The Geek Scale

When I tell friends and family that I don't rank particularly high on the geek scale, they often don't believe me. They have no idea. I seem like a geek compared to them, but that's only because they don't know the geeks I know. Here is an IM exchange between two friends of mine.

HockeyKing (not his real screenname) is Chief Technology Officer of a small IT company. He is a computer geek who is like me: his friends and family probably think he is a super geek, but they have no idea.

VetteGeek (also not his real screenname) is a real geek.

HockeyKing: still liking the droid?
HockeyKing: or finding issues not happy with?
VetteGeek: oh yeah
VetteGeek: I installed a C-64 emulator
VetteGeek: I was playing "The Castles of Dr. Creep" on Sat
HockeyKing: what's a c-64 emulator?
VetteGeek: Commodore 64

I can't compare to that.... This is a guy who has installed an application so his new phone can act like a 27 year-old computer. Wow.

I'm a geek, but not that high on the geek scale. For instance, I:

• am a math teacher (of sorts) who was never on a Math Team.
• run Linux on my home machine, but I generally use the GUI instead of the text-based terminal and I don't compile my own applications.
• have some superficial familiarity with Java, but don't know Python, LISP, or any low-level languages at all.
• I liked the original Star Trek series and some other sci fi stuff, but I never watch SyFy network.

Anyway, I admit to being a bit of a geek, but compared to real geeks, I am quite the dilettante.

Music Monday: Xmas Music

I like xmas. I like the traditions, the cookies, the family, the egg nog, the decorations, the candy, the smells (pine, cinnamon, etc.), and much more. Slate's Jody Rosen brings us Why Bob Dylan's Christmas Album Isn't a Joke, which gets at the heart of why I like xmas music so much.

Some videos of Xmas music I like:

• Mannheim Steamroller: Little Drummer Boy (with synchronized lights)
• Vince Guaraldi: O Tannenbaum (this is the sound of xmas for me)
• Stan Kenton: Good King Wenceslas

Taking Advice from an Old "Friend"

As a close, personal friend of mine (we both had the late Ernie Rabinowicz as our freshman advisor at college, though 17 years apart) once said:

Don't look back
A new day is breakin'
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is callin'
Today is the day

Anyone? Anyone? Name the band and "friend" for mad kudos. Bonus points for anyone who can name the department from which my "friend" received his Bachelors and Masters degrees (without using Google or Wikipedia or any other Internet resource).

As I look at my rather lengthy list of drafted posts, I see a long queue of half-baked ideas and partial thoughts. Still, I think it's time that I got back to them. Stay tuned. "Today is the day."

Web Stuff Friday: xkcd Highlights

If you aren't into the webcomic xkcd because it's too nerdy, here are some entries I think have relatively broad appeal. You don't need to be a programmer or a mathematician to find these amusing:

Lego: That's deep. My only quibble is that the lego house (like grandpa) still exists in our hearts, minds, and imaginations.

Movie Narrative Charts is wonderful (it's better when big). I like the LOTR and Star Wars diagrams, but really like 12 Angry Men as well.

Scary: This sort of thing gets me all the time. Boy Kid was born a month and a half before 9/11/01, so he is the same age as the post-9/11 era. We have project managers at work who are too young for me to have taught them: I stopped teaching before they entered high school. Holy crap!

Web Stuff Friday: Silent People

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia: These kids are pretty good.

People of Walmart: Priceless. As usual with sites like this, the best part is the commentary. It's all about the captions.

The Redskins Are So Sad

Sally Jenkins got it right in her column Redskins need a GM bailout. The 'Skins are a terrible franchise and it starts at the top.

Update: Superfueled Freaksicle brings us The Grand Unified Theory of Daniel M. Snyder. Simply brilliant.

On an unrelated note, my favorite suggestion for dealing with their name issue is from Tony Kornheiser (and others): Let them keep the name, but change the logo to a couple redskin potatoes. Brilliant.

Here are some jokes a friend sent me a bit ago. I have no idea about the original source, so I am sorry for not attributing it properly.

HEADLINE: "D.C. Police are "cracking" down on speeders. For the first offense, they give you two Redskins tickets. (If you get stopped a second time, they give you two Nationals tickets.)"

Q. What do you call 47 millionaires sitting around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
A. The Washington Redskins.

Q. What do the Redskins and Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make 70,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ".

Q. How do you keep the Redskins out of your yard?
A. Put up a goal post.

Q. Where do you go in D.C. in case of a tornado?
A. To FedEx Field - they never have a touchdown there!

Q. What do you call a Redskin with a Super Bowl ring?
A. Senior Citizen

Q. How many Redskins does it take to win a Super Bowl?
A. We may never find out in the 21st century.

Q. What do the Redskins and opossums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.

I Love Monty Hall

OK, so I don't really love Monty. What I love is the problem that is named for him, which can be stated as follows:

You are a contestant on Let's Make a Deal. Monty has given you a choice of three doors. Behind two doors are goats, but one door has a nice, shiny new red car with a radio! You choose a door. Monty (who knows what is behind each door) then reveals that behind one of the other doors is a goat. He then he asks you: Do you want to switch to the other door, or do you want to stay with your original choice?

The question for you is: Should you stay with your original choice, switch doors, or does it not matter?

If you haven't before, stop and think about the problem before reading on.

Coding Horror has an article: Monty Hall, Monty Fall, Monty Crawl that a friend from work sent to me recently. I agree with the Jeff Atwood, who says:

What's interesting about this problem, to me at least, is not the solution, but the vehemence with which people react to the solution....

Here is a nice, simple explanation of the correct answer courtesy of Antonio Cangiano at Zen and the Art of Programming:

When you make your first choice your probability of winning the car is only 1/3. If you decide to switch, you will win only if the first choice you made was wrong. And since your first choice came with a 2 out of 3 chance of picking a goat, switching will then (logically) give you 2/3 chance of winning.

But don't believe me. Check out these sites:

• The New York Times Interactive Feature: The Monty Hall Problem allows you to try it several times and also provides an explanation.
• The Straight Dope: Long thread about the problem. A fun read.
• Wikipedia has some history and some explanations including a section called Aids to understanding.
• Let's Make a Deal has links to several sites including a simulation I like.
  

Anyway, this is a great problem.