There is an interesting discussion over at Environmental Economics discussing the UC student protests against raising student fees. The economic argument they are making is that if university tuition and fees remain the same while at the same time the university is receiving less state subside then the amount (or quality) of instruction occurring will decrease. They then ask the question: is this really what students want?

Today on Andrew Gelman’s blog he discusses whether it is better to use Stata, SAS, or R to run multi-level models on large datasets. Since I am in the process of (possibly) creating a short course on R and since I know very little about Stata and SAS, the topic was definitely of interest. As Gelman often does, there is no distinct correct answer (I like this btw….too many people believe they know the correct answer). Basically he says that if the data in all sub-groups is large, then analysis can be performed separately for all subgroups. In this case, any of the above software packages might work fine. But if an analysis needs to use the entire dataset, then he suggests that Stata > SAS >> R (Stata is better than SAS, but both are much better than R).

Previously I have mentioned I’m in the market to get a new phone. The Motorola Droid is a possible alternative to getting an iPhone. This review is pretty enthusiastic and the full specifications can be found here. What is unclear to me at this point is what plan I will need to have to use the functionality of the Droid. I do not want to pay anymore than I currently am, which only gives me voice and free Verizon In calls (I pay per text message). So I understand I will not be able to use phone features that involve sending data over Verizon’s network, but will I be able to take advantage of all the other functionality? I presume yes, but will need to find out before I jump in.

Here is another example of a possible dataset for analysis in my PSTAT 262 course this winter. For more details about the project, see here. Unfortunately I was not able to easily incorporate the picture into this post, so you will have to visit the figure at the Calculated Risk blog.

Having just moved to the state of California and having previously lived in a state where Jesse “the Body” Ventura used to be governor, I am severely disappointed with our governor and this veto letter. Perhaps, just maybe, the governor would have more cooperation with the legislature if he didn’t treat them with such disrespect.

My current verizon contract is up and although I get a discount for being a UCSB employee, I’m not sure I want to continue with verizon. I like the idea of a do-everything device such as an iPhone or an android phone. This article gives another reason to get an iPhone, namely AT&T is going to allow VoIP over their data network. This would allow me to avoid the lack-of-minutes situation I am experiencing right now. (Tomorrow I will have all my minutes back.) My only hesitation here is that I would be doubling my monthly expense to get an iPhone plus data plan and I can’t seem to justify it yet.

I have had a few ideas for inventions. One of them is a digital recipe book with a touchscreen for navigation. Yesterday I decided to search to see if this product exists and sure enough it does. The Demy is retailing for $300 and from their website

The Demy is the first and only kitchen-safe digital recipe reader that will revolutionize the way you cook. The Demy holds your personal recipe collection in one compact, sleek device. Featuring a high-resolution color touchscreen, an uncluttered interface and many special tools to make any cook’s job easier.

Good features include timers, measurement converters, and substitution suggestions. From reading the comments on amazon, it appears the Demy has a few problems to resolve including the inability to delete the default recipes and any cookbooks and tying the unit to a particular website. I would add to this that the Demy cannot be wall-mounted (as far as I can tell), no wifi, and cannot play music (streaming iTunes would be great). So although this is a step in the right direction it seems a bit pricey for what you get, still I’m happy somebody is working on the product.