Andrew Gelman wrote a blog post improving upon a recent Economist graph. I find his new graph to be much easier to read, and the data is interesting:
Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Differences in Time Allocation
Thursday, April 21st, 2011Facts are getting the best of them
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011…
Wasting away and that was their policy
I’m ready to leave, I push the fact in front of me
Facts lost, facts are never what they seem to be
Nothing there, no information left of any kind
I’m lifting my head, looking for danger signs
There was a line, there was a formula
Sharp as a knife, facts cut a hole in us
…
Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don’t do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
…
Talking Heads – Crosseyed & Painless
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/talking+heads/crosseyed+painless_20135079.html
Of The Paris Metro
Friday, December 31st, 2010From Demolition of the Paris Metro:
Good form is to, as the train passes by, launch oneself from the alcove down the half meter wide gap between the third rail and the tunnel wall. This isn’t the olympics so nobody expects gazelle like speed and grace, the uneven rocky metro ballast will see to that. Ideally the front runner watches ahead for trains, the last watches behind and if you’ve a third they can count how long you’ve been running for. It’s also prudent to watch for electrical boxes and the like protruding from the walls which require one to duck and weave while still avoid the third rail beside your knee. Knocking oneself unconscious, falling on the juicer and being pulped will crimp your day. Faites attention! With each alcove assess the situation, consider how far it is to the next (if you’re lucky enough to see the damn thing) and decide whether to stop and wait or cast those fucking dice again and keep running.
Red vs. Blue, Rich vs. Poor?
Thursday, December 9th, 2010Andrew Gelman wrote a blog post recently entitled The red-state, blue-state war is happening in the upper half of the income distribution which tells an interesting story.
It appears that poor people are collectively somewhat more likely to vote Democrat, which is not really a surprise. What is interesting is that different states are predominantly Republican or Democrat at the upper end of the income spectrum; being rich doesn’t necessarily indicate likeliness to vote Republican, depending on which state the individual lives in. Thus, as I’m interpreting the data, it appears that there is some state-local influence (social or otherwise) that encourages rich people toward one party or another.
The blog post also shows that this effect has increased over time, with a series of graphs from each 4 years since 1980. I recommend you read Andrew’s post for more info, and look for a link to his book Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State.
Political Labels are Useless in a 2-Party System
Saturday, October 30th, 2010From a post How using labels like liberal or lefty labels *you*:
Problem with these labels is that they are disempowering and I don’t accept the disempowerment. I don’t vote as anyone tells me to. I make my own mind up, for better or worse.
I agree. But I also think humans have a natural desire to label themselves… to build self-identity, to fit into a group, and/or to be lazy. Thus the biggest problem is that we have too few categories. Why do we accept a 2-party system when we, as a people, are arrayed across such a diverse multi-dimensional spectrum of opinions? It’s disempowering. It’s bollocks. It’s a system of control that we must reject.
