I don’t think you’re crazy or that anything is wrong with you. I think everyone deals with things differently. I have a similar situation. I was raped when I was 6 by an older cousin and I still see him from time to time at family gatherings. I don’t hate him. He’s a very broken person. I can’t excuse what he did to…

So I looked a little bit into it and I’m not sure this helps, but here’s an illustration. If you want the confidence interval for an estimated proportion, you take the estimated chance of the outcome happening ± the margin of error. The margin of error is calculated using the Z score for your desired margin (let’s go…

Stats person here. That’s not exactly how margin of error calculations work. To get a margin of error you need to know your sampling frame and methodology. You calculate a margin of error based on whether you used a simple random sample of everyone, if you stratified the area into multiple chunks and then sampled…

I have a cousin who works as a police officer in a small city. When the Baltimore events happened, my aunt posted a long Facebook status about how “Officers get fed up with all these people they have to deal with” and how we shouldn’t blame them that “those people sometimes end up hurt or dead.” Out of over a dozen…

It’s even worse considering the “rebel flag” is actually a Tennessee battle flag for a small force during the Civil War that was only used in limited capacity. It faded into obscurity following the end of the war, and then was resurrected in the 20th Century to protest integration.

You weren’t even a state until 1907. That’s what gets me the most. Like, not only were you not in the Confederacy, you weren’t even part of the country for another 40 years. Most of the soldiers from the Civil War were dead, or close to it, by that point.

Things like “Ave Maria Biotechnology” make me almost wish I had the moral capacity to be the evil the world needs. Just start a nonsense biotech or nutrition company that preyed on scientific illiteracy and moral panic and reap massive profits, then leave all of your fortune to foundations for science education and a…

I thought we were *supposed* to run things like a business! Isn’t that why we’ve had right-wing politicians talking about reducing the public sector or even running community services like education, fire, and rescue for profit? But now profit is evil? Is it only acceptable if we profit from the deaths of fully…

I work in a statistics heavy field of academia that has consistently demonstrated that public health measures like this one do affect abortion and teen pregnancy rates. I will admit that I only skimmed the article, so I may have the wrong impression of it. I generally don’t bother reading politicized publications when…

If I recall, the National Review published an article in response to the NYT piece saying that the study was done by biased liberals and it’s not effective. They accurately point out that it’s not exceptional because teen births and abortions are down by 30% throughout the US, but then argue that Colorado’s 40% isn’t…

Even if you want to break it down beyond well-meaning or altruistic motives, there are pretty real incentives. We’re just generally not conditioned to think about them. Dismantling privilege comes with potential personal risk but also potential personal gain. I’ve always found it convincing that the long-term gains…

Her logic makes no sense to me. She advocates color-blind casting but is upset that minorities will be able to portray "white" characters. Basically, it sounds to me like she is arguing that white actors should be able to take minority parts, but not the other way around. Color-blind racism at its finest!

As a transplant to Cincinnati, I can attest that Warren County is THE WORST. Basically every batshit crazy thing that comes out of "Cincinnati" actually comes out of Warren County or the outer suburbs. But hey, due to the state's wonderful gerrymandering laws we're all associated with one of the most backwards parts…

The current culture of universities is treating them like a business, and they've really latched onto "branding." "Cover your ass" and "protecting the brand" are phrases we hear all the time. I imagine that admitting that you have sexual assaults on campus, and rightfully claiming that everyone else does too but…

It's one of the most terrifying things I can think of. I think it's important that people know that's how a very liberal university, often identified as a "hippie school," handled those cases. That same school touts "official crime statistics" that listed 0 sexual assaults every year I was there. The school where I…

One of the most terrifying prospects for is that the advocates don't realize they would also be arming the rapist. Not only are people who are assaulted more likely to be shot if they are carrying a firearm, but let's be honest: at many universities, the punishment for having a firearm on campus is worse than the…

I'm going to go with "dishonest and sinister." The gun lobby were behind the 16 year ban on funding gun research that led to the weakness of the gun control argument today.

Good for you! I once told a close friend that she'd turned her child into a ticking germ bomb by refusing to get him vaccinated. The sad thing is that she knows several doctors and public health professionals and she thinks they've been deluded by money to believe something that only the anti-vax groups admit.

The fact that the reporter and the student misquoted the course title over and over again says a lot about how little they know, or how much controversy they're trying to create. There's a pretty big difference between "the problem OF" and "the problem WITH." The problem OF whiteness is, essentially, "How do I, as a…

Harbaugh also complained after his second loss to the Bengals this season that QB sneaks are irresponsible and should be illegal:

"I've always wondered why you would want a guy pinched up the middle with 300-pound men and you think that's a safe situation," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "I've been bringing that up…