Mgccl's Ivory Towerso tired

Just great. Today I got my TI-83+ back after losing for 13 days. I am not happy about this at all. I spent all the money for TI-89 for nothing! I'm eating top ramen because I don't have money left after the purchase!
I don't know the full story, but someone in my school took it... and then it's taken by her boyfriend, then I saw him using it in chem class... so I asked, and I got my calculator back.

But I lost over $100 because someone just decide to "take" it.
I don't know what I'm suppose to think, be happy about finally it's returned, or angry about why it was ever taken away from me.

Oh the other hand, Facebook thinks I'm gay.
I was greeted with this ad when I opened my Facebook homepage.

Now I have to rethink about my life... what did I do made Facebook believe I'm perfect for the ad... and never do them again.
So I consulted people in Lilug

ronnote: Facebook has probably just tracked all the time you've spent looking for lesbians.
Mgccl: ....
ronnote: besides you can offer to let the girls try to convert you.
Mgccl: convert me to lesbian... hot...

My major will be both computer science and mathematics.
Things I can show to the colleges
1. Around 650 Reading, 800 Math, 550 Writing on SAT(evaluated from my PSAT and the millions of the practice test I have done.
2. 800 Mathematic Level 2, 800 Chinese, 750 Biology SATIIs
3. AP Biology 5, AP Macroeconomics 4
4. Low GPA. 3.0+ but lower than 3.5
5. Non-academic achievement: A blog.Contributed to open source, did the GHOP, played piano, joined journalism for 2 years, joined local mathlete for 2 years.
Doesn't look like a very premising transcript. I will update on this January next year.
I also put the Chinese translation around so my parents in China could understand.

The table shows each college's middle 50% people's SAT range.
Red means I'm below the middle 50%, Blue means in the middle range, and Green means above

Edit: Melis have removed this joke from MIT admission blog after my comment on the 10 things I love about MIT

OK, Mgccl, I have removed the joke from the math entry. I had received your previous email and didn't remove the joke at the time because I thought that it was clear that these were jokes and therefore not factually accurate (I hope you don't take everything in xkcd as true. Helicopters don't get cancer.) While it is admirable that you took the time to correct the joke, for everyone's future reference, it's advisable NOT to use jokes as your source of knowledge on tests...textbooks are more reliable.

Some time ago, I had pointed out a mathematical flaw in the famous study = fail joke.
Now, I saw another unforgivable math joke that's completely wrong.

It's featured on MIT Admissions blog. No one commenter spotted it? Come on MIT, you could do better.

Someone is WRONG on the internet. and I have to fix it. I love how xkcd comic knows exactly what I'm thinking about.

Let's not talk about the implied stereotype of women in mathematics that tries to make this joke funnier, because that's nothing compare to getting the basic understanding of limit wrong.
Definition of limit according to wikipedia:

Let f be a function defined on an open interval containing c (except possibly at c) and let L be a real number.

means that

for each real ε > 0 there exists a real δ > 0 such that for all x with 0 < |x − c| < δ, we have |f(x) − L| < ε.

A very convinient graph of the function 1/(x-8)

What did you know? according to the graph, there is no limit.
There are, of course, left-hand and right-hand limits. So the real joke should be something like this.

Really, letting math jokes like this going around can hurt people on their tests, I learned it the hard way.

There is a interesting point I can make to make this math joke correct.
If we don't consider this problem in the usual first year college calculus's extended real number line, where there are 2 different kind of infinity. and , but to consider it in real projective line, then that is correct.
But really. How can a student can't understand the material of 1st year college calculus and working on calculus on real projective line?

The newest controversial xkcd comic brought up the issue of stereotyping of sexes.

I have been accused of a sexist because I said that "girls are more likely not getting Ph.D in mathematics."
Wikipedia says:
"Sexist beliefs, as a part of essentialism, holds that individuals can be understood or judged based solely on the characteristics of the group to which they belong—in this case, their sexual group, as males or females."

Well, under that definition, what I said can be interpreted as a sexism talk. But, truth are not suppose to be sexist, because facts are neutral.
Back in 1972, only 6% of the math Ph.D are women(The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 79, No. 5 (May, 1972), pp. 475-479), I don't know about it now, but seems it is not change by that much, my friends who are aiming to get Ph.Ds are mostly male.

Just to clear it up, facts are not biased. I really don't like personal attack because I told the truth.

Stereotype definition from wikipedia:
"A stereotype is a simplified and/or standardized conception or image with specific meaning, often held in common by one group of people about another group."

Stereotype are useful in human sociality, because it usually generalize people with certain property into one class, and that class is associated with other properties most people in the class have. A lot of people hates stereotype, but that's the thing help the sociality to work. If you see a guy with a knife on his hand and approaching you, stereotype usually help you to make the most intelligent choice--run. Of course, he might just holding a knife for fun, but would you take the chance?

A common stereotype for Asian is "Asians are good at math". Some sensitive people get offended at it. I know plenty of Asians who sucks at math. Does this make people with those judgment racist? No, I don't think they are saying "Asians are the most superior race."

This comment for an article on Gene Expression generalize some women's feeling when someone stereotype "women sucks at math." I do agree that not all women are bad at math, some are better than most men. But what I really can't agree is the feeling she has. She thinks saying anything about women's ability in general is going to be "WE men are better than women" statement.

Where does the resentment come from? She think that most guys in the world is sexist and out to get her or something? I don't know. But I don't see anyway in the article shows that "men are just... superior".

There might be many reasons less women tries to get a Ph.D. Maybe because math is not interesting. Like in my computer science class, there is not a single girl, I guess if math is a elective, I won't see much girl(or much student) in it. Maybe because girls get married and had kids and her husband tend to not care that much about their child so she gets more burden and eventually buried her talent, it not like it never happened before. I rarely see someone would accept that "because women a built to suck at math." because it sounds really sexist.

Maybe most people don't understand, that there is no such thing as full equality. There are things some people does better than others. Each person, or group have their own role in society. There is no superiority in people, there is only superiority in one single field. I accept that, I know I suck at English, because I'm immigrant to US 3 years ago, immigrants just sucks at English. There are reasons for it, but, generally that is true.

What if men are really better than women at mathematics? So what. Most women can do plenty of things most men can't do.
All of these things is just group some individuals and compare them at one single quality. There is no need to react violently to it.
Similar comparisons like
Women VS Men in mathematics
Man VS Ape at strength
Chinese VS USA at communism
Man VS E.coli at speed of reproduction

I lost my calculator, a TI-83+. I took a test on matrices on 4th period, and bring the calculator back to the library, and then I did some study there. In 7th period, when I tries to use the calculator again, it's gone.
The best explanation is I lost my calculator at the library. Because that's the last time I used the calculator.
I inscribed my name on the calculator, so I guess if someone find it will know I lost it.
The next day, I go back to the library, and ask the librarian if there is any calculators around. They said "nope".
Guess someone else found it and took it.
kuzew told me, last time he lost the calculator in school, it's gone forever.
This is not the first time I lost something in school, and last time, it was 2 flash drives, and it's gone, one of them I just brought the day before it's lost.
The worst part was I just put new fresh batteries in the calculator!!! If I know that's going to happen, I would not get new batteries and put it in there!

I always believed, if someone found something someone else lost, they will try to give this thing back. But no... at least, not in our school.
The good part is, I just brought a new calculator, a TI-89, features a CAS. I didn't by the TI-89 Titanium version, I'm in Amazon prime so take off the cost of shipping, it will cost like the same amount of money. But, I like TI-89 better, because I can make it look like TI-83+ with a case change hack. Since TI-83+ is the most popular one around the US, it's will not draw as much attention as TI-84(the only possible hack for TI-89 Titanium) and eventual exposing I'm using TI-89, which is not allowed for some tests, like the ACT.
Can't wait to get it shipped to my hands... and pay my credit card bill.