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<\/a><\/p>\nSorry to be late on my post on gender-disparity of choice in parenting (a follow-up to \u201cA Soup Nazi Approach to Sex<\/a>\u201d and \u201cSexual Responsibility and Culpability<\/a>\u201c). \u00a0I\u2019ve had a busier week at work and in the evening than I anticipated. \u00a0I promise you\u2019ll have it by Saturday. \u00a0Can I make it up to you all by letting you know that licking skulls is a frequently used field test among physical anthropologists?<\/p>\n No foolin\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n In another case of\u00a0counter-intuitive\u00a0methods of inference, John Cook will explain this strange\u00a0occurrence<\/a>:<\/p>\n During WWII, statistician Abraham Wald was asked to help the British decide where to add armor to their bombers. After analyzing the records, he recommended adding more armor to the places where there was no damage!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Click thru to find out why.<\/p>\n Hint: selection bias<\/em>.<\/p>\n (h\/t Marginal Revolution<\/a>)<\/p>\n One last thinking-hard-about-data link. \u00a0Chris Blattman identified<\/a> a new working paper that found that:<\/p>\n Using state-level variation in the timing of political reforms, we find that an increase in female representation in local government induces a large and significant rise in documented crimes against women in India.<\/p>\n Our evidence suggests that this increase is good news, driven primarily by greater reporting rather than greater incidence of such crimes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This uptick as the result of reporting can cause a lot of problems for evaluation programs that rely on a decrease in reported<\/em>\u00a0incidents of bullying, cheating, sexual assault, etc.<\/p>\n My alma mater is still in the throes of a Title IX complaint that alleges Yale created a hostile environment for women by\u00a0suppressing\u00a0reports of sexual assault and pressuring victims to not pursue reporting crimes in any channel that brought in external attention. \u00a0I don\u2019t think the administrators who are behind that policy are necessarily misogynist; I think they\u2019re\u00a0failing\u00a0to recognize they\u2019ve focused on optimizing for the evaluation mechanism, not the goal.<\/p>\n Those three examples exhaust my collection of links on that topic, so let me move on to an exciting (and timebound) contest. \u00a0The 2011 Charles Prize for Poetry<\/a> contest is drawing to a close, but you still have until September 30th to submit a poem related to science generally or medicine specifically. \u00a0Sadly, my entry last year failed to place. \u00a0Originally drafted in AP Chemistry, my haiku is below for your enjoyment\/eye-rolling:<\/p>\n My words the titrant (This wikipedia link on titration<\/a> should help if you\u2019re lost)<\/p>\n In a very exciting development at work this week, the CEO has changed our style guide to bring back the oxford comma. \u00a0Not sure why this comma is critical? \u00a0Let this cartoon from Language Log<\/a> help you out:<\/p>\n When we heard the comma was now kosher, my whole department erupted in cheers. \u00a0I kid you not.<\/p>\n TYWIWDBI has an interesting post up discussing music as treatment for depression<\/a>, but I\u2019m just really pleased that the entry led me back to an excellent video.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have a strong appreciation of classical music. \u00a0I like reading about it (especially in G\u00f6del, Escher, Bach<\/em><\/a>), but I don\u2019t much enjoy listening. \u00a0My ear can\u2019t pick out the patterns and motifs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I love the video below. \u00a0I ran into this visualization of Beethoven\u2019s 5th in a discussion of synesthesia<\/a>. \u00a0Seeing the melodies laid out as shapes makes it a lot easier for me to see the structure of the piece.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-C7VBDW8hPck\/TnwB9tmyHII\/AAAAAAAABmU\/NF0HsJoaOe4\/s1600\/skull+lick.jpg\")
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\nyour analyte cheeks blushing
\nphenolphthalein<\/a> pink<\/p><\/em><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-XAlt68deUbA\/TnwPTeGKfLI\/AAAAAAAABmY\/H9jX9WbhWrQ\/s640\/OxfordComma.jpg\")
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