Category Archives: Journalism

HOW I READ THE NEWS.

HOW I READ THE NEWS. The front page of Yahoo news has been my home page for a long time in internet years. I really don’t like the latest revision, and that dislike highlights for me how different the way … Continue reading

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A MODEL FOR OP ED ARTICLES.

A MODEL FOR OP ED ARTICLES. I recall seeing a statement by Christopher Hitchens that he had been taught to address the other side’s strongest argument and that this approach had gone out of fashion. It seems to me that … Continue reading

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BRANCH RICKEY, PIONEERING SABERMETRICIAN.

BRANCH RICKEY, PIONEERING SABERMETRICIAN. Branch Rickey is best remembered for being instrumental in Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color line in baseball. This article by William Juliano recalls that Branch Rickey pioneered the use of statistics in baseball. Juliano links to … Continue reading

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OTHER THAN THAT, HOW DID YOU LIKE THE BOOK?

OTHER THAN THAT, HOW DID YOU LIKE THE BOOK? Nassim Nicholas Taleb has a new book out which follows up on his earlier books, FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS and THE BLACK SWAN. Since I have posted on them so often, it’s … Continue reading

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A SAFE PREDICTION ABOUT THE CONCLUSION OF THE CLIFF NEGOTIATIONS—AND OTHER NEGOTIATIONS (COMMENT).

A SAFE PREDICTION ABOUT THE CONCLUSION OF THE CLIFF NEGOTIATIONS—AND OTHER NEGOTIATIONS (COMMENT). Dick Weisfelder also points out in his comment that both President Obama and Speaker Boehner have the problem that the public expects “hard positional bargaining”. Generally, in … Continue reading

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NEGOTIATING BY BEING TRUTHFUL ABOUT YOUR INTERESTS (COMMENT).

NEGOTIATING BY BEING TRUTHFUL ABOUT YOUR INTERESTS (COMMENT). I posted here about the negotiating precept that it is disadvantageous to make the first realistic offer. Nick commented that the precept assumed positional bargaining rather than interest-based bargaining. I didn’t have … Continue reading

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PROBABILITY IS ABOUT THE BELIEF THAT THERE ARE ALTERNATIVE OUTCOMES.

PROBABILITY IS ABOUT THE BELIEF THAT THERE ARE ALTERNATIVE OUTCOMES. In FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS, Taleb says: “…probability is not about the odds, but about the belief in the existence of an alternative outcome, cause or motive.”

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WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT EARTHQUAKES.

WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT EARTHQUAKES. I reacted to the discovery that not assigning hurricane status to a storm can mislead somebody like me in part because of something I just read in Nate Silver’s THE SIGNAL AND THE NOISE: … Continue reading

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DID IT MATTER WHETHER WAS SANDY A HURRICANE?

DID IT MATTER WHETHER SANDY WAS A HURRICANE? Doyle Rice, in this article in USAToday (link via Instapundit), raises questions about whether it matters that Sandy was Superstorm Sandy rather than Hurricane Sandy. Rice points out that: “Since Sandy wasn’t … Continue reading

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WHAT MAKES FOR AN MVP?

WHAT MAKES FOR AN MVP? There are no criteria for determining an MVP. This makes for a lot of room for argument—desirable for sportswriters and also for fans. (A similar situation exists with voting for the all star game—is it … Continue reading

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