skyking162

I’m not usually a comics guy, but xkcd is one I read regularly…

Here are some other xkcd favorites:
shopping
rotations
ninja turtles

Popularity: 18% [?]

Here’s an excellent article by my favorite football blogger and college differential equations professor, Doug Drinen. It sums up a concept that’s been popping up in sports a lot recently: people often make too much out of nothing. We see a hitting hot streak and assume the batter has made an improvement. We think winning a best-of-seven World Series proves one team is better. We think an awesome vacation will make us immeasurably happy.

Doug’s begins his article by answering the basic question, “what is the probability of randomly drafting 14th out of 14 teams over three straight seasons. The easy answer is (1/14)^3 and it’s technically correct. But as is often the case, the problem lies in the question, not the answer to it.

Would you be as amazed if the person picked 10th out of 10 three straight years? Picked first three straight years? Picked at the same position three straight years? Probably not quite as intriguing, but including all those unlikely scenarios together makes the likelihood of any of them occurring much more probable. And what if you noticed this question was posted on a message board? Are you as amazed that it happened to one person out of the thousands that read the message board? Or maybe the person who it happened to doesn’t read message boards, but a friend in the league does and posted it in his stead?

The point is that an uncountable number of things happen to everybody each day. Unlikely things are bound to happen. Keep some perspective and don’t assume it necessarily means anything or is as unlikely as you might think. Read Doug’s article. He states it better than me (although you can feel free to skip over his advanced math.)

Popularity: 19% [?]

I’m an idealist. I believe there is always a better choice and I believe great heights are worth shooting for. I would give up the two in my hand any day of the week in order to have a shot at the one in the bush.

I’m easily frustrated by others’ refusals to set goals as lofty as mine I’m frustrated by their unwillingness to open their eyes to how things could be. I’m frustrated by my own inability to match my actions with my visions. And I’m easily frustrated when another day goes by and the status quo is still the status quo.

When I meet others who share my passion for dreaming my brains works faster and the idealism speeds out of control, only to crash back into reality. When I need to escape from the world, it’s no fluke that I turn my attention to fantasy worlds where idealism trumps all. Tonight one of those worlds will cease to evolve and its history will be all that’s left to speak for its future.

Over the past seven years The West Wing has shown that it is possible to know exactly what to say in every situation, that it is possible to create solutions everyone can embrace, and that the people who are in positions to be heroes for an entire country can actually fulfill their potential. While I fight daily to bring objectivism to every decision, I’m a romantic at heart, hoping beyond what’s realistic that I will someday find out fate isn’t man-made and destiny has a sweet, grandfatherly laugh. It’s not so much knowing that we can’t acheive perfection that breaks my heart, it’s realizing that I’m next-to-alone in wanting to aim for it.

As a reminder of the efforts The West Wing writers, actors, and production crew put forth attempting to show the world what a glorious aphrodisiac hope can be, here are some of the best quotes from its 156 episodes. Let them fill you with limitless dreams, the power to pursue them, and the luck needed to acheive even one.

Toby Ziegler: If our job teaches us anything, it’s that we don’t know what the next President’s gonna face. And if we choose someone with vision, someone with guts, someone with gravitas, who’s connected to other people’s lives, and cares about making them better… if we choose someone to inspire us, then we’ll be able to face what comes our way and achieve things… we can’t imagine yet. Instead of telling people who’s the most qualified, instead of telling people who’s got the better ideas, let’s make it obvious.

Sam Seaborn: Mallory, education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes. We need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That’s my position. I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.

(more…)

Popularity: 18% [?]

Two similar articles caught my eye yesterday. Both Jeff Angus’s piece at Baseball Analysts and a story at Lindy’s Sports discuss lessons learned on the baseball field that are applicable to many other fields in life. I can easily imagine much of this language coming from Stephen Covey or Mel Levine.

From Jeff Angus’ experience at baseball summer camp:

• What you value personally may not have any value in the environment you’re in.
• We all have weaknesses and sometimes the best way to attack one is to try to turn it into a strength.
• Coaching, teaching and managing are not either/or, good or bad, they are additive.
• Rock, paper, scissors. Everything good can be beaten by something better. Everything not good can beat something great.
• Never staple your lips together with a heavy-duty Bostitch stapler.

My top five from Lindy’s reasons for Oakland’s organizational success:

• Identify your boundaries.
• Build a braintrust.
• Have a philosophy and stick to it.
• Act with resolution.
• Study the stats.

Both authors explain each point quite well and I highly recommend checking out both articles.

Popularity: 18% [?]

How embarassing. I just realized my search for personal direction can be summed up by a John Mayer lyric. Why, Georgia, why?

Popularity: 18% [?]