Maya's critique of Wonder Woman

Great movie, strong feminist moves

But

Nursemaid

Strongwoman

soldiers/white history

But,

Chill

Wonder Woman has finally made it onscreen, to the immense joy of women worldwide. The new movie, directed by Patty Jenkins, was a smashing success, with critics raving about everything from its action to its feminist agenda. But for all the good it did for feminism, women of color missed out. Specifically, black women.

In the opening scenes of the movie, we see a young Diana running away from her caretaker. Specifically, her Black caretaker. Immediately, we are shown a Black woman in a stereotype: that of the Mammy. A Mammy is a Black woman who took care of the slaveowners children, and, once slavery was abolished, worked for white families at extremely low wages. This image perpetuates the stereotype that Black women are subservient and complicit, happy to run around chasing giggling white toddlers all day.

A perfect contrast to the Mammy’s softness, there is the image of the strongwoman. Just like the Mammy, the strong woman is introduced early in the movie, when Diana escapes to the training field. There, we witness a powerfully built Black woman get cracked across the back with a staff. She barely flinches, instead turning around and flicking off the woman who hit her as if she were little more than a fly.  Although it can be argued that this is good representation for Black women, it must be understood that cinema has a long history of portraying Black women as powerful, silent hulks, with little emotion or plot use other than muscle. This stereotype harms Black women by turning them into nothing more than brainless muscle.

These are two out of the three Black characters who got screen/speaking time in WW. (The third, a Senator, got one line in before being interrupted by Diana.)They are caricatures of outdated stereotypes, not the beacons of strength that WOC so desperately seek. Wonder Woman is written from the point of view of a white feminist. Even characters like the Amazons, who are meant to defy stereotype, end up placing Black women right back into their outdated roles. The only character who truly breaks boundaries is the main White lead. Black women have voiced their concerns, and it's about time that White people started listening.

But the constant representation of White, straight, cis leads has left the feminist and minority communities divided and starved for resources. It is not fair for us to accept incremental change, but we must learn that Hollywood moves slowly. Painfully, excruciatingly slowly. We must take the time to celebrate a victory, even if it is unfairly White. We got a woman as a leading character. That is big. We must continue the fight for representation, but remember to expect slow, begrudging progress from directors.

-- Maya Tate

Elsa's review of Wonder Woman

4.7 stars Wonder Woman was a great movie

The new movie Wonder Woman took viewers to her backstory: childhood with the Amazons, her maturing as a warrior superheroine during WWI and into “modern” times after Justice League ended. It was a wonderful movie in almost every way. Not just the actors and great action but also the music. The work of Tina Guo and her electric cello really set the pace. This was the first female lead of DC super- heroes and it was made so well.

Director Patty Jenkins did her part well. She actually had to argue with the other directors to even have the No Man’s Land scene part of the movie! Personally I think it would have been a mistake to not include it.

Thing is though, everything, even Gal Gadot’s acting has a negative side. Gadot did not portray much emotion in many scenes. In the last bit back in “modern” time the script has her lecture viewers about the power of love. That part is really cheesy.

Would I want to see it again? Why or why not?

I would love to see the Wonder Woman movie again even with the negative bits. That is because it is not a kind of movie where “All right, I know what’s gonna happen and the movie is lame anyway”. Wonder Woman is the kind of movie that gets the “OMG that was a great movie! Even though I’ve watched it already it is so worth watching again and again!” reaction. Wonder Woman is a movie that catches your eye. It’s the kind of movie that has epic camera perspective, great actors who play their part well, and a plot line and lead that is just different in almost every way from most male-led movies.

Final Opinion

Overall it is a wonderful movie even with its downfalls. 

-- Elsa Tate

Elsa’s Letter to President-elect Trump

School HW

Dear Mr. Donald J. Trump,

There is a problem the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP).

Word Gyre: bottlecaps, bubble-wrap, bags, bottles, plastic plants, fishing line, packaging, fishing net, rubber duckies, strapping tape, chemical containers, plastic-pen-ink-bottles, contaniers, shoes, ziplock, styrofoam, sketch of 6-pack rings

First things first, the GPGP has originated from plastic human waste. If people are to stop this the first step is to reduce, reuse, compost and recycle. Start by reducing the amount of plastic used and in its place use decompostable materials.

Second, the amount of plastic found in a Laysan’s Albatross chick’s stomach is an unbelievable sum, 30 bottle caps in the average corpse. Many species of marine life are dying and this is very important to me as I would like to be a marine biologist. Soon there won’t be any biology to marine.

And third, in some areas the ratio of plastic to zooplankton is 6 to 1. The worst part is zooplankton is the base of the ocean’s food chain.

Last but not least, plastic is being eaten by fish. When people eat the fish, we are eating small particles of garbage. Reduce the amount of fish eaten, reduce the amount of plastic eaten.

To sum t up, the unchecked growth of the GPG will lead to major complicitiation in the ocean’s ecosystem and possibly an increase in the current extinction rate.

Things Babes Have Said To Me (Soon) After Sex

(Inspired by Things Dudes Have Said To Me After Sex.)

The worst: “I should have told you before, I’m sorry, but I just needed you, I have ..., but it isn’t flaring right now and probably not very contagious.”

The rest are in no particular order.

1. “Have I mentioned that I am an EMO?” (Yes, this cuts both ways … ;-)
2. “I think we should see each other again ... But not for dating or anything ... I mean just as friends ... But with benefits of course.” (Of course.)
3. “Did you fake that?”
4. “Why are you so surprised? I am a grown woman.” (First date.)
5. “Do you still respect me? You don’t think I’m easy do you? I never do that until after 5–6 dates.” (Different woman, second date.)
6. “Easy up, easy down.” (After the second time.)
7. “Am I your first?” (After the third time. And “Yes.”, but I didn’t admit it until a week later.)
8. “Maybe you should do some Kegels.” (During that week.)
9. “No, don’t do that! I don't know you well enough.”
10. “I don’t want you to tell anyone, I don’t want my husband finding out.”
11. “Honey, you woke my kids!”
12. “Yayy! We weren’t busted by the SFPD!”
13. “One more bookcase and we're done.”
14. “Should we eat now before the food gets cold?” 

The best: "Pizza?"

Let's just be friends 1

Hi Karen,
It was good to meet you yesterday and I would like to continue our conversations. I can meet this Friday afternoon in SF but have to leave by 4ish, if you can escape before then, or we can skype over the weekend and figure out a time to meet next week.
Ranjeet

....
Two days later:
Hi Ranjeet,

It was such a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for the great conversation. We'll have to meet up again. Unfortunately, this week has been quite busy and the weekend is filled with family obligations, being Chinese New Year, so we'll have to find another time.

I also wanted to be upfront with you that I'd welcome a friendship. I've found that for me relationships tend to happen when I feel a kind of chemistry that's different than the one we had. I hope that makes sense. Perhaps you feel the same! 

 

Warm regards,

Karen

...
1 week later:

Hi Karen,

Our conversation was so dominated by physics (literally) that the chemistry you refer to figuratively had no chance.
Let's do the whole "sub-text" thingy:

Given that you've made a very early decision about "no relationship" (essentially rejecting a part of me) I don't understand why you (and other women) then feel the need to have a friendship (with or without benefits), do nothing to cultivate the friendship and seek my approval to assuage your guilt. It is your decision, take ownership.

I don't do lame, not for free; my scintillating conversation is available at $150 per hour.

Chus,

Ranjeet

Bottled Water: Costs of Production

Bottled Water: Energy-, Water- and Waste- Costs of Production 

Or, “Would you like some water with your oil today?” 

Energy Costs

http://phys.org/news/2009-03-energy-bottle.html
Bottled water requires > 1000X the energy to produce as does tap water. This energy cost is dominated by that for transportation and for the production of the plastic.

http://pacinst.org/publication/bottled-water-and-energy-a-fact-sheet/
“…the (energy) equivalent of filling a plastic bottle one quarter full with oil.”

Water Costs

http://www.gracelinks.org/285/the-hidden-water-in-everyday-products
“In fact, it takes at least twice as much water to produce a plastic water bottle as the amount of water in the water bottle.” (Emphasis mine.)

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/10/28/241419373/how-much-water-actually-goes-into-making-a-bottle-of-water
“The International Bottled Water Association … first ever study … show(s) that … it takes 1.39 liters to make one liter of water. … This, the bottled water industry says, is evidence that its product isn't so bad.” (Emphasis mine.) However, “… a true water footprint includes all freshwater used in production, including the water used for packaging. … Drilling for oil to make plastic …”

http://pacinst.org/publication/bottled-water-and-energy-a-fact-sheet/
“…every liter sold represents three liters of water.”

Waste related Costs

Think “recycling” helps?
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/water-bottle-pollution/
“For every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin.”

Purely in terms of waste generated, keep in mind that upstream waste – the waste generated in producing the material for the plastic bottle – is about 10X the mass of the bottle itself. (I can’t find an online reference to this, but Elizabeth Royte discusses upstream waste in “Garbageland”.)

So, if you are only recycling, you are throwing it all away (90% of “it”).

Maya Tate : American Dream

American Dream

A throaty scream, angry shouts,

a massive army to silence the crowds.

A beautiful country,

torn in two.

Beautiful girls,

prevented from school.

A pledge we repeat,

a promise of peace,

an empty one too.

For are we not the country,

with the most nukes?

The world is melting,

falling into disarray,

a thought shunned by the ones,

who think we lived with dinosaurs, yesterday.

I can just see,

in 2023

a child on the street,

with nothing on his feet.

A mother struggling,

under a gray – yellow sky.

And the last bird,

is beginning to die.

Is this truly,

what you wish us to see?

Is this truly,

your American Dream?

I ask you this question,

and I will again.

Is this truly

your American Dream?

- Maya Tate

Police Brutality - The Shocking Statistics (Maya)

Maya's 7th grade social studies presentation, Nov 2014

Old Pune City Culture Walk

Cultural Tour Of Pune (old city, pre 1750), conducted by ChaloWalks

Tour description by Maya Tate

I had a great experience on my tour of the Culture of Pune, lead by Mr. Rashid Ali. Right off the bat, you can tell this will be quite an interesting experience. Although, he says, Pune is not the biggest tourist destination, it has got quite a lot of culture hidden between forests of cement. He explains that as he gives the details and the (religious) backgrounds of the places, he is quite willing to acknowledge other explanations given by the tour group. After a short car ride, we arrive at our first stop, the Junglee Maharaj Temple. This temple is the final resting place of Junglee Maharaj. It also contains a box with his footprints embedded in it. To give you an idea of the story behind him, but without spoiling the fun of listening to the story from an experienced mouth, I will give you a timeline of sorts. Junglee Maharaj was a huge man, 7 feet tall, and an imposing figure. Through penances, he had attained special powers. He would use these extraordinary powers to cause mischief. People would scatter in his path. Then, one day, he saw a sage he thought to be an ideal target for his tricks. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not do anything to the sage. The sage turned, and Junglee realized the sage was of a much higher spiritual level than he. He asked the sage how he had avoided these tricks, and the calm sage turned and told him not to use his powers for mischief. Junglee then went and meditated in the jungle in which the temple now stands. When he came out, he was called Junglee Maharaj. Do you know the reason people ring a bell when they go into a temple? Take a guess! Mr. Ali will be sure to ask you.

Second stop, the Pataleshwar Caves. This is really a temple inside of ancient caves. The Pataleshwar Caves are a huge, cavernous space, all hand chiseled out of the igneous rock that forms the Deccan plateau. The inside of the temple is a bit smoky from all the sweet smelling incense. Make sure you see each and every room, because there are some pretty darn amazing idols inside! There really isn't much more culture that I can explain without screwing up your brain for good, so I'll leave that job to Mr. Ali.

Next, we took rickshaws to Kumbharwada, a charming little potters village. The village, Rashid will point out, is quite safe. The people there love pictures of themselves and their children, however, do NOT take pictures of the washerwomen. Don't. Anyways, it was quite an amazing experience. Mr. Ali knows the names of almost all the villagers, and he will introduce them to you when he is showing you their work. Be sure to pay attention to the evidence of Muslims and Hindus living harmoniously together which Mr. Ali will point out, as it is a contrast to what one reads about India. There are stacks on stacks of pots, fired, and some of them painted. One woman was putting a sort of whitener, made of Plaster of Paris, tree gum and water, on little Lakshmi figurines. In another place, we saw a woman that had to make, whiten, and hand paint 10,000 of those figurines by the end of the next month! Alone! She was very kind and courteous, and spoke excellent English. We continued walking for a bit, taking a good many pictures, and then we were off to our next stop, the Idol Makers.

The Idol Makers make some darn impressive statues and idols, particularly of Lord Ganesh. They can be Huge, or they can be small. They are all made in molds, then hand painted in a rather stinky smelling but glossy finishing paint. If you look carefully, you will notice that one of Ganesha’s tusks is always broken. Ask, and perhaps Mr. Ali will tell you the story. One shop in particular has hundreds of statues, huge and small(ish). The owners are a charming family of about 6, but they do not speak much English. Take a moment to look around and admire their handiwork, because you will soon be leaving to another destination...

A local street market! Again, do not take pictures of any of these people. You will walk down a huge road filled to the brim with fruits and vegetables that shine like jewels in the sun. Mr. Ali may ask if any of you are Veg. If you are, or if you are squeamish, I would recommend speaking up, because you may go to a meat shop. All I will say is, it’s quite cool, but.... well, I’ll let you discover that particular part on you own. Heh. Well, take it all in, and don't strain your ears too much, because there is a noisy treat in store for you.

Welcome to: The Tambat Agli Metalworkers Village! Tambat means copper, but there is aluminum and steel work as well as bronze and brass, alloys of copper.This village is quite the noisy one, as one might expect. Rashid will most likely point out one particular worker, who has the fastest and neatest of hits on the pots he makes. The metalworkers hit the pattern on to the pot on an iron pole of sorts, so that the pattern hits itself at itself, in a way.The pots themselves are beautiful, not to mention the handiwork that they make. He will probably show you how they are made. It is quite interesting. A sheet of heated copper is put on a metal lathe, then pushed against a mould with a stick. It is then taken off, and a pattern is hit onto it. One particular man makes a type of hit on the pots that only 5 people in all of Poona can do. He, says Mr. Ali, is the master metalworker. If you get to visit his shop, I suggest possibly buying something. I myself bought a little trinket box, just because of the hit work on it. The guy is really a nice, kind, jolly fellow, and if I knew Marathi, I would probably be able to say a lot more about him. In his office, if you did happen to buy anything, are some pictures of things he worked on or made, like a fountain, and a Ganpati Crown. At this point, I, being younger than everyone else by a good many years, was beginning to get quite tired. My happiness was quite fading. However, Mr. Ali cheered me up for the time being with a delicious cookie/bar/cracker/brownie that Jan Ali made. Mmmm. Well, after some more time admiring the work, (and one or two more brownies), we finally left for our next stop, a wada, or mansion.

There isn't much to write about this, because you are not allowed to enter. I don't even know who owned it. In the entrance, a little ways back, you will see a wooden structure. This, I believe, is the family temple. Look closely, and you might see the family crest(?) on the entrance of the temple. It is quite a nice one. Also on the grounds, but that requires a little more hard viewing, you will notice that there is an apartment building. This, I thought was just a bit funny. Anyways, we are moving on to our last stop, the Kusbapeth Ganesh Temple.

The Kusbapet Ganesh Temple was the first temple to be built in Pune. The story goes as such: When Shivaji was a little boy, he was living at Lalbaug, with his mother, Queen Jijabai. One day, Queen Jijabai noticed that some herders were doing puja to a rock. When she asked why, they replied that it looked like a Ganpati. She was impressed with their dedication, and so ordered a temple built on that spot so that they could do puja properly. It is also the start of the Ganpati Procession. The rock looked a bit like a shapeless lump, no offense, although they had painted it and enhanced it to look a little more Ganesh – like. It's almost a bit like the eggplant seeds and toast that look like “Jesus”. But still, quite an interesting story, and a beautiful temple. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed!

It was at this point that Mr. Ali and we decided to end the tour. We had asked so many questions and talked so long with so many people that we had run out of time. Plus,I was getting very tired, and he had to go pick up his daughter from school. We did not get to see the Tulshibaug Market and Ram Temple, which I had seen on another occasion. In all, I had a great time! Thanks Rashid, and have a great time to any one who goes on the tour!

Maya (12)

Cupertino, CA, USA and Aundh Camp, Pune

Puzzle: Gambler’s ratio

There is a rather dark bar called “Der Brocken”, near the “Mystery Spot” in Santa Cruz. Last Friday night as I went by I noticed a strange shadow cast by the bar on the surrounding fog. I went in and ordered some fish, which the barman assured me was second grade fresh. As I was nursing a masterly margarita, a strange person materialized next to me, with one dead grey eye, one piercing yellow eye and very arch eyebrows. He introduced himself as Wolande. Wolande was rubbing his knee with one hand, and with the other, he was playing with a rather odd-shaped coin, which looked like an asymmetric double convex lens.

From what I could see, on one side it had the image of a head on a platter, and on the other, words that began with, “There is a rather dark bar called …”. At times the coin itself appeared to be the platter, with the head presented on it. As Wolande tossed the coin in the air, it not only tumbled but also seemed to shrink as it rose and expand as it fell, vanishing entirely sometimes as it moved upwards and then after a short time reappearing moving downwards at the same height. As I looked at it I had an odd sensation of imbalance, as if I was tilted and should fall out of this world, but there wasn’t any particular direction I was leaning towards.

Wolande asked me if I was a gambler, and when I said I was, he offered me a wager. When I asked if it was fair, Wolande replied cryptically that I could make it so. So without thinking, I accepted – yes, yes,  jumping in headfirst where angels fear to tread and a fool and his money … . Wolande explained: “So it is on. I’ll wager a thousand prutot, no, thalers -- wait, nowadays you call them … dollars, don’t you? --  on the toss of this coin, if it lands tail up, you win the thousand dollars, if it lands head up you lose the amount you wager.”

“Is it a fair coin?”, I asked, “It doesn’t look it.”

“Oh what an enchanting question!” Wolande replied, “Of course not! But, this much I can tell you, the odds against your winning are numerically the same as your probability of winning. Now, you can wager what you want, and if it is fair to me I’ll accept it. I’ll toss in the respect and credibility of your colleagues on the 3^rd floor, and then we’ll toss the coin.”

A sense of premonition hit me as Wolande continued, “But if your wager is not fair to me … I’ll keep your soul.”

1. How much would you have wagered, in dollars, correct to a cent?                                   

2. What book inspired this puzzle?

Alesandra

Hola, buenas tardes, ¿cómo está Ud.? Lo veo siempre trabajando.

Pues, no, solo los jueves por la tarde me puedo quedar aquí  trabajando hasta tarde.

Bueno, ya mañana es viernes y se puede descansar el fin de semana, va a hacer algo divertido?

Voy a pasar el día del padre con mis hijas y amigos.

Ay sí, como no tengo padre ya, no pienso en el día del padre.

Lo siento! ¿Ud. tiene hijos? Les debe ayudar a celebrarlo con su padre.

Si, tengo un hijo, varon, esta con su papa el Domingo. No estamos juntos su papa y yo, pero llevaré a mi hijo al mall para que le compre un regalo. Pero los hombres son muy malos.

Hay de todo, ¿no?

Es que he tenido muy mala suerte con los hombres. Me casé en Méjico a los diecisiete años.

¡Uyy que joven! (En este momento empezé a apuntar.)

Lo conocí  un sábado y para el martes ya nos habíamos casado. Quería huir de casa, no podía mas. En casa mi padre y mis hermanos me pegaban. Golpes muy fuertes. Yo sólo quería ir a vivir con él, como pareja de hecho, pero él insistio que así no, nos teníamos que casar, entonces nos casamos por lo civil y fui a vivir con él. Era un celoso, me empezó a pegar, me golpeaba, me rompió la clavicula intentando sofocarme. Yo era muy pueblerina, le preparaba la comida, lavaba la ropa, planchaba, limpiaba la casa. Le servía la comida como a un rey. Y el me pegaba, era un celoso, también pegaba a los perros. Como niña veia a mi padre siempre pegar a mi madre, pensaba que, verdaderamente sin pensar, así es la vida. Mi esposo me mantenía, y entonces yo pensaba que él tenía el derecho de tratarme como esclava, de pegarme, pertencía a él.

¿Y qué pasó?

Un día me fui. Decidí venir aquí y cruzé la frontera.

¿De que parte de Méjico es?

De Pachuco.

¿Pero está en el sur, no? ¿Como llegaste hasta aquí?

Es una larga historia, lo pase muy mal … pero logré llegar aquí.

Me la puede contar?

Es para otro día. A las niñas y las mujeres nos pasa lo peor. No puedo aguantar que me toque nadie, que me abrazen.

Si le resulta dificil hablar podemos dejarlo, perdone que le haya obligado a contar su historia tan dolorosa.

Me interesa que Ud. tiene interés en mi historia. Ahora la puedo contar, con la ayuda de la comunidad y los medicos.

Aquí conocí al padre de mi hijo, es de Guatemala. No me pegó, pero, me ponía los cuernos, Ud. Lo entiende, los cuernos?

Sí.

No solo una vez, muchas veces, lo cache con mujeres, yo le amaba, estaba enamorada de el, lo cacheaba, lloraba, pensaba suicidarme. Le digo a Yésica, la muchachita, ella me pregunta sobre mi vida, que hubiera preferido no haber nacido, los males que me han pasado en la vida. Tengo un hermano mayor y una hermana menor, y los dos me trataban mal.

Quizas ella tomaba la parte de su hermano y no el suyo para protegerse, para que no se convirtiera en victima ella misma le victimizaba a Ud.

(Ignoró mi comentario teórico y --me doy cuento ahora-- estúpido e insensible)

Ella le chismeaba de mí, que había salido con el novio, entonces cuando volvía a casa mi hermano me pegaba. Mi mamá era como sirvienta en casa, siempre trabajando, pero yo pensaba que era justo, ya que mi padre le mantenía. Mi familia no tiene educación, pero yo no quise vivir así. Estudiaba enfermería por las tardes, despues de trabajar durante el día como sirvienta. Mi hermano mayor se dedicó a robar, mi hermana se casó, se ha llenado de hijos, muchos hijos. Ahora me tienen envidia, de mi vida, de que viva aquí. Mi madre era muy cruel, pero la mantengo, tiene ya ochenta y cuatro años. Ahora no les guardo rencor, les ayudo economicamente, soy la única de la familia que vive aquí y cuando necesitan dinero se lo mando.

He vivido una vida muy dura, me han pasado cosas muy malas, estaba al borde de la muerte, me he pensado suicidar, si tuviera otra oportunidad de vida no lo querría. Pero soy afortunada, vivo aquí, aquí hay leyes, no como en Méjico. He tenido un hijo, mi hijo es un milagro, un milagro de Dios porque yo no podía tener hijos. …

No le quería dar pena a Ud.

Perdoname a mi que le haya hecho revivir esos asuntos. Quiero pedirle permiso para escribir su historia y quizas publicarla en un blog para amigos, cambiando el nombre, pos supuesto. ¿Le parece bien?

¡Claro que sí! No hace falta cambiar el nombre.

¡Muchas gracias! ¿Se la mando para que la lea y redacte?

(Una pausa, y luego penosamente dijo:) 

No, no la quiero leer, confío en Ud. Me ha gustado platicar con Ud. Voy a seguir con la limpieza de la oficina.

¡Adiós, hasta mañana!

Digital Flights by R.F.I.

To the tune of "Paper planes" by M.I.A.
karaoke version

[x2]
We get high like rockets, and fly like planes
We launch you at the web we got “Fuel” in our name
If you come around here, we make bids all day
Get conversion in a second if you wait

[x2]
Sometimes we think sitting on chairs
Every campaign we get we’re clocking that game
Every client’s a winner now we're giving them fame
Insight Booster making our name

[x4]
All I wanna do is Bid! Bid! Bid! Bid!
… MAARGIIN!
Makes smarter money

[x2]
MediaMath and also AdRoll
Criteo, Quantcast, DataXu, Turn
Running when we hit 'em
Lower CPA wi’our system

[x2]
No one on the exchange has Regulus
Hit me on my Synergy Lift Booster
We perform and deliver and make you bucks
Already going hell just pumpin’ those ads

[x4]
All I wanna do is Bid! Bid! Bid! Bid!
… MAARGIIN!
Make smarter money

R.F.I.
World class datacracy
Yeah, we got more info than the K.G.B.
But just to get yo’ business
We already do!

All-ah All-ah All-ah All I deliver

None-ah-none I let down
All-ah All-ah All-ah All I deliver

None-ah-none I let down

Two stories – Oakland First Fridays, Black Ravens and Pink Flamingoes

Only one of the following two stories is true.

Oakland First Fridays: Maya and Elsa were with me at work yesterday, August 2^nd, and overheard me making plans to go to Oakland's First Friday – a street/gallery food/art/music/people-watching festival. Maya asked whether I was going to take them. I said, “No, you will be with your mom tonight.”.

Elsa - “Are we with you next Friday?”

I - “Yes.”

Elsa - “Can we go with you to Oakland First Friday next week?”

Black Ravens and Pink Flamingoes:

Maya, Elsa and I were walking along the bay in Redwood Shores with Heather, a colleague. It was close to dusk and we saw a number of birds: a small number of red-winged blackbirds, crows, moor hens and cormorants, all mostly black; and a few killdeer, snowy egrets, a mourning dove nesting in a flowerpot at the entrance to Heather and Chris' home, scrub jays, great blue herons and clapper rails, all non-black. We also saw nine black ravens. I casually said, “Hmm, looks like all ravens are black.”, which seemed to go un-noticed at the time. Soon after, we saw another raven, which was also black. Heather said, “Oh, that raven is black, looks like you are right that all ravens are black.”

A short while later, Maya pointed out a pink flamingo.

Maya said, “Look Dad, a pink flamingo! Looks like you are even more right that all ravens are black!”

“What in the world do pink flamingoes have to do with black ravens?”

“Daa-ad! They do, I read it in my 'Great Philosophers' book and searched for it online! You said that 'All ravens are black.' That is logically equivalent to it's contrapositive, 'All non-black objects are non-ravens.' When Heather saw an additional raven and it was black, she pointed out (and you did not disagree) that it was evidence in favor of your original proposition that 'All ravens are black.' The contrapositive I just mentioned is logically equivalent. So when we see a non-black object (it is pink) and it is not a raven (since it is a flamingo), you should agree that it is evidence in favor of 'All ravens are black.'!”

“Oh god! Can't you just read some normal book about tribes of cats or that girl Parsnip or something who shot her little sister with an arrow? I suppose you are right!”

“Dad, okay, it seems to make sense logically, but I don't know if it is true in some statistical sense, all that “SQL, SQL, standard error and p-value” stuff you keep talking about now.”

“Let's take a crack at it. Let's denote

Proposition 1: “All ravens are black.” For the sake of simplicity let's just say that we are talking about birds and that we are trying to see if (the set of individual birds that are) ravens have some special property that distinguishes them from all birds (as individuals, not species). Then, practically speaking, the contrapositive and logical equivalent of Prop. 1 is

Proposition 2: “All non-black birds are non-ravens.”

Prior to Heather's observation, the evidence we had looked like

All birds of all colors	Black	non-Black	All colors
Ravens	9	0	9
non-Ravens	50	8	58
All birds	59	8	67

Then she saw a black raven, and our evidence changed to

All birds of all colors	Black	non-Black	All colors
Ravens	10	0	10
non-Ravens	50	8	58
All birds	60	8	68

And we agreed that this helped verify that prop 1 is true, in the sense that it allowed us to be more confident that Prop. 1 is true.

Then you saw a pink flamingo, and our evidence became

All birds of all colors	Black	non-Black	All colors
Ravens	10	0	10
non-Ravens	50	9	59
All birds	60	9	69

And you are saying that this also allows us to be more confident that Prop. 1 is true. Let's forget about Prop.2 for a while. So for verifying that “All ravens are black.”, a pink flamingo is worth as much as a black raven. I can't think with concrete numbers, so let's use some abcedra:

All birds of all colors	Black	non-Black	All colors
Ravens	a	0	a
non-Ravens	b	c	b+c
All birds	a+b	c	a+b+c

On the basis of this evidence, the probability of any bird being non-black is

p = c/(a+b+c).

How much evidence is there to reject the hypothesis that some ravens are non-black? The specific null hypothesis in this case is

H : “Some raven-birds are non-black.”,

since we are hypothesizing that raven-birds are just any other individual bird, some of which are non-black.

Now, if the above H were true, and we make 'a' observations of birds which happen to be ravens, the probability P of getting 0 non-black is the product of the probabilities that each observed bird in this set of ravens is non-black, i.e. P = (1-p)*(1-p)*... a times = (1-p)^a.

(Or you can use B[p,a](i) = C(a,i)*(1-p)^(a-i)*p^i for i = 0.)

This is the P-value, the probability of the consequence of the null hypothesis in this experiment, that we can use to reject the null hypothesis with 1-P degree of confidence. Recall that the smaller that P is, the more confidence we have in rejecting the Null Hypothesis, or “accepting the validity of proposition 1”.

So now we can ask about the relative merits of observing a black raven or a pink flamingo. Which additional observation reduces the P-value more? Let's use calclueless, since I am not secretive enough to do discrete math. What that means is we want to compare the marginal change (partial derivative) in the P-value when we make an additional observation of a black raven a → a + 1 vs. when we see a pink flamingo c → c + 1.

Since ln(P) = a*ln(1-p),

(d/d a) ln(P) = ln(1-p) and some work shows that the change in the P-value by observing a black raven, adding 1 to a:

(d/d a)P = P * ln(1-p),

which is less than 0, meaning that observing a black raven does reduce the P-value and increases the confidence in “All ravens are black.”!

Similarly,

(d/d c)p = (1-p)/(a + b+ c) ( > 0)

(d/d p)P = -a*P/(1 – p) (< 0) .

Simplifying, the change in the P-value by observing a pink flamingo, adding 1 to c:

(d/d c)P = -a*P/(a+b+c),

which is less than 0, meaning that observing a pink flamingo also reduces the P-value and increases the confidence in “All ravens are black.”!

The question that now remains is wether pink flamingoes are more valuable evidence than black ravens, i.e. which change decreases the P-value more:

|(d/d c)P| ?> |(d/d a)P|, which is equivalent, since P > 0, to

|(d/d c)ln(P)| ?> |(d/d a)ln(P)|

working through algebra

a/(a+b+c) ?> -ln(1-p).

Simplifying,

the condition we are looking for is

e^(a/(a+b+c)) ?> 1+ c/(a+b)

For a = 10, b = 50 and c = 8, it turns out that this is just marginally true!
A pink flamingo is just as valuable as a black raven in verifying that all ravens are black!
See the plot below

Since most birds are actually non-black, had we seen already a very large number of non-black non-ravens:

All birds of all colors	Black	non-Black	All colors
Ravens	10	0	10
non-Ravens	50	90	140
All birds	60	90	150

Then the incremental value of seeing a pink flamingo would have been much less than that of seeing a black raven, for two reasons, one since we would have had a large proportion of non-black birds, the expected proportion of non-black ravens would have been correspondingly higher, making it all the more unlikely to see no non-black ravens amongst the additional ravens. Second, as the graph above shows, the incremental value of each non-black non-raven when we've already seen a lot does very little to increase our confidence that all ravens are black. For example, in the Rann of Kutch “Another pink flamingo, ho hum!”

So, Maya, does it now make statistical sense that your pink flamingo sighting was just as important as Heather's black raven sighting for verifying that all ravens are black?”

“Yes, Dad, I think I want to be a doctor when I grow up.”

The next day, we went out for lunch, and suddenly Elsa piped up, “Dad! More black ravens! I just saw an orange chicken!”

“Can they fly?”

In case you survive a disaster ...

... prepare a statement, lest you get caught unawares and make some foolish but unfortunately common statement, as in the following case.
At the end of an interview with a survivor of the train wreck in Galicia, after the survivor had described the chaos and panic and described hearing victims and seeing a trapped friend, the interviewer asked her, "How do you feel at having survived?". The survivor would have been justified in decking the journalist, or if she really wanted to respond with banalities, she could have said, "Numb." or "Shocked." or "I don't know what to think." or "It was so recent, there is so much turmoil inside me, I don't know what I feel."

Instead, her response was the all too common, "Thanks be to God! A miracle!"

If you don't have problems with that statement, you have rocks in your head. Now, since she is from a good little culturally Catholic country, we can safely assume she meant "miracle" and not "Miracle". But what was the miracle? That 300+ survived? That 80 people died? That only 80 people died? That 80 people died and she was one of the 300 odd survivors? That her God made the right choice in deciding which people to off and which ones to save? That this was a sign that she is special, and that as a corollary, the victims were not? That the families of the survivors should take consolation that they were simply the necessary collateral damage from the miracle? after all if every one had survived or everyone had died then there would have been no miracle.  

Or perhaps the miracle is that her god tolerates such lack of humility and empathy with the victims.

Solutions: Shortest distance between two skew lines in 3D

See the previous post for the question.

U mode: there are only 4 given things, two (n1 and n2) are already vectors, each tangent to its line. From the other two things, construct the difference, d = C1 – C2, which is a vector joining the two lines. Since the tangent vectors may be parametrization dependent, which we don't want, perhaps they have to be normalized.

Then the shortest distance has to be proportional to |d·n1 X n2|. The simplest way to determine the proportionality constant would be to do it for some test cases: pairing in each case the x-axis (s, 0, 0) with one of: (0, s, 0), (s, 1, 0), (0, s, 1), (s, s, 1) etc. and for different choices of points along the lines.

BTW the conjectured formula fails for one of the above, even though the shortest distance is well-defined. From the computational geometry point of view, the formula is computationally fragile in that is certain special cases it will be very sensitive to machine precision rounding errors.

I mode: The shortest distance between the two lines has to be the length of a segment perpendicular to both. (Why?) Hence that line segment has to be parallel to S = n1 X n2, and the distance between the two given lines is the length of that line segment.

How do we find its length if we don't even know where it lies?

We could, in M-mode, find that line by doing all sorts of stuff requiring that it intersect L1 and L2, then finding its intersection points and finally the distance between them.

Or, in U-mode, we could notice that the projection onto the unit vector s = S/|S| -of a segment joining any two points one each on the two original lines- is exactly the length of the shortest segment. How so? The line joining any two points one each on the original lines is a linear combination of s, n1 and n2. So projecting it onto s, since s ┴ n1 and s ┴ n2, will yield exactly its component along s, which is d. I know this sounds as if I've been going around in circles, but what all the above means is that we can take any two arbitrary points on L1 and L2, say C1 and C2, and calculate

d = |(C1 – C2)•s|.

This yields the proportionality constant we were looking for in U mode, the reciprocal of the norm of S.

Another way of thinking about the solution in I mode is that the answer we are looking for is the distance between two parallel planes each of which contains one of the given lines.

Shortest distance between two skew lines in 3D

This is one of the problems from the 1980 JEE that I didn't get, and one of two that still bother me. It is easy enough to remember, the entire problem is stated above.

Assume that the two lines are given in parametric form

L1(s1) = n1s1 + C1 and

L2(s2) = n2s2 + C2

where s1, s2 in (-infinity, infinity), C1 and C2 are points on their respective lines and n1 and n2 are tangent vectors.

(If they are not in parametric form, or the parametrization is not linear (w.r.t. the coordinates), a linear parametrization can always be found. E.g, starting from two planes (themselves specified as a linear relation between the three Cartesian coordinates), the two normals to each can be found. The tangent to the intersection line is the cross product or wedge product of these two normals. Then C can be found by requiring that the line belong to the two planes.)

(What is a non-linear parametrization of a line? Consider the line given by:

L(s) = (1/s)i + (0,2,3). The closure of the set of points is the line parallel to the X-axis which intersects the y-z plane at y=2, z= 3, although in terms of the s parameter you never reach that point. This line can be parametrized as L(t) = t i + (0,2,3).)

M mode: Construct |L1 – L2| or its square and minimize by taking the derivative w.r.t. s1 and s2. What a lot of work!

Pretty answer next week!

Richard Feynman's 95th Birthday

Thank you Antra for the reminder!

Here are a few picks from the internet:

This video captures beautifully my thoughts on art and the endless arguments I have with artists about nature, science and art.

But Bloomsbury celebrates Feynman

what is science in 63 seconds

Feynman wiki

Gleick's fabulous biography

Feynman's video, and revisiting my own post, brought up some memories:

I'd once asked a fellow-scientist who was also an artist why she painted, and she responded with I believe a quote, that painting is an excuse to gaze upon nature. Not quite as terse as "because I can" nor "because it is there", but in the same space. I knew a painter in Madrid - Javier Fernandez Lizan, and on my first visit to his studio, at some point, after the above conversation, I asked Javier why he painted. Javier responded by taking me to a massive 8'X10' abstract still life with human figures, in oil, and showed me a 2 or 3 square inch area, and said "to capture this blue".

Why did I do science? Why do I analyse data now?
"Because it is there!"
"Because I can!"
"Because it is an excuse to gaze upon nature!"
"Beacuse I want to capture "this blue", which is in my head, and speaks to me, and I want to express it!"
"Because I am an instrument of "this blue"'s meme, and it expresses itself through me!"

So, I have never understood why it is that while most scientists find commonalities with artists ( my thoughts on art notwithstanding!), most artists keep trying to distance themselves from scientists! 

Tennis Ball Cannon

Made as part of a team-building contest at my company.

Some stills:

not bad for accuracy!

 The tennis ball is top center left, its shadow is just left of target! At 25 m distance, the precision was 3m in length and 1m in width. The pieces of bark and stones mark the "hits".

multi-launch

 Immediate post-launch: Elsa wanted to launch as many as possible simultaneously, we got up to 4!

Four in the air

Piston at full post-launch extension.

Looking down the mouth of a loaded cannon - see how much I trust Maya.

A 2 -minute video compilation