By Chewxy, on February 27th, 2008%
I previously mentioned that I had to use EViews this semester, instead of the already familiar R. Naturally, I wasn’t very happy, me being more used to R (and also, used to using R in my usual work). Then again, as they say, “never try, never know”. Grudgingly, I got EViews 6 last week, before semester started, and played around with it.
So, yesterday, I had my first econometrics tute (other people start their tutes next week, but we start ours this bloody week), and the tutor was going thru EViews. For fun, I took the sample data the tutor provided and worked out the same things in R (like calculating covariance and t-stats)… and so I thought, why not a comparison?
First Impressions
I initially found, in the boredom of my tutorial, that I could do the same things like plotting scatter plots way faster in R than in EViews… but it must be first noted, that I came from an IT background, so typing code is the norm for me.
I remember when I first opened up EViews (with their provided wfl file), I was overwhelmed by the amount of nonsense I saw on the screen. By nonsense, I mean a lot of GUI-ish stuff. On the other hand, when I opened R for the first time somewhere in the middle of last year, I was greeted by a familiar commandline. Ah, but that’s just the first impressions…
Continue reading EViews 6 vs R 2.6.0
By Chewxy, on February 25th, 2008%
I got 2 new whiteboards. One for my room and one for the living room/lounge. I immediately wanted to do a Randall Munroe, but held the thought for a party, as Sean had pointed out that a party ain’t fun without a whiteboard. Surely advice from two very smart people (one’s my age and had already worked for NASA, and the other’s a cosmologist – go figure) couldn’t be wrong!
And they weren’t! Here on in, I chronicle the story of my whiteboards in mostly pictures. Here’s the whiteboard a few hours after Australia Post dropped it at my door:
It’s still plastic wrapped and all. My housemates have already doodled on it.
Continue reading The Case For Whiteboards
By Chewxy, on February 22nd, 2008%
So I went to a Hungry Jack’s (known elsewhere in the world as Burger King), in the middle of the night with friends, some time last week. This is how it looked like:
Yep, this is how it looked like at 11.10 p.m. We went there on impulse – I said I wanted to eat something grilled (because I haven’t had dinner), and she wanted some Storm ice-cream.
Being one of the few cheaper 24-hour places (Whopper Jr. stunner deal for only $4.95), I didn’t want to go elsewhere more expensive. I did a rough headcount, and there were about 70 people in line (7 counters, with roughly 10 – 15 customers per line). And I was right at the end.
My inner miser refuse to go over to the nearest pub. Where else can you get a burger, a drink, fries and an ice cream for $4.95? Also, my inner economist recognized this as a random walk. So what do you do when faced with random walks? You diversify your portfolio – to hedge your risk, so to speak.
I got her to line up in what she thought was the shortest line, and I lined up in what I thought was the shortest line. And waited. And we got food.
I was standing in an apparently fast line (about 8 people ahead of my friend), and then they opened the 8th counter, and her line split into 2, and she was ahead. So I skipped into her line and we both ordered food amidst loud complaints. Ah. Random Walk.
Continue reading A Random Walk at Hungry Jack’s
By Chewxy, on February 21st, 2008%
There is supposed to be a post called More Chinese than Chinese posted today on my blog to commemorate the last day of Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, despite my not procastinating, I still find that article extremely lacking. And also there was another article that I had in the pipeline about Ang Pau and the Gift Economy. Also, that, I found lacking in substance, and as such, I’m not going to publish it till I polish it.
Also, I suspect that I was facing a writer’s block. I found my article to be extremely rambly. Ugh. And so, to stimulate more writing juice, I’m going to describe a dream I had last night.
I went to bed, and almost straightaway went into a dream. I got plunged into a scene two nights ago – dinner at Nando’s. I tried to test if the dream was lucid, by trying to pick up the knife, or going to buy some Coke. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a lucid dream. Anyways, Michelle called me a walking encyclopedia, which I don’t really like being called. And then the scene jumped to my home.
I was sitting in front of the laptop, my desk, cluttered as usual. But there was this very strange black wire that was connected to my USB port. I picked it up, and plugged the other end to my head. Then I went on practicing some basic calculus (which I would never do unless absolutely necessary, in real life). Then the scene suddenly changed. I wasn’t in my room anymore.
Continue reading Heroic Dreams Much?
By Chewxy, on February 15th, 2008%
I deleted yesterday’s post because obviously I was in no right mind to post it. So, instead, today I’ll post a few of my intended posts into short, condensed posts. All in one. And stop asking me to use Twitter.
On The Logic of Life
I mentioned I bought the Logic of Life previously. I finished reading it in an intercity transit train. Here’s what I think of it:
- It’s a good read.
- Harford is proposing a Gladwellian ‘blink’ argument for Rationality.
- He argues that we are all rational, without consciously being rational.
- You best read some basic economic books, because Tim writes and assumes everyone knows what Asymmetric Information, or Moral Hazard is.
- The Logic of Life could also be titled Rationality, From Their Point of View.
- The feel of the whole book is like reading Rationality 101 (to non-economics students)
- This Rationality is not the common Homo Economicus argument of human rationality. It’s… the hidden rationality of things, I’d say.
- Has PLENTY of quotable quotes
- I recommend it to anyone interested in human rationality.
- And whoever designed the book cover (not this one on the left) needs to be fired.
On CJ7
In the same post, I also mentioned I watched CJ7. Here’s what I think of it:
- E.T-like, for the Hong Kong audience
- UnE.T-like for the world audience
- Not a typical Stephen Chow movie – very few instances of mou lei tau (nonsensical) scenes.
- Story is bland.
- But Story is original.
- It’s a father-son story. Little girl is a good actress.
- CGI usage is omnipresent, but very very very subtle.
- Stephen Chow hasn’t quite learnt to capture the audience’s emotions (like Steven Spielberg. That man ALWAYS captures the audience)
- I see this as a maturing act of Stephen Chow’s directorial efforts.
- He dares to move away from what he’s familiar with.
- 6/10 – watch it for his effort.
- Read Swifty’s review of CJ7 for more information.
Continue reading Few Things Into One
By Chewxy, on February 10th, 2008%
The last leg of my trip in Malaysia is Penang. Here are some thoughts:
Queensbay Mall was meh. Queensbay is a beautiful place, but the mall was so-so. Until I got to Borders. Hah! See what I got!
It’s Tim Harford’s The Logic of Life. Haven’t read it yet. Will read it on the plane back to Australia.
It’s . . . → Read More: Penang Notes 2008
By Chewxy, on February 7th, 2008%
去年, 我用政治正确的语文贴了一个祝贺blog. 今年我就使用中文来贴一个:
祝全球华人同胞们,
新年快乐, 万事如意, 一帆风顺, 步步高升.
所有不会读中文的… 哈哈哈!!!!
. . . → Read More: 新年快乐
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