Collecting data and livin'

Another day another dollarrrr. What do we have here. Ok. Running in to a lot of problems in which the customer is making changes to the capability of the product. Functions were written to apply to certain areas, and the customer is pushing the boundaries of these areas. This is creating several problems because there were predefined fields that aren't dynamic. Beyond the problem of fixing the problems he creates, the biggest problem is THE CUSTOMER's EXPECTATIONS I was put on this project a few weeks ago to help with the code because no one else in the group knows VBA except me and a guy who just left to go on maternity leave. It means I have a somewhat superficial understanding of how the product is organized, which means I am susceptible to making fixes to cosmetic problems that end up creating more problems. After a few weeks, I'm much more careful with the types of fixes I make. I've learned from my homeslice Joe to minimize the customer's ability...

1) Woops, someone made me realize I have some "ordinal" categorical variables: Size: vlow,low,med,large,vlarge. There is an order to their naming. vlow is furthest from vlarge vlarge is closer to large etc. The question is, how to convert them to numeric values with proportional distance relationships. PRINCIPLES "Statistical moments": Shape of a set of points Ex. Points representing probability density 0th moment: total probability ie. 1 1st moment: mean 2nd moment: variance 3rd moment: skewness 4th moment (with normalization and shift): kurtosis (high or low arch)

I'm just really living a full life now, and wanted everyone to know what that means, today.   1) I wanted to graph a custom line on an excel scatter plot. I added a new column on my raw data sheet and for every x value computed the y using my regression equation. Then, I graphed the points and chose the "Show trend line" option. It's not perfect since I'd rather it just show the line and not the made up points underneath, but it works.   2) I want to track down how the data miner we hired filled in missing data. IT WAS TOO COMPLICATED AND NOT WELL DOCUMENTED. Off to the interwebs. I've been using Weka lately. Weka is a collection of machine learning algorithms for data mining tasks. Weka contains tools for data pre-processing, classification, regression, clustering, association rules, and visualization. Weka is a New Zealand bird with an inquisitive nature. I like the word inquisitive. It's like smooooooooth curiosity. 3) Figuring out which...

Snapshot phase is meant to say "it ain't ready to be put out at the store". A correlation coefficient of one means two numbers are perfectly correlated. A correlation coefficient of zero means the two numbers are unrelated. ENDOGENOUS: having an internal cause or origin python lambda: anonymous function that runs at runtime

The keys to understanding:   Digging deep enough to find genuine questions to ask   Asking them (i.e. putting them out into the universe)   Playing around in the playground enough for the answers to eventually come back to you DIMENSIONALITY REDUCTION wITh FaStMap Imagine 10 people spread across the globe. YOU want to figure out how those 10 people are related . Now, in your head, imagine smashing the world so it is FLAT. (In your head, you should now see a flat sheet of paper shaped like a circle) Then, take that FLAT circle, and jam it together to form a line.

The keys to understanding:   Digging deep enough to find genuine questions to ask   Asking them (i.e. putting them out into the universe)   Playing around in the playground enough for the answers to eventually come back to you   Questions for TASK A: Learning an expert's data mining system   In their configuration file they have paths, datatypes, but I don't understand why in the datatypes field they sometimes multi......and as I ask the question, the answer already flows into my brain.   [float]*4 ----> "float" datatype with length? 4 or something of the sort   In the predictor file: getProjectID, canPredict, predict, write ClustersToFile, writeToFile.   In the lib file: "Standard headers" simple low level stuff, Maths stuff         medianIQR: middle 50% of scores, the median is the middle score, aka, in the middle of the IQR         median An a...

The more one "discovers", "knows", "understands", "experiences", the more one finds out they know nothing more than an ant; food, shelter, survive, and thrive. That's why I got the hamster. Me and the hamster are alike, you see. Validation: Leave one out Performance: Magnitude of Relative Error (Median) Feature weighing scheme: How much can an attribute divide and reduce the variance of the effort data (The GREATER the reduction the GREATER the weight) PCA to synthesize new attributes that extend across the dimension of greatest variance in the data with attributes d. Cluster data among new dimensions and replace with "Prototype"

For every time I said that! ("Before I forget") The wonders of a universe. So if you get a powerful telescope to focus on a point further and further away from where you stand, you are actually watching..... history.

Certain feelings and what they mean to you. We all have moments that we want to hang on to. Breathing being the root that gives us life. So we meditate on our breathing. Not to remember the knowledge of breathing being the root that gives us life. But to feel the breath. That gives life. That gives you your senses. That give you your experience. That fuels your brain. To think. To believe. To remember. There is no greater feeling than breathing. This is much different than being aware that you are breathing. It is the feeling that comes from understanding you are breathing. From feeling your breathing. "I" am this breath, and this "breath" is "me" Whatever the day brings. I am breathing. What will come from another day breathing brings me. Moment by moment I find out. Faithfully I go along. I am given these breaths. Along I go. Sometimes the breaths bring me dreams. Breathing and thinking. Thinking and breathing. The thinking ...

Room for interpretation. There is always endless space for this. Between my expression, the words that rise from this expression, colorful flames from the ignition of kindling that is my life behind the curtain that separates me from the world. I don't condone negative thinking. I don't believe in being an enabler, even to my "self", to my "depression". There is a thin line between t hrowing gasoline on fire vs. smelling smoke, hearing a fire alarm, and trying to look the other way. There is a thin line between compassion for self and pity parties. There is a thin line between seeing a glass half full and half empty. Too much energy one way or another leads to illusion; a glass with water filled halfway can start to feel like a glass that seems almost empty, or almost overflowing, neither of which is an accurate depiction of how much water is in the glass. Learning to put out our own fires, sometimes in the process we mistakenly pour ga...

Wait Wait.   (Wait 10 seconds before reading the next line) Wait to....     (Wait 20 seconds before reading the next line) Waiting for.....    (Wait 40 seconds before reading the next line) Wait, what?    (Wait 80 seconds before reading the next line,                          and watch the clock tick for each second) Wait up!     (Wait 160 seconds before reading the next line,                          and watch the clock tick for every f-r-e-a-k-i-n  second) Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Well, what are you waiting for? Wait. Forever. Or...... .... .. *The last line of this poem will appear if you continue to stare at this poem indefinitely -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ti...

I've spent the last few years revamping my life. Painstakingly. Facing fears one by one. Sometimes overcome by fear. Losing many battles with it. What do I mean by losing battles? Meaning, the fear wins. It becomes more real than me. Losing to fear means it attacks me, and I can no longer differentiate between it and me. My thoughts are the thoughts of my fear. My feelings, gripping my heart and mind, are those caused by fear. For example, I fear a life of meaninglessness, purposelessness, disconnection. From this fear I produced POWERFUL longstanding memories of myself in a forest. There I am, alone. The only human left. Just time ticking, one second at a time, and despite being surrounded by nature and sounds of birds chirping and water running, all I can see, hear, and feel is eternity. I am nothing but living and breathing, restless and in pain. All my identities stripped from me. That of x-athlete, funny girl, goof ball, computer scientist, nerd. It's all gone. Just me, ...

Living life in fear is horrible 3:17 AM The fear of my brain being too tired tomorrow, and work therefore being extremely painful 3:19 AM Are there quotes about fear being the root of all evil? There is nothing to fear but fear itself it is healthy to be flexible. you will be ok That is the reference point, they are telling us that fear is the origin and all you have is distances from the origin, different lengths of fear Also derivatives and integrals(area of fear) apply to fear mathematics Isn't it weird how we start making memories before we even know that we make our own memories? That my friend, is our one downfall 3:24 AM they are all constructed and contextual and subjective 3:24 AM Yeah, so we're on the prowl of naming and organizing them better, to help point us in the right direction But we're like kindergarten girls soccer games, just run around chasing the ball 3:26 AM Do you ever think of t...

Support Vector Machines non probabilistic binary linear classifier There is a decision boundary When y=0 and Theta dot x <= -1, cost is 0 When y=1 and Theta dot x >= 1, cost is 0 Best line is decision boundary that maximizes distance to the positive and maximize distance to negative Nomral of the decision boundary maximies lengths of p means it is hitting source of light the most effectively

Wrapper for the sheets created by others Triggers Application.ScreenUpdating = false Today is the first day of the rest of your life. The trees, somehow they are telling me this. Myriad leaves detached from the tree they were once attached to. While attached to said tree, resisting from the wind Resisting by moving with the wind as seamlessly as possible, while still connected to the tree But at the moment when the bridge between leaf and tree breaks The leaf leaves without resistance It may land on the ground in time' We are all leaves attached to a tree Our bodies flow with the wind, but our brain stays attached to the tree branch With the most freedom to flow with the wind, the leaf has the best chance to absorb the most sun There is enough sun for everyone

They welcomed me into JPL. I got introduced at a meeting. I met with Joe, but also might be doing work for Gary Ball. Or others. I need to inquire if there is any Tableau work. Excel lynda can't hurt It's a game Staying organized Learn how those I work for keep their things organized. Follow their rules.

The kernel is the matrix of dot products of ColuMNS of the distance matrix, ie, the relationship between two points in a given space. Since the distance matrix is symmetric, so is the kernel matrix. Since the ham sandwich is two pieces of bread with stuff in the middle, so is the peanut butter n jelly sandwich. So you break apart the sandwich. And the layers reveal themselves.

ABE is good for prediction especially when different data types are used. Build clusters. Assign new project to one of the aforementioned clusters Effort Estimation Using Analogy Shepperd, Schofield, Kitchenham : ”Effort Estimation Using Analogy” , Proceedings ICSE.18 (1996) 170-178 When compared with regression and step-wise estimates, analogy performed with superior accuracy, and had the advantage of being self calibrating. In being an accurate predictor, estimation by analogy should become one of the techniques considered for estimation in the early stage of development. When using several different estimation techniques, the variance in predictions can also be used as a risk indicator. 1. How best to describe projects 2. Measure similarity, and how much confidence 3. How do we use known effort values to drive estimate (means/weighted means/etc. Differing datasets Number of observations Number of variables Effect software effort estimation DEMANDS more than one te...

Your eyes, ears, mouth, nose, send info to your brain. They're called your "senses". Inputs, threshold, output (Neuron) Mathematics penalizes complexity. The more complex a model, it won't be flexible enough to fit future happenings because it was so specifically made for what happened in the past. This applies to all of us. The ability for our tongue's ability to see speaks on the simplicity of the model of our brain. The flexibility. THE BEST PLEASURES ARE THOSE FOR WHICH WE DO NOT PLAN, AND THE WORST PART OF PAIN IS EXPECTING IT AND TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM IT WHEN IT HAS COME

Immediately you have to ask yourself, "Is it worth it?" But soon enough, you must ask, "How do I measure worth?" And then you ask, "Why am I measuring? What does measuring my own experience accomplish?" I signed on to a job at a place where I have never felt so much like "That kid off the street". My brain is pushed(I allow my brain to be pushed), to the point where it is so stimulated by the pain of absorbing, problem solving, and understanding new material that after only 5 hours of work, I come home and my brain is in a state of mush that can only be explained by asking you to imagine putting your hand in a brand new solidified square of RAINBOW COLORED JELL-O. I can watch television or talk to roommates in an attempt to unwind, but soon enough my brain gives me no choice but to lie in my bed with my eyes closed, too mentally fatigued to contemplate if and when unconsciousness will hit. Usually, 5.5 hours later, my brain jolts me awa...

I felt like myself this morning. Words cannot describe how invigorating this state of being is. It is joy far greater than aggregations of happiness. At the moment I so joyfully realized I was in this state, I choked on my drink because the liquid went down the wrong pipe. While choking, I laughed, because I concluded this was God's way of drilling in the fact that peace has nothing to do with what happens to you externally, but how you react to things. Now I sit and am no longer sure I am still in the state, too consumed by my desire to eat Starbucks popcorn and soy latte's. I think the state somehow removes me from judgements and expectations I unconsciously attach to my existence. To take everything in anew. Even the use of the word anew as if it were the first time I laid my eyes on it. Ussing the word anew. Spelling ussing wrong. Knowing how to spell using roight. Spelling write rong. So forth. Ahhh glee.

Test set, cross validation set, training set Single numerical evaluation metric Precision: Out of all that we PREDICTED positive, how many are ACTUALLY positive Recall: Out of all that ACTUALLY have cancer, how many did we CORRECTLY PREDICT have it?

Software Cost Estimation CONTROL the cost of a project hardware travel and training effort costs (SW engineers) Use historical cost info to develop a model based on some SW metric (like size) related to the cost of the project. An estimate is made of that metric and the model predicts the effort required Parkinson's law, a project will cost whatever there is available to spend on it splitting overall cost among components calculate cost of components and sum to arrive at overall cost NO SINGLE TECHNIQUE IS ADEQUATE IN ISOLATION Parameters associated with each model are highly organization dependent Project cost estimates are self fulfilling; the estimate is used to define the project budget and the product is adjusted to meet the budget DECISION MAKING AID. Help make decisions. COCOMO -communication overhead ~familiarity, complexity EFFORT = A (KDSI) ^ b   "Effort is exponential function of size"   (Size ~ KDSI) development sch...

HOW TO DEVELOP A FORTUNE TELLER. Ok, I have to take Titanic data ; info about the people aboard the ship. Titanic ticket #435 is held by Johnny ; a 12 years old, 3rd class citizen, male, two brothers aboard, both parents. WILL JOHNNY BE SAVED??!?!?! More specifically, is someone of Johnny's demographic going to survive? Are 3rd class little boys with big families able to get on one of the limited number of rafts and safety boats? Certainly not before 1st class little boys. Ahhhh PRIVILEGE . Developing the  FORTUNE TELLER ....... We first must TRAIN the fortune teller. We take 891 of the 1309 Titanic passengers, and we TELL the fortune teller whether each one of those 891 people survived so it can learn. How the  FORTUNE TELLER  learns..... This is what we know about each member of the Titanic training set VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS: survival Survival (0 = No; 1 = Yes) pclass Passenger Class (1 = 1st; 2 = 2nd; ...