Jan 22 2010

Data like you’ve not seen it before

I find this interesting, both from a data design standpoint as well as from a socio-political standpoint.


Jan 13 2010

xkcd - Self Description

Self Description

Sometimes this guy simply outdoes himself.


Jan 6 2010

The World Cup is coming soon.


Dec 23 2009

I suspect there are still rats on this ship


Dec 22 2009

Ninja


Dec 21 2009

Bowl results part 1

After the first weekend of college bowls, here’s how my model stacks up against the actual results. 

  Fresno State Wyoming
Model 63% 37%
Actual 28 35 2OT
   
  UCF Rutgers
Model 42% 58%
Actual 24 45
   
  Southern Miss Mid Tenn St
Model 48% 52%
Actual 32 42

Dec 15 2009

Taxation without representation

Isn’t it taxation without representation when you put your non-voting younger generation so far into debt that you enslave their future?

Varvel


Dec 14 2009

The math of parallel parking

As reported by Fox News and the London Telegraph, Simon Blackburn of London’s Royal Holloway College has developed a mathematical equation describing the geometry of parallel parking. Dr. Blackburn’s page (found here) has a link to his original paper.


Dec 11 2009

Bowl predictions

I have developed the following college football bowl predictions based on my model of college football rankings. A few things to note: the most lopsided matchup seems to be Nevada vs SMU. The best matchups seem to be Oklahoma vs Stanford and South Carolina vs Connecticut.

Fresno State Wyoming
63% 37%
   
UCF Rutgers
42% 58%
   
Southern Miss Mid Tenn St
48% 52%
   
Oregon State BYU
54% 46%
   
Utah California
54% 46%
   
Nevada SMU
72% 28%
   
Marshall Ohio
38% 62%
   
Pittsburgh North Carolina
55% 45%
   
Boston College USC
45% 55%
   
Kentucky Clemson
54% 46%
   
Texas A&M Georgia
41% 59%
   
Miami (FL) Wisconsin
55% 45%
   
Bowling Green Idaho
54% 46%
   
Arizona Nebraska
49% 51%
   
Houston Air Force
42% 58%
   
Oklahoma Stanford
50% 50%
   
Navy Missouri
42% 58%
   
Minnesota Iowa State
45% 55%
   
Virginia Tech Tennessee
59% 41%
   
Northwestern Auburn
51% 49%
   
West Virginia Florida State
65% 35%
   
Penn State Louisiana State
52% 48%
   
Ohio State Oregon
47% 53%
   
Florida Cincinnati
52% 48%
   
South Florida N Illinois
57% 43%
   
South Carolina Connecticut
50% 50%
   
Oklahoma State Mississippi
47% 53%
   
Arkansas East Carolina
58% 42%
   
Michigan State Texas Tech
34% 66%
   
Boise State TCU
42% 58%
   
Iowa Georgia Tech
44% 56%
   
C Michigan Troy
58% 42%
   
Texas Alabama
46% 54%

Dec 11 2009

A top 30 the BCS would accept

Below I gave top 30 rankings based on a system I developed. Those rankings included such factors as home field advantage and point spread — factors the BCS forbids computer models from considering.

Below is another top 30 list. The rankings are based strictly on the Elo ranking system. For an excellent description of this system, see this article in Wikipedia. I take a different approach than straightforward Elo ranking, though. I first rank all games between FBS and FCS opponents. I then set each conference’s initial score to their respective division score. I then rank all out of conference games. I set each team’s initial score to their respective conference score. For the division and conference ranking I use K = 24. Next I rank each game, using K = 96. The teams are ordered by descending score (ie. highest score is ranked #1).

Here are the results through games played by December 5.

Rank Team
1 Alabama
2 Cincinnati
3 Florida
4 Texas
5 TCU
6 Louisiana State
7 Oregon
8 West Virginia
9 Boise State
10 Iowa
11 Georgia Tech
12 Ohio State
13 Stanford
14 Georgia
15 Penn State
16 Arizona
17 Miami (FL)
18 Pittsburgh
19 Arkansas
20 Kentucky
21 Mississippi
22 BYU
23 Oklahoma State
24 Nebraska
25 Oregon State
26 Tennessee
27 Virginia Tech
28 Northwestern
29 Utah
30 South Carolina