My favorite Wikipedia page

OK, it is not related to my dissertation (at least not directly), but I like this Wikipedia page very much. Especially the quote from Dr. Frankfurt's book:

It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.

Classic. Reminds me of what most scholars do (whether they know it or not) when they write.

Oops...perhaps that's bullshit.

No more whining

In response to the previous post entitled "Coding Sucks", this blog has officially become a "No Whining Zone".

On second thought, isn't that one of the purposes of having a blog...to whine???

Coding Sucks!!

Given my current coding framework, I will need to come up with codes for a metaschema that will need to fit the following basic format:


{unit} {predicate} {resource1 [, resource2]}


Where there are (at least) 5 units not including the individuals themselves, 5 predicates (including contributes, accumulates, uses, exchanges, and transforms; the latter two require the second resource), and over 10 resources (more like 18-20) of three types (capital, goods, and services).


This level of 'micro-analysis' cannot be necessary. Unfortunately, my advisor (who I respect highly, mind you) says that it is absolutely necessary for the next round of analysis. Bummer... Looks like it's time for another quote by Ovid:

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to good by and by.

What a good week...so far

What a difference a week makes! I can now see clearly to what I have to do to get out of here.

• No, I do not have a good coding template yet, but I am well on the way to having one. The new, new one has a lot of good points going for it, but I will have to go back over it again, which sorta stinks but is better than the previous one.
• The interviews since 1/24 (four, with 2 more for this week and one to reschedule) have been outstanding! I can honestly say that I have learned a lot about the cases that I have been studying and also about the software industry in general. Lots of good info on all fronts!
• Received official invitation to a think-tank that will cover the area that I am doing for my dissertation and my writing for the next 4-5 years. Should be an excellent way to get some great contacts. I can even see how this could lead to some personal equity-building activities.
• Wrote a brief which should set up my dissertation writeup, which my advisors think would be ok. Additionally, they want to work on a separate case, which should satisfy the aspirations of the CEO of the case firm.
• Worked on two other non-dissertation related projects, both of which should lead to publications.

A great, great week indeed! Now for the next week, I need to work very, very hard on coding and data analysis to see if I will be able to produce some meaningful insights...