Random Babbling Post #77

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Well I had a truly hellish day yesterday.

My boss decided it would look good if everyone in my area were to get a financial risk measurement designation. I am pretty sure it was chosen solely because it was out there and the only real requirement to take the exam is to pay the exam fee. I checked last week and found that the pass rate on this exam was something like 42% last year.

Anyway, he bought us a set of books to study for this exam which we will be writing in November. I started studying yesterday and found that

(1) the course material is very technical and relies quite heavily upon mathematics and statistics - which none of us have used in years since we graduated from university

(2) the books are long and incredibly poorly written.
You almost have to already know the subject matter in order to understand the book and the author seems to be completely opposed to explaining concepts in layman's terms.

Let us take for example a topic that I am actually know - basic probability. A fine example would be from the discussion of independent events. The entire textbook description of independence reads

"A set of events is considered to be independent if they are pairwise independent. Hence, three events A B and C are considered independent if they are pairwise independent. That is P(A 'upsidedown U' B 'upsidedown U' C)=P(A)P(B)P(C)"

I understood that one but would it really have killed them to say something like "A set of events is considered to be independent if the outcome of any event does not affect the outcome of the other events." They don't define pairwise anywhere let alone pairwise independent - not to mention that defining a term by itself plus an adjective is pretty stupid.

When they started talking about general autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models, presenting it in a very similar manner as the basic probability example, I reached the point where I was just about ready to throttle both my boss for signing us up for this and the jerk who wrote the book.

Oh and I don't have a clue what the hell heteroskedasticity means. Evidently it is something that the author just assumed that everyone would know.

 

This is my first post today. I can't believe I found nothing to post in before RBP.

AvP is so good today! "I said I wanna drive a rickshaw." roflcopter

 

Well JSBB, don't leave all your studying until the last two weeks before your test. Maybe you can find the authors email and tell him to take a clarity pill and rewrite his book.

 

I have a TON of chocolate!

 

What?
My mother simply taught us to share as kids...I remember her always saying, "You should always share..."
Besides, you can't have a drunken orgy with only 2 people! Besides, I'm not married yet...got to take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself *before* the wedding, because with my luck, this sort of thing will never happen again once I am married.

That sounds like something that either DotW or I would have done.

It's too early to be awake...

 

Agreed.

Currently in the middle of an architecture class. I'm supposed to be drawing houses as I write this. Blargh.

 

I am going to college now see you all this evening! CIAO!

 

I'm happy for you, I think.

 

Just got back from vacation, caught up on all my e-mail.

I wish I was still in Hawaii.

Tal: From my experience with such bravado I would have used the term ' imagined drunken orgies'....

 

I get a little letter in the mail. I recognize my sister's handwriting. I tell my hubby, "I bet it's an invite to my folks' 50th anniversary party (which we are going to in a month)." It was. I'm so going to b****slap her when I get to Iowa.

I haven't seen South Park in 4 years. I decide to catch an episode last night. It was friggin' Chef Aid! How many times do I have to see that? I guess 100 was not enough.

 

Alien vs. Predator?

 

Rickshaw drive by!

 

My custom title and the look of my avatar fit me better than ever. I'm not crazy for this university stuff so far.

Basically I'm just waiting for Friday. Which reminds me, a friend of mine is having a house warming party soon, and he specifically cautioned *me* of all people that he has a glass table. Just what the hell is he implying?

 

Still feeling like crap, haven't ate really since this morning.

Maybe If I bought Planescape Torment from SP's Shopping Thingy... thing I could then bugg Tall for a new Avatar, or at least a better title

Edit: And help SP at the same time.

 

I need another avatar for a new forum I joined.

Natasha Stillwell of Daily Planet needs a rickshaw drive-by. Gods I hate that stick!

 

One more day done. Damn I hate architecture.

Blessed be energy drinks for carrying me through the boredom.

 

You deserve a break, sweety, after all that architecture. Why don't you go and do something fun that you shouldn't be doing and not think about buildings for a while.

 

Something fun that I shouldn't be doing? Such as...?

 

oH come on... I'm sure you can come up with something. It could be as simple as watching a movie instead of studying or it could be something fun like climbing on building rooftops at night (one of my personal favorites) The skys the limit Prince.

BTW I understand the pain of studying architecture. I was forced to learn about it in my art history classes. I like art, but not too much the walls that it hangs on.