Archive for May, 2009

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The Next Supreme Court Justice: Andrew Gelman’s take

May 12th, 2009

Andrew Gelman, at Columbia University, clearly enjoys his work. Anyone who publishes this must: “My quick take on the Souter replacement is that … Obama could nominate Pee Wee Herman to the Supreme Court and get him confirmed. But I’m no expert on this…” Very funny. I wonder what he’s like in person.

He posted a thorough and enlightening review of the possibilities for the next Supreme Court justice, based on current (and recently departed) judges: http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2009/05/the_next_suprem.html. Take some time to scour through his write-up.  While you’re at it, treat yourself to the rest of his blog. It’s rich!

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Posted in Data Visualization

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How Google and Facebook are using R : Dataspora Blog

May 12th, 2009

I’m a little behind the times, but I just saw this posting of how Google and Facebook are using R, my favorite new tool: How Google and Facebook are using R : Dataspora Blog. From the CRAN network to the easy chart/graph construction, R makes data analysis dangerously easy. Maybe too easy??? I mean, all those formulae have to mean something, right? I just scratch the surface of R with my tinkering, but it is clearly a very potent tool for crunching lots of numbers. And who has more data to crunch than Google? I mean, with a database called “Big Table” who doubts that they’re the biggest brother on the block.

Anyway, I plan on using R more and more in the coming months. Maybe I’ll be able to hear more about how Google is using it, too.

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Posted in Data Visualization, Programming

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One nation, seven sins [Las Vegas Sun]

May 8th, 2009

For a fascinating portrait of how the 7 deadly sins have materialized in the US, take a look at One nation, seven sins – Las Vegas Sun. It maps, in impressive detail, how those infamous markers of decadence have struck our country, putting an objective measurement to those habitually non-quantitative metrics. An effective piece of data visualization, because it tells a dire tale.

The most interesting aspect of this article, however, is that it was published by a secular newspaper, completely unrelated to any religion or denomination. Fascinating.

Thanks to revolution-computing.com for the original link.

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Posted in Christianity, Data Visualization