"Just on one condition"

Recently there has been a discussion in my econometrics class on the notion of independence. Conditional independence and unconditional independence, which is a stronger notion of independence?

One thing led to another, I started to wonder about the "conditional love" and "unconditional" ones that we see in life. It's hard to say which is a kind of stronger type of love--you do not care what strings being attached to that person and you love him/her, that's unconditional love" that we usually get from our parents. But what if you know 100% what jerk that person is, despite all the information, you still love that person--"conditional love".

I know this whole economists' notion of "conditional v.s. unconditional" seems geeky. But I did not mean to do that.

Last Saturday, I went to the Hockey Classic at Camp Randall, Wolverines v.s. Badgers. My alma mater and my current institution. No doubt I dressed in Maize and Blue, put on whatever Michigan apparels that's available; no doubt that I received so many fingers on the way to Camp Randall and in there; no doubt it was a horrible night sitting there for several hours in a 15 degree temperature (-10 Celsius) among piles and piles of Badger fans; no doubt the night got even worse when Michigan lost 2-3.

I know putting all these together, and hearing me say "I had a great time just sitting there wearing my Michigan apparel, singing the Victors with some unknown grandpa-like man, waving my Maize and Blue scarf in the air even I only had two chances in the entire game" will lead to only one conclusion--this gal is nuts.

That, I call a conditional loyalty to my alma mater-conditioning on all the possibilities, I still love Michigan, I still support them whole heartedly.

ps: Conditional independence is a stronger notion of independence if you have guessed correctly.

pss: Today the Chinese national squad beats Korean on the soccer field 3-0, first time in 32 years. I was deeply touched by those long suppressed Chinese soccer fans.

posted by panda xuan @ 5:10 PM