There is a Hero in All of Us

Why does the same situation turn one person into a monster and another into a hero? What research has shown us is that not only do ordinary people all have the capacity to become monsters, we also all have the capacity to become heroes. More after the jump…

Most Corrupt States in the US

USA Today provides an infographic detailing the number of corruption convictions per 100,000 people.  Using statistics from the Department of Justice, the article boldly declares that North Dakota is the most corrupt state in the Union while infamous Illinois comes in at a late 17th: Using conviction rates of corruption as a proxy for the number of corruption cases is obviously misleading.  The most corrupt system would have zero convictions.   While there are more reliable academic measures on corruption, I am sure this data could be better measured and understood a mixture of measures including state openness (more open public Continue reading Most Corrupt States in the US

700 Fresh Posts to read…

Traveling for Thanksgiving gave me the opportunity to abandon my daily reading schedule and come back to a stockpile of new posts to read.  The highlights thus far from the last 5 days: – Flowing Data has a chart contest. The winner receives two Tufte books.  Entries are due on Friday. – Andrew Gelman has a interesting stroy of his undergraduate academic years that lead to his publishing a paper from those days over two decades later.  If only my undergraduate work was methodologically related to my background now. – Rodger at The Duck of Minerva watches the History Channel; Continue reading 700 Fresh Posts to read…