Promoting Statistical Literacy
I’ve said for a while that the single best thing you could do to improve our country is to teach everybody statistics. Here’s an interesting article by Cory Doctorow saying the same thing, but...
Author: Mike Garrity
TPC Calculator
Confused about the latest round of tax cut arguments? The Tax Policy Center has a nice calculator which will show you how the different proposals would affect you. Or if you prefer pictures, the...
Dance Your PhD
Have you heard of Dance Your PhD? PhD candidates submit videos of dance numbers which illustrate their thesis. Here’s one of the hits from this year: Which reminds me, we never did do a...
Four for the Money
Four recent articles on the economy. They’re by very different writers, but they kind of fit together somehow. Michael O’Hare apologizes to incoming Berkeley freshman for the mess the “me generation” made of their...
BorrowLenses
When we were planning our trip to Yosemite, I realized that when we drove there from the airport, we’d be going right by borrowlenses.com. I had heard of them through their ads on various...
Clouds Rest
From almost any place in or around Yosemite valley, you can look up and see Half Dome‘s distinctive shape. There’s one place where the view is different though. Clouds Rest isn’t the highest place...
CDPH vs. UC Berkeley
You probably saw in the news that the California Department of Public Health stopped UC Berkeley’s Bring Your Genes to Cal program. That was an interesting program which the school had put together this...
Minesweeper & P!=NP
You’ve probably heard about Vinay Deolalikar’s proof that P != NP. Are you confused about what it means? Ian Stewart has a nice explanation which involves minesweeper. Minesweeper is actually an interesting little game...
