Urbane Ramblings

A Little Mapping with ggplot2

2012-02-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

I put together a little map of the Golden Gophers 2011 football season using the mapping functionality in ggplot2. I once again did the postprocessing in Inkscape since inserting images in R is not a super-awesome process. Maybe once I get Phrank (my computer) back I can update imageMagick and get the EBimage package working.

Some things that I want to do yet: First, I want a better color palette for the wins and losses. I also thought about sizing the arcs by point differential, but maybe I should wait a year or two given the losses we have had in past years. Eventually I want to make the map interactive so you can choose a team and then see this type of map for every year.

Facebook Friends Network

2012-01-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

I just used the MyFnetwork app to visualize my friendship networks (see my network below).

The plot doesn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, but you can definitely see social clusters of my FB friends. For example,

The upper part of the network is composed of mostly FB friends from the University of Minnesota.
The lower-lefthand side of the network is mostly composed of FB friends that I knew from my high school days.
The lower-righthand side of the network is mostly composed of FB friends from my days teaching at ROCORI.

The color coding indicates the centrality of the people shown in the network. Not surprisingly, Joan, Stacy and Danielle are prominently displayed as having high centrality–and Tim is at the center of the network.

Opus!

2012-01-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

Seen in the University Chronicle

2012-01-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

On Valentine's Day, the St. Cloud State newspaper–like every other student newspaper in the country, publishes messages of love. This one made me laugh a lot.

Bert,
You're a jerk. I saw you out with
that pigeon last week. I'm moving
out. Take your own bath, count
sheep by yourself, and you can
shove your bottle cap collection.
Ernie

Digital Scrapbook: Varun Puri

2012-01-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

Varun Puri was another one of my friends from high school. This kid was hella-smart. I met Varun in Boy Scouts (Troop 21). We also ran track together and bowled for knowledge. Varun was a National Merit Scholar and won every scholastic and smart person award at Apollo High School. He was also meticulously neat and had people clean their shoes before riding in his car.

After high school Varun went to the Air Force Academy where he continued his academic dominance. The following appeared in the St. Cloud Times.

Varun Puri
Air Force Academy

Apollo Grad Honored
By Rene Kaluza
Times Staff Writer

A St. Cloud man will receive a national aviation and aerospace magazine's top award tonight in ceremonies at the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Varun Puri, 22, son of Vijay and Usha Puri, St. Cloud, will be one of 11 individuals, companies or agencies honored at Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine's 38th annual awards.

Puri, 22, was selected as the top cadet from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He graduated from Apollo High School in 1991 and will graduate third in his class this spring from the academy.

The magazine's Laurel Award recognizes outstanding individuals and companies in the aviation and aerospace technology industry. In addition, a top aviation student from each of the nation's four military academies is selected to receive the award.

Puri was selected for the honor by Air Force Academy instructors. Selection was based on class rank, leadership qualities and concentration on aviation or aerospace studies.

Vijay Puri said his son has earned a spot in the Air Force's pilot training but may delay the training until he earns a master's degree, most likely at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Varun Purl became interested in aviation during high school earning his pilot's license and the rank of commander in the Civil Air Patrol, Vijay Puri said.

Vijay said he and his wife will not attend tonight's ceremonies but they will be thinking of their son as he stands among some of the top officials in the aviation and aerospace industries. "We are very proud of him," Vijay said.

Digital Door: The Next Sexy Job

2012-01-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, was interviewed for McKinsey Quarterly in 2009 about how managers need to better understand how technology empowers innovation and the cheap, ubiquity of data. During the interview, Hal states,

I keep saying the sexy job in the next ten years will be statisticians. People think I'm joking, but who would've guessed that computer engineers would've been the sexy job of the 1990s?

Hal Varian

He goes on to say, "The ability to take data - to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it's going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades, not only at the professional level but even at the educational level for elementary school kids, for high school kids, for college kids. Because now we really do have essentially free and ubiquitous data. So the complimentary scarce factor is the ability to understand that data and extract value from it."

"I think statisticians are part of it, but it's just a part. You also want to be able to visualize the data, communicate the data, and utilize it effectively. But I do think those skills - of being able to access, understand, and communicate the insights you get from data analysis - are going to be extremely important. Managers need to be able to access and understand the data themselves."

Steve Lohr, a technology, business and economics columnist for the New York Times, also in 2009, also wrote about statistics, stating,

The rising stature of statisticians, who can earn $125,000 at top companies in their first year after getting a doctorate, is a byproduct of the recent explosion of digital data. In field after field, computing and the Web are creating new realms of data to explore — sensor signals, surveillance tapes, social network chatter, public records and more. And the digital data surge only promises to accelerate, rising fivefold by 2012, according to a projection by IDC, a research firm.

Yet data is merely the raw material of knowledge. 'We’re rapidly entering a world where everything can be monitored and measured,' said Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Digital Business. 'But the big problem is going to be the ability of humans to use, analyze and make sense of the data.'

The new breed of statisticians tackle that problem. They use powerful computers and sophisticated mathematical models to hunt for meaningful patterns and insights in vast troves of data. The applications are as diverse as improving Internet search and online advertising, culling gene sequencing information for cancer research and analyzing sensor and location data to optimize the handling of food shipments.

The entire article can be read here [read article]. These predictions seem to be even more relevant in 2011. CIO Magazine reported its list of the Hottest New Jobs in IT in June, and Data Scientist made the list at #2.

Big data -- that is, the glut of unstructured or semi-structured information generated by Web clickstreams, system logs, and other event-driven activities -- represents a huge opportunity. Buried in that mountain of data may be invaluable nuggets about customer behavior, security risks, potential system failures, and more. But when you're talking terabytes that double in volume every 18 months, where do you start? That's where the data scientist comes in.

On the business side, data scientists can open up new opportunities by uncovering hidden patterns in unstructured data, such as customer behavior or market cycles. On the dev side, a data scientist can use deep data trends to optimize websites for better customer retention. Within the IT department, a skilled data scientist can spot potential storage cluster failures early or track down security threats through forensic analysis.

"There's now an intellectual consensus in business that the only way to run an enterprise is to use analytics with data scientists to find opportunities," says Norman Nie, CEO of Revolution Analytics, which produces the first commercial application to bring the R data analysis programming language into the business world. Because of the immense opportunity for strategic insight buried in all that data, says Nie, "corporations now have an unlimited demand for people with background in quantitative analysis."

The R programming language is just one tool in the data scientist's toolbox. Others range from business analytics software from established providers like SAS Institute to IBM's new InfoSphere platform to analytics technology acquired in EMC's recent acquisitions of Greenplum and Isilon Systems. Just last May, EMC Greenplum hosted the first ever Data Scientist Summit.

According to Nie, data science jobs will require workers with a spectrum of skills, from entry-level data cleaners to the high-level statisticians, yielding a range of opportunities for newcomers to the field. As the business world gets increasingly social, the demand for people to plumb the depths of all that social networking clickstream data will only increase. The cliché going around is that "data is the new oil." A career in refining that raw material sounds like a good bet.

Digital Scrapbook: Huan Tran

2012-01-11T16:22:00.000-08:00

Huan Tran was one of my brilliant friends. We initially became friends through Knowledge Bowl. He was on the Technical High School team and I bowled for Apollo. We both attended St. Cloud State University and continued the arcane quest for trivia by uniting on the same College Bowl team.

Huan went on to graduate school at Princeton and got a Ph.D. in astrophysics. Afterward he worked at Berkeley in cosmology. Unfortunately, Huan passed away in 2009. He was working on a microwave telescope named PolarBear to better measure the gravitational waves that emanated from the universe just after its creation at the time of his death. The telescope was renamed as the Huan Tran Telescope in his honor.

This little blurb appeared in the St. Cloud State newspaper after Huan had decided to go to Princeton.

St. Cloud State's Top Physics Student Selects Princeton

St. Cloud State University physics major Huan Tran has spent four years as an undergraduate student developing a spectrometer that will be shot into space as part of a joint experiment between St. Cloud State, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and NASA. The red laser light in the photo was produced by the spectrometer.

About Huan Tran

Name: Huan Tran
Age: 21
Education: Technical High School, 1992; St. Cloud State University, spring 1996; Will attend Princeton for graduate school in the fall 1996.
Family: Parents, Huy and Nhung Tran and three brothers and two sisters. Huan is the second youngest.
Accomplishments: President of the St. Cloud State physics Club. co-authored several scholarly papers, worked on a research project for NASA, tutors physics students, is a National Merit Scholar and recently won Joseph Henry Prize for research at Princeton as well as a full scholarship to the school.

Digital Scrapbook: Anthony Schrock

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Anthony and I became friends in 9th grade over a mutual crush on Monica Hartman. Soon he became my "adopted" brother. We were inseparable–running partners, the Joe Montana and Jerry Rice of Nerf football, comic book mavens (remember when Granite City Comics was in Westgate on the second floor??), KOOL 108 sing-along specialists...and the list goes on. The following article on Anthony was written for The Wake Student Magazine, a bi-weekly, student-operated news, arts and entertainment publication run by University of Minnesota students.

The Sensual Art of Anthony Schrock
Interview by Morgan Mae Schultz

When I visited the studio of Twin Cities artist Anthony Austin Schrock. I left this world of technology-assisted art at the door. Three giant oak easels are stationed in the corners, tall like Doric columns holding up the low basement ceiling. Badger, sable, and hog hair paintbrushes fill jars on a wooden table. Shelves hold translucent bottles of oils and solvents. ground pigments and neatly arranged tubes of paint. Sticks of charcoal and graphite hide in dark little drawers. Aside from the stereo in the corner and expensive lamps on his drawing table, nothing in the room was invented after 1850.

The same can be said about the subjects of Schrock's work-passive nudes with a bit of drapery, portraits of introspective women in timeless peasant costumes. and studies of Greek and Roman statuary. Schrock's technique is meticulous, and like the old masters, he is as much craftsman as artist. He believes that great art takes skill, not just concept.

One drawing, Marianne, was included in Skin 2003, a local juried show (reviewed on page 7). 1t is a simple, closely cropped female torso in charcoal. Light and shadows are carefully rendered, and the visual presence of palpable flesh in this piece shows the skill of the artist.

Schrock chooses nudes. and particularly women, as subject matter because, he says, "One of the most basic things, all a person owns, is their own body. We are all interested in our own bodies. People are the most beautiful thing. I'll never paint a landscape or a puppy. I hope that my
work just shows beauty. There are a lot of things in the world that are ugly. As a man I admire women and appreciate the beauty of women. Most of the art that l really admire throughout history has been of women and I think that women are more aesthetically pleasing than men." When asked if his work is objectifying to women, Schrock simply says, "No," then goes on to cite the fact that most of his patrons have been women.

"All of the things that strike me most deeply have a mixture of beauty and sadness in them.

Although Schrock has done expressly erotic work in the past, his recent work has been described as sensual, not erotic. He says the difference between art and pornography is the intended effect on the audience. "If a piece is supposed to stimulate one's mind. it's probably fine art. and if a piece is supposed to stimulate one's genitals. it's probably porn. There are things out there that are a middle ground and those things are actually pretty interesting."

Schrock is currently preparing to hang a show at Espresso Royale in Downtown Minneapolis. This show will focus on work that explores the past, partly through portraiture, incorporating period clothing (including some tirelessly researched sketches of Joan of Arc). The jewels of the upcoming
show, however, are a series of paintings and drawings depicting classical sculpture. Schrock is haunted by museums' remnants of Greek and Roman statuary, and renders them with the same reverence he gives to portraits of living people. "All of the things that strike me most deeply have a mixture of beauty and sadness in them," he says. "That's something that fascinates me so much. And here was the absolute pinnacle, the crowning achievement of the artistic efforts of an entire civilization, and we can still look at them. But they're worn and they're falling apart. Some of them have flat spots where they've been dragged and crocks and missing pieces. We have a phrase. 'etched in stone' which means permanent, but stone isn't even permanent. Here are these things that are so beautiful and so finely made, but at the same time you can't see one that doesn't have a crack or a missing nose."

Audience reactions to Schrock's first attempts in this series went something like, "You obviously put a lot of work into that but don't point it right at my face." I've seen these early attempts, and I think it's the creepy eyes. Luckily, he was persistent. "They kept coming back to me in my head and I kept painting them again and again." Since then his technique has improved, and the results are elegant, daringly composed oils and charcoal drawings that are very worth seeing.

See the work of Anthony Austin Schrock at Espresso Royale. 13th and
Hennepin. April 3-30th.

Here was the postcard announcing Anthony's show at Espresso Royale.

Digital Scrapbook: My Friend Kris

2012-01-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends during high school, college, and life, is Kris Fremo (née Gorman). We met around the ninth grade, but really started chillin' in the tenth grade when we both started singing with the Master's Touch. Kris and I hung out a lot–playing Nintendo (Dr. Mario), baking cookies, watching TV, and just plain having fun. Wow–that seems like forever ago.

Kris was a standout athlete in high school and college. She was the starting goalie for the Apollo High School girl's soccer team and was also a phenom softball pitcher. She continued her softball career with St. Ben's.

In 1998, I was teaching at ROCORI high school and coaching the ninth grade girl's soccer team at Apollo High School. Kris had just started a girl's soccer program at Saint John's Preparatory School. We joined forces the following year at St. John's when the team had it's first official season as a varsity sport. Over the next few years that team got better and better.

Blazer's pitcher Gorman doesn't let back pain slow her down

Senior pitcher Kris Gorman delivers during the
first game of St. Benedict's double-header
with St. Mary's Wednesday in St. Joseph. The Cardinals swept 5–4 and 2–1.

St. Benedict junior had off-season surgery and is 4-1 this year

By Tom Larson
Times Sports Writer

St. Benedict softball pitcher Kris Gorman didn't dare grimace, even as the pain-shot through her body every time she planted her foot and swung her arm through her delivery.

Four members of her family already had undergone back surgery to repair herniated discs, and before last season the condition of her back began to worsen too.

But wIth her Blazers teammates in the middle of a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship race and seeking a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs, it wasn't the time to make a big deal about it.

"It wasn't something I wanted competitors to know," said the junior out of St. Cloud Apollo High School. "You don't want them to have any kind of edge."

In fact, some of Gorman's teammates weren't fully aware that even bending down to field ground balls was a painful chore.

"It bothered me before the season, during and after," she said. "Between
innings-and I don't think people really knew what was going on-I'd try to lie down to stretch out, even though it never really helped. It affected everything I did, my stride when I pitched. I'm surprised everything worked out like it did."

And, after off-season surgery, things appear to be working out well once again.

Entering today's scheduled doubleheader against Concordia, Gorman is 4-1
and has led St. Benedict to a 6-3 record. This despite the fact that poor weather and new construction on the building where the team's batting cages used to be have limited the Blazers to very little hitting practice.

Gorman this weekend earned a 6-5 victory in the first game of a doubleheader against Bethel, then entered later in the second game and got the win in a 5-4 Blazers victory decided in the ninth inning.

The results this season haven't been much difference than they were last season when Gorman was 14-5 with a 1.71 earned-run average for the 27-9 Blazers, which won its second straight MIAC title (with co-champion St. Thomas) before losing in the first round of the Division III playoffs.

How she's doing it has changed significantly, head coach Denny Johnson said.

"Her flexibility last year was bad, and she just gutted it out," Johnson said. "Kris is a competitor and the worse it got, the more she beared down."

Gorman had back problems before, but they reappeared the fall of her
sophomore year. As the condition worsened, she took cortisone shots to try control it, but the injections didn't work. She was having trouble sitting through classes, much less throwing a softball.

After making it through the season, she had surgery on June 3. She wasn't allowed to do much for three months, and that meant needing a lot of help coaching her youth softball team last summer.

Gorman took part in rehabilitation and walked, but wasn't permitted to run until November. She got behind in her usual off-season workouts, but believes the inactivity was more important.

"It hasn't bothered me so far, and I hope it stays that way," Gorman said. "I did a lot of rehabilitation and I think it helped that I didn't do anything for a long time."

The surgery hasn't dramatically affected the physical aspects of her game, but it has made it easier mentally, she said.

"I'm more able to focus on the game than focus on not thinking about my back," Gorman said. "I can think about my control, the little things."

And there's one other little thing Johnson is glad to see. "I'm amazed at what Kris was able to do," Johnson said. "This year, when she stretches out, she's smiling."

Kris is also über-smart

Gorman earns all-academic honor

College of St. Benedict junior softball pitcher Kris Gorman was named to the GTE-CoSIDA District V All-Academic team. Gorman, a former St. Cloud Apollo star, had a 13–5 record, four saves and a 1.43 earned-run average this season. She has a 3.93 grade-point average this season and is an art education major.

Kris Gorman, daughter of Urban and Rose Gorman, St. Cloud, and Kathleen Noonan, daughter of Michael and Judith Noonan, St. Cloud, have been inducted into the 1995 Delta Epsilon Sigma Omega Chapter, a national Catholic honor society for women at the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph.

Gorman gets career win No: 47 despite missing suspended game

NORTHIFIELD - St Benedict pitcher Kris Gorman picked up her 47th on Sunday without coming anywhere close to a softball diamond.

Kris Gorman
GETS WIN NO. 47

Gorman, who missed the Blazers' season-ending series at Carleton because she had her senior voice recital, was the pitcher of record in a suspended game that was halted after four innings on Thursday. On Sunday, the Blazers played the final inning of the game, completing a 20-3 victory. St. Benedict then won the second game of the doubleheader 10-0.

Gina Shields led the way offensively, going 3-for-4 with four runs while driving in four others in the first game. Angie Rademacher was 3-for-4 in the second game.

"We can finish no worse than second, and we can possibly tie for first," Blazers coach Dennis Johnson said. "But we dug ourselves too deep a hole early in the season to get an NCAA bid."

Kris taught art at Saint John's Preparatory School. This picture appeared in the St. Cloud Times sometime in the mid-nineties. Look at how big that computer is!

College of St. Benedict senior Kathryn Kluver (center) showed fellow students her art project on one of the college's Macintosh computers. The other students are (from left) Jennifer Borovsky, Stephanie Lavinger, Allison Keable and Kris Gorman.

Kris married Dave Fremo, another Master's Touch alum. Here is their wedding announcement. Eventually I may get a photo or two from her wedding posted. I was in the wedding party and had two dates to that event–Angela and Lisa, who were also in the wedding party.

Gorman–Fremo

Gorman–Fremo

Erv and Rosee Gorman, 1122 31st Ave. N, St. Cloud, announce the engagement of their daughter Kris, to David Fremo, son of Dennis and Leann Fremo, 513 Brookwood Lane, Sartell.

Gorman is a 1996 graduate of College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, with a bachelor of art degree in art education. She is employed by St. John's Preparatory School, Collegeville.

Fremo is a student at St. John's University, Collegeville, and plans to graduate in May with a bachelor of art degree in christian music and production.

A June 19 wedding is planned.

Digital Door II

2011-12-09T06:26:00.001-08:00

I have some stellar colleagues in Educational Psychology. A few of them have been featured in CEHD Connect–the college publication of all things CEHD. Here are just a few:

Michael Rodriguez
[Read More]

Sashank Varma
[Read More]

Keisha Varma
[Read More]

Goldy

Jennifer McComas
[Read More]

Sashank was even featured in the University's "Driven to Discover" campaign.

Digital Door

2011-12-09T05:42:00.001-08:00

I have just taken down many of the postings that were on my office door. It is time to update things. As with the scrapbook, I will also add these to the blog.

The following picture was posted October 23, 2008 on the University of Minnesota's Graduate School homepage. The two students referred to in the caption are Stacy R. Karl and Julio Cabrera. At the time they had just started their PhD programs in the department. It is apropos that this be the first up on the "digital door". Aside from enjoying their company very much, I also recently published a paper in Behavior Research Methods with them [Read Paper] as well as wrote and published an R package with the two of them [Get Package].

President Bruininks, right, spoke to two students who attended a reception hosted by the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA) at the Loring Pasta Bar Sept. 18. More than 500 students attended the event, where they also heard from Graduate School dean and vice provost Gail Dubrow and GAPSA president and CEHD student Kristi Kremers. Read more about GAPSA and COGS.

Ryan Gosling Loves Statistics...It is Sexy!

2011-12-08T05:44:00.001-08:00

These are two of my favorites.

See the rest at http://biostatisticsryangosling.tumblr.com/.

This Made Me Laugh

2011-11-29T07:12:00.001-08:00

http://yoisthisracist.com/post/13426489456/i-hate-my-statistics-class-please-tell-me-intro-to

Digital Scrapbook: ROCORI Knowledge Bowl

2011-11-22T18:30:00.001-08:00

From 1998-2002 I taught at ROCORI High School in Cold Spring, MN. During that time I had the privilege of teaching many sections of Algebra I and also of coaching the Knowledge Bowl team. The first year I coached the team, I got a grand total of 5 students to join. The second year, I was teaching a Graphing Calculator class (yep....a Graphing Calculator class) and recruited heavily. I think I ended up with about 10-15 students. The last two years were much more consistent around 15-20 students.

Those last two years, we also got good. The 2000/2001 team had a close call in the Subregion Tournament, finishing just a couple points out of getting into the Regionals. The 2001/2002 team won almost every meet we entered and dominated the Subregion and Region Tournaments. That team of Rachel, Bob, Matt, and Evan finished 5th in the State Tournament!

It was during these last couple years that I also realized that the Cold Spring Record, the local newspaper, would pretty much print anything sent into them. Here are some of the "articles" I wrote for the Record on the Knowledge Bowl's behalf.

Knowledge Bowl Team Ends Regular Season

The ROCRORI High School Knowledge Bowl team ended its regular season March 17 with a 4th place finish at the Cambridge Invitational. ROCORI teams also chalked up a 4th place finish at the Buffalo Tournament, a 3rd place finish at North Branch, and 2nd place finishes at each of the Apollo, Foley, and Tech tournaments. They also earned invitations to two of the more prestigious tournaments in the state, Chaska (17th place) and Concordia (5th place).

Other than the Chaska meet, which invited 50 teams this year, most meets have about 30 to 35 teams vying for the coveted title of tournament champion. Teams start out the day with a grueling 60 question written round and based on their score are placed into rooms for a 45 question oral round. In the oral round, three teams compete Jeopardy style, buzzing in with a pressure sensitive green strip. After the smoke clears and the round is declared over, teams reenergize with donuts and juice while the scores are reticulated. Then they are again sent out to the trenches.

After a total of four oral rounds, winners are lauded, prizes are bestowed, and the mentally weary teams clamor to their respected buses. However, their fatigue is short lived, when scant seconds after boarding the "yellow carriage",the cries of, "Are we stopping somewhere to eat?" resounds up its, sacred aisle.

ROCORI High School Knowledge Bowl members this year include, Kayla Wenker, David Raw, Amanda Hemmesch, Josie Ziegler, Evan Creed, Matt Bonham, Rachel Rollins, Bob Willenbring, Eric Patton, Anna Grelson, Darren Schlangen, Briana Theis, Laura Januszewski, and a plethora of sophomores. They have dutifully given up the majority of their Saturdays since January, sometimes rising before the sun, to compete in the hallowed tradition that is Knowledge Bowl. Their season climaxes Thursday April 4, when they pit their wits against 23 other teams in, the Class AA Subregional Tournament.

ROCORI Knowledge Bowl (c.2001ish)

I didn't write this one, but it did appear in the St. Cloud Times...

Knowledge Bowl teams from a number of local schools earned top spots at a meet Jan. 19 at Apollo High School.

Among 36 varsity teams, the following five teams earned top honors: Rocori High School's Team 1, 103 points; Apollo's Team 1, 100 points; Chisago Lake High School's Team 2, 96 points; Becker High School's Team 1, 92 points; and Holdingford High School's Team 1, 86 points.

In the junior varsity competition among 19 teams, the following five teams took top spots: North Branch Team A, 86 points; Monticello Team A, 76 points; St. John's Preparatory School; 72 points; Technical School, 71 points; Monticello Team B, 71 points.

Earlier this month Knowledge Bowl teams from five area high schools earned top spots in a field of 45 teams at a meet in Sartell. Apollo High School's Team 2 took the top spot with 114 points. ROCORI High School's Team 1 earned 108 points and second place. Becker High School's Team 1 followed with 101 points; Apollo Team 3 earned 99 points; and Eden Valley-Watkins High School Team 1 earned 96 points.

This article was the first mention of the Think Tank

ROCORI Knowledge Bowl Places 3rd

Driving in Cloquet without brakes was the least of the ROCORI Knowledge Bowl team's worries recently. Facing competition like St. Thomas Academy (last year's state runner-up), Hibbing (last year's state champion), Chaska (last year's 3rd place team), and 56 other perennial state powers was much more nerve-wracking than careening off the interstate. Their concerns, however, proved to be unfounded as ROCORI's top team opened the season with an unprecedented 3rd place finish.

Inspired by past Knowledge Bowl titans Matt Baker, Nicole Januszewski, Steve Eickhoff, and Craig Phillips, to name a few, ROCORl pulled off their best December finish in team history. Setting this historic mark were the team of Matt Bonham, Evan Creed, Rachel Rollins, and Bob Willenbring. Future stars Alex Cruze, Nicole Feldhege, Eric Patton, Brian Schloeder, and Dan Westerhaus showed promise by winning their room twice in this competitive field. Coach Zieffler attributes the weekend's success to intense practices and the strategical meeting held the night prior to the meet in the private banquet hall at Duluth's local Embers. Coach Brewer said, "This impressive finish should ensure that we will receive the multi-million dollar, high-tech training facility we so richly deserve."

The ROCORI Knowledge Bowl team would like to dedicate this win to "The Think Tank", their rowdy fan base of friends and parents. They would especially like to thank "Think Tank" members Jason Koets, Linda Liebl, and Jane Wahlin. Think Tank president Jeff Mergen remarked, "This has to be the top rated extracurricular activity at ROCORI High School this year!" If you would like to join this zany group of fans, all you need to do is buy a pair of shades because this team's future is looking bright!

ROCORI Knowledge Bowl Team Takes 1st Place!

From left to right: Evan Creed, Bob Willenbring, Matt Bonham (holding the trophy), and Rachel Rollins.

It is said that good things come to those who wait. On Saturday, January 19, after 13 years of waiting, the ROCORI High School Knowledge Bowl team got a first place trophy to call its very own. Eclipsing 35 other teams at the Apollo Invitational, ROCORI looked fantastic throughout the day's competition.

"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride" seemed to be ROCORI's motto to this point. Heading into Saturday's contest, ROCORI had accumulated 3 second place and 4 third place trophies, but never the much sought after first place trophy. That all changed when the team of Matt Bonham, Evan Creed, Rachel Rollins, and Bob Willenbring combined their arcane knowledge and blazing fast buzzer speed to dominate at the Apollo meet. The team was in second place much of, the day and trailed by two points heading into the final oral round. Outscoring the leading team by five points, ROCORI emerged from the round victorious.

The other two ROCORI teams at the meet also had a good day. The second varsity team flirted with the top ten before a tough last round dropped them into 24th place. ROCORI also competed in the JV contest, placing 18th. Coach Zieffler remarked, "Overall, I'd say we had a great day, We met many of our goals, The top team stayed in double.digits in every round, something that they have not been able to do in the past, and the two other teams also did well despite missing key members on Saturday.

ROCORI Knowledge Bowl Fan Club president Jeff Mergen in response to the victory just smiled, put on his shades and gave the thumbs up.

This article was written to see if the Record would actually publish it. They did! I owe an apology to Nellie Mergen (Jeff's wife) for this one. She was so embarrassed by Jeff's picture. Jeff and I cracked up for weeks after this was published.

Think Tank President interviews for the Record

There are many people who work behind the scenes to contribute to a team's success. One of those people for the ROCORJ Knowledge Bowl team is Fan Club President Jeff Mergen. After numerous requests, The Think Tank President finally consented to an exclusive interview for the Cold Spring Record. Here are his pearls of wisdom on the current winning streak put up by the Knowledge BowI team.

Early in the season you made a prediction that the Knowledge Bowl team could be the best bet for postseason success at ROCORI this year. What are your current predictions for the remainder of the season?

I stand with that prediction. They are the top ranked extra-curricular team at ROCORI right now.

In the past 3 years the Knowledge Bowl's average score and standard deviation per meet were 83.8 and 14.37 respectively. This year the average meet score has risen to 98.25 and the standard deviation has fallen to 9.89. Could you comment on this?

That's a definite improvement! It could be due to the influence of Marty Robbins.

It is said that the road to a championship goes through the weight room. As the Knowledge Bowl team's "strength" trainer (Mergen teaches them all in AP Calculus) as well as fan club president, do you have any insight into the training they engage in?

They have something called a mental weight training program...something like mental isometrics.

Composer John Cage said, "Fame is of no importance." Having been quoted in two articles on the Knowledge Bowl team, how are you dealing with your new found fame?

He's a liar. He's just wrong. Fame is what you make it...I'm famous in my own mind.

How does a person become a member of the Knowledge Bowl Fan Club?

Come see me. I'll give you an application to membership and an "AP" History exam. Any score over 90% gets in.

If the Knowledge Bowl team were to take on a team composed of faculty members who would walk away victorious?

Faculty usually won in the past, but of course the Knowledge Bowl teams of the past had nowhere near the average and standard deviation they do now.

The "Calculus and Analytic Geometry" book by Thomas and Finney claims that, "with, Calculus we can do better." Having all 4 of the Knowledge Bowl team's top members in calculus, can you comment on that quotation?

Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.

The same calculus book claimed that, "if you were stranded on a desert island and could take only one formula with you, the equation

might well be your choice." What formula would you take?

L'Hopital's Rule!!

One last question. A College of St. Benedict's student posted a comment on the St. Cloud Times' web site in response to their article on the Knowledge Bowl team that read, "I heard Gern Blanston is the coach of this team." Could you comment on that?

I quote Mark Twain when I say, "It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."

That concludes our foray with ROCORl Knowledge Bowl Fan Club President Jeff Mergen. As a side note, the ROCORI Knowledge Bowl team won both the Buffalo tournament and the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (BBE) tournament. Their second team aleo placed in the top 10 at BBE.

Digitial Scrapbook II: Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

2011-11-16T05:08:00.001-08:00

This ditty appeared in the Apollo High School newspaper around 1989 or so. I think I was one of the two freshmen on the team. That was the same year that one of the senior girls asked me out on a date and we went to the Apollo/Tech hockey game (Go Eagles!). During the second intermission she kissed me and I panicked. What was I thinking???

Math League enjoying successful season
By Monique Coleman
Staff Writer

On Nov. 14, Apollo's Math League members took first place in competition for the first time since Math League competition was started three years ago. This first meet of the season, held at Apollo, included the nine teamsin the Central Minnesota Math League: Apollo, Brainerd, Cathedral, Eden Valley-Watkins, Little Falls, Rocori, St. John's' prep., Sartell, and Tech.
After the second meet of this year's season, the team is currently ranked second. For the last two years the Math League team has never been ranked higher than second place in the area.
Some readers may wonder what Math League is all about. According to advisers Ray Maresh and Scott MacLeod, it gives talented math students a chance for recognition along with the development of their math skills.
There are some expectations, however. Members are expected to practice once or twice a week with the team or on their own. Members must also learn to work as a team.
Each member is committed to a particular area of mathematics and takes two of the four twelve-minute tests at each meet. Team members must also
take the twenty minute team test. The four basic test divisions are: algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and advanced topics.
At practices, members go over tests from previous years since the same topics are generally given year after year. They also ask questions concerning problems with different mathematical theory applications. During practices, the advisers generally offer the students directions in which way they might want to practice.
"This is not a teaching class," Ray Maresh said. "We can't get up in front of the students and give a lecture. Everything is so general."
During the meets, the advisers of the different schools are busy preparing their students, correcting the tests, or timing them. "
Presently there are seventeen members of Apollo's team: five seniors, six juniors, four sophomores, and two freshmen.
"The students in Math League are the finest at Apollo. They are all taking the time to do well and represent the school," MacLeod said.
When asked what they wanted to accomplish this year, both advisers replied that they wanted the students to have fun, learn something, and maybe go to state competition.
The best part about Math League, according to the advisers, is watching students being recognized for their achievements and seeing them excited about mathematics.

This picture appeared in the St. Cloud Times when I was in the fourth grade. It must have been ~1984ish?! It was taken at the Central Minnesota Chess Championships. I finished third in the Queen division. Check out the watch...it was a transformers watch that transformed into both a robot and a jet plane. (Note: For those of you who might not remember 'watches'; they were mini-clocks that people wore on their wrists to tell time. Think Flavor Flav but the clock is small and worn on your wrist.) (Note to the Note: For those of you too old to know Flavor Flav, he was an member of Public Enemy–an influential hip-hop group in the late 80s early 90s–think Dr. Suess + Gordon Lightfoot + Rhythm.)

This last photo is of my piano teacher, the esteemed Paul Wirth. His wife Cathy taught us music at Westsood Elementary School. (Do you remember that monster record....we were vampires, werewolves, etc before they were hip!) My first year of piano lessons took place at the St. Cloud Music School and I was under the tutelage of Barbara Meyer. After that Paul agreed to take me on and I worked with him for five additional years. Fairness in Disclosure Act requires that I reveal this must have felt like five decades to him and I made the progress of about 1-2 years at best. There was one point where he realized I would never be any good at the piano so he taught me how to read guitar chords and translate them to piano notes. I got pretty good at that.

One of the things I hated about piano lessons were the required recitals and musicales. Musicales were this once-a-month thing on a Sunday where we went and heard other students play and you got to play for other students. After each performance you would critique said piece played. There were about 7-8 characteristics that I knew, so that was what I said. It would go something like this,

Paul: Andy. What did you think?
Andy: I liked when she transitioned to pianissimo after she played for a bit.
Paul: Great. Ann what about you. What did you think?
Ann: I think she played with flourish. She connected with the piano. I particularly liked when she transitioned back to fortissimo at the beginning of the third movement. I also liked the timbre. It eleicited a dreamlike response in the audience. Did I note a Renaissance influence in what was otherwise a spectacularly obvious Baroque motif in the last several phrases of the cadenza?

On a complete side note, the Musicales I had to go to included Chris Weldon (piano playing machine...attended Julliard...taught at the San Francisco Conservatory...etc.), Ann Duhamel (has a Master's Degree and is either done or almost done with her Ph. D in piano performance), and about 5 other really good piano players. It was like that game on Sesame Street...Which one is not like the others?

Hindsight, being much more like 20/20...maybe even 20/10, I can say that Paul taught me an awful lot. So, although I am roughly 20 years too late, Thank You Paul!

Digital Scrapbook

2011-11-15T08:03:00.001-08:00

I have been meaning to digitize some of my scrapbook pics and newspaper clippings for a long time. Well, I started today. Now I post them and everyone is entertained.

This sidebar appeared in the St. Cloud Times circa 2001. It was an interview that took place at the YMCA while I was on lunch break. Each week they profiled "interesting" people to meet in the city.

Age: 26
Hometown: St.Cloud
Faumily: Mother, Margaret; dad, Fredrick; sister, Sandra, 24.
Occupation: Mathematics teacher at Rocori High School, part-time St. Cloud YMCA employee during the summer.
Which university did you attend? I started out at Dakota State, but I graduated from St. Cloud State.
What grade do you teach? I have been teaching ninth- through 12th graders for the past two years. Before that, I taught at St. Cloud State University for three years as a teacher's assistant.
What are your hobbies? I enjoy reading, playing and coaching soccer. I am coaching a summer team right now, and in the fall I coach the girls' soccer team at St. John's Prep.
Do your students like you? Yeah, probably most of them, but some don't.
What do you like about St. Cloud? Right now I’ve got a job here and that’s what I like...I like the way it’s expanding, and I like working with the kids in the high school and on the teams I coach. It’s a nice community to live in.
What part of the United States do you like the most? I like the east coast because it is pretty and historic. However I like the Midwest as far as living because the people are much nicer and I enjoy the seasons.
If you could change one thing about St. Cloud, what would it be? There doesn’t seem to be many places to meet people.This is a very family-oriented town, which is good, but they need more things for single people.
If you could go on any TV game show,which one would it be? It would probably be ‘Jeopardy’ because they have good trivia questions, or ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ because I think I’d clean up with that show
What are your plans? I am going to go back to graduate school this fall to get my Ph.D. and eventually teach math and history at the college level.

This article appeared in the Apollo High School newspaper circa 1991/1992 about the 50 consecutive hour trivia marathon that we compete in. The writer, Dan Coda, was a good friend and also played on our team.

Trivia addicts tackle tough questions in KVSC's competition

By Daniel Coda
Staff Writer

St. Cloud State University's campus radio station, KVSC, held their annual "trivia blizzard weekend" on the weekend of Feb. 7-9. This year the theme was the Magical Trivia Tour.
The trivia blizzard consists of 50 straight hours of trivia questions. Each hour eight to ten questions are asked, and each team calls in and tries to get the correct answer. Each question is given points based on the difficulty of that particular question. This year 30 teams participated, including one from Apollo High School.
Senior Andy Zieffler hosted the trivia team at his house for the third year running. Zieffler has participated in the trivia weekend for four years now. When asked why he did it he replied," I did it for Trivia Man." Zieffler explained that "Trivia Man had been shot after four years of supreme rulership of trivia."
Each team that enters has to pay a registration fee and also has to come up with a name. Zieffler has played under the team names: Hindu Quaker Sophomore Guys, Platypuschainsawcadavers, Oblong Gontal Cosmic Dust, and this year's team was called Mental Debris.
Hindu Quaker Sophomore Guys received an award for the most creative name. This year the team did not receive an award, but they did place 18th out of the 30 teams. Someone still owes Mental Debris a beer lamp.

Congratulations Rob!!!

2011-11-13T14:55:00.001-08:00

My friend Rob just got the first copy of his recently released book.

It looks pretty. And the cover picture is so tranquil. I can't wait to get a copy. You can pre-order it on Amazon.

Justin Bieber Says...

2011-11-08T04:17:00.000-08:00

Learn statistics. And don't do drugs or you might

think my music is good. Tragedy!

Reminiscing

2011-11-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Buddy Holly said it best..."I'm just sitting here, reminiscing." I finally checked Facebook and got caught up on everyone's lives (Hooray internet stalking...errr..catching up!) The posts on the group, St. Cloud Apollo High School Concert Choir 1970-1999- the Bob Sieving years, got me reminiscing about high school choir. Bob Sieving was the choir director at Apollo High School and was simply amazing. He got more students involved in music than anyone I know. He also somehow managed to get high school students to perform at levels that I don't believe to this day. I sang with his choirs from 1989-1992. He also taught music theory. I learned more in Bob's music theory course than I did when I took it in college.

Here are two tunes from that era. The first is from Handel's Messiah. We performed this at St. Mary's Cathedral in St. Cloud, MN circa 1991.

Surely He Hath Bourne Our Grief

The second is from an MEA Mid-Winter Concert. The pianist in the second tune is my friend Chris Weldon (ping pong player and Julliard grad). The best part of that recording is at the end of the song. Chris ended so strongly that the bench flew back. Listen for it!

Trampling the Woods Alone

Two Books

2011-10-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

I received two books via Amazon this summer that I truly devoured. The first is called Beautiful Data. Each chapter in this book comprises a separate essay written about data. The topics range from data collection to data storage to data analysis–and all were fascinating. For example, Aaron Koblin with Valdean Klump contributed a chapter entitled Building Radiohead’s House of Cards.

This is the story of how the Grammy-nominated music video for Radiohead's "House of Cards” was created entirely with data. Before you read the chapter, you should watch the video. The definitive source for the video is the project’s Google Code page: http://code.google.com/radiohead. On that site, you’ll also find several other resources, including sam- ples of the data we used to build the video, a Flash application that lets you view the data in 3-D, some code you can use to create your own visualizations, and a making-of video. Definitely check it out.

There were several cool things about this book, not the least of which was the royalties for the book were being donated to Creative Commons and the Sunlight Foundation.

The second book that really excited me this summer was Nathan Yau's Visualize This. Nathan is the creator of Flowing Data, one of the best blogs on data that exists. In his book, he explains how to create some super-sweet (it's a technical term) visualizations of data. I can't say enough nice things about this book. And....it's aesthetically pleasing to look at.

With This Kind of Taste It Should Have Been Called iTunZ

2011-10-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

What kind of music do you listen to? This is a question I hear a lot. Well, not really anymore, but it sounds more impressive if I start with something that sounds cool. The answer to this question is conditional on the moment in life that it is asked (at least to me). If you asked when I was a toddler, it would have been Sesame Street and Lawrence Welk; at 14...Weird Al Yankovic. While I still hold a soft spot for those performers ("Monster in the Mirror" might be one of the greatest songs ever recorded) they aren't currently at the top of my iTunes playlists. Anyway, that was sort of a long-winded introduction to a blog post that identifies some of the music that currently plays in my head.

24hr Rhythm (DJ Topcat)
This is near the top of my most recently played songs. Mashing up the sweet stylings of Eazy E. (24 Hours to Live) with the illustrious Man in Black (Get Rhythm) makes for a gem. I also really groove on Folsom Prison Ganstaz. Topcat has also combined Jay-Z/Led Zepplin and Rhianna/Alice in Chains. Check out his stuff at http://sites.google.com/site/djtopcat/

The All-Girl, All-Gospel Quartet (The Statler Brothers)
This is a beautiful song. The Statler Brothers might be the best storytellers of all-time. (Note the play on "all"). The harmonies alone put this song on my list.

Oh Sherrie (Steve Perry)

You should've been gone
Knowing how I made you feel
And I should've been gone
After all your words of steel

Need I say more?

I Remember You (Queens of Dogtown)
Seriously. What is cooler than a Skid Row cover you ask? A Skid Row cover by Lenny Kravitz's daughter's (Zoë Kravitz) band. Even better, they were the band that Hank Moody's daughter forms in Californication.

Too Country (Bill Anderson, Brad Paisley & Chuck Cannon)
Whisperin' Bill Anderson is a legend. Brad Paisley married Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride). Plus he is a pretty darned good singer. His duet with Alison Krauss, Whiskey Lullaby, may be one of the most haunting, depressing songs out there. Chuck Cannon is better known for his songwriting, but on this tune he whales.

Right Here Waiting (Richard Marx)

I bought the Stories to Tell album on a lark earlier this summer. What a great buy! Richard Marx acoustic. All of his classics. Try not singing along. It's impossible. Hazard, Angelia, Hold on to the Nights, Should've Known Better, Endless Summer Nights,...man, Richard Marx is 'da bomb.

I (Heart) TV

2011-10-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, I spent a lot of time watching movies. I watched, on average, about 5-10 movies per week throughout my twenties. But lately, I have had a hard time digesting movies of any kind. I get antsy and I also think that they have really lost a lot of appeal to me. On the other hand, I currently (heart) television. There are so many great shows on now. Better acting...better writing...better everything. (Bonus: If you fall in love with a show there are often multiple seasons!) So, inspired by lists everywhere, here is my list of favorite shows (in no particular order other than how they come to mind):

Big Bang Theory (Do I know these people? I am these people.)
Sons of Anarchy (Awesome!)
Californication (Awesome Squared!)
Dexter (Love the show , love the books.)
Game of Thrones (I can't wait for Season 2)
Breaking Bad (The last season wasn't as good, but I will withhold judgment...for now)
The League (It makes me laugh)
Revenge (I do (heart) Kevin Williamson.)
Suits (I can't pass up a good lawyer show or movie.)
Vampire Diaries (Teen drama = me watching)
Rookie Blue (nothing to really say here)
Detroit 1-8-7 (again....no reason)
Justified (totally sweet....gotta love the hat)
The Walking Dead (The rumor is Season 2 isn't as good...)
Chuck (geez I watch a lot of TV)

Here is a list of shows I watch, but either haven't come to (heart) or no longer (heart):

House (Getting old, but I still like House as a character.)
True Blood (This show jumped the shark after Season 1)
PanAm (I (heart) Christina Ricci, but that is about it)
Rescue Me (It got repetitive and should have ended a season or two before it did.)
Gossip Girl (First season was great....then...???)
Lie to Me (ho-hum)
Hung (the characters are not growing on me...no pun intended)
Weeds (i'm bored)
Entourage (see above)
Mad Men (this show is som much better on mute)

And finally, a list of shows that I have watched and (heart) but are no longer with us:

Dawson's Creek (see comment for Revenge)
Friday Night Lights (an underrated show)
The Shield (got better with every season)
The Wire (see above)
The Booth at the End (only on Hulu)
Outlaw (Still love a good lawyer show)
My So-Called Life (Claire Danes + Jared Leto = pretty. The quintessential 90's show)
Portlandia (Life in Portland....so apt)
Wonderfalls (so quirky)
Durham County (Dark...gritty)
Freaks and Geeks (my junior high life)
October Road (The TV version of "Beautiful Girls")
Life (revenge...prison...great)

I'm sure I'm missing some. Some that I watched but really don't make the list are Hidden Palms (Kevin Williamson), Sex and the City (after the second movie it doesn't deserve mention), V (the original series), Flight of the Conchords (their music is the best), MI-5 (BBC = napping), and many more...