tcpip: (Default)
Diary of a B+ Grade Polymath ([personal profile] tcpip) wrote2019-05-02 11:25 pm

Economics Studies, Various HPC Matters, Other Events

Today was my Public Economics exam, which is probably my strongest subject in this degree and I think I went pretty well. Of course, Public Economics is probably my strong subject in this area because I am fascinated by how unrealistic mainstream economic models are, and what goes wrong when they are applied without due consideration. Issues such as imperfect competition, asymmetric information, externalities, and rent-seeking are the norm, not the exception. Coming up soon is exams in macroeconomics and microeconomics which I suspect will be a lot more difficult for me, especially with the minimal time I have had available to do these courses. The microeconomics subject is particularly heavy on the analytic side which will require a lot of preparation over the next few days - which means skipping a couple of gaming sessions.

In the meantime I have completed the first draft of a paper for Open Philosophy on the problems of reproducibility in computational simulations (it's a special issue on the latter subject), along with the proposal to the Australian Research Data Commons to help establish a workshop-forum and data repository of HPC educational material and delivery techniques. Also worth mentioning that after five years on the waiting list I finished the last component to become a certified Software Carpentry trainer. Finally, have also completed a piece of formal assessment for my higher education degree by writing up the rationale for the International HPC Certification Forum. This is an interesting report, whereby the components are put together piecemeal, reviewed, and then recompiled into the final submission.

My daily 'blog of the federal election campaign continues, although it has slipped to every second day or so as the train-wreck continues in slow-motion. Also, received a midnight 'phone call from a locum at Rick's care facility to say that he had blood in his urine, which is usually not a good sign. There was no associated fever so he was kept under observation. I dropped by the following day to check on him, but and I haven't heard anything else since so one assumes all is well. Any worries I may have need to be put in the "cannot do anything about it" category, especially with the presence of various worries that I can act on.
johnny9fingers: (Default)

[personal profile] johnny9fingers 2019-05-02 01:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"Issues such as imperfect competition, asymmetric information, externalities, and rent-seeking are the norm, not the exception."

Aye.

Work hard and slay your dragons in the real world. Gaming can wait. You are in the part of your life where, according to recent research (using data from the winners of the Nobel for economics) folk of a certain age finally get enough information onboard in a processed fashion to find spectacular syntheses. With luck and application you can forget the B+ grade polymath schtick and become the synthesist you are working diligently towards.

Fortune favour you. [Tips hat and tugs forelock.] The world needs folk doing the thinking thing, and doing it well. :)
johnny9fingers: (Default)

[personal profile] johnny9fingers 2019-05-02 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
That's the whole point about generalists and synthethists. In any given field there are people better than us. In any simple interdisciplinary field there are fewer. And when it comes to synthesising many different components from many unspecified areas the specialists often fall short of what we can bring to bear on the matter in hand. Thankfully, else there would be no place for us.

What we do is frame and set the questions for the specialists answer, or collate answers already made. And then put those answers together and see what fits.

We are like Lugh come to Nuada to offer our services. Maybe Lugh can be our Pagan patron saint. I may not be a genius either, but I know potential; and I know the ground in which it takes root and blooms.
Edited 2019-05-02 23:40 (UTC)