According to Wikipedia, a spurious correlation is a mathematical relationship in which two or more events or variables are associated but not causally related, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen factor (referred to as a "common response variable", "confounding factor", or "lurking variable"). Tyler Vigen, a graduate of Harvard Law School and currently a consultant at … Continue reading Spurious Correlations – Nicholas Cage, Tangled Bedsheets, and Venomous Spiders
Amazon Reviews, Google Trends, and COVID-19
A friend was telling me about an interesting book he was reading titled "Everybody Lies", which cites evidence of how people lie to each other, to pollsters, and to themselves. But one place they don't lie is where they can be online and anonymous and no one is conducting a survey. Two examples of such … Continue reading Amazon Reviews, Google Trends, and COVID-19
Are We Witnessing a Major Shift in the World of Work?
FlexJobs, an online job boards site, recently surveyed over 2,100 people worldwide, who either worked remotely during COVID or are still working from home. The results of the survey are eye-opening. Here are some of the numbers: Vast majority want to continue to work at home: 65 percent want to keep working remotely full-time even … Continue reading Are We Witnessing a Major Shift in the World of Work?
Is It Time to Say Goodbye to the Phrase “You’re Welcome”?
I certainly hope not. A recent story in the HuffPost by Caroline Bologna notes that the earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary as a response to “thank you” comes from 1907. But apparently, over the years, American etiquette experts, baby boomers, and writers have lamented the apparent decline in the use of the phrase “you’re welcome” … Continue reading Is It Time to Say Goodbye to the Phrase “You’re Welcome”?
Forget All That and Just Wail
You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” - Jazz great Charlie Parker And so it is with many things in life, as illustrated with the most recent Pinkcast from Dan Pink. In this episode, … Continue reading Forget All That and Just Wail
Music Monday: Bias Against Female Artists on Online Musical Platforms
A study performed by researchers in Europe found that a widely used music recommendation algorithm is more likely to choose music by male artists to the detriment of female artists. Study authors tested a popular music recommendation algorithm across two song datasets. That process revealed that in both instances the algorithm ended up “reproducing” existing biases in … Continue reading Music Monday: Bias Against Female Artists on Online Musical Platforms
Dusted Off the Old Clubs Today
The headline might be a bit misleading. I don't golf. At least what most people think of when they hear the word golf. But I do like mini-golf, and so does the rest of the Borden family (or at least they say they do). So today was our inaugural 2021 Mini-Golf outing. Thankfully, we didn't … Continue reading Dusted Off the Old Clubs Today
Will Cool New Technology Ruin Classic Films?
I've written about product placement before, in which advertisers pay to have their products appear in a TV show or film. London-based Mirriad has created a technology that uses uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse films and TV episodes for space (tables, walls, etc.) and determine where ads or objects can be subtly inserted. It … Continue reading Will Cool New Technology Ruin Classic Films?
Another One in a Long Line of Epic Gender Reveal Fails
I just read a story in HuffPost in which a couple had a gender reveal party at which the parents detonated (that word and gender reveal party should not go together) 80 pounds of Tannerite, an explosive target typically used for firearms practice. Several New Hampshire towns as well as parts of northern Massachusetts were … Continue reading Another One in a Long Line of Epic Gender Reveal Fails
“A society grows great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they’ll never sit.”
If that's the case, then we're in trouble if you go by an article in today's Wall Street Journal. The story is titled: The Newest Status Symbol for High-Net Worth Homeowners: Trophy Trees, and looks at how the super rich are paying upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring in huge old trees … Continue reading “A society grows great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they’ll never sit.”
Borden's Blather 