this week i

launched an announcement blog sure to consume most of my after-hours energy for the next few months: analyze us government survey data with free tools.  dr. lumley linked to my github account on the main r survey package page.  this about / faq summarizes everything.  and since my code's stored on github, a punchcard logs the times and days i make the most progress.  i believe in this work.

marveled at paragraph four of obama's wikipedia entryjanuary 3rd, 2008 i was watching cnn international, jumping up and down on my hotel bed in medellĂ­n.  for good reason.

imported the medicare 5% sample into monetdb using the new r package.  lots of bugs, obscenely fast.

am a statistician and therefore distrust anecdotes.  better to answer questions no one else can, like how long until we discover the unicorn? 

find great symbolism in paul ryan washing those dishes that don't need cleaning.  except lowering taxes on high earners costs more than soap.

saw how to survive a plaguewinston churchill comes to mind.

passed my global entry interview.  oh and texas, you're turning blue again.

10/25

this week i

published our herculean analysis of medicare and the voucher idea.  which, might i add, the president tweeted to 21 million followersthe house gop fought back, oh hey and a senior fella at the american enterprise institute called it the best technical study so farthe last paragraph of this forbes article explains why i do what i do.

published our own survey of seniors re: medicare and the election.

cannot get this out of my head.

love you joe.  and mother jones? you released that video a little too soon. okay okay one more thing: tina fey should cut her hair short (except the widow's peak) and impersonate paul ryan on snl.  lock it up.

have never gone hungry.  important to remember.

landed in miami to explore the northern caribbean.  full route.

awaited an e-mail and started a large computer program mid-day friday, then cut out early.  drove to key west and back, finished my work late-night.  this is my life right now.

drove the remarkably unremarkable pavement along the keys..

..luckily this fellow spiced things up.  gutsy.


found few signs of authentic habitation..

mostly just shallow diving

sham multi-tasking

sandless shores

atlantic ocean, gulf of mexico, me, snore

sponsored beer drinking

..worldliness faking.

got pretty frustrated when hey oh hello there..

oh look another one hanging out on the banks of fort zachary taylor hey wait lemme snap some photos

gah no don't leave actually holy moly thanks for the memories

reaffirmed my love of moats.


identified one-issue voters.

experienced swampland sunset.


headed back to civilization.  classy.

walked the anhinga trail.





rode a riverboat in the north american jungle.





saw a marina manatee.


drove to miami..

for a little more work

..and a little havana too.

read..

(1) war down the nile

sudan doesn't have many friends

president bashir, who had fought for decades to prevent this very outcome and who stood to lose a third of his territory and two thirds of his oil if the south seceded, endorsed the referendum

the north wanted to charge more than $30 a barrel for transit fees, and the south wanted to pay around one dollar

(2) alchemy, not jurisprudence, but who cares

the belligerent joint dissent

the drum roll of 5-4 decisions reflecting a consistent ideological split..the supreme court is not really a court of law but just another political institution

just another long-overdue program of risk-pooling

(3) survey research

citizens basically choose their own experts to help them make sense of the political swirl

10/18

this week i

published our examination of medicare beneficiaries' relationship with the open enrollment period.

met my hero and an inspiration for twotorials.com.


read an enlightening interview of my other hero.

made it to the first page of google search results for "r tutorial video" and even "r tutorials" but not "r tutorial" - more work to be done.  related: still need to de-throne this guy.  if he cures cancer, i'll be pissed.  happy, but pissed.

learned monster has no antonym.  pocket that response for the next time someone tells me a word that nothing rhymes with.

use metaphors, anthony, don't forget to use metaphors.

easypassed to new jersey.

visited joe at the shore.

would start a photoblog - tanningordead dot tumblr dot com - if i lived there.

ate about five pepper n egg sandwiches..

..and the other desserts of italian immigration.

drove the bird sanctuary..






 ..hey buster, stay within your federally-designated area.


woke up for the last warm sunrise of the season.



10/11

this week i

found the secret security line at bwi - baggage claim level.  whoosh.

wonder when we're going to get some female pilots up in this piece.

flew to kansas city, drove through kansas state.  the full route.

watched high school football..

down to the last play

..and a post-game marching band interpretation of west side story.


sped into the night.

explored state parks of the plains.  huh.  pretty flat.






visited the little apple..

..full of great ideas.




didn't plan.

discovered wamego.  still going to the bank on frank baum's choice of giving dorothy a kansan homestead.  a wild n simple saturday..


..also, world's shittiest petting zoo.


ate gator tots.

wish more local libraries bound small towns together..

..the reading room was all mine.

expressed solidarity.

answered some questions..

our challenge as a nation? resist the urge to build new things, instead make old things work better than new.

why are heartlanders fat?  hot dogs grow on trees.

how can this state get more religious?  change the name to kansus.


what if i were average? the world would be fucking awesome.  that's what.

passed an afternoon in topeka.

moved in for a closer look.

sympathize with hippies..

..even if they do resemble antonin scalia.

stopped by one of the schools desegregated by oliver brown versus the board of education of topeka..

..not long ago, in a city i love.

rented one, ate from the other.

shared the road.

scooped some fancy new headgear off the side of the highway.

arrived at big city sunset..

..things just getting started.

strongly disagree.  if canada is with us, mexico too..

..and not sure how rallying around atheism helps.  a tiny sliver of the population, we already punch well above our weight.  schools of public health have a hard time attracting alumni dollars because graduates donate to the organizations solving problems that they care about instead.  the convening of atheists has always posed a parallel problem: fight for what you do believe in.

drank a beer, watched the 1992 debates.  ross perot's healthcare proposal?  copy other nations.

ate barbeque on the banks of the missouri.


flew away.

wrote one more check.

10/4