Overpopulation?? A great talk with Data Visualization

Watch this video, answer the questions raised by the speaker and see how knowledgeable you are about the global society.

The speaker has used many interesting data visualizations in this speech.

Why I don’t write LinkedIn Recommendations?

12/11/2017 Why I don’t write LinkedIn Recommendations?

(I have been busy on program administration and didn’t have time to update this teaching blog. Let me restart this blog with a personal comment.)

Recently, I received a request from a close student who asks me to write a recommendation on LinkedIn. It is a hard declination that I have to make. LinkedIn.com is the leading platform for professional social network, and many newly graduates are working hard to advance in their career.  Why do I decline to write a recommendation letter on LinkedIn?

In Citi Double Cash Credit Card TV commercials: "if everybody speaks out their mind..." on LinkedIn.com

For a young professional, being accepted and recognized is an important thing and if that recognition is available online, that is even better. However, as a reference who writes this recommendation letter on LinkedIn, a recommendation letter with only positive words is like giving patients an instruction to take a medicine without giving any revelation of possible side effects.

LinkedIn.com’s recommendation is open to everybody. Rational references would only give positive words on LinkedIn recommendation because the person who receives the recommendation can see what you write and determines whether to hide to show the recommendations. Similarly, Rational people will only reveal positive recommendations. Thus, who will give a recommendation with negative words on LinkedIn? I bet, no body, except those people who are not afraid to burn the bridges.

However, nobody is perfect. Using taking medicine as an analogy, viewing recommendations with only positive comments is like choosing the medicine only by see their ‘positive effects.’  I may recommend a very good student of mine within a heart beat in most cases; but if that person is not good in quantitative analysis, and the lookers are looking for a in-depth analyst, how can my ‘only nice comments’ recommendation really help the looker? As the reference, I have no idea who will be looking for the person I recommend on LinkedIn. I do not mean that for all people who ask for a recommendation letter from me, I will always “have some reservations.” However, giving LinkedIn.com recommendation is like writing a blank check and don’t care who will cash it.

If you just receive a rejection from someone you hope their recommendations can help you, please don’t be disappointed. In my perspective, LinkedIn’s recommendation is not an ‘industry standard’ that every recruiter will check. Over the last ten years, I only received two other requests and I declined to both of them. If it has become popular, then definitely the professors will sense the change of tide. You can see an article on FastCompany.com on "How To (Politely) Decline Requests For LinkedIn Recommendations?"

You can think from the recommender’s perspective. Do you want your ‘only nice comments’ recommendation stay online for a very long time? When will you think those words may not apply anymore? from someone who never contact you again after your recommendation letter? If that is the case, then how would you ‘withdraw’ your recommendation on LinkedIn? How will you explain about the withdrawal?

We all know grade inflation is prevailing in education and the value of GPA is decreasing. It is a global phenomenon and nobody can escape from it. I reflected on this dilemma years ago. From my training background, I know I probably inflate the grades by 2 grade levels. Should I stick with the ‘traditional academic standards’ and grade accordingly? If I do so, then the students who took my class will be in disadvantage when they graduate (especially for those who take many classes from me). WHY? Because other students who don’t do well in other professors’ classes can still receive A or A-  grade, but those good students in my class can only get a B+  or B. Is it fair to them? I don’t think so.

Grade inflation is a new version of “Gresham's Law” (that bad money drives out good money). So let’s don’t make our personal recommendation become a game of award stickers on NCAA football player’s helmet.

The first time I noticed those stickers on the helmet, I wonder "what is that? why do they ruin their helmet with check stickers?"

Houston TX in High Water

(2017/08/27) It is the second day after Hurrican Harvey hit Texas. The city of Houston is shown in high water. Live traffic map tells you how the city infrastructure is paralyzed by torrential rain (when you click the link now, it will show differently from this capture image). Most sections of the highway systems show no traffic. Most communities if not in water are probably like isolated islands. There will be more rain and water to come in the following week. Pray for the city!

https://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/ (Houston's live traffic map)

Captured on 2017/08/27, 22:11:20.

The following picture is capture 13 minutes later from http://abc13.com/traffic/, but it seems to tell a different story. Green parts mean traffic are in good conditions (good speed). So which one is correct? Maybe BOTH. When there are not many cars (due to bad weather and many flooded areas) on the highway, the speed condition is good. 

This one capture from http://abc13.com/traffic/, 13 minutes later. 

Walmart to lower prices on a million online-only items if you opt for store pickup over shipping

(4/12/2017) If you can get discount from online-only items on Walmart.com but you have to pick up at Walmart store, will you do that? You may try. That's what Walmart is trying to have a close fight with Amazon.com in online shopping. Walmart wants to lure millions of online shoppers who visit Walmart stores but never try to shop on Walmart.com.

However, I don't think that will work for Walmart. Why? Because I did shop at Walmart.com and I don't have the confidence. But there is several other reasons that I think Walmart 'underestimates' the complexity of online-and-real-store retailing and how consumers will react to any shipping issues.

1. The service time @ Walmart is terrible and it's well known. You may save several dollars, but at the cost of waiting for 20 minutes in Walmart's long lines? 
2. Think of a situation: a consumer has a shipping issue (say wrong items, or cannot find the package while it's said 'arrived' on notice) or the consumer remembers the wrong store to pick up. Since the consumer is at the store already, he will ask what's going on (At Amazon, the buyers will trace and figure it out by themselves, at consumer's own time). It's an extra burden on Walmart's employee's service time. 
3. Imagine a situation in point 2. How many Walmart employees do you think are capable to solve the complex logistics problem, capable of using sophisticated corporate computer to figure it out? Many of Walmart associates have less than $10 hour-wage, don't have computer and broadband Internet at home? With minimal employee training, do you think they can solve online shopper's problems? 

I don't think so. 

US Retailers Are in Big Troubles

(4/8/2017) The brick and mortar retailers in the US are in big troubles. When the US economy remains strong, the number of retailer bankruptcy reaches post-recession (2008) high. As online retailers (or those traditional retailers with good online stores) gains more market share, traditional retailers have to figure out their survival strategies. One thing is for sure, those low-pay retail clerk, salesperson jobs will shrink!

Next industry to watch: restaurants in the US may scale back due to overexpansion

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-03/2017-retail-bankruptcies-soar-great-recession-highs (4/8/2017)

Wind Farm in China Is Mostly Idle

(03/08/2017) There is a famous sentence in the movie of Kevin Costner "Fields of Dream": If you build it, he will come. Now Chinese built a lot of wind farm and solar farm harnessing energy from Mother Nature, but nobody comes (from NY Times).

Several key problems in the alternative energy market in China: (1) lack of logistics shipping excess energy to the market of demand, (2) there is no marketplace trading alternative energy (and no clear guidelines for regional governments to work together), and (3) lack of infrastructure.

This video below is made before the dream becomes a reality. (ironic, isn't it?)