the by-log

Here is a brilliant post by lonnasjoy about men an...

Byran Smucker — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 21:33:00 +0000

Here is a brilliant post by lonnasjoy about men and movies. To summarize, the reason guys attempt to sabotage sentimental/romantic moments as they watch a movie is because they really ARE being swept up into it, but they don't feel right showing those sorts of feelings.

WoW!

Byran Smucker — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 22:47:00 +0000

Check this out, if you want to know what video gaming can do to a person. There's a little salty language here, for your information.

I've never used the word "fleece" on my blog.

Byran Smucker — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 23:47:00 +0000

I've never used the word "fleece" on my blog.

A Contrast

Byran Smucker — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 23:39:00 +0000

One day I'm walking on campus after a class and I happen upon a crowd of people surrounding a man with a red shirt, upon which is printed something like "No homos will go to heaven."

Not too long after that I was walking on campus and I came upon two elderly men from The Gideon's International handing out New Testaments, quietly and with dignity.

Asking Jason Hsu

Byran Smucker — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:32:00 +0000

Today for Colloquium, Dr. Jason Hsu from Ohio State University will be speaking. He is a well-known researcher in the area of Multiple Comparisons, famous enough to have a oft-used procedure named after him, called Hsu's MCB (Multiple Comparison with the Best).

It turns out that in our Linear Models class we just studied this procedure, and as part of a homework assignment we are to prove some of the theory behind this method. Last I checked, I was stuck on it, but when I talked with a fellow student about it briefly a funny idea popped into my head. Yesterday we were informed that there were still slots open to meet with Prof. Hsu before Colloquium. So, in theory, I could go ask the guy who thought it up how to do it.

Affirmations

Byran Smucker — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 01:47:00 +0000

Scott Adams, comic artist of the strip Dilbert, endorses affirmations as a legitimate way to pursue and achieve nigh-to-impossible goals.

It sounds too easy, too good to be true, maybe even humanistic. I haven't decided what I think about them yet.

Friday Night

Byran Smucker — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 00:48:00 +0000

I'm sitting in my office right now. It's 8:38 p.m. as I write this. The window is open and there's a party going on outside. You see, it's the day before the Michigan game here at Penn State, and folks are pumped, even if the home team doesn't seem to be particularly stellar this year. Just a few minutes ago, a guy with a hoarse voice bellowed "We are..." and a bunch of others yelled back, "Penn State!" He did it, like, four times in a row. That's what they do here. You're walking on campus somewhere or in The Hub and someone will up and shout, "We are...", and if there's enough school spirit in the vicinity, people will yell back.

The Amish Got it Right

Byran Smucker — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 16:02:00 +0000

I am a Mennonite after all, so I'll comment briefly on the Amish school shooting. In short, they're making me proud to be an Anabaptist.

Say what you want about the Amish and their lack of spirituality, but they have truly lived out Jesus in a powerful way during this situation by showing virtually immediate forgiveness and even actively loving (that's nonresistance in action) the family of the man who killed their little girls.

Statistics and Remembering Things

Byran Smucker — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:28:00 +0000

I'm personally glad that I'm not in a discipline that requires gross amounts of rote memorization. I'm glad about this because it doesn't seem to me that I remember that kind of stuff very well. However, even in statistics where you don't have to go into exams and remember minutiae, you do have to routinely prove things mathematically. And it turns out that when you prove things, you tend to use results that you have seen in the past: maybe yesterday or last week or last year, maybe a theorem you read awhile ago but didn't understand (and subsequently forgot). So remembering - or more importantly understanding something to the point that you remember it - is valuable in theoretical statistics too.

Polish Digital Clock

Byran Smucker — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 02:55:00 +0000

No doubt some of you have seen this already (or maybe it's some sort of insidious joke that I don't get, because after all it was forwarded to me), but if you haven't seen it, it'll probably make you say "wow!"

Polish Digital Clock

A very interesting article on Mark Driscoll and Ma...

Byran Smucker — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 01:13:00 +0000

A very interesting article on Mark Driscoll and Mar's Hill Church in Seattle. A couple of friends go there, and I listen to his sermon's by downloading them from the church's website.

Vanity of Knowledge

Byran Smucker — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 00:40:00 +0000

Knowledge realized seems to me to have just a tinge of disappointment attached to it. Before you understand something, it often feels utterly incomprehensible. But more likely than not, once you understand it, you realize it wasn't that difficult afterall.

I think this is the mistake professors make when they assume some fact to be trivial, yet students may have no idea what's going on. It's not that the students are stupid - the concept itself is not so hard - but until a person understands it, it may seem nigh impossible to grasp.

Obvious is a Subset of True

Byran Smucker — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:56:00 +0000

There are lots of true statements, some of which are "obvious" and some of which are not. When you're trying to prove something mathematically and in the course of your proof you want to use some other true statement, if the fact is "obvious" you can simply state it and use it. But if it's not "obvious" then you have to prove it before you can use it.

The question is, how do you tell when something is "obvious"? Like, I know this certain statement is true, but I either don't want to or can't actually prove it rigorously. So I just say it's "obvious."

Problem solved.

I wonder, is there a difference between believing ...

Byran Smucker — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 03:07:00 +0000

I wonder, is there a difference between believing and knowing?

I mean, what is knowledge anyway?

Makes Sense

Byran Smucker — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 04:10:00 +0000

School starts, posts stop. I actually have stuff to write, but the amount of work in Linear Models is insane.

Last weekend Amy and I went to Tom and Jewel's for the weekend (I have a picture but ... no time), had some sick, had some fun, but an important point is that I did no work. So now I work.

Loved going to Tom and Jewel's. In fact, love Tom and Jewel.