2018-10-08T17:53:41+00:00 http://erectlocution.com Daniel Black Copyright (c) 2005-* Daniel Black 2018-06-05T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2018/06/05/i-need-to-do-more.html/

It's hard to fathom writing anything here that doesn't run aground on any number of logical fallacies and yet says anything worth reading. Certainly the current social and political climate is not unprecedented in its aesthetics, but it may be in its scale and the efficiency with which damage can be done.

2017-12-21T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2017/12/21/its-been-538-days.html/

We now enjoy the tyranny of a garbage homonculous taking vocational residence in the White House of the United States. And never in history have tools existed that allow for such easy scaling of platforms of hate and ignorance. In some cases human agents aren't even necessary; acrimony is a turnkey solution. Also YouTube is still fucking weird and wonderful and awful.

2016-06-30T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2016/06/30/my-ignorance-and-spiritual-ruination.html/

Some of the ways I've attempted to jump-start—borrowing from Ayn Rand here because I like how she puts it—a "motive energy" is by creating to-do lists and projects and even a mind map or two. These incantations, designed for folks with energy and focus who merely need organization, don't retroactively _generate_ energy and focus. As [Merlin Mann](http://merlinmann.com) might say if he were less elegant and more self-derivative, creating a bullet list of things to do without the wherewithal or considered interest in their completion is like buying a chair about jogging. So [first, care](http://www.43folders.com/2010/02/05/first-care).

2016-06-29T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2016/06/29/investment-is-self-referential.html/

Unlike ignorance, I struggle to maintain investment in anything beyond near-term gratification. This isn't necessarily problematic; it's not an objective failure. But it's a challenge.

2016-06-22T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2016/06/22/ignorance-is-a-product-of-itself.html/

It cloaks its victims recursively like a snake within a snake. It's ignorance all the way down.

2016-02-23T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2016/02/23/recovering-internet-aggregator.html/

For too long now I've harrassed and harried those closest to me with an increasingly “eclectic” (read:“What the hell is this already?”) stream of links to pit stops on the information superhighway, be they articles I think are of interest or arrestingly funny things about cats or nihilism.

2016-02-21T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2016/02/21/things-are-looking-up.html/

Spring approaches, same as every year, notwithstanding some noisiness in the date or intensity of its approach. What to look forward to? New Year's resolutions feel so preemptive or even premature. Might prefer spring resolutions, when the motive energy for improvement is at the ready goading us on to our illusions of future productivity.

2015-01-19T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2015/01/19/Ive-decided-its-nigh-time.html/

This is motivated not least by the NSA kerfluffle and other wrong-doing, the decades-long attempts by governing bodies to stifle the tools for their citizens to express themselves, especially _as_ a citizenry corralling their governing bodies, and the increasing ease with which anyone with an unimpressive fluency with digital technology can make endroads around security and good intentions.

2015-01-12T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2015/01/12/I-may-have-found-the-book.html/

I realize it's a little silly to think there is a single book or source regardless of medium that will settle my mathematical ills. Depending on the scale chosen, that settlement will require one, a few, all, or all possible books, nevermind that the field will certainly outstrip any possible number of published summaries. Mathematics as a collection of fields is verdant. It grows. Within it, probablity and statistics--which many may consider largely exhausted--continue to adapt and find new soil in which to take root.

2014-11-16T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2014/11/16/a-few-months-ago-i-asked-for-recommendations.html/

(Nevermind that I seem not to have actually asked anything.) I'm still in the same boat but am considering a different approach. I [mentioned](https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/source-for-autodidactic-learning-of-data-analysis-techniques.744324/) that I felt approaching practical (mostly work) and theoretical problems on my own was like "a random walk through the space of modelling techniques and undergirding theory." I've looked into graduate programs and tried to form working relationships with potential mentors, but my schedule and rural home make this somewhat difficult.

2011-01-23T00:00:00+00:00 http://erectlocution.com/2011/01/23/on-december-12-2010-i-graduated-from-the-university-of-cincinnati-with-a-degree-in-mathematics.html/

I'm still trying to figure out what I think about that. I started in February of 1998, studying physics at [Miami University (Ohio)](http://muohio.edu), and soon after decided that I might as well pursue a dual math/physics major. Some years later, logistical practicality prevailed, and I chose to study only mathematics. I'm still skeptical that I ever did.