The Homeless Guy

Somewhere in Nashville there's a guy writing a blog about being on the streets. He's intelligent, articulate, writes well and generally runs a good blog. He's not on drugs or alcohol and he's getting off the streets as we speak. I don't know how he got there in the first place, but he talks a lot about homelessness as a recidivist thing, about how people get off and go back, about all kinds of things. Someone really should give this guy a job formulating policy somewhere.

Oxford has a lot of homeless folk. Some sell the Big Issue and after a few months they're not on the streets anymore, or not in Oxford anyway. They tend to be the ones like this guy, able to function, able to make a difference, the kind of people you can imagine getting sorted and being OK. Then there are the ones who've been around here forever, who sit about drinking or shooting up, who swear at passers by and who've clearly lost the plot big time. I'm not sure how you deal with them it really is a case of give them money and they'll turn it into alcohol or drugs. They need social services, but social services are probably at breaking point already.

We're a rich country. How the hell did this happen?

Oh, and they're a couple of teenagers hanging round the main bus station begging and doing no-one any favours. Their story is that they've run out of money for the bus home and need a few quid to back safe and sound, odd then that they're there on such a regular basis. They open with a lot of "I'm sorry, this is really bad, but I'm not on drugs or anything". No you're not, you're not even begging, you're sodding con artists and sooner or later some wideboy coming out of a pub will turn you into con artists with broken faces. Oxford really isn't the kind of place to try this on, late on a Friday night.

Soon we'll be able to use Z scores

Once you have a sample of more than 30 there is next to no difference between statistics calculated on T-stats and statistics calculated on Z-scores. Since Tad has unearthed two more MBA bloggers (both at the applicant stage) we're that bit closer to being able to use the much easier Z-score method for analysing ourselves.

Sorry, desperate attempt to use last terms knowledge there

Anyway, welcome to the blogroll to...

Treeman at MBA-Admit

and

Modz Speranto at Modz Blog

Incidently both Tad and Modz are taking steps to conceal their true identity online to avoid having their blogs interfere with their application process. At the time I was applying theb blog component of this site didn't exist and my other site was much more up to date. Have to say I went out of my way to get these noticed by the tutors handling the admissions (with next to no success). If I was assessing applicants I'd be impressed by this kind of extra-curricular stuff, If nothing else it shows that you see the MBA as an important part of your life, gives you a chance to showboat your written English (snide comments to this address please) and demonstrate some kind of community spirit.

A better reason for keeping quiet might be not wanting your classmates to read what you're writing or attribute it to you. In all honesty that hasn't been an issue either - aside from the occasional "that was interesting" or "I don't agree" my class are entirely chilled out about this.

MBA Blogging becomes statistically significant

I've been told that answering 50/50 questions such as boy / girl with any statistical accuracy requires five samples. So I can say with some confidence that the addition of Robert Black to the list of MBA bloggers means we are statistically likely to me men doing full time courses. Robert only fits half of this, being a man doing a part time MBA at Edinburgh.

I thought about part time courses long enough to decide the stress would kill me, but seriously considered Edinburgh which is a fantastic place to live. Many friends did their degrees there and my sister liked it so much she lives there. So, best of luck Robert, I'm sure it'll be great.

Back to school

I've been back in Oxford for a week now. Apologies for the lack of new year accounts, I went to Cornwall for a fancy dress party with some old mates from university. Good stuff all round.

Anyway, business school is starting to gear up nicely. Many of us are trying to get some of the course reading done before things kick off in earnest. I've made some progress on that front, but in all honesty I've not been massively productive. Unless you count social productivity, Oxford is full of people I know, but don't have time to meet up with in term time. So I've been out and about seeing friends and remembering my old life.

I went in to my old company as well. Aside from one or two new faces it's like I never left, but then it has only been a few months. Well, five or six.

About time too

There will now be a brief burst of politics. Todays Daily Mirror has a fantastic cover, The story is here. Now I don't believe the prospective war is just about oil. On the other hand, if there wasn't any oil we sure as hell wouldn't be going to war, so maybe there isn't that much difference anyway. Still, that's not my point.

My point is that this may be what it takes to finally start a serious debate in this country. As the article says 20 000 UK troops will be sent into battle in mid January - possibly, and nobodies discussed this. Global politics is carrying on an absolute farce whereby they pretend the inspections matter while lining up the tanks. The only problem at the moment is that the inspections haven't done their job in turning up the much needed causus belli.

ps : how do the Americans know Saddams got weapons of mass destruction? They sold them to him. I think Cheney was even on the board of a company that sold dual use material that could be used to manufacture chemical weapons...