This week’s essay of the week is not particularly profound. Nor is it particularly well written. Instead is just a story that some Newsweek reporters wrote. But it is a story that I think is well worth reading.
The emergency room is something that we all just assume will be there when we need it, but we rarely think about the people who have to work in those places. Or the cost to keep something like that going.
Although a lot of liberals would rather die then admit it, the Bush administration has been very good for the US economy. In fact, it has been a long time since this country has had it so good. Tax revenue is up. Unemployment has stayed low. People complain about the widening disparities in wealth, but Click Here to continue reading.
Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Spring
One of the many good things about spring is that without it, and without the absence imposed by fall and winter, we flawed mortals might fail to appreciate the beauties around us. So much of the wonder of spring is found in the return of what was absent. Would the […]
A recent post over at the Marginal revolution on Benford’s law was very educational. Here is a quote….
In many data series a surprising number of entries begin with the number 1, and the number 2 is also more common than a random distribution might suggest. This is called Benford’s Law. For instance about one third of all house numbers start with one. That may be a quirk of bureaucratic numbering psychology, but the principle also applies to the Dow Jones index history, size of files stored on a PC, the length of the world’s rivers, and the numbers in newspapers’ front page headlines. It does not apply to lottery-winning numbers, see the graph at the above link.
The law only applies if you are measuring or counting something. That is why it does not apply to lottery numbers. The interesting thing about this law is how it can be used to detect various kinds of fraud. Apparently, it is very hard to fake numbers (for financial results or voters tallies) and still comply with Benford’s law.
The Qian Brothers are famous for doing extremely difficult technical juggling, both in practise and in performance. Until now, the only videos I had seen where of very poor quality. One was of the brothers passing 18 rings (6 each) and the other was of Jian Wan Qian flashing 8 badminton rackets. These videos can Click Here to continue reading.
This is a cool video demonstrating how a superconductor can repel a magnet. It’s funny how so many people assume that this is fake, but it’s actually reproducible in a home setting. This link gives an explanation of how it works, and how you could try it yourself.
In America older people tend to vote more conservatively than the rest of the population. Apparently, the French are no different. According to this article in the in The Independent (h/t tompeters! and the Brussels’s Journal) Sarkozy would not have won the recent election in France if it were not for the over 60 crowd. Click Here to continue reading.
This guy took a video of himself skiing/paragliding down a mountain. Man, that’d be a fun way to go to work! I wonder how he keeps from being blown into the side of some of those cliffs?
MERRILL, Wis. — A service station that offered discounted gas to senior citizens and people supporting youth sports has been ordered by the state to raise its prices.
Center City BP owner Raj Bhandari has been offering senior citizens a 2 cent per gallon price break and discount cards that let sports boosters pay 3 cents less per gallon
Well, the title might be overplaying it a little bit. But I have been thinking about a financial product that I think I ought to be able to buy, but can’t (at least to my knowledge).
To start off, let me explain the problem that this product needs to fix.
To put it succinctly, I think that Click Here to continue reading.