immediately unwrapped the new rmonetdb and sqlsurvey packages written by dr. thomas lumley. just like christmas morning. he thanked me in his announcement of the release, but he'd done all the work so far. time to convert the larger survey data sets in usgsd to monetdb. latest progress on this new development branch.
visited the embassy of kazakhstan with morgan. morgan friend profile - level of friendship: best friend. frequency of hanging out: not enough. hair: red. permasmile: yes. traditional kazakhi outfits in current wardrobe: zero.
added massive ftp download automation scripts to most datasets in my archive of usgsd. these scripts download every file available from the government, name it according to a consistent pattern, and - depending on filesize - import it into an r data file or a sql database. especially proud of the scripts that pull every file in the 2001, 2004, and 2008 sipp panels into a single database.
spent a few days with my old cubicle twin. we three used to share in programming marathons. those sql databases weren't going to query themselves.
argued about whether the y in her last name - hyun - is a consonant or vowel. for ab-talk's sake: nabiabomabi habiyabun versus nabiabomabi hyabun.
had never considered adjective ordering rules, but now that you mention it, it's always the bright, pink suit never the pink, bright suit.
went northeast: only true believers make it over to h street.
spotted my first ladybug corpse. huh. still pretty.
obama has done many things to distinguish his administration's policies from his prdecessor's
killing may be cheaper and easier than capture, but does that justify an execution without trial?
we take years to decide whether to put an american citizen to death in our criminal justice system, insisting upon multiple layers of inter-branch review. when we are meting out death far from any battlefield, and with time to spare, should not someone in the executive branch be assigned to advocate for the target in order to limit the risk of groupthink? we require the police to get a warrant from a judge before they can search a man's backpack; if there is time, should not..some level of judicial review..be required before we take a man's life?
the legitimacy of the program requires transparency
subsidizing parents who want to send their child to a private or religious school; encouraging the private sector to operate schools; putting commercial banks in charge of the federal student loan program; holding teachers and schools accountable for students' test scores; and lowering entrance requirements for new teachers
privately managed charters, for-profit online schools, and almost every other alternative to public schools
states have reduced their investments in higher education and shifted the burden from taxpayers to students
"restore" suggests a return to the past. when in american history did the for-profit sector run american schools? which state ever permitted it until the advent in our own time of for-profit charter corporations and for-profit online corporations?
texas state legislator debbie riddle went for the jugular of entitlement in the preferred style: "where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? it comes from moscow, from russia. it comes straight out of the pit of hell."
if you want better schools in texas, you have to pay for them.
about one third of cases are thrown out, but because of the backlog, decisions may take six months to a year
the rate of physical abuse in foster care was four times higher than abuse by parents in the city's toughest neighborhoods
marijuana in the house can be grounds for removal
the consequences of family separation
when she was first dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and taken away
swat team tactics
now eight and taking four psychotropic medications to control her behavior-including one that ccan cause irreversible catatonia and drooling
more than half of children in juvenile detention in the state were previously in foster care
in other western countries..the primary goal of the child protection system is to help poor families care for their own children, not split them up..children are removed from the home only as a last resort
sweepstakes on which celebrities will peg out in the current year
the position we reach when i get the £2000 and you haev my kidney is pareto-optimal
cosmic bliss
one can farm out certain friend-like services to therapists, prostitutes and cab-drivers
at least education will continue to exist even if its deliverey is perverted by money: people will still learn things, even if they have to pay. but some goods, like friendship, might cease to exist, since their status as goods depends on their not being paid for
invent a new activity..which is just like doctoring, except that its internal goal is to earn money for the schmoctor.
by 1860, the needle and vial were transforming palliative care and surgical recovery, but the vector for their widespread adoption was war: in particular the american civil war, which claimed 620,000 fatalities and created fifty thousand amputees, and during which more than ten million doses of morphine were consumed
many latin americans thought democracy and socialism were the same thing
turn chile 'into one big school'
a dagger pointed at the heart of antarctica
our hand doesn't show on this one
cuba in 1952; guatemala and paraguay in 1954; argentina and peru in 1962; ecuador, the dominican republic, honduras, and again guatemala in 1963; brazil and bolivia in 1964; and argentina in once more in 1966
unlike allende..each time lula ran and lost and ran again, he gave up a little bit more of the pt's founding principles, so that the party went from pledging to overturn neoliberalism to promising to administer it more effectively
