
(Halloween Tree, by Glen Brogan)
- “If you put them under enough stress, perfectly rational people will panic and start believing in science” http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/fear-ebola-outbreak-make-nation-turn-science …
Some posts and articles worth reading, here and there
- “European scientists rally to protest jobs and funding crisis” http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/10/european-scientists-rally-protest-jobs-and-funding-crisis …
- “European scientists rally to protest jobs and funding crisis” http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/10/european-scientists-rally-protest-jobs-and-funding-crisis …
- “How Text Messages Change from Dating to Marriage” http://adashofdata.com/2014/10/14/how-text-messages-change-from-dating-to-marriage/ …

- “Quantum Banking” http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-10-15/bank-of-america-made-168-million-last-quarter-more-or-less … by
@matt_levine
A bank’s earnings are a quantum event; they are entirely probabilistic, and the answer you get depends on who’s doing the observing. You make some guesses with some degree of statistical likelihood, and then you apply one of a half-dozen accounting regimes to the guesses, and you get a number, and then you’re like, ooh, look at this number, it’s so numeric.
- “Dual-Scaled Axes in Graphs: Are They Ever the Best Solution?” http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/visual_business_intelligence/dual-scaled_axes.pdf …
- “What the World Eats” http://www.nationalgeographic.com/what-the-world-eats/ … e.g. India vs U.S.

- “Africa’s Ebola Epidemics Since 1976″ http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2014/10/17/all-of-africas-ebola-epidemics-since-1976-infographic/ … ht
@AssaadRazzouk

- “Why the poor pay $4,150 for a $1,500 sofa set” http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/10/16/she-bought-a-sofa-on-installment-payments-now-its-straining-her-life/ … by
@chicoharlan
The love seat and sofa that Jamie Abbott can’t quite afford ended up in her double-wide trailer because of the day earlier this year when she and her family walked into a new store called Buddy’s. Abbott had no access to credit, no bank account and little cash, but here was a place that catered to exactly those kinds of customers. Anything could be hers. The possibilities — and the prices — were dizzying. At Buddy’s, a used 32-gigabyte, early model iPad costs $1,439.28, paid over 72 weeks. An Acer laptop: $1,943.28, in 72 weekly installments. A Maytag washer and dryer: $1,999 over 100 weeks. Abbott wanted a love seat-sofa combo, and she knew it might rip her budget. But this, she figured, was the cost of being out of options. “You don’t get something like that just to put more burden on yourself,” Abbott said.
- “Life in Quarantine for Ebola Exposure: 21 Days of Fear and Loathing” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/us/life-in-quarantine-for-ebola-exposure-21-days-of-fear-and-loathing.html?_r=0 … ht
@latrive - MT
@genetics_blog (insert statistical method here) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22784623 via@neilfws

- “Only 3 percent of colleges require students to take an economics class” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/15/colleges-require-economics-class-acta_n_5993930.html?&ir=Education&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000023 …
- I guess it is (ht
@9gag)

- “Why Jean Tirole Won the Economics Nobel” http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/worthy-economics-nobel-jean-tirole… by
@JohnCassidy - “Maximising happiness does not maximise welfare” http://www.voxeu.org/article/maximising-happiness-does-not-maximise-welfare …
- “29 Eye-Tracking Heatmaps Reveal Where People Really Look” http://www.businessinsider.com/eye-tracking-heatmaps-2014-7#ixzz3GFpnaKhz … ht
@neuroecology e.g. resumes

- “Portrait of a virus” http://www.economist.com/news/international/21625807-you-can-do-lot-damage-just-seven-genes-killer-close-up?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/ed/portraitofavirus … “A killer in close up: you can do a lot of damage with just seven genes”
- “The Ebola crisis: Much worse to come” http://www.economist.com/news/international/21625813-ebola-epidemic-west-africa-poses-catastrophic-threat-region-and-could-yet …
- Series of Maps Show Where Single Americans Have the Best Chances of Getting a Date http://www.ijreview.com/2014/10/187715-interactive-map-shows-single-americans-best-chances-getting-date/ …

- “Three ways of understanding the world” http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.fr/2014/10/three-ways-of-understanding-world.html … by
@Noahpinion - “Unable to Meet the Deductible or the Doctor” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/us/unable-to-meet-the-deductible-or-the-doctor.html?_r=0 … (private) insurance and public health
- “Maps Of Street Layouts Colored By Orientation” http://www.datapointed.net/2014/10/maps-of-street-grids-by-orientation/ … ht http://gizmodo.com/these-beautiful-maps-show-how-similarly-city-streets-ar-1647025178 …

- “The Kitchen Network” http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/cooka%C2%80%C2%99s-tale … “America’s underground Chinese restaurant workers.”
- “Who’s responsible for gas prices at the pump?” http://www.randalolson.com/2014/10/17/whos-responsible-for-gas-prices-at-the-pump/ …

- “Five Case Studies On Politicization” http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/10/16/five-case-studies-on-politicization/ … (see also http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/ …)
- “Trolls Just Want To Have Fun” http://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/trolls-just-want-to-have-fun.pdf … via
@rogerdooley‘s http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2014/10/06/internet-trolls-really-are-psychos/ … ht@lauramclay

- “The Dark Market for Personal Data” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/opinion/the-dark-market-for-personal-data.html?_r=0 …
- via
@Geopolitics2020 “An Algorithm Spotted the Ebola Outbreak Nine Days Before WHO Announced It” http://www.newsweek.com/algorithm-spotted-ebola-outbreak-9-days-who-announced-it-263875 … - “Regret and economic decision-making” http://www.voxeu.org/article/regret-and-economic-decision-making … by http://philippstrack.com/
The leading normative theory in economics – expected utility theory – postulates that individuals should evaluate the options they face based only on these choices’ qualities. The decision to sell a stock, for example, should be based only on the stock’s current price and expectations about the future – not on its historical prices. For many, however, selling a stock for €1,800 that just a few weeks ago was trading at €2,000 feels like a loss, and they are reluctant to realise this loss by selling the stock. People tend not to evaluate their current situation based solely on its own qualities. There is ample evidence that our willingness to take risks is influenced by prior gains and losses (Grinblatt and Keloharju 2000, Weber and Camerer 1998, Gneezy and Potters 1997, Haigh and List 2005). The leading theoretical model that explains such behaviour is Kahneman and Tversky’s prospect theory (1979). At the heart of prospect theory stand the assumptions that we:
Evaluate outcomes relative to a reference point (prior expectations, our status quo, etc.), and that everything above is a gain, everything below is a loss; ;
Dislike losses more than we appreciate gains of equal size; and ;
Dislike losses so much that it makes us willing to take greater risk to avoid them.
- “The Politics of Ebola” http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/15/the-politics-of-ebola/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1 … by
@DouthatNYT - “Ebola: Can big data analytics help contain its spread?” http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29617831 …

- “This Math Model Is Predicting the Ebola Outbreak with Incredible Accuracy” http://motherboard.vice.com/read/this-math-model-is-predicting-the-ebola-outbreak-with-incredible-accuracy … ht
@JenLucPiquant

- “Thoughts on High-Priced Textbooks” http://conversableeconomist.blogspot.fr/2014/10/thoughts-on-high-priced-textbooks.html … by
@TimothyTTaylor -
50% of the US population lives there (via http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/10/if_every_u_s_state_had_the_same_population_what_would_the_map_of_america.html …)

- “No panaceas: Libertarian challenges to open borders” http://mitrailleuse.net/2014/10/15/no-panaceas-libertarian-challenges-to-open-borders/ … by
@themitrailleuse poke@Geopolitics2020 - Think about Spain. The first thing that pops into mind is undoubtedly one word: Elevators http://qz.com/273214/how-spains-bloody-history-gave-it-the-worlds-highest-concentration-of-elevators/ …

- “Body Mass Index: Accounting for Full Time Sedentary Occupation and 24-Hr Self-Reported Time Use” http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0109051 …
- “Has Increased Body Weight Made Driving Safer?” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hec.2991/abstract …
- “Do Traffic Tickets Reduce Motor Vehicle Accidents?” http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1939586 …

- “Creating the field of evidence based data analysis – do people know what a p-value looks like?” http://simplystatistics.org/2014/10/16/creating-the-field-of-evidence-based-data-analysis-do-people-know-what-a-p-value-looks-like/ … by
@simplystats - “Tornado Days Decreasing, but Number Per Day Rising” http://www.climatecentral.org/news/fewer-tornado-days-but-more-tornadoes-per-day-18186 … by
@AndreaTWeather - “Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913″ http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/SaezZucman2014.pdf …

- “Overpriced Scholarship” http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/nov/06/overpriced-scholarship-exchange/ …
- Meetnaping (ht
@ce_cile and@FabienneCASSAGN)

et un peu de lecture en français
- “Le blues de l’élève de prépa à l’école de commerce” http://www.lemonde.fr/education/article/2014/10/15/le-blues-de-l-eleve-de-prepa-a-l-ecole-de-commerce_4506394_1473685.html …
- « Des chercheurs qui cherchent, on en trouve ; des chercheurs qui trouvent, on en cherche » http://blogs.rue89.nouvelobs.com/les-coulisses-de-wikipedia/2014/10/18/des-chercheurs-qui-cherchent-en-trouve-des-chercheurs-qui-trouvent-en-cherche-la-phrase-que-de-233663 … par
@Dorialexander - “Le CERN, l’auberge espagnole de Cédric Klapisch” http://api.dmcloud.net/player/pubpage/52fa37cd06361d50925d46bb/543e… via @
@cnrs - “Dark Wallet: Les anarchistes de l’argent” http://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/visuel/2014/10/18/dark-wallet-les-anarchistes-de-l-argent_4508228_4408996.html …
- “Le crédit d’impôt recherche, un écran de fumée” http://www.liberation.fr/sciences/2014/10/16/le-credit-d-impot-recherche-un-ecran-de-fumee_1123450 …
Le dossier du CIR est très lourd. Créé par la gauche en 1983, ce dispositif fiscal visait à encourager les dépenses de recherche et développement privées – de l’industrie surtout – en les récompensant par un remboursement d’impôt. Les premières années, il fut assis sur l’augmentation de ces dépenses et visait exclusivement les PME. Puis, par dérives successives, il va être calculé de plus en plus sur le volume des dépenses, et déplafonné au profit des grands groupes. En 2008, brusquement, Nicolas Sarkozy et Valérie Pécresse ouvrent les vannes en grand. Résultat ? En dix ans, son coût explose de 0,5 milliard à près de 6 milliards en 2014, selon la Cour des comptes. Près du double du budget du CNRS !
- Manifestation réussie pour
@SciencesEnMarch avec plusieurs milliers de personnes, note le blog de@HuetSylvestre http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/home/2014/10/manifestation-r%C3%A9ussie-pour-sciences-en-marche.html … - joli portrait de Patrick Lemaire http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/home/2014/10/patrick-lemaire-le-papa-de-sciences-en-marche.html … par
@HuetSylvestre #Eotone met le vent en musique sur la place Hoche à#Rennes (article+vidéo) http://metropole.rennes.fr/actualites/les-themes/cooperation/eotone-met-le-vent-en-musique-entre-rennes-et-le-quebec/ …@electronik

- “France: le monde de la recherche ne trouve pas son compte” http://www.rfi.fr/science/20141017-france-le-monde-recherche-science-enseignement-etudes-travail-emploi-trouve-pas-son/ … ht
@SciencesEnMarch - “La grande déprime des chercheurs français” http://www.lesechos.fr/politique-societe/societe/0203865330360-la-grande-deprime-des-chercheurs-francais-1054441.php … par
@mccorbier - RT
@samuellaurent “Avec 2 enfants, au-dessus de 6000 euros net par mois, vous êtes dans les 30% les plus riches” http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/09/18/quelle-definition-de-la-classe-moyenne_4490097_4355770.html … - “Les «experts mondiaux» et la démocratie sont dans un bateau, qui croyez-vous qui tombe à l’eau” http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lexpresso/Pages/2014/10
- “La grande déprime des chercheurs français” http://www.lesechos.fr/politique-societe/societe/0203865330360-la-grande-deprime-des-chercheurs-francais-1054441.php … par
@mccorbier/17102014Article635491282198078959.aspx#.VEDTc5kFgCw.twitter … par@PhilippeMeirieu - “Les encombrants bienfaiteurs internationaux de l’éducation” http://education.blog.lemonde.fr/2014/06/07/les-encombrants-bienfaiteurs-internationaux-de-leducation-12/ … par
@LCedelle - “Chercheure précaire et écartée du monde académique pourquoi je souhaite défendre la recherche publique” http://blogs.mediapart.fr/blog/camille-boutron/161014/chercheure-precaire-et-ecartee-du-monde-academique-pourquoi-je-souhaite-defendre-la-recherche-p … pqr
@boutcam - via
@lemondefr “Face à la crise, les scientifiques descendent dans la rue” http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2014/10/13/la-science-francaise-face-a-la-crise_4505412_1650684.html … - “Informer, disaient-ils” http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/carnet/2014-10-14-op-correa …
Comment expliquer que certains pays étrangers servent si volontiers de modèles à la presse française (Allemagne, Royaume-Uni, Irlande) alors que d’autres sont systématiquement ignorés (pays progressistes d’Amérique latine) ? Comment justifier que, dans les revues de presse diffusées par les grandes radios nationales, ce soit toujours les mêmes journaux qui se trouvent mis à l’honneur ? Et les mêmes écartés ? Dans son documentaire, Opération Correa, Pierre Carles (1) pose ces questions, faussement naïves, aux journalistes qui déterminent la hiérarchie de l’information. Parfois désopilantes, leurs réponses sont toujours éclairantes, comme ce cri du cœur d’Ivan Levaï justifiant l’absence de références exigeantes dans sa revue de presse par la paresse supposée des auditeurs : « On ne fait pas boire l’âne qui n’a pas soif »…
- “Sciences en Marche : choisir le bon chemin” http://blogs.mediapart.fr/edition/les-invites-de-mediapart/article/161014/sciences-en-marche-choisir-le-bon-chemin …
- “Les choses sont en train de dégénérer en France pour la recherche” http://www.lesechos.fr/politique-societe/societe/0203865428674-artur-avila-les-choses-sont-en-train-de-degenerer-en-france-pour-la-recherche-1054464.php?241igBgcfRfyReSJ.99 … interview d’Artur Avila par
@mccorbier - Le langage R, par
@3wen : intro http://editerna.free.fr/Enseignement/R/Slides/introduction.html … manip de données http://editerna.free.fr/Enseignement/R/Slides/donnees.html … et fonctions http://editerna.free.fr/Enseignement/R/Slides/fonctions.html … génial ! - “La ruée vers la donnée” http://bigdata.hypotheses.org/ “Epistémologie de la donnée web en sciences sociales” (blog prometteur)
- “Mais, au fait… l’Économie est-elle une science ?” http://econoclaste.org.free.fr/econoclaste/?page_id=211&codefaq=51 … par
@adelaigue - RIP Maurice Lévy-Leboyer (1920-2014), historien de l’économie http://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2014/10/15/maurice-levy-leboyer-1920-2014-historien-de-l-economie_4506529_3382.html …
Did I miss something interesting?


