Wow!
It's inspiring really.
Senator John Kerry
Senator Hillary Clinton
President Bill Clinton
Senator Joe Biden
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Two negatives do not a positive make
I started reading this book at work yesterday, "How to Manage, Analyze, and Interpret Survey Data" by Arlene Fink, part of The Survey Handbook, 2ed. I wanted to check out what statistical tests professional survey analyzers use, and the proper way to phrase statistical results.
So, I'm reading along, and pause briefly after the sentence:
Note: The reason failure to reject the null hypothesis is not the same as acceptance of the null hypothesis is because "conceptualizing a finding of no difference in means as a failure to reject the null suggests that a difference probably does not exist between the means."
So, I'm reading along, and pause briefly after the sentence:
"When no difference in means is found, the result is termed a failure to reject the null hypothesis."Okay, I say to myself, that makes sense, we are accepting the null hypothesis. I continue reading.
"Note that this is not the same as "acceptance of the null hypothesis," and you should avoid stating it as such."D'oh!
Note: The reason failure to reject the null hypothesis is not the same as acceptance of the null hypothesis is because "conceptualizing a finding of no difference in means as a failure to reject the null suggests that a difference probably does not exist between the means."
Friday, August 01, 2008
More about beer
This is long overdue... I'm mostly writing this post as digital notes so I can throw the beer stained beer program out. (But also because some people might find something interesting).
At the end of June I went to the American Craft Beer festival with a group of people. I hadn't arranged the trip and those who had decided to attend the afternoon session, i.e. 1pm-4pm. The festival was held at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston Ma, the friends I went with lived in Medford, and I had at least a 1.5 hour drive to their house. Why do I mention this? Well it just felt odd leaving the apartment at 9:30am to go drink beer. Even though I wouldn't be drinking until 1pm (with the long lines and ID check it turned out to be 1:45) waking up early on Saturday morning to drink didn't seem right to me. (I'm sure I have an Irish great grandparent who would slap me for that statement - if they weren't in the ground.) Meeting at Medford allowed us to avoid parking fees, take public transportation into the city, and not have to deal with driving after drinking for 3 hours, in other words, it just made sense.
We all met up and left a bit later than anticipated. The day was sweltering and after a mile walk to the T, and several train switches we were in line.
The festival was hosted by BeerAdvocate and Harpoon Brewery. There was not just beer for drinking, but also beer education seminars featuring various speakers and beer discussion panels. I briefly attended one of the seminars, to take a sitting break and use a real bathroom.
After entering the festival, it didn't seem to be that large. It looked deceptively small although it was long and wide. It was also cool and dark - it felt like evening.
The festival featured 75 brewers with 300 craft beers. It was exceptional. There were of course the usual suspects: Allagash, Berkshire, Blue Moon, Buzzards Bay, Dogfish Head, Harpoon, Magic Hat, Otter Creek, Portsmouth, Rogue, Smuttynose, Stone, and Wachusett. But there were also some surprise booths (surprise to me anyway): Brooklyn, Flying Dog, McNeils(!), Ommegang, Left Hand, Sierra Nevada and Victory.
I marked some favorites of mine in the book. I say "some" because there could have been a point in the afternoon where I forgot to keep marking. (In fact I'm sure this was the case.) I'm just going to list rather than describe. I sampled lots of beers that day.
I was disappointed that Allagash didn't have Curieux. And I didn't get over to the Rogue booth - which was too bad.
The fest went by quickly. And we were all somewhere between tipsy and drunk by the end of it. So it was quite a shock to come out of the cool, dark, beer fest and into the hot, bright late June day. After all it was still only 4pm. It was a shock to my system.
We knew the Harpoon Brewery was close, but we couldn't figure out where it was was (probably a good thing) and so the group split in two, half the people headed over to Fenway to continue drinking, and the other half (which included me) headed back to Medford. We stopped for pizza and recovered in the living room. We made grand plans to head back out to a bar but everyone ended up either taking a nap or watching a movie.
I concluded that afternoon beer festivals are not the best idea; it's still early when you get out and the rest of the day/night is wasted; evening is much more conducive to a beer fest. But a great time was had & fantastic beer was drunk. Now if only I could figure out where to purchase some of the beers I liked... On second thought, maybe I won't toss out my program.
At the end of June I went to the American Craft Beer festival with a group of people. I hadn't arranged the trip and those who had decided to attend the afternoon session, i.e. 1pm-4pm. The festival was held at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston Ma, the friends I went with lived in Medford, and I had at least a 1.5 hour drive to their house. Why do I mention this? Well it just felt odd leaving the apartment at 9:30am to go drink beer. Even though I wouldn't be drinking until 1pm (with the long lines and ID check it turned out to be 1:45) waking up early on Saturday morning to drink didn't seem right to me. (I'm sure I have an Irish great grandparent who would slap me for that statement - if they weren't in the ground.) Meeting at Medford allowed us to avoid parking fees, take public transportation into the city, and not have to deal with driving after drinking for 3 hours, in other words, it just made sense.
We all met up and left a bit later than anticipated. The day was sweltering and after a mile walk to the T, and several train switches we were in line.
The festival was hosted by BeerAdvocate and Harpoon Brewery. There was not just beer for drinking, but also beer education seminars featuring various speakers and beer discussion panels. I briefly attended one of the seminars, to take a sitting break and use a real bathroom.
After entering the festival, it didn't seem to be that large. It looked deceptively small although it was long and wide. It was also cool and dark - it felt like evening.
The festival featured 75 brewers with 300 craft beers. It was exceptional. There were of course the usual suspects: Allagash, Berkshire, Blue Moon, Buzzards Bay, Dogfish Head, Harpoon, Magic Hat, Otter Creek, Portsmouth, Rogue, Smuttynose, Stone, and Wachusett. But there were also some surprise booths (surprise to me anyway): Brooklyn, Flying Dog, McNeils(!), Ommegang, Left Hand, Sierra Nevada and Victory.
I marked some favorites of mine in the book. I say "some" because there could have been a point in the afternoon where I forgot to keep marking. (In fact I'm sure this was the case.) I'm just going to list rather than describe. I sampled lots of beers that day.
- Brooklyn - Brooklynator Doppelbock
- Clipper City Brewing - Small Craft Warning
- Flying Dog - Woody Creek White
- Harpoon - Leviathan Triticus (this is a seriously serious wheat wine - 14% alcohol. It slowed me down & was delicious).
- Left Hand - Russian Imperial Stout
- McNeil's - Pullman's Porter
- Opa Opa - Raspberry Wheat (now, I'm really not a fan of fruity beers, but this one really surprised me with its taste. Perhaps because it was raspberry and therefore a little more tart. But it was definitely tasty.)
- Widmer Brothers - Widmer Hefeweizen
I was disappointed that Allagash didn't have Curieux. And I didn't get over to the Rogue booth - which was too bad.
The fest went by quickly. And we were all somewhere between tipsy and drunk by the end of it. So it was quite a shock to come out of the cool, dark, beer fest and into the hot, bright late June day. After all it was still only 4pm. It was a shock to my system.
We knew the Harpoon Brewery was close, but we couldn't figure out where it was was (probably a good thing) and so the group split in two, half the people headed over to Fenway to continue drinking, and the other half (which included me) headed back to Medford. We stopped for pizza and recovered in the living room. We made grand plans to head back out to a bar but everyone ended up either taking a nap or watching a movie.
I concluded that afternoon beer festivals are not the best idea; it's still early when you get out and the rest of the day/night is wasted; evening is much more conducive to a beer fest. But a great time was had & fantastic beer was drunk. Now if only I could figure out where to purchase some of the beers I liked... On second thought, maybe I won't toss out my program.
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