June in Texas

Professor Ramblings #3

"Whoa, am I good or what? Well, I think I'm good. Put up with me."

"Imagine my surprise when the somewhat anti-intellectual, former navy pilot started talking about asymptotes. You know what an asymptote is, right?"

"What do you call it? Those little balls of crack? A kernel?"

[In a problem where we calculate the number of centenarians in the U.S.] "What does 'RO' stand for? REALLY OLD."

"This is why consultants get paid so much money! They have the patience to knock this stuff out!"

And my favorite this week...

[Phone rings.] "Oooh, it's a reporter. I'll talk to them later--you're much more important than a reporter."

And so begins another week...

Yeah, pretty much.

Professor Ramblings #2

Oh, math class. If I can get through a three-hour lecture without feeling like I'm going to a) cry, b) barf, or c) scream, then we're in good shape. (This week? Hanging in there, but barely.) This stuff is brutal.

My professor like to joke that he writes the "problems sets from hell." He is correct. So, while I battle it out with some logarithms and missing variables, enjoy this week's professor ramblings.

"Rate of change is something you'll see a lot in economics, but I wanted you to find out about it at home, you know, not out there on the streets."

"You never quite get logarithms, but you do get used to them."

"In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. On the second day, she couldn't do anything else until she created linear equations."

Amen.

Professor Ramblings #1

I'm taking a summer class on "quantitative methods" and despite my reservations about anything math-related, I think this class is going to be good. The professor is AWESOME. Smart as a whip, funny, confident, and he knows how to teach. He strikes the perfect balance of being invested in our success, holding us to high standards, and presenting us with a reasonably challenging regimen. Score.

He also cracks me up about five times per class. So, I present Professor Ramblings #1:

"You'll need to write a one page memo at the end of each problem set that would explain to someone with no particular mathematical faculties what you discovered. Like your grandma... or Joe Biden. Ask yourself: 'If I were Joe Biden, could I understand this?'"

"You grew up thinking that asking for help was cheating. Well, get that out of your system. You're not longer 'cheating' by asking for help, you're 'consulting.'"

"It's a good lesson to learn: if it makes you feel smart, you're probably on the wrong track."

On the quadratic formula: "Fairly often my intellectual powers fail me and you need to use something that will always, always work. It's not elegant, but it's easier."

"Okay, that's a BIG ASS number. Let's see if this works."

Boots.

Happy Birthday, NPR

40 years!

RT @npr: Which NPR person would you like to have cake with? #happybdayNPR

Ira Glass, of course. But this is Texas... so let's get some birthday tacos, yes?