7 Quick Takes (7/23/10)

Last updated on: April 9, 2012 at 12:59 am by Leah Libresco

7 Quick Takes (7/23/10) 2012-04-09T00:59:08-04:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

–1–

The universe has seen fit to give me an excellent birthday present this year. On Wednesday, I discovered this video of my new favorite machine in the whole world: a train that lays its own tracks! I am a total eight-year-old boy when it comes to big noisy machines. Pity the person who got stuck behind me on a narrow escalator the other day. The 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. Other favorite eight-year-old boy pursuits I have enjoyed in the last week: standing on top of BIG THINGS and making things LIGHT UP.

–2–

Another excellent birthday present came from my mom, who gave me Edward Tufte’s classic handbook: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. In Tufte’s spirit, I want to highlight a great visualization from the much discussed Pew study on changes in religious affiliation. (h/t Common Sense Atheism)

–3–

Here’s another fascinating visualization for your perusal: Designer Michæl Paukner’s illustration of the ancient Hebrew idea of the structure of the cosmos. (h/t io9). And one more high class visualization: the Lagoa simulator for modeling beautiful physics.

–4–

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

–5–

Now if only the US Government had the same delight in data as do the people linked above. This 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’re checking this in the very early morning, the article won’t be live til around 10am).

Well. that was overly optimistic. I’m still stuck on a conclusion and a title, and, since I don’t want to bury it in the weekend, the piece won’t be up til Monday.

–6–

Just a reminder: BlagHag is running her annual blogathon on July 31st. She’ll be posting every half hour for 24 hours to raise money for the Secular Students Alliance. You 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.

–7–

I didn’t plan for this to be a data and statistics centered 7 Quick Takes. What a delightful surprise for us all! Here’s a great capper to the list.

Check out this great post “So you think you’re a Bayesian” on Less Wrong. It gives a nice introduction to the difference between frequentist (boo!) and Bayesian (woo!) statistics and used clear examples to show how people frequently (and wrongly) default to frequentist thinking. Here’s the first question. Click on the link above to read the explanation.

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.

Which is more likely?

(a) Linda is a bank teller

(b) Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement

[Seven Quick Things is a blog carnival run by Jen of Conversion Diary]

7 Quick Takes

statistics

Previous Post

July 21, 2010

"You have to start out learning to believe the little lies"

Next Post

July 23, 2010 Chatting with a Catholic Deacon tonight... what should I ask?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many commandments were written on stone tablets?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Thirteen Ten Twelve Seven