Connecticut R User Group starts 2013

I can not believe the Connecticut R User Group is already in its second year. I started the group mostly because I did not want to have to go to all the way into New York or Boston just to connect with other R users. The group has been more successful than I had hope in its first year. We have had a host of great talks, the group has grown to over 70 members. If you are in Connecticut especially the New Haven area I hope to see you at our next meeting.

Jared "The Statistician" Lander gets his 15 minutes

With the huge Powerball Lottery every TV News Channel in the country is bringing in a statistician to talk about the odds of winning. CBS News New York brought in local statistician Jared Lander.

Here is the Link:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/11/28/record-500m-powerball-jackpot-up-for-grabs-wednesday/

Photos of Hurricane Sandy

I just walked around my neighborhood in Milford Connecticut. Hurricane Sandy is just starting to impact the low laying streets below our house. There is a little wind, but the seas are diffinately higher than usual. I have attached some pictures and a video for all to see what it is like here on the Milford shore

So the first high tide was not that bad. I would expect the high tide tonight to be much worse.

Connecticut R Meetup has second Meeting

With a second meeting under our belt this R meetup group seems to be well on its way. This meeting featured a double in attendance from our last meeting with over 20 people braving the rain to join us.  We also 10 new members on line. I am pleased with how well we have done so far.

We are going to try and do these meetups once a month. Any member cango to the meetup site and suggest a topic for a meeting or even a time and location.

I want to thank Jay for his presentation on TAQ data and Rajarshi his informative talk on twitter sentiment data and geo-location information.

Please  feel free to join the group.   Connecticut R Users Group

Saints Bounty scandal or is this just the logical extension of what is done at the high school and college level?

When I was in High School we were given stars for big plays. If those plays where on defense they were almost always for big punishing hits. They were always legal hits, but they were big. You made a big hit you got a star it was that simple. It was an effective incentive.

Now my college did not give out stickers to put on our helmets so that incentive program did not exist at Cornell, but it did and still does at other universities. Florida State gives out Tomahawks for great plays. OSU gives its players Buckeye stickers for outstanding performance. Georgia players get white dog bones for a good play on the field. Clemson players get a paw print sticker. Even Stanford players have participated in this practice.

Lets be very clears these stickers are given out for things like big hits. I did not believe they are ever given out for illegal hits. In fact, I believe most of these schools they will actually take stickers away from a player for an illegal hit. However, I do believe if you put a good legal hit on an opposing player that is worthy of getting a sticker, you will get that star regardless of whether that opposing player was injured or not.

To me what happened at the Saints is a logical extension of that system into the NFL. Did it get corrupted in the translation. Sure. I believe it got out of line because instead of rewarding good plays which includes big hits it rewarded big hits that resulted in injuries. However, I do not believe any of the Saints players were reward for big hits that resulted in injuries to other players that were illegal. If these same hits had occured on the field at OSU, FSU or countless high schools across the nation the players would have been rewarded for their play with a sticker.

Now me personally I wanted anyone I put a big hit on not to be injured. I felt it was better if they stayed in the game after the hit. I figured a good hit would make them afraid to come at me again because they knew I would knock them out again. If he was afraid of me before the ball was even snapped, I had already won the battle before the play even started.

Jo-Ann Mettler's Art Video

I was up late tonight, and I googled my mother name. To my surprise a video came up of my mom talking about her art. I really enjoyed hearing her talking about doing what she loves. I hope you enjoy it.

Red Sox off to worst April in over a decade

2012 continues to be a year of struggles for the Boston Red Sox as they show more wear and tear than the 100 year old Fenway that they play in. This a quite a change for the first decade of the new century.

The 2000s have been years when the mighty Red Sox roared out of Spring training with strong starters, a powerful closer and might batters. Their April record inspired talk of winning that first longed for world series or another one this year. It seems so long ago.

Now the Red Sox lumber into the new season with an unsure rotation, an opening at closer and bats that still have not emerged from a winter in storage. It is hard to get depressed in spring, but a 5-10 Red Sox will do it for me.

I am believe we are seeing the Red Sox move away from the things that made them successful in recent years. Management like Theo Epstein and Terry Francona have moved on. Players have aged and retired like Wakefield, Manny and Varitek. The Red sox need to return to what made them successful. A strong front office driven by Sabermetrics. I hope it happens soon.