1) Turning Data into knowledge : the unexpected power of the Bayesian statistics
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/science/the-odds-continually-updated.html Indubitably, one of the most glorious moment of the Bayesian statistics occurred in January when it enabled the rescuers to find a fisherman lost at sea 12 hours earlier. The model based on Bayesian calculations narrowed down the places where to search until the man was rescued. A particular characteristic of this statistic method […]
Second Price auctions and other factors in determining “Promoted Pins”
This article talks about all the things you need to do (and not to do) to create a successful promoted pin on pintrest. Being that the holiday season is approaching, and Black Friday itself is predicted to have $1.2 Billion in online sales, many online vendors are looking to promote their products and websites by advertising through […]
How Strong Thy Closure
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/31/column-change-life-modern-friendship-oliver-burkeman One of the first ‘cool’ sociology numbers that many students — myself included — learn is the famous Dunbar’s Number. Professor Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford made waves when he suggested a “cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships” (1). In theory, our […]
Blaming EDM
EDM stands for Electronic Dance Music, but with the media, it might as well stand for Ecstasy, Drugs, and Molly. Since its into mainstream culture, EDM has been blamed for promoting drug culture. It seems like for every concert and festival, there is a shocking headline stating the number of casualties. As a result, there has been public […]
Universities Ranked Using Hubs and Authorities
This article provides a description of how the “U.S. News Best Global Universities rankings,” which are published annually, are produced. I found it a very interesting read because these rankings are supposed to provide insight to prospective undergraduate and graduate students about what schools are considered “better.” After reading the article and understanding how these […]
Social Pressure For Civic Duty
In the 2008 election, Facebook introduced a small button at the top of every user’s newsfeed that said “I voted” or “I’m a voter” and would show the user a count of how many other Facebook users clicked the button along with small thumbnail profile pictures of the voters. Facebook calls this its “Voter Megaphone” […]
Travel Sites
You see a great deal advertised on a site such as TravelZoo. The pictures look amazing, the descriptions sound great, the price quoted is more than reasonable. My personal judgment would lead me to make a reservation. However, being prudent my next step is to of course check TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor, attracting more than 53 million […]
Buyer-Seller Networks & The Status Effect in Narcotrafficking
On October 9th Juan Francisco Sáenz-Tamez,the leader of the Gulf Cartel, was arrested while shopping in Texas. This Mexican criminal organization is responsible for the flow of billions of dollars’ worth of drugs into the United States. By removing the leader of the Gulf Cartel, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) diminished the cartel’s ability to participate […]
Ebola – What’s the panic all about?
Recently there has been a massive amount of panic and media coverage over the disease Ebola. While we are sure that the disease is in fact infection, why is there all of this panic? In the Washington Post article below, accompanied with a simulation, we can see the rates of infection compared to those of other […]
“Facebook, tell everyone I like strawberry smoothies.”
Yes, we all have “sophomore yeaaaar” albums on our profiles. We all put down what artists we listen to, or like pages that we are interested in. We have to admit, Facebook has come way too far into our lives for us to stop using it. Its not easy to give up habits, and it […]
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