KARTIKEYA GHIA DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS THE WHARTON SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA  400 HUNTSMAN HALL 3730 WALNUT STREET PHILADELPHIA, PA 19104 Tel: (215) 898 6810 Email:kghia(at)wharton(dot)upenn(dot)edu

VITAL STATISTIX

Nationality: British

Current Occupation: PhD Candidate (4th Year)@ Wharton School in the Statistics dept. For those of you with a leaning towards the MBA program (like most of my friends in London), have a look at MBA

Degrees: MPhil in Economics, Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts in Modern History & Economics from Oxford University (yeah, yeah,....I know what you're thinking,.....I started of life as a Reformation historian, shifted to measuring happiness, and ended up trying to calculate the odds of a statistician poking fun at an economist)

Previous Life: Worked in Murders & Executions for 2 years in London before re-escaping to the ivory tower otherwise called 38th and Walnut

Ambition: To seek new ways of getting my genius recognised. As my favourite cartoon character will attest, this is no mean feat

Favourite quote: Miss Wormwood: "What state do you live in?" Calvin: "Denial." Miss Wormwood: "I don't suppose I can argue with that..."

 

Calvin: I'm a genius, but I'm a misunderstood genius.
Hobbes: What's misunderstood about you?
Calvin: Nobody thinks I'm a genius.

As for those seeking something deeper

Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.

..............and for those who, not unlike me in recent times, have tended to lose perspective on life- here's (the late) Keith Miller on life

"I'll tell you what pressure is. Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse. Playing cricket is not."
 

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NEWS IN SHORT

Saddam Hussein was hanged whilst being taunted

England managed to play stupefying badly to lose the Ashes 5-0

The Russians and their neighbours are back to playing chicken with Europe's oil supply

I saw the Taj Mahal for the first time

I caught up with the North Indian side of my family over the course of 3 hectic days in fog-bound Delhi.

During the course of a wedding I attended, I heard a joke that went something as follows:

There was a young man who kept lamenting the fact that he didn't have a wife. "I wish I'd find the love of my life so that I can get the inspiration to build a structure as great as the Taj Mahal." A year after his marriage, he build the most magnificent palace. 10 years into his marriage, his lament was "Why isn't she dying? I'd now like to bury her under the palace"......

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In March 2006, I completed a half marathon as part of a bet with a friend. The upshot of it was that in February 2006, a crazed (and partially irrational) Korean said an unfit Indian carrying a few extra pounds could never conquer 13.1 miles. The bet was a steak dinner, and of course manly pride.

Well, on the 28th April I staggered across the finish line in Allentown in 2 hours and 7 minutes, way behind Frank "I didn't counted on your pride" Yoon and Kenneth "we've never run this far before" Shirley.

The last two miles seemed like hell on earth, during which all I could think of was phoning Bart Yasso and cursing him for being disingenuous about the course description - needless to say, it was far hillier than anticipated. Anyway, here are some of the photographs (taken by the team cheerleader/photographer Chaitra)

 

Pictures

I'm thinking of running the 2007 version, but am as yet undecided; on the one hand I enjoyed the light exertion of the Lehigh Valley pathways, whilst on the other, but my knees felt like crap afterwards. Anyway, I'm going to decide in the next few weeks.

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Jingoism is the name of the game for some people I know,...................

Whilst others are natural philosophers...........................

I'm still trying to figure out where I fit in, though I am sure of two things:

That my friends and family made up their minds a while ago...........and that they've realised that with me

           Never argue with an idiot.
      They drag you down to their level
      then beat you with experience

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This is a saying I recently found on the internet. I think it sums up the Normal iid bunch pretty damn well...........

"Statisticians are those who won't buy a lottery ticket, but will eat British beef"

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   LINKS (remember, I didn't say they were interesting...)

• Computing background (yeah, this is for the guy who knows I'm close to a Neanderthal in this field but still wants confirmation.....) Computing background
• Dilbert's world Expectation
• Since some people in my current environment are gunning for the "ivory tower for life" position, a page for them Ivory Towers
• An economist's view of the world Economist's Perspective
• And of course, how could I miss out my current haunt Statisticians
• Some quotes on statistics and its practitioners Quotes

• My family, a.k.a. the mafia, will make a regular appearance on this site. However, owning to their interminable intransigence on the little matter of supplying the requisite information, this section is currently a W.I.P.
• Vacations
  • In January 2005, I visited Hampi and Bangalore with my long-suffering parents. 3 days were spent rooting around the seat of the Vijaynagar Empire, and a day was spent catching up with family in Bangalore. All in all, a wonderful and memorable trip. Here are some pictures from the trip. I can't put up the pics, but here is a slideshow.
    • You need to have Quicktime to view the slideshow. Quicktime
    • Slideshow

A little bit about my history Blast from the past

I presented a paper this summer at a social sciences conference in sunny Hawaii (Honolulu). The paper was entitled 'Habit formation' and was an economist's perspective on the phenomenon of migration paper

My experiences in the corporate sphere often left me feeling a little bewildered

Up the Wazoo

Cricket (also known as "physical chess") has been my saviour on many a rainy English afternoon. Cricketers in general, have the ability to speak rather colourfully about situations.

• Have a look at some recent quotes opinions
• A former opening bat for India, Navjot Sidhu, is infamous for his use of the English language
Sidhuisms
• I've come across some strange situations in my daily life. A few of them are worthy of a mention Mental perturbations
• One of the best comedy series I've come across has been Seinfeld - here are some choice moments Soups, hairstyles and cigars

Personal projects that I am either currently working on, or looking to get started on. If you're interested in the content, get in touch via email. Projects

The only solution - deny, deny, deny



Random Stuff