Appendix
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Quantitative Reasoning MOOC Update
(Yeah, I finally used the ‘M’ word…) As some of you know, I’ve been working the past three or four months on getting a MOOC on Quantitative Reasoning up and running for Spring 2013. Jim and Tim and I are in discussions on how this might work at this point, and the current plan is Continue reading
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A Note on Farm Share and Subgroups
As we say in the COMPARABLE checklist, the story is often somewhere in the edges. Take this chart of the proportion of a food dollar which goes to the farmer vs. post-farm activities. At first it seems to show declining farm revenue as the the market bill (which includes everything from transportation to preparation) climbs: Continue reading
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How Not To Do a Graph: Distribution of U.S. Food Dollar
From Marion Nestle’s book on Food Politics: Interesting graph, but undermined by its cuteness. Farm value and labor, the first two segments, make up just short of 60% of the total, but appear to be less than 50% (maybe even 40%) because of all the inserted black gaps. But maybe that’s by design, to make Continue reading
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Comparison of the Day: SIDS and Prone Sleeping in Norway
This is a really sad chart: the incidence of SIDS (“crib death”) in Norway plotted out against the rise and fall of parents that put their children to sleep on their stomach. (Which was what they told you to do for a long time). As you can see, there was not only a correlation with the rise Continue reading
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Choosing definitions: BMI vs. DXA (or, Why BMI Is Not a Lie)
There is a great post over on Kaiser Fung’s blog on the BMI/DXA debate. I suggest you go read it. What it is about is this — there’s a claim to be made that BMI doesn’t measure fat accurately, and a number of people are saying BMI should be replaced by this other measure (DXA) Continue reading
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Comparison of the Day: Unemployment by College Major
In the COMPARABLE framework the “E” is for “Edges”, and part of the “question of edges” is whether there are significant subpopulations. In the case of unemployment of recent college grads, the answer is yes: The center would tell you only that the average unemployment for college grads is about 9%. But the lowest rates Continue reading
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Mental Experiments and the Mancovery
This is the new story out — it’s a mancovery! From Bloomberg: Men, who lost more than twice as many jobs as women during the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, have landed 88 percent of the non-farm jobs created since the recession ended in June 2009. The share of men saying the economy Continue reading
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When Percentages Go Wrong
A poor man said to a rich one: “All my money goes for food.” “Now that’s your trouble,” said the rich man. “I only spend five percent of my money on food.” (From a Sufi tale, recounted here.) Percentages are a really helpful tool, obviously. But raw numbers can matter too. Continue reading
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Comparison of the Day: Conservative vs. Liberal Trust of Science
From Kevin Drum’s Chart o’ the Day: Lots of interesting stuff going on there. Notice, in particular, how the trust in science falls off a cliff for moderates in the 70s. It’s also fascinating that conservative trust in science used to be as high (if not higher) than that of liberals 40 years ago. This is still Continue reading
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Comparison of the Day: CFL vs. Incandescent Mercury Pollution
From EnergyStar.gov: Lifecycle impact is an invaluable tool in making fair comparisons. It’s easy, for example, to get hung up on the small amount of mercury in a CFL bulb, a percentage of which can escape into the environment if the bulb is crushed in a landfill. But the biggest contributor to mercury pollution is coal-fired plants, which Continue reading
Hapgood 