Written by Darrell Huff and illustrated by Irving Geis. Originally published in 1954. In a sentence: a quick, worthwhile general knowledge read that explains how people misuse statistics through familiar and useful examples (that could use an update). I’ll face up to the serious purpose that I like to think lurks just beneath the surface of this book: explaining how to look a phony statistic in the eye and face it down; and no less important, how to recognize sound and usable data in that wilderness of fraud… ...

The following is a curated list of news articles by U.S. state and nationally that discussed SNAP benefits in February 2024. National Letter from Secretary Vilsack to Governors on SNAP Performance and Operations Poor performance on the SNAP efficiency measures meant 44 states got letters from the USDA expecting improvements. Congressional leaders agree on ag funding as Vilsack talks about SNAP pilot The SNAP pilot they discuss is the SNAP-choice pilot, limiting purchasable foods to “nutrient-dense” foods. Unsurprising that a paternalistic policy with the name “SNAP-choice” is being pushed by a Republican. See the next article for the industry’s response. ...

Microsoft Teams provides an integration with Microsoft Viva, which schedules daily check-ins to record your perception of your mental state. Once a day, at 4pm, I get a notification that asks me to select one of five emojis that reflects how I feel. Clearly, the last few weeks have not been particularly excellent, but I’m not sure what the value of this type of check-in or chart provides. We can come up with reasonable estimates of our own satisfaction with our work. I frequently journal, and I believe that the self-reflection forced through written inquiries gives way to a better sense of being, rather than an even shorter point-in-time indicator with almost no ambiguity. ...

I recently went on a weekend trip, where I counted each time that I interacted with a person who was a citizen of the country I was visiting. I did not include any interactions with individuals at the airport prior to landing at the destination, nor once I reached the airport to return. Non-verbal interactions were not considered, e.g., making room for someone on the sidewalk, or gesturing for a car to go first at an intersection. ...

I started to post SNAP performance indicators from the USDA in machine-readable format, aggregating and cleaning the data from the many PDF tables. This repository includes quick-access to cleaned, FIPS-linked CSV long-format tables of yearly state reported indicators for Application Processing Timeliness, Program Error Rates, and Case and Procedural Error Rates (coming soon). USDA Descriptions as follows: Application Processing Timeliness “measures the timeliness of states’ processing of initial SNAP applications. The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 entitles all eligible households to SNAP benefits within 30 days of application, or within 7 days, if they are eligible for expedited service.” ...

I took about 70 classes over a one-year unlimited class subscription with Babbel Live for Spanish from mid-2022 to 2023. My level was beginner to low intermediate over the course of the year, and I only took classes in the A1, A2, and B1 range. Prior to the classes, I was working with Anki flashcards and Duolingo lessons. What follows are some thoughts I had wrote down while taking the courses. Some aspects of the course may have changed since I took them. ...

If you’ve got the framework installed, and just want to deploy the static pages, skip to below. Note - my first time doing this, but it works. You can always deploy directly to Observable. Observable Framework is not supported on Windows, according to an issue in their GitHub. (Update Mar 2024: Observable Framework is now supported on Windows). To use it, you need to use WSL. If you want to use it through WSL, then the following still applies. Fortunately, it is very easy to do. Steps I had to take to do this: ...

The choices to make origami sunflowers are few. I adapted the simple Lotus Blossom design from Origami-Instructions.com with an additional small square of brown paper, allowing for a very simple sunflower design that holds up against other designs that have more complicated multi-sheet folding, are hexagon-based, or require glue. Instructions With the Blintz base, place a sheet of brown paper within the corner folds into the center. ...

Some people are very into keyboards. They build them, they buy many of them, they review them. They know a lot about the software and hardware, and can describe the pros and cons of each component. When they look for a keyboard, they can use their prior experience to decide what features they care about, and can identify potential issues. I am not one of these people. But given recent wrist and forearm pain, I decided to switch impulsively to a split keyboard. I did some not-comprehensive-at-all research - I didn’t really know what I was looking at, or how to compare different brands, or what attributes to consider that would be right for me. I ended up buying the MoErgo Glove80 Split Wireless Keyboard, largely because the curved design, tenting system, and my perception of the company as a start-up that had a large passionate community behind the product. It also looked reasonably professional, minimal, and like it would fit on my desk. ...

- Whenever I do analyses I am nervous about being wrong, but using Excel’s autofill function to impute data would have definitely been on my “this is not correct to do,” at the very least. - Nice example of a personal project. Contained, clear output, and interesting to the person doing it + delightful to play with and generate maps as a person who has no use for it. It’s fun! - Helpful and clear description of how XSS (cross site scripting) vulnerabilities work and can be identified. ...