I'm done with Levis (Rant)

[dmccarty]

This reminds me of one of my professors in graduate school. I had him for a sequence of mathematical statistics courses over three consecutive quarters (fall, winter, spring). His uniform over the entire period consisted of a brownish corduroy suit and a turtleneck. I think that he must have had multiple suits and turtlenecks of the same color -- he didn't smell up the entire classroom.

...

Steve

What is it with statistics professors...

I had to take a Probability and Statistics course WITH Calculus. :shocked: :yuck: :laughing::laughing::laughing: I took the course in a summer term of 12 weeks and the class started at 0800! :shocked::shocked::shocked: WTXXXX!!! One of the guys in class would stop at the Stop & Rob and buy a huge bucket of Jolt Coke to stay awake. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

But oh, the Prof. He was something else. A survivor of the 60's and that is NOT a compliment. This was a school in FLA. In the summer. The temperatures in the morning can be "OK" but the humidity will be unreal. Many a day, I would leave for school or work, and in the short walk to car, I would be dripping wet and needing another shower. :yuck: Every class, the prof was wearing either jeans or corduroy pants with a LONG sleeve, thick, chamois button down shirt. :shocked::confused3: This was clothing one would wear up Nawth in the winter but this guy was wearing this in FLA in the summer!

To make it even worse, this guy would RIDE A BIKE TO SCHOOL! By the time he got to class his shirt and pants were soaked with sweat. :yuck: If he jumped into a swimming pool before class, he might have been slightly wetter. :thumbsdown:

This guy would be lecturing in a monotone voice that makes Ben Stein's Economic teacher look/sound like Lincoln giving a speech. And given the class was about the so interesting of a subject, Probability and Statistics WITH Calculus, keeping one's eyes open, much less comprehending what this guy was saying, was all but impossible.

But that was not the end of it all. This guy would be lecturing, jibber jabber jibber jabber jibber jabber, when he would stop talking, glance up to his right and just stare into the distance. We don't know where he went. We don't know if he was seeing someone in another dimension. We don't know if he seeing someone who had passed the veil. Nobody knew and we were afraid to ask. After a minute or two, he would return from whatever place he had warped too and start right back where he had left off, jibber jabber, jibber jabber jibber jabber.

Best I could tell is that this guy did some serious a....ss drugs in the Sixties and had some how "survived."

But he had his Summer Time In Florida Bike Riding Uniform of jeans/corduroy pants and thick, long sleeved chamois shirt. :yuck:

That dude was out of it in SOOO many ways.

Later,
Dan

 

[smstonypoint]

What is it with statistics professors...

Seeing as how this thread has drifted into a discussion of eccentric statisticians, I have an additional observation to add to our sample (n =3).

I. J. Good was in the Statistics Department at Virginia Tech while I was there as a graduate student in agricultural economics. Although I never had any personal interaction with Professor Good, I saw him on a regular basis, as graduate students in statistics and agricultural economics were housed in a warren of cubicles down the hall from his office.

If mathematical ability in the general population is N(mu, sigma[SUP]2[/SUP]), he would have been at least mu + eight*sigma. He had worked as the chief statistician at Bletchley Park and his writings on machine intelligence led to a consultancy for the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

There was nothing especially eccentric about his wardrobe other than the "mad bomber" hat he sported on cold days. The stories I heard from the statistics graduate students about his eccentricities may have been apocryphal, but I have no reason to question this remembrance from his longtime assistant.

The first time she mailed one of his papers to a mathematics journal, she told me, "He supervised how I put the paper and cover letter into the envelope. He supervised how I sealed the envelope he didn't like spit and made me use a sponge. He watched me put on the stamp. He was right there when I got back from the mail room to make sure mailing it had gone okay, like I could've been kidnapped or something. He was a bizarre little man."

Source: Kinja

Steve

 

[N80]

If mathematical ability in the general population is N(mu, sigma[SUP]2[/SUP]), he would have been at least mu + eight*sigma.

Steve

Soooo, that would put me somewhere in the range of N(mu, sigma squared) minus M.I. where M.I. = some really large number and stands for "Math Idiot".

 

[smstonypoint]

Soooo, that would put me somewhere in the range of N(mu, sigma squared) minus M.I. where M.I. = some really large number and stands for "Math Idiot".

I have prepared a table that will allow you to locate yourself in the distribution of mathematical ability. I hesitate to identify the "Math Idiot" percentile.

Steve

 

[TomSeller]

What are the statistical chances of receiving a defective pair of Levis compared to Carhartt, Dickies and Wranglers? Assume the pants are bought at the same store, at the same time, that has equal affiliation with the brands and the purchaser has equal judgment on what would qualify as defective enough to return the subject pants for credit?

 

[Wagtail]

What are the statistical chances of receiving a defective pair of Levis compared to Carhartt, Dickies and Wranglers? Assume the pants are bought at the same store, at the same time, that has equal affiliation with the brands and the purchaser has equal judgment on what would qualify as defective enough to return the subject pants for credit?

Do you still have the receipt?

:laughing:

 

[TomSeller]

Do you still have the receipt?

:laughing:

No, but Smstonypoint might be able to get a grant. . As a benefit he could run the study on pants his own size if that is statistically kosher.

 

[N80]

The problem I had with Levis is that over the last few years they have been very consistent. Consistently inconsistent with sizing. Consistently consistent with poor quality. So out of any 10 pairs of the same sized 505 regular fit jeans you got two that fit properly and both of those two were of poor quality. I guess the interesting, but irrelevant, question would be how many of the 8 pairs that did not fit were of poor quality. I'm guessing 8.

Its sad. It reminds me of the American auto industry of the early 1970's. To put that in perspective, we had a Plymouth Fury III and then an AMC Jeep Cherokee. And I still liked them better than my current remaining Levis.

 

[mables357]

I like the walmart RUSTLERS brand myself good work pants and seem to last a long time and cheap too.

 

[Snobdds]

I have prepared a table that will allow you to locate yourself in the distribution of mathematical ability. I hesitate to identify the "Math Idiot" percentile.

View attachment 517845

Steve

No need to get past 3 confidence intervals...**** I'll be happy with 2.