent survey my company Sunrun issued to better understand our customers’ motivations, 9 out of 10 Americans of both voting persuasions said they had made what can be considered ‘green’ changes to their lifestyles over the last five years. Their primary motivator? “Saving money.” The new status symbol isn’t what you own—it’s what you’re smart enough not to own. January 06, 2013 at 02:16PM
The new status symbol isn’t what you own—it’s what you’re smart enough not to own.
Ad Blocking Raises Alarm Among Firms Like Google -
Xavier Niel, the French technology entrepreneur, has made a career of disrupting the status quo.
Now, he has dared to take on Google and other online advertisers in a battle that puts the Web companies under pressure to use the wealth generated by the ads to help pay for the network pipelines that deliver the content.
Mr. Niel’s telecommunications company, Free, which has an estimated 5.2 million Internet-access users in France, began last week to enable its customers to block Web advertising. The company is updating users’ software with an ad-blocking feature as the default setting.
That move has raised alarm among companies that, like Google, have based their entire business models on providing free content to consumers by festooning Web pages with paid advertisements. Although Google so far has kept largely silent about Free’s challenge, the reaction from the small Web operators who live and die by online ads has been vociferous.
» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)
An interesting look at Africa to give some perspective about its size.
(Source: visualamor, via futuramb)
“Politics is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex.” — Frank Zappa (via nathanielstuart)