I don’t like this idea

It seems that it is going to be more expensive for foreign students to go to university in the US: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001319.php

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A communication from Senator Feinstein's office about this provision reads:

The immigration bill creates a new student visa category for foreign students who will pursue an education here in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology — fields in great need of graduates in this country.

Senator Feinstein's amendment doubles the application fee from $1,000 to $2,000 and the additional money will be pumped into scholarships and job training for Americans; as well as to combat fraud in the student visa program.

I don't like this plan. Why make it harder for talented foreign students to enter the US? What is the empirical evidence-how many stay and contribute to the US economy? .

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Testing

I downloaded a new blog editor: Qumana, and am going to see how well it works.

The first real day of spring here; a glorious day. The students were content, they laughed at my jokes in class, and they seem to be understanding the material. What more can I ask for?

I even enjoying reading working papers today, and I am learning a new technique that may be useful in future research.

I have the urge to purchase some new office supplies or a new office gadget. But soon. Real soon.

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Clarification

I wrote about being first or second: here.

I should clarify what I meant. When you are in a race, its better to be first (ie, I bet that the first person who walked on the moon got most of the glory, etc.). But I meant that sometimes one paper has an idea and it does not catch on. The second paper that has that idea might use it in a slightly different way, but it's the second paper that seems to get the cites. Sometimes the papers are years apart.

There is an obvious statistical problem with this—I remember such cases because the second paper shows up in print in a good journal, meaning that the work passed some sort of hurdle. Many other 'second papers' probably never make it to a top journal anyway.

I am still puzzled, though.

Is it better to be first or second

with the new idea, model, or technique? I used to think first, but now I am convinced that second might be best. Consider the first MP3 players (Rio?, IRiver?) vs. Apple. I also see it in academic research. Some literatures in my field began with one paper, but it is the second paper that gets the cites–formally in writing and informally in seminars, discussions, and so on. Why does it work that way? There surely are some interesting statistical issues to be dealt with in thinking about the issue.

Of course

I paid for the big beer and airport food today. *ouch*

It's always funny when I talk to my relatives who don't travel for work, since business travel seems so glamorous to them. I simply have no credibility when I tell them that the hotel in X is pretty much like the hotel in Y, and that most of the time, all I see is the room, the conference room, the hotel bar, and bad late night TV. And why the heck do I always stay up late? I never, ever learn.

Random memories and thoughts

*the faint smell of vomit coming from the airplane seat and/or air blowers.
*the very noisy kids running around airports (although mainly cute).
*the deer in the headlights look everyone had when the gate agents could not tell us what was going on.
*relearning that good idea + good technical execution does not mean a good paper, unless the author can explain it clearly. And realizing that some people will never figure that out, but instead spend time complaining about how unfair it all is, because d*mn it, they have good ideas. Why can’t the d*mn referees understand them?
*realizing how interested I am in research, still.
*How much noise there is in academics.
*How much of it all is about getting into the right club, so that people will take you seriously. But I notice that most people do find a club—if they have good ideas+good execution+good explanations. Or at least at a similar level to the other people in their club. There are lots of clubs too.
*How much people use appearance to judge. And some people are as sholes about it, too.
*How much interesting research is being done, but also how much is uninteresting to me. But the joy of it all is that many people have different tastes than me.
*Why do I only eat crap food at airports. And enjoy it.

Skype

How I love thee. You make travel much more pleasant and calling home so much cheaper. I am going to get a bluetooth headset soon. Then I can move around the hotel room while I talk.

I think I will tell this to the PhD students I deal with:

from signal vs. noise: Dissatisfaction / Please yourself:

I believe that stuff should be easier than it is, and it pisses me off that most people are so content with the state of the art, because it means they’re not helping make it better. -Steve Yegge

In order to create living structure, we must please ourselves
-Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order, Book 4

There is a nice graphic in the original post, too. In the end, research should be about doing something you are happy with. My easiest to publish papers often ended up being the ones I liked best anyway. And not because they moved through the process easily, but instead because they had more creativity and thought in them. They are the ones I can still go back and reread, too.

More travel

I had a long delayed flight, and so got to observe people in the airport. Most people are just tense, but this time I saw something new for me. While waiting, a businessman type goes to the counter and asks to be put on standby for our flight. By the time we leave, we were only about 15 minutes away from his original flight time. He still got on. After checking with the counter at least once every 5 minutes.

The flight attendant was like the high school teacher from hell—bossy and pretty exasperated with us all. We heard the no cell phone announcement at least 5 or 6 times, each time angrier sounding.

I happened to be sitting beside the business man. He was playing some sort of game on his fancy blackberry phone. He listened to each announcement, and then went back to playing the cell game. While we were taxiing up to the runway. The flight attendant finally came by and told him to turn the phone off. He actually said ‘Yes.’ But moved the phone to his belt clip so fast that she did not see that it was off. She asked. It was still on.

As soon as she left. back to the game.

When we got close to the ground, he turned the cell back on and started playing. Again 5 or 6 angry sounding no cell announcements.

I am not a stickler for rules, but I was getting a bit agitated about all this. If there is a safety concern, I don’t really want to get into an accident because some guy loves his cell phone Breakout.

On the other I hand, my wife showed me an article that airlines are starting to sell airtime for cell phones on the flights; perhaps the safety issue is a myth.

What is it about the airport

that brings out the worst in people. I was unpacking my laptop to enter into the security line at the airport today and a distinguished looking older gentleman just barged in front of my, slowly my progress. It was annoying, sure. But my anger level rose way too high—I was chanting ‘as shole, as shole, etc’ under my breath. No I am away from the situation, I cannot quite figure out why I was so damn upset.