Wednesday, February 05, 2003

Talk about tradeoffs: I can hear the Dean of the MBA Programme speak at 7p, or go see the film "Hero", screened as a part of China Week at Insead.  Hear another speech, or relax to an epic story with a Tan Dun soundtrack?  I think I know where I will be... 6:27:24 PM    comment []

I just found out that a great, dear friend of mine also keeps a blog; and that neither of us told the other until I recently sent out a global change-of-address notice.  I wonder how many other friends of mine are writing away, with only my ignorance in the way of new discoveries. I suppose this is not so strange, but I was reading her blog, and of course it's spectacularly well written.  So much so that you read it, and then think about it hours later, when your mind takes a quick break from whatever it is doing.  Amazing, to think that I never knew about her gift before. 4:30:53 PM    comment []

Today's Jack Soll quote during Applied Statistics: [We were discussing hypothesis testing, which involves creating a hypo and then (go figure) testing it.  Jack brought up several practical examples of this: in a trial with guilt or innocence; in medicine, when you want to know whether a particular drug is safe or dangerous; and Pascal's wager, as to whether God exists or not.  In 1670, Pascal's book Pensées was published, in which he conjectured that God either may exist or not; therefore, two errors are possible.  Assuming that your hypothesis is "Believe in God"; if God exists, you go to heaven, and if not, you may have lived a good life for nothing (this is the Type I error).  If you don't believe in God, and he exists, then you will burn in hell for all eternity; this is a Type II error.] Student: "But professor, since God is all forgiving and wouldn't send atheists to hell, this is really not a correct representation of the dilemma, no?" Professor: "Well, this was way before we knew this about God."   3:25:47 PM    comment []