Math is hard, let's go shopping

The above is a quote from a voice-chipped Barbie that came out on the market years and years ago, prompting a group calling itself the Barbie Liberation Organization to switch those voice chips into GI Joes. This is also a favorite joke with my best friend, who made the switch from studying fluffy pretty words, like me, to becoming a statistician.

The US Census Bureau put out its 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States today. The abstract says, among thousands of other things, that adults and teens will spend nearly five months (3,518 hours) next year watching television, surfing the Internet, reading daily newspapers and listening to personal music devices. If you'd like to take all five of those months off, you might be able to get through the report in its entirety. Of course, that's not the intention but there's something perversely enticing about the idea.

For someone like me for whom the above title bears a grain of truth, you might do better checking out the press release. There's a surprisingly nice sense of humor as a gift to those of us who begin blacking out at the sight of so many numbers in so little context, such as "Pet owners walked an average of 1.6 dogs in 36 percent of U.S. households in 2001, while people were tolerated by an average of 2.1 cats in 32 percent of homes. (Table 1227) ". Also, apparently the US endangers more crustaceans than anyone else in the world.

I'm hoping to slowly wend my way through this thing and will post on it as is possible and relevant. If my statistician is out there, I'd love your two cents in the comments.

And from the world of statistical improbability, Tony Snow apologized to an NBC news reporter for calling his question about the Iraq Study Group "partisan". I'm impressed and just ever so slightly turned on.

Dead White Girls -- Across the Pond Edition

Today's major difference between the US and the UK in terms of reporting on murdered prostitues:

The UK cares about their dead prostitutes so long as there is a connection to Britian's proud whore-murdering history

The US does as long as a foot fetishist is involved

The US story-- of street prostitutes of various races murdered weeks and weeks ago, some of who were not reported missing at the time they were found-- will probably make international news now that a kink angle is in the mix as of today. Prior to this, the US story was buried in the TRAVEL SECTION of the NY Times, I guess because the main problem here is it could affect someone's itinerary.

At least the Atlantic City police sounded genuinely upset in previous articles. Nobody else seems to be. Maybe me.

As an aside, check out how the Times' readers get their panties in a knot over the correct use of "Ripper" versus "Strangler"in the comments section of the first story. Their main concern here is getting out their copyediting ya-yas. I'd love to see someone try that with Nicholas Kristoff; he'd probably have them kidnapped and airmailed to Darfur to see what they should really be getting upset about. I love the Times, but sometimes the readership baffles me. On the day after elections, the most read and emailed story on the site was about how to bake bread that doesn't require kneading. Because that's going to change the course of history.

In Other News From The Wild, Wacky World of Guns

Since the last post is basically a couple of "guns are for kooks" stories I thought I'd give the NRA a fair shake and post what is listed on their site as their top news story. If you want the fabulous framing photo of hot babes with rifles, fathers and sons bonding after having just executed a deer, and, of course, the White House, go to the link for the full media experience.

For the record, I have no problem with a law-abiding gun user keeping a gun in their house for protection, hunting, or blowing innocent soda cans off a fence as long as it's not my fence. The gun users I have a problem with are the millions who are NOT in the NRA, and that is who the majority of legislation is aimed at. I'd like to read more about how the NRA is going to help cut down on criminal misuse of the Second Amendment -- I'm sure no one is standing up and testifying for muggers', drug runners' and bank robbers' right to bear arms. Are they? And if so that couldn't possibly be because that's who gun dealers are actually selling to, could it? Nah.

As a crazy liberal, that's actually all I'm asking for, no bullets through my window or through my friends. I'll be looking that up soon.

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=2482



ELECTION 2006 RE-CAP

Thursday, November 09, 2006

On November 7, 2006, the American electorate took out its frustration and anger on the Republican Party and turned over control of Congress, not to mention governors’ mansions and majorities in several state legislatures, to the Democrats. Importantly, however, on a day that saw voters expressing dissatisfaction over conduct of the war, over political corruption and over competency to govern, Americans cast their votes for record numbers of pro-gun candidates, both Democrat and Republican.
Many of the newly elected office holders pledged their support of the Second Amendment while on the campaign trail. They got elected when voters took them at their word. Those same voters, which certainly include first and foremost NRA members, will be closely watching them to make sure they walk the walk as well as talk the talk. NRA will make sure opportunities for tests of true intentions are not long in coming.
Change in Washington, D.C., will be very real. Extreme opponents of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms have been elevated to seats of power, especially in the House of Representatives, where Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker and John Conyers is set to take over the powerful Judiciary Committee. Anti-gunners will also assume the chairs of important sub-committees. The power shift is balanced in part by the fact that Second Amendment champion, and former NRA Board Member John Dingell, the longest serving member in the House, is set to regain the reins of the Energy and Commerce Committee and will be a powerful voice for gun owners rights among his colleagues. Pro-gun Democrats will also chair some very relevant committees and sub-committees.
There will be battles ahead, and, with the 2008 elections on the ever-nearing horizon, NRA members and their fellow gun owners must remain ever vigilant. We must let our representatives, both Democrat and Republican, know one thing: we expect our Second Amendment rights to be respected.
Again, thank you for all you have done this election year, and all you will continue to do in the future.

Score Two for Texas

With apologies to my dear friends in Austin. I know, I know, the red states have blue veins but they also have an awful lot of bright, bloody red.

From today's Reuters:

Lawmaker Aims To Allow the Blind to Hunt http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=&storyid=2006-12-12T154047Z_01_N11175774_RTRUKOC_0_US-BLIND-HUNTERS.xml&src=nl_usoddlyenough

Real Estate Agent Gives Guns to Homebuyers http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=&storyid=2006-12-12T135303Z_01_N11282317_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-GUN.xml&src=nl_usoddlyenough

Thanks to Drew for the tip!

Dude, I really have to get back to work, but --

Every blogger in the world should sign up for this, and speak up in this p.r. educational session for how to deal with the baffling scary blogsphere. One of the speakers actually has "Kryptonite" in their job title, which is sort of meta-genius and also just a bit funny.

From the Bulldog Reporter:

<
What to do when a blogger sandbags your company, news or CEO? What’s the smartest — and most fruitful — way to build long-term relationships with bloggers in your space now . . . before crisis strikes? Join Bulldog Reporter’s PR University for an exclusive panel of blog-savvy crisis communicators to learn the answers to these and many more critical questions designed to demystify the blogosphere — and to give you the proven step-by-step tools, tactics and techniques you need to respond to online rumors and detractors so you can protect and promote your brand online with greater confidence and success. >>

http://www.bulldogreporter.com/conferences/crisisonline-reg.html?s=crisisonline-email

The Great Myanmar Debate

From today's Onion.

As an aside, I'd rather see a baked potato named man of the year than the guys who invented YouTube, who didn't invent YouTube this year but sold it to Google for more money than they deserved, setting off a frenzy of bullshit Web 2.0 companies in the tech sector. I'm all for Web 2.0, but I'm not for a tulip fiasco. Anyhoo--

Dictator Slays Millions In Last-Minute Push To Be Time's Man Of The Year

YANGON, MYANMAR Although Than Shwe is considered a sadistic and merciless tyrant within the borders of Myanmar, his human-rights abuses have long been ignored in the international media.

What's actually up with Than Shwe http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Than_Shwe&oldid=93916121