Kurtosis: a measure of peaked-ness

One of the lesser known calculations that statisticians have in their toolbox is the concept of Kurtosis. Sometimes called the fourth moment, it helps characterize the general shape of a probability distribution. Most people grind their teeth when they hear of Kurtosis and categorize it as “useless or “a bullshit concept”. What the general population doesn’t realize is that the beauty of Kurtosis is only revealed when it is taken out of the statistical context and applied to the world as we know it.

Some people call it self-evaluation, while others consider it to be a rough sketch of the human personality. Either way, Kurtosis is the modern way to categorize your best friends. What exactly is the peaked-ness of a man? There is no easy answer, but here a few examples that should help calibrate your internal “peaked-ness” meter.



Very Low Kurtosis

Tiny Tim is the classic example of Kurtosis approaching 0. Some people claim he is the only man to have ever been arrested for attempting to marry a ukulele.

Low Kurtosis

Even if he did win the election, there is no indication anywhere that anyone thinks Stephen Harper is a cool dude.

Extreme Kurtosis

There is absolutely no question that Bruce Lee embodies extreme Kurtosis. His peaked-ness comes not only from the sharp edges of his body but also from his breathtaking philosophy “Like water, sparring should be formless. Pour water into a cup, it becomes part of the cup. Pour it into a bottle; it becomes part of the bottle. Try to kick or punch it, it is resilient; clutch it and it will yield without hesitation. In fact, it will escape as pressure is being applied to it. How true it is that nothingness cannot be confined. The softest thing cannot be snapped."

Bullshit? for president?

Apparently, music has a more direct connectino to the brain than speech because it doesn't have to go through the conduit that converts speech into language. The drawback of this is that those who are very knowledgeable of music theory may run the risk of creating a similar conduit in the brain whose purpose is to convert music to english language. At that point, it's possible that they don't hear the music at all, just the chord names and reasons why the music works[or doesn't]. One possible analogy is to compare situations where you don't understand the language being spoken to situations where everyone is speaking your native tongue. The former gives us straight up audio-input with no defitinos or meanings attached while the latter is more like a bunch of related meanings. Our rationaly-trained mind is subject to thinking the same way a computer does and follows logic tables which are programmable in binary. The problem is that our input is probably an analog style input which would give us a continuous stream of informatino. When we analyse this with our digital style of thinking, informatino [beauty?] is lost.
Cronto : 1
Louis: 0 [damn]

Good day

YOu know it's going to be a good day when you wake up with a skip in your step

ALL I WANT TO DO IS DANCE ALL DAY

YEEEEHAW

Evil twin? Alignment?

First of all, i would like to thank afxtwin for sending me the picture of my twin. This is my first encounter with someone that looks a lot like me. Check it out (i am the bigger picture)

After the initial shock i thought this dude looked like my evil twin. This was quickly overruled when i realized that i'm not that [good]. This made me think about Role Playing Games, where you get to pick your characters alignment before you start the game. Here is a short summary of the options, followed by a poll as to which alignment applies to Louis

Good vs. Evil

Good characters and creatures protect innocent life. Evil characters and creatures debase or destroy innocent life, whether for fun or profit.

"Good" implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others.

"Evil" implies a lack of concern for others, and in extreme cases hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is necessary or convenient to their goals. Others are actively malicious, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.

People who are neutral with respect to good and evil have compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral people are generally committed to others by personal relationships rather than by a general sense of moral obligation.

Law vs. Chaos

Lawful characters tell the truth, keep their word, respect authority, honor tradition, and judge those who fall short of their duties.

Chaotic characters follow their consciences, resent being told what to do, favor new ideas over dogma, and do what they promise if they feel like it.

"Law" implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include close-mindedness, reactionary adherence to tradition, judgmentality, and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full confidence that others will act as they should.

"Chaos" implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them.

Someone who is neutral with respect to law and chaos has a normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to obey nor a compulsion to rebel. He is honest but can be tempted into lying or deceiving others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_(role-playing_games)

There is the basic overview, try to take it out of the game context and apply it to people.

Which alignment am I.

Lawful GoodLawful NeutralLawful EvilTrue GoodTrue NeturalTrue EvilChaotic GoodChaotic NeutralChaotic Netural

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Guilty as charged

This confession is not an easy one for me to make. As you might have figured out, I have been reading "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates" by Tom Robbins. With only 5 pages left in the book, i have stopped reading it. Every hour i read another line. The truth is that i just DON'T WANT THE BOOK TO END.

Le travail et la revolution

French is hot, work sucks. For some reason, work is the ultimate excuse in the North American society. We are bound by some unknown code of honor to show up on time. We are temporarily forgiven for being terrible parents, lovers, friends and pretty much anything else if we had to be work. If you join my revolution, leisure will be the on the top of the priority list. If you are having an amazing jam session, you can call up your boss and he will understand. If your child has a hockey game that you want to attend, your boss will give you time off. Accurate watches will be destroyed, times will all be estimated, growth will slow, stop maybe go into recession, productivity will go down, gardening will be encouraged, spirituality will be nourished and weapons research will not be the driving force behind scientific enlightenment. Idiots will be exiled [sent up north to find what has been lost to them] , the neo-internet will bless the world with quality information and the concept of heartbreak and eternal love will be doubted [even now, scientists claim that over time, the vast majority of lovers lose the intense chemical reaction that comes with love, aka they are no longer drunk from love, just a little buzzed{not enough for a lot of people(understandably)}].

Did i mention gin and tonic fountains instead of water fountains [only for those who can handle the scientific intoxication brought on by the substance in question.

Freeeeeeddddddoooommmm

I am so sick of people talking about freedom in a general sense[absolute freedom]. What a bullshit concept. My personal definition of freedom is to have no restrictions. What a fucking joke. Our bodies are restrictions, our language is a restriction, our inability to communicate telepathicaly is a restriction, our shitty top speed is a restriction, our dependance on air is a restriction, the fact that dragons aren't native to the earth is a restriction, having an idiot for a president is a restriction, not having 1 million megapixel cameras is a restriction. So please spread the word and make sure that people specify which restriction they want to obliterate when they speak of freedom.

[What the fuck do you want buddy?]

Geometry

One great thing about the internet is that it can change your whole perspective of the universe in a matter of seconds. I have been actively researching hyperbolic geometry and have concluded that it is sweet. I've always had a feeling that the fifth postulate of Euclidean geometry was sketchy!! I knew that if i followed a parallel lines for long enough something crazy would happen. So i must ask the readers which type of universe they think we live in.

Which system of geometry explains the shape of the universe??
	Euclidean geometry (parallel lines stay that way indefinately)
	Spherical geometry (parallel lines converge therefore don't exist)
	Hyperbolic geometry (lines diverge, also, given a point and a line, there are infinite parallel lines that pass through the point)
	What the fuck are you talking about?
	I'm to drunk to analyse universal geometry
	Geometry is for sissies
	It depends on which scale you look at the universe
	God created the universe the way he wanted.
	E=mc^2
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Self-esteem is for sissies

"Accept that you're a pimple and try to keep a lively sense of humor about it."
-Tom Robbins

Couldn't have said it better myself!!!!

Hot topic (or 88 degrees, or "not quite boiling",)

Is the truth found in mass appeal?


Not in my world. The one overpopulated by idiots. Honestly, i don't know where all of these idiots are hiding!!!

Dangerous Comparison

In some ways, a personal blog is dangerously similar to online personals.

I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole then i followed it in

The title is one of my favorite lines from a kenny rogers song. You might not understand country music, but country music understands you. When you weave a tapestry of lies, make sure you don't expose it to time for too long. The best song of all time might be Paranoid Android by Radiohead. Sonic tears are quite heart-wrenching. The biggest advantage associated with exploring the ideas of geoscience is that you get to look at things in geological time. In geological time, there are no sins, they all get turned into sedimentary deposits then over time might be lithified and become rocks. I am dreaming of planting these days, how can I wait another 4 months. Hopefully, February will be the academic month i've been longing for. Lately i've been falling in love with countless girls, all it takes is a smile or nice nair or a good comment on my blog.


Recipe for disaster :
-13 ounces of zambuca
-13 ounces of bombay saphire
-x amount of beers

If you mix these things in your stomach, you might turn into a monster.