A Tribute to Escher

This is a fun little look at some things inspired by the work of M.C. Escher.

Now that Leap Day Is Over …

What are your plans for the leap second coming later this year? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out this video:

(HT: Rob Martin)

Pretty Sure I’ve Heard This Presentation

(HT: Jason Molesky)

How to Bomb the AP Stats Test

To those of us who grade AP Stats, this is hilarious. If you are not one of those, you might learn something about how not to do statistics.

Interesting Statistics from 60 Minutes

I can’t embed the videos here at this point, but here are a series of videos from recent 60 Minutes episodes that reference statistics in the news.

First, on a recent case of forged credentials and misrepresented data at Duke University.

• The main piece can be found here.
• A bit about the researcher and his overstated credentials.

Secondly, a study of the placebo effect that seems to indicate that anti-depressant medication may be nothing more than a very expensive investment in the placebo effect.

• The main piece about looking at all of the research over the years and finding a stunning lack of significance.
• The journalist reflects on the story.

As a statistician, the ability to get a drug approved if two studies show an effect and ten studies show none is ridiculous. This is not good scientifically or statistically.

A Fun Piano Guys Video

This is probably my favorite video from The Piano Guys (and I’ve watched quite a few). Enjoy!

(This one is for you, Heather Martin!)

Some Amazing Piano Playing

This is for my pianist friends, and those who appreciate beautiful playing. Love the constant views of his fingerwork!

How Your Church Can Transform Its Neighborhood

Public School #3 in Englewood

This is an insightful piece from Chris Smith, editor of The Englewood Review of Books. Chris is married to one of my high school friends and attends the same church as my wife’s brother and his family in Indianapolis. In this article, he details how their church went from a failed attempt at being a mega-church to having a huge impact on their down-trodden neighborhood in a poor area of the Near Eastside of Indy. Here’s a taste:

Englewood is a tiny postage stamp of a neighborhood on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis. In many ways it’s a stereotypical abandoned urban neighborhood. Located at the heart of the ZIP code with the highest rate of vacant housing in the state, our neighborhood continues to see occupancy rates plummet. But there are signs of hope.

On Rural Street, the century-old Indianapolis Public School #3 building (which has not functioned as a school since 1979) is being converted into 32 units of gorgeous, mixed-income housing. It will be the first development in the state to integrate market-rate and affordable housing with supportive housing for people coming directly out of homelessness or severe mental illness. Right behind the school, a vacant lot once covered with asphalt is now a community garden that has expanded every year for the past decade. And just south of the garden and school building, on the exterior of a commercial building on Washington Street that was once home to a seedy used appliance store, a local artist is painting historical scenes from Wonderland, the amusement park that graced our neighborhood a century ago.

In the midst of this surprising renewal is Englewood Christian Church, a failed megachurch that spiraled downward with the neighborhood. How is it that our congregation, now about 200, was able to help orchestrate these strains of change? The short answer: We learned to talk to each other.

To read what that listening lead to, check out the piece here. It is worth the read. I think many of us could learn from this example. Rather than attempting to tell our neighborhood how they can improve, let us listen to their dreams and goals, and figure out how to partner with them and show them the love of God as we work along side of them.

The Ugly Truth Behind SOPA/PIPA

A more detailed look at how we got to this point with SOPA and PIPA and what the content industry wants.

On Read-Write Culture vs. Read-Only Culture

With the prevalence today of the SOPA/PIPA protests, an interesting take on copyright law and how it might need to change lest it stifle legitimate creativity!