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Be the change?

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"Be the change you wish to see in the world"--It's no wonder this saying (let’s call it BTC) has become so popular. From its sense of immediacy to its spiritual turn of phrase, BTC hits all the right notes. It doesn't hurt that it is commonly attributed to Gandhi, even though, as writer Brian Morton has noted, the closest Gandhi came to BTC was a passage including these words: "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change."  Although BTC echoes some of Gandhi’s themes, its phrasing and emphasis are notably different. What is clear is that its concise form delivers a potent message about the potential for transformation--and this provides us with a window into contemporary values. BTC suggests that if, for example, you wish for more patience in the world, you should be more patient yourself. Presumably if you succeed in becoming more patient, then you have increased the global level of patience. Furthermore, your example may en...
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Probably incorrect probability

A recent post on the blog Blackademic about the alleged rape of a black woman by white Duke university lacrosse players generated a flurry of comments. One of them anonymously argued: "Unfortunately, statistically a black women is significantly more likely to make a false accusation of rape than to have been raped by a white man. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey ( http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus/current/cv0342.pdf ), less than .0004% of black rape victims were raped by whites. (The NCVS reports the percentage as 0% because there were less than 10 reported cases. I assumed 9 cases, to come up with an actual percentage) Even with the most conservative figure of 2% of rape allegations being false, this means in the case of the Duke Rape Case, the victim is 5000 times more likely to have made a false accusation than to have actually been raped." There were some perplexed responses to this dramatic claim: "yeah, cuz stats and figures are ALWAYS...
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StatLinks

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The Internet makes it possible to link a dispersed community of common interest. Now there are a number of blogs that focus entirely or in part on Statistics, but they seem not to be well connected. So I've just set up a social bookmarking website just for applied statistics, data analysis, and visualization. It's called StatLinks . It lists links that users submit, and allows other users to vote on their relevance. Links are listed in order of popularity (or in chronological order, if you prefer). I encourage people to visit StatLinks , to submit links that are likely to be of interest, and to pass the word ! I've put a few links in to get things started. (Hat tip to Slinkset whose technology made it a breeze to set this up.)
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