thebattalion l tuesday,
july 9, 2013
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media
texas
Perry not seeking re-election Sarah Hoffschwelle The Battalion
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FILE PHOTO
Gov. Rick Perry, pictured during a visit to Texas A&M, announced Monday at a press conference in San Antonio that he would not run for re-election in 2014.
ov. Rick Perry announced Monday in San Antonio that he will not run for re-election in 2014. As the longestserving governor in Texas history, Perry has decided that it is time to step down at the end of his term. “The time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership,” Perry said at a press conference, according to the Associated Press. When questioned about Perry’s decision to not run in the next election, students said it would be interesting and good to have a new face in the office, despite their varying political views. Paul Ramirez, a sophomore nuclear engineering major
said a new governor could be a positive change. “I think it will be good to get someone new into office, someone who won’t have such staunchly conservative views,” Ramirez said. “His run wasn’t bad and it could have been a lot worse.” Gregory Lanier, a sophomore political science major, said he thought Perry had done a good job for 13 years, but still respected Perry’s decision. “He’s had a good long run and has served Texas well as a good strong leader, but it may be time for someone new,” Lanier said. Perry has not stated whether or not he will be turning his gaze to the presidential election of 2016. Lanier said he was curious as to whether or not Perry
would begin a second presidential campaign. “I’m curious to see what his motives are for deciding not to run again, whether he’s through with politics or if he’s planning on running for president,” he said. “His last run was not planned as carefully and he needs to prepare more for this one and show what he’s learned from his last attempt.” Perry’s first presidential campaign began in August of 2011, and was an initial front-runner for the GOP nomination. He withdrew from the race in January of 2012, after greatly impacting his national image by failing to remember the third of three federal departments he planned to discontinue if elected.
Jerseys and dresses Video of Aggie wedding sweeps the Internet Jessica Smarr The Battalion
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hough their century tree proposal was everything a traditional Aggie couple could dream of, Heather and Harvey Willis’ “Game Day” wedding was anything but the traditional ceremony. On June 21, Heather, class of ’98, walked down the aisle in a white dress toward a bridal party in maroon and white, an officiant in a referee uniform and Harvey, class of ’01, in a No. 12 A&M jersey. The ceremony began with a thrown flag by the “referee” for an offensive orange shirt worn by one of the guests, all of which was captured in videos uploaded to YouTube that quickly gained thousands of views. Harvey’s sister and matron of honor, Nikki Holster, said the couple had grown up and attended college together. Holster, class of ’97, said as an exasperated and loving older sister, she was very happy to see the two finally married. “Harvey and Heather’s relationship — I know they got engaged under the century tree, but for us it really did feel like their relationship was a century long,” she said. To propose, Harvey took Heather to the A&M campus the day before the Cotton Bowl. While exploring familiar buildings, Heather said she asked Harvey to put a penny on the Sul Ross Statue, unwittingly assisting with the proposal plans. Harvey asked Heather to walk under the century tree with him, she said. While walk-
ing, she turned around for a moment and, when she faced Harvey again, he was down on one knee, proposing under the limbs of one of her favorite A&M traditions. Both Harvey and Heather are selfproclaimed diehard Aggies, and said they dreamed of going to A&M for their entire lives. Harvey’s father, class of ’65, instilled a love for the University in him as soon as he was born. “A&M is first and foremost in my heart and always will be,” Harvey said. “My first lullaby was the War Hymn, so I had to incorporate that in the wedding somehow.” Heather said she is a first generation Aggie, but she valued her experience at the University just as much. “None of my family went to college, but I knew that’s what I wanted to do and my family whole-heartedly supported me and I was just really thankful that it was all able to happen,” Heather said. When planning their wedding, the couple said they wanted a small wedding to share with family and friends that represented two of their passions — A&M and wine. It was always understood the wedding would be maroon and white, Heather said, but as the planning proceeded, the presence of the Aggie spirit grew with it. Harvey was the first to decide his
inside life | 2 Station for art
campus
Benjamin Knox, class of ‘90, went from selling artwork out of his dorm room as a member of the Corps of Cadets to owning his own art gallery off of University Drive.
Sarah Hoffschwelle
life | 3 Let the bidding begin The only 12THMAN license plate is set to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The winning bidder will be awarded the plate before the Texas A&M-Alabama game at Kyle Field.
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Harvey Willis, class of ‘01, and wife Heather, class of ‘98, are interupted mid-ceremony by the officiant dressed as a referee. YouTube videos of the Aggie wedding, complete with 12th Man jerseys and the Noble Men of Kyle March, have received thousands of views.
Cartoons of dragons, witches explain statistics The Battalion n associate professor in the Texas A&M Department of Statistics, Alan Dabney, has found a new way to convey statistics to nonstatisticians — cartoons. In his new book “The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics,” Dabney explains basic statistical concepts, such as confounding, probability, hypothesis testing, standard deviations and sampling distribution using cartoons of dragons, witches and Vikings. “I want to make it easier for nonmath people to access and benefit from statistics,” Dabney said. “I think there are a lot of people in the world, not just math majors, who could greatly benefit from having basic tools for extracting confident information from data.” Dabney co-authored the book with cartoonist Grady Klein, the creator of the graphic novel series “The Lost Colony” and co-author and illustrator of “The Cartoon Introduction to Economics” Volumes I and II on micro and macro economics. “Grady is not a statistician, and I’m certainly not an expert story teller,” Dabney said. “He would continually
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ask, ‘What does probability mean in plain English, and why do I care?’ It was a challenge, but a good challenge, which is why I think it’s going to be a good book.” Klein discussed his views on the book, explaining its genesis, how this book will help people understand statistics and why it’s important that they do. “The book grew out of Alan’s [Dabney] desire to communicate the basics of statistics more effectively,” he said. “My own role was to create cartoons and stories to help achieve that end. Statistics can feel like a thorny subject, but our strong conviction is that it needn’t feel that way. The tools of statistics are not only powerful and helpful, they’re also fantastically clever and fun. In the end we created a book that’s funny and approachable, that provides a solid, thorough introduction to statistics.” The give-and-take process between Dabney and Klein continued and culminated into a 225 page story detailing statistics concepts in a way that is easy to understand. The book debuted June 2 on Amazon and other sites. Dabney envisions the book not as a
replacement to a textbook, but a “supplement that will help readers develop a solid grasp of the key concepts and give students, especially non-statistics majors, a better ability to understand more in-depth details in textbooks.” Stephen Turner, an ’08 a business management graduate and a recent masters’ graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design in Design Management, talked about how students will likely react to the book. Turner and Dabney work together on research about future teaching technique. “Statistics is a complicated discipline and is daunting to many students, especially those that have no background in statistics or math in general,” he said. “Students come to class expecting it to be difficult and they are immediately bombarded with definitions that do nothing to ease their nerves. By introducing the concepts of statistics in a more relaxed form, in this case through illustration, the students are shown that it is not as difficult to understand as they thought.” “The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics” has received positive preliminary reviews. Publishers Weekly called it “de-
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Vikings, witches and dragons help explain statistics in Alan Dabney’s book. lightful,” and the Kirkus review stated that “there is some inevitable simplification here — as they note, ‘in practice…conditions are often more complex’—but Klein and Dabney give a smart, enjoyable overview of this most useful branch of mathematics.”
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