therandomtexan
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A Primer on Clinical Trials
Over on the Scientific American blogs, Dr Judy Stone begins a series of online articles describing the ins and outs of clinical trials. Most folks have no idea how complicated or time-consuming the process is. Molecules to Medicine Stay tuned, I’ll keep these updated. Tip from Boing, Boing. Read more
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Gettin’ it on the QR
I’m finally getting hip to QR codes. Here’s a nice (=free) QR generator; it gives me this QR for the blog’s URL. I’m currently test-driving the Butterkiss QR Scanner for my Windows Phone. So far–scanning from computer screens–it’s working fine. Tip from APOD. Update (7 October). I’m starting to get the hang of this Read more
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Bayesian Gaydar
Sanjay Srivastava describes The Precisely Fuzzy Science of Gaydar: “…, a quick calculation tells us that for a randomly-selected member of the population, if your gaydar says “GAY” there is a 9% chance that you are right. Eerily accurate? Not so much. If you rely too much on your gaydar, you are going to make Read more
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You’re not bored, you’re boring
Brian Jay Stanley explains–better than I ever could–why I’ve been saying this for years. Tip from the Instapundit, who’s always “making the dumbest sh** interesting.” Read more
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Love the message, hate the graphic
Meg McLain tells a great story about the relative risk of being killed by terrorists in the US. Unfortunately, she comes up with this baffling graphic which appears to use the sort of number scales beloved of President Obama’s budget speechwriters: Sure, there’s a scale problem, when the multipliers range from 6 to 17,600, but Read more
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Roadrunners bounce back
After two disappointing losses, the UTSA Roadrunners bounced back with an overwhelming victory over the Bacone Warriors, 54-7. Better yet, they unveiled yet another creative tactic to prevent fans from rushing the field after the game: run the score up so high that most folks left during the third quarter. For those of us who Read more
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Hobbit Rings! Oh goody! I gots a Hobbit Ring!
UTSA has just implemented a common-password system for all university online services. In the comment section of this post on Bruce Schneier’s security blog, I learn that these are called Hobbit Rings. I especially like this comment by Paul Dittrich: Years ago, a colleague asked “Why do I need to have so many passwords?” Rather Read more
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Weekly geekery
Statistics Taking the bias out of crowd counting. (Tip from the Geek Press) A bad vita trumps bad statistics. (Outraged tip from The Endeavour) Doing statistical graphics? Worry about color. (Tip from the Endeavour) Security Typosquatting. (Tip from the Geek Press) Food and Drink We took my sister-in-law out to dinner at Il Sogno a Read more
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Congressional Reform Act?
The folks in my larger social circle have become disenchanted with our current national leadership. Check out this chain email I received recently: The only way this will work is if all of the people you send this to are registered voters and actually vote! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Read more
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9-11 Memorials
I’m ducking most of them. Ten years on, that dreadful day is still burned in my memory, the greatest shock since the assassination of President Kennedy. We owe a lifetime of thanks for the lost heroes of that day, a lifetime of tears for the victims, and a lifetime of burning hatred for the perverted Read more
The Random Texan 