Some Bill Murray fans wanted an autograph.
They got this instead.
Enjoy.
Swerp Records launched today. We would be honored if you would check us out.
In which a college friend launches a record label. (!!!)
(Source: onsomeseriousswerp)
Details of public sector exposure to Greece, via Nomura. Click to embiggen.
Even though it’s a burgeoning field obsessed with privacy that might never see its own finish line, statistics can tell you a surprising amount in soccer: that MLS teams have the greatest home field advantage of any U.S. sport or soccer team worldwide (despite the thrashing Manchester United dished out to everyone under the sun in the summer of 2011); that — even though red cards are statistically unusual — Spain’s La Liga saw one red card per team for every five matches between 2005 and 2009, and so on.
So when someone with an eye for stats sits down to watch a game, it’s an interesting portrait to explore. Michael Cox — contributor to ESPN, The Guardian, and the man behind the blog Zonal Marking — said that the first thing he does when he sits down to watch a team he’s never seen before is work out “the formation, then generally which player each is broadly picking up without the ball, then the attacking movement when they get the ball … it’s quite a fluid thing …”
Chris Anderson — a professor at Cornell and the man behind Soccer by the Numbers — told me that “most spectators will focus on the ball and follow it around the pitch. If you know that certain actions are more or less likely to yield favorable or unfavorable outcomes, you may start thinking more deeply about where the ball is, who has it, and what that’s likely to do.
“Perhaps the most famous event that’s been analyzed is the penalty kick. Kickers (and goalkeepers) have certain tendencies - if you know about them, you may view what happens in the kick from a different angle. My personal favorite is probably the free kick. Because of the windup associated with setting up a free kick, there’s a lot of time spent putting the ball down, getting the wall organized, etc. For me that’s a great opportunity to get up and get a drink. Why? It’s because the odds of a direct free kick landing in goal are tiny.”
Hence the joy of watching Ronaldinho do this —
Or Roberto Carlos do this —
See also Howard Hamilton, if you want another pivot point to hang your mental hat on.
What’s happening in Lebanon? I’m seeing some scary tweets :/
Here’s what I’ve found so far. Have I missed anything?
Pics of what’s happening in #Lebanon right now rightnow.io/breaking-news/…
— Eya Turki (@EyaTurki) May 20, 2012
#lebanon Minister Khaireddine told me “we will not allow anyone to use any part of Lebanon as area where #syria opposition can operate
— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) May 20, 2012
Many people in north #Lebanon believe their govt is working for the interests of the #Syria authorities
— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) May 20, 2012
It has become clear that#Lebanon can no longer maintain its official policy of dissociating itself from the#Syria crisis
— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) May 20, 2012
Protesters in#Tripoli were saying #Lebanon Sunni community is under attack in response to killing of Sunni cleric
— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) May 20, 2012
Guys with rpgs running across the road. Serious fighting now #Beirut
— Patrick Galey (@patrickgaley) May 20, 2012
AlJadeed: Dramatic escalation in clashes near the Arab University [in Beirut]. #Lebanon
— Shakeeb Al-Jabri (@LeShaque) May 20, 2012
Update: 5:21PM: Here’s AlterNet’s report.
I have an article up at Animal New York about how the blind and visually impaired experience museums.
Take a look! Read! Enjoy!
“I honestly can’t explain that … They’ve found a source of funds that seems to be almost bottomless. I don’t know what that source is, but it certainly is huge … They’ve hired a huge range of institutions to carry out lobbying on their behalf, claiming they’re the legitimate democratic alternative in Iran, which is silly on the face of it and absolutely untrue.”
— While people were talking about Neil Livingstone (who one reporter pretty much called one of the bundlers for the MEK’s high-profile push) and whether or not Hersch’s article regarding JSOC and the MEK was true, I reached out by phone to Gary Sick to see if he knew where the MEK’s money was coming from. Above is part of his response.
Sick is a former member of the National Security Council under President Ford, President Carter, and President Reagan, who was the go-to aide during the Iranian hostage crisis, and is currently a professor at Columbia’s SIPA.
You can read TPM’s MEK coverage — who’ve done an awfully good job covering all of this — here.
Following the “sneak peak” provided by the exchange with Howard Hamilton, I wanted to share what Barbara Hunt of the Portland Art Museum had to say to me about providing tours for the blind and visually impaired —
First of all, in touring the blind and visually impaired, one has to forget the normal touring question, “What do you see?” That can be lesson in itself for the docent, because art is such a visual element. So what I normally start with is how to get to where we are going. Are there doors, and how wide are they? Is this a large room we are in or a hallway? Do we turn left or right?
When I reach the object, the blind/visually impaired visitors sit on folded stools. That way, they can completely relax. The art object is described as one would read the label next to the object: name of artist, title, size (height and width) and material. It is really important to start with this basic information because if I just start talking about the object and the visitor doesn’t have an idea of the material or size, the visualization is completely different, and can be confusing.
After the basics, I very generally give a description of the object, starting at a certain compass or clock point: “At the 10:00 position, there is a small door that leads to the exterior.”
Sometimes interesting information about the artist is included, for instance if the face is familiar in many of the artist’s paintings, I will add that the artist chose this model for several of his works because she was his mistress.
Included could be a short history of the art period and how that art piece was important, or some reference in the material, or an interesting fact about the artists.
Always along the way, I pause and I ask if anyone has a question. I do this because in working with the visually impaired, there are always discussions. Someone may have an interesting fact to share, or ask a question that I hadn’t considered, or just want to start a conversation about something related. Because of the discussions and the descriptions given, tours for the blind and visually impaired are limited to three objects.
In addition to the descriptions, I find that having tactiles and even some music really helps. Tactiles can be donated by the artist, ones that we have, or ones that are made especially for the tour by some of the docents. The music sets the mood of the art piece. Music is like entering a time zone, where the visitor is take back to a special place to witness a moment.
Lastly, for all of the touring docents, there is a great deal of pride and pleasure in working with the blind and visually impaired. As a group the blind and visually impaired are so appreciative of the ability to continue their love of art, and have the art and story about the art come to life by someone who is knowledgeable. I joined the docent touring group because I am committed to bringing a great art experience to everyone in the community. Working with the blind and visually impaired has been a highlight of my docent experience.
We think it is pretty safe to say this is the most badass Obama cover art featured on any publication this week. And we’d call it “the most badass Obama cover ever” … but that title may still go to our May 5, 2011 paper.
It’s pretty good, Liz and/or Carly and/or Chris. Not going to lie.
I don’t know whether or not this is going to end up in an article I’ve sent to an editor yet (if it is, consider this an early sneak peak), but — in the interim — here’s a brief q. and a. with Howard Hamilton of Soccermetrics.net:
EF: Let’s get right to it: what kind of statistical uncertainty exists on the pitch? How far along do you think statistics are in reducing that uncertainty?
HH: When you talk about statistical uncertainty on the pitch, are you referring to on-field measurements? In the case of measurements, companies that use video tracking technology, such as Prozone/Amisco, can track player, ball, and referee positions at large frame rates with centimeter-level accuracy. Other companies such as Opta and Match Analysis also use video data but track touch-by-touch events by players. You might need to know the trajectory of the ball for set-piece analysis, and ball and referee positions for referee analysis, but for the most part you could do well with player touch events that include an approximate spatial position or region. In my opinion, it’s more important than an event be tagged correctly.
If you are talking about analysis that is derived from data, the biggest uncertainty is the contribution that a specific play makes to the match outcome, and at a higher level the contribution that a player makes to the overall match outcome. There have been some advances in modeling match events, from advanced plus/minus ratings to network analysis to isolate individual contributions, but the error bounds of those models remain very high.
I wouldn’t say that statistics will reduce this uncertainty as much as it will express it. It is the mathematical model that expresses the interactions between data variables, and statistics are used to express the model’s fidelity to reality and its precision. Sports, like all human and physical endeavors, are inherently challenging to predict, particularly individual events. Yet tendencies and trends can be identified from nonlinear and uncertain phenomena — chaos theory teaches us that.
Previous Conan/Letterman appearances: #5. (Last one I can currently find.)
Previous Conan/Letterman appearances: #4. (For those curious few.)
