The World according to Americans

[euroazn]

Who gives a rat's ass what the other 98% think or know?

... "We are the 99%" ring a bell?

 

[bigbadwolf]

... "We are the 99%" ring a bell?

The more I see of them the less I am impressed with them. Ignorant -- yet unwilling to listen or learn; unable to plan; poor taste in attire; and most importantly, atrocious taste in whiskey.

 

[bigbadwolf]

... lots of people give a rats ass about what the other 98% think or know.

Their shirts aren't ironed. Many look like they don't shower or shave regularly. I have come to realise my outlook and values are closer to the 1%. And what I feel about the 99% can be summed up with: "Let them eat cake."

 

[Shantanu Kumar]

From what i have heard Geography is not really a part of American high school curriculum or its syllabus is very limited like knowing American states and their capitals.Even though the bottom percentile of Indian and Chinese population would have similar knowledge as those of rest of the world but i think if you start moving from bottom towards top,trends may start going against Americans.Also i think comparison with countries like India,which has a huge amount of illiterate population is not good.Why not compare with those from other developed countries?
Here is an article about Geographical literacy of Young Americans.

Young adults in the United States fail to understand the world and their place in it, according to a survey-based report on geographic literacy released today.

Nine in ten couldn't find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.And 54 percent were unaware that Sudan is a country in Africa.Remember the December 2004 tsunami and the widespread images of devastation in Indonesia?
Three-quarters of respondents failed to find that country on a map. And three-quarters were unaware that a majority of Indonesia's population is Muslim, making it the largest Muslim country in the world.

The 2002 project also surveyed 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and Great Britain. The U.S. trailed every other country in that survey, except Mexico, which did only slightly worse

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/0502_060502_geography.html

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Can find Glockamorrow here?

 

[euroazn]

Can find Glockamorrow here?

Wow, gee whiz, Ireland's a real country!?! I thought it was a mythical island...

 

[Anthony DeAngelis]

Not to be a jerk, but while I enjoy geography, it isn't an important subject. Americans are falling behind in math and science education and people are worrying about being able to find Sudan? You take geography in grade school, but you really don't deal with it again. High school is mainly focused on AP classes, SAT prep, whatever. As I have mentioned before, leaving the USA is an expensive task. If you are in Europe you can easily travel to so many places. We have the Atlantic and Pacific keeping us home.

 

[sjain]

I'd be willing to bet the 50th percentile Indian is worse at geography than the 50th percentile American.

Well that's just because of the levels of illiteracy. But if you take the literate population from both countries, I can bet Indians are much better. As someone rightly pointed out, when you have a country the size of a continent, things tend to be inward...

 

[bob]

I would love to contribute to this discussion, but as an American I am too provincial to know whether run-of-the-mill Americans are more provincial than run-of-the-mill citizens of this world's other fine nations...whatever they're called.

However, as an American my instinct is to assert, without any particular factual basis, that if we are provincial then by God we are more provincial than anybody else on the planet, and proud of it!

"A European says: I can't understand this, what's wrong with me? An American says: I can't understand this, what's wrong with him?"
--Terry Pratchett

 

[Daniel Duffy]

I would love to contribute to this discussion, but as an American I am too provincial to know whether run-of-the-mill Americans are more provincial than run-of-the-mill citizens of this world's other fine nations...whatever they're called.

However, as an American my instinct is to assert, without any particular factual basis, that if we are provincial then by God we are more provincial than anybody else on the planet, and proud of it!

"A European says: I can't understand this, what's wrong with me? An American says: I can't understand this, what's wrong with him?"
--Terry Pratchett

I blame Hollywood. Everyone in Europe thinks hospitals are like 'ER'.

And people who book a flight to Brigadoon:D

 

[Yike Lu]

Not to be a jerk, but while I enjoy geography, it isn't an important subject. Americans are falling behind in math and science education and people are worrying about being able to find Sudan? You take geography in grade school, but you really don't deal with it again. High school is mainly focused on AP classes, SAT prep, whatever. As I have mentioned before, leaving the USA is an expensive task. If you are in Europe you can easily travel to so many places. We have the Atlantic and Pacific keeping us home.

Agree. Why memorize what Google maps will tell you with one quick search?

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Not to be a jerk, but while I enjoy geography, it isn't an important subject. Americans are falling behind in math and science education and people are worrying about being able to find Sudan? You take geography in grade school, but you really don't deal with it again. High school is mainly focused on AP classes, SAT prep, whatever. As I have mentioned before, leaving the USA is an expensive task. If you are in Europe you can easily travel to so many places. We have the Atlantic and Pacific keeping us home.

I suppose there was a time when Americans knew l'Hospital's rule *and* where Sudan is?

Too much internet and TV. The situation is not much different in Europe.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Too much internet

Isn't it a good thing? 20 years ago, you wouldn't know about life in little town in China and vice versa. Now, you can sit at home and learn anything there is to know about the world outside. Wikipedia?

 

[euroazn]

Isn't it a good thing? 20 years ago, you wouldn't know about life in little town in China and vice versa. Now, you can sit at home and learn anything there is to know about the world outside. Wikipedia?

The problem is, most people gain knowledge for only a brief time period. They glance at a wikipedia article and forget what they read in an hour or two.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

The problem is, most people gain knowledge for only a brief time period. They glance at a wikipedia article and forget what they read in an hour or two.

This passive knowledge does not get into long-term memory, only STM. It leads to a superficial acquaintance wih a subject.

And instead of programming a LU solver, some try to download it and paste into a thesis, whatever.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Isn't it a good thing? 20 years ago, you wouldn't know about life in little town in China and vice versa. Now, you can sit at home and learn anything there is to know about the world outside. Wikipedia?

books?
40 years ago there would be less sources.

 

[Yike Lu]

This passive knowledge does not get into long-term memory, only STM. It leads to a superficial acquaintance wih a subject.

And instead of programming a LU solver, some try to download it and paste into a thesis, whatever.

Much of the time, this type of superficial acquaintance is all that is needed to get a specific job done. I needed to quickly put up a web server yesterday with no frills, and I got it done by looking up tutorials.

Did I learn the ins and outs of webhosting? No. Did I need a deep understanding to get my task done? No.

Similarly, why program an LU solver when many more qualified people have spent significant amounts of time doing the same thing... and in fact have probably optimized it beyond what you would ever be capable of? I need to solve this set of equations, NOW, not a day later when I will have finished coding up and debugging a slow version of what's already out there...

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Much of the time, this type of superficial acquaintance is all that is needed to get a specific job done. I needed to quickly put up a web server yesterday with no frills, and I got it done by looking up tutorials.

Did I learn the ins and outs of webhosting? No. Did I need a deep understanding to get my task done? No.

Similarly, why program an LU solver when many more qualified people have spent significant amounts of time doing the same thing... and in fact have probably optimized it beyond what you would ever be capable of? I need to solve this set of equations, NOW, not a day later when I will have finished coding up and debugging a slow version of what's already out there...

Where do we draw the line between these activities? What if the LU code you get is buggy or you want to adapt it to Neumann boundary conditions? Then the numerical recipes break down and then what?

 

[Yike Lu]

There is no line. It is not a dichotomy, it is a continuum.

In your example... if the LU code is buggy... probably the most efficient thing to do is to try to find a different version that isn't buggy. Next step is to try and debug it. FINALLY if there is no other option, you write your own.

If you want a different spin on it that isn't easily supported by existing code... well you're probably in the set of users who would write their own anyways.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

There is no line. It is not a dichotomy, it is a continuum.

In your example... if the LU code is buggy... probably the most efficient thing to do is to try to find a different version that isn't buggy. Next step is to try and debug it. FINALLY if there is no other option, you write your own.

If you want a different spin on it that isn't easily supported by existing code... well you're probably in the set of users who would write their own anyways.

In production, yes, As student, doing it from scratch is better. And it teaches you algebraic manipulation..

Now, use LU in combination with ADI solver for option pricer (btw there is hardly any ADI code on the web).