{"id":385,"date":"2010-07-23T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T00:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/07\/7-quick-takes-72310\/"},"modified":"2012-04-09T00:59:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-09T04:59:08","slug":"7-quick-takes-72310","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/07\/7-quick-takes-72310.html","title":{"rendered":"7 Quick Takes (7\/23\/10)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u20131\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

The universe has seen fit to give me an excellent birthday present this year. \u00a0On Wednesday, I discovered this video of my new favorite machine in the whole world: a train that lays its own tracks<\/a>! \u00a0I am a total eight-year-old boy when it comes to big noisy machines. \u00a0Pity the person who got stuck behind me on a narrow escalator the other day. \u00a0The escalator next to ours was being repaired, so I stopped walking and hung halfway over the rail trying to get a good look at the guts of the escalator. \u00a0Other favorite eight-year-old boy pursuits I have enjoyed in the last week: standing on top of BIG THINGS<\/a> and making things LIGHT UP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u20132\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

Another excellent birthday present came from my mom, who gave me Edward Tufte\u2019s classic handbook:\u00a0The Visual Display of Quantitative Information<\/a>. \u00a0In Tufte\u2019s spirit, I want to highlight a great visualization<\/a> from the much discussed Pew study on changes in religious affiliation<\/a>. (h\/t Common Sense Atheism<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u20133\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

Here\u2019s another fascinating visualization for your perusal: Designer Mich\u00e6l Paukner\u2019s illustration of the ancient Hebrew idea of the structure of the cosmos<\/a>. (h\/t io9<\/a>). \u00a0And one more high class visualization: the Lagoa simulator<\/a> for modeling beautiful physics.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u20134\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

Interesting data analysis can start anywhere! \u00a0Online dating site OKCupid<\/a> uses anonymized user data to study \u00a0revealed preferences of suitors and the effectiveness of different online approaches. \u00a0One recent fascinating post explored what lies were most common among users<\/a>. \u00a0(One interesting finding: men inflate their height about two inches on average, but there\u2019s also a clear preference to list your height at 6 feet even, skewing the distribution).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u20135\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

Now if only the US Government had the same delight in data as do the people linked above. \u00a0This week I have an article up for the Huffington Post on the way a lack of reliable statistics leads to a lack of accountability. [If you\u2019re checking this in the very early morning, the article won\u2019t be live til around 10am).<\/p>\n

Well. that was overly\u00a0optimistic. \u00a0I\u2019m still stuck on a conclusion and a title, and, since I don\u2019t want to bury it in the weekend, the piece won\u2019t be up til Monday.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u20136\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

Just a reminder: BlagHag is running her annual blogathon<\/a> on July 31st. \u00a0She\u2019ll be posting every half hour for 24 hours to raise money for the Secular Students Alliance<\/a>. \u00a0You can pledge a lump sum or make a wacky pledge keyed to how ofter she uses a particular word in the posts or any other criteria you like.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u20137\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

I didn\u2019t plan for this to be a data and statistics centered 7 Quick Takes. \u00a0What a delightful surprise for us all! \u00a0Here\u2019s a great capper to the list.<\/p>\n

Check out this great post \u201cSo you think you\u2019re a Bayesian<\/a>\u201d on Less Wrong<\/a>. \u00a0It gives a nice introduction to the difference between frequentist<\/a> (boo!) and Bayesian<\/a> (woo!) statistics and used clear examples to show how people frequently (and wrongly) default to frequentist thinking. \u00a0Here\u2019s the first question. Click on the link above to read the explanation.<\/p>\n

Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in antinuclear demonstrations.<\/p>\n

Which is more likely?<\/p>\n

(a) Linda is a bank teller<\/p>\n

(b) Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[Seven Quick Things is a blog carnival run by Jen of Conversion Diary<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u20131\u2013 The universe has seen fit to give me an excellent birthday present this year. \u00a0On Wednesday, I discovered this video of my new favorite machine in the whole world: a train that lays its own tracks! \u00a0I am a total eight-year-old boy when it comes to big noisy machines. \u00a0Pity the person who got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-quick-takes","tag-statistics"],"yoast_head":"\n7 Quick Takes (7\/23\/10)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"--1-- The universe has seen fit to give me an excellent birthday present this year. \u00a0On Wednesday, I discovered this video of my new favorite machine in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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