Stats, datavis, edu, brains, etc.
Listen. I want to tell you about someone who spoke up when the stakes were high. It was 1939, the start of World War 2, in Poland. Life-or-death stakes and I mean that literally. I want to tell you about my great-grandmother. Now, here in 2025 I m hearing quite a few reports of courageous civil servants, Continue reading Courage in difficult times
I am sorry to hear that Rob Santos has resigned from being director of the US Census Bureau. Robert Santos decides to resign as US Census Bureau director midway through a 5-year term [Santos] said in a letter Thursday evening that he made the decision after deep reflection. The Texas native said in Continue reading Robert Santos resigns as US Census Bureau director
It s been a while. Years ago in 2017, I posted with concern but cautious optimism about the integrity of federal statistical data. Now in 2025, as that presidential administration returns to power, these concerns (and many others) are much sharper than ever before. First of all, an atmosphere of you d better tattle on your colleagues Continue reading Well, here we are again
The fall semester is over. Time to kick back and relax with data analysis puzzles? Yes, of course! The creators of the VisiData software have put together a Hanukkah of Data, 8 short puzzles released one day at a time. Four have been released already, but there s still time for you to join in. From Continue reading Hanukkah of Data 2022
We re hiring for a tenure-track faculty member in Statistics! Are you interested in teaching at a beautiful small liberal arts college in Maine? Are you looking for academic positions that value a balance of teaching research and provide resources to support you in both regards? Not to mention a competitive salary, good benefits, Continue reading Hiring a tenure-track statistician at Colby College
I m fortunate to be able to report the publication of a paper and associated R package co-authored with two of my undergraduate students (now alums), Cole Guerin and Thomas McMahon: K-Fold Cross-Validation for Complex Sample Surveys (2022), Stat, doi:10.1002/sta4.454 and the surveyCV R package (CRAN, GitHub). The paper s abstract: Although K-fold cross-validation (CV) is widely Continue reading…
We have been gravely following the heartbreaking news from Ukraine. I have written before about one set of my grandparents, and how they met as schoolteachers in the aftermath of WWII. Now, as I read news about evacuation trains from Ukraine to Poland, my mind keeps coming back to the reason why my grandmother s parents Continue reading Ukraine and Poland
I am saddened to hear that Lee Wilkinson passed away a few days ago. Wilkinson created the hugely influential concept of a Grammar of Graphics and wrote it up in a thorough, thought-provoking book. Through his writings and his own entrepreneurial spirit (he started SYSTAT and sold it to SPSS, then worked with Tableau and Continue reading In memoriam: Leland Wilkinson
Welcome, new readers. I m seeing an uptick in visits to my post on Xiao-Li Meng s Big Data Paradox, probably due to the Nature paper that was just published: Unrepresentative big surveys significantly overestimated US vaccine uptake (Bradley et al., 2021). Meng is one of the coauthors of this new Nature paper, which discusses the Big Continue reading Big Data Paradox and COVID-19 surveys
Nerd alert! Do you remember those old-school text adventure games, aka interactive fiction? GO EAST You enter Jerzy's office. You see an accordion and some junk mail here. TAKE ACCORDION Taken. PLAY ACCORDION You don't know any tunes on the accordion. and so on? Well, I recently discovered the excellent 50 Years Continue reading Your sabbatical has been eaten by a grue