therandomtexan
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Statistics is the new grammar
Cllive Thompson has a nice article in Wired about the need to learn statistics, pity it’s too short, and bit one-sided (heavy snow doesn’t contradict AGW, but a heat wave, that proves AGW!).Tip from Kaiser Fung at Numbers Rule Your World, whose blog post is a better article. Update (3 May). Discussion at Joanne Jacobs Read more
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Of course, maybe they can’t read
The new Arizona "illegal alien" law has all the usual thumbsuckers in an uproar, threatening mass demonstrations, court challenges, and uninvited visits from the King of Race Hustlers, Jesse Jackson. I suspect they’re all going to be disappointed–and shot down in court–when they actually read the farookin’ law, as Byron York has. Tip from The Read more
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Wecome to Tone-Deaf U.
One of the public relations gimmicks used to promote UTSA’s Quality Enhancement Program, Quantiative Scholarship, was a contest for promotional videos. Is it just me, or is drinking the QEP Kool-Aid an unfortunate metaphor? Tip from UTSA Today. Read more
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Not all my heroes are cowboys
Some heroes throw themselves onto a grenade, others onto a mattress. Well done, Nikki Carpenter. Read more
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Explaining conditional probabilties
Steven Strogatz has a go at demonstrating the Bayes’ Box, without the box. Hundreds of befuddled and off-topic comments ensue. I teach this thing in about an hour, and all my students can do it. Tip from Andrew Gelman (commenter #17). Update (4 May). More from Kaiser Fung. Read more
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“We have repaid our loan”
This man is only lying while his lips are moving: Tip from the Instapundit. Update (27 April). Some grown-ups have noticed. Unfortunately, it won’t make the lies stop.Update (2 May). Reason TV explains the shell game in detail. And the NY Times deigns to notice. Tip from the Instapundit. Update (4 May). The Competitive Read more
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Earth Day, Smerth Day
The UTSA campus is completely consumed with Earth Day foolishness. Look at this example: Go Green Pledge, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Monday, April 19, University Center food court : Stop by and make a pledge to go green. The display will move to other UTSA dining areas throughout the week. Here’s how you can help with Read more
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Now I’m truly corrupted…
…in order to use a great new video capture tool, Screenr.com, I’ve opened a Twitter account. Catch me @TheRandomTexan. Update (26 April). It’s going to get worse: revisit lets me visualize a Twitter stream. Tip from Nathan at Flowing Data. BUT! This may be my wakeup call to get my students more engaged. Apparently today’s Read more
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Volcanoes and Airlines
Someday I hope to have time do something with this data. Tip from Andrew Gelman’s blog. Read more
The Random Texan 