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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: statistics

statistics stories: 24 news summaries

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OPINION

Don't Apologize, Meg, Voting
Is Dumb

Whitman's ballot wouldn't have made a difference anyway

Sep 30, 09 10:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - Meg Whitman has taken heat for her, ahem, spotty voting record—the ex-CEO wasn’t even registered to vote until 2002—and, of course, she has apologized. But she shouldn’t have, writes Christopher Beam for Slate. Economists have long argued that, from an individual’s perspective, voting is irrational.... More »

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California • voting • statistics • Meg Whitman • governor • gubernatorial races • economists

Winter Babies' Real Problem? Less-Educated Mothers

Accidental find shines light on old conundrum

Sep 22, 09 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - For years, economists have been trying to explain why winter babies have it so tough. In study after study, those born in winter consistently perform worse in school, earn less, and are less healthy than peers born at other times of year. Now Notre Dame economists Kasey Buckles and Daniel... More »

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education • economics • statistics • Freakonomics • babies

(AP) - The number of women charged with driving under the influence has increased nearly 30% during the past decade, Transportation Department officials said today, while the number of men fell 7.5% in the same period. The department says the number of impaired women involved in a fatal crash increased in... More »

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women • drunk driving • arrest • statistics • Department of Transportation • Ray LaHood • Diane Schuler

 Today's Sexy Job: Statistician 

With so much data to crunch, firms need them—and will pay up

Aug 6, 09 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - Forget the nerdy image: In today’s digital world, statisticians are hot, the New York Times reports. Big firms like Google need number-crunchers to parse piles of data, and they’re willing to pay for it—a statistician with a PhD can rake in $125,000 in his or her... More »

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Google • Internet • employment • data • statistics • job • statistician

OPINION

 What Turning 30 Really Means 


Aug 4, 09 7:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - What does turning 30 mean, anyway? Sam Greenspan knows, because he got Book of Ages: 30 for his, um, 30th birthday. He runs down 11 factoids on the appropriately named 11 Points website. A sampling:
  • 30-year-olds keep resolutions: Though 26% less likely to make New Years resolutions, 30-somethings
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
United States • list • aging • birthday • demographics • statistics • Sam Greenspan

ANALYSIS

House Health Care Vote Looks Like a Squeaker

But slim margin could vanish if bill moves left or right: Silver

Aug 2, 09 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - A compromise health care bill will likely squeak through the House by about two dozen votes, Nate Silver writes on FiveThirtyEight.com. The Energy and Commerce Committee’s Friday night 31-28 vote is a good model, with its similar balance of Republicans, liberal and Blue Dog Democrats. The committee passed... More »

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health care • House of Representatives • statistics • health care reform • House Energy and Commerce Committee • Blue Dog Democrats • Republicans

(Newser) - Branch Rickey once complained that “there is nothing on earth anybody can do with fielding,” but that's about to change thanks to a complex new camera and computer system, the New York Times reports. The system, which will be unveiled for baseball executives tomorrow, records the exact speed... More »

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sports • technology • MLB • San Francisco Giants • Cleveland Indians • statistics • baseball • defense • Mark Shapiro • Branch Rickey

OPINION

Zagat Is Wrong:
Peet's Is Better Than Starbucks

Bad methodology gave Seattle giant the survey win: Nate Silver

Jun 9, 09 11:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - Zagat’s annual fast-food survey served up its usual batch of surprises, but one stood out for Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com fame. Somehow, some way, Starbucks beat Peet’s Coffee for best coffee chain. A travesty of that magnitude can only mean mistaken methodology, Silver contends; Starbucks is fine,... More »

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San Francisco • Starbucks • coffee • statistics • Peet's Coffee • Zagats • Nate Silver • coffee shop

Huckabee's Plan to Revive GOP Doesn't Add Up

Nate Silver shows why party shouldn't play to social conservatives

May 11, 09 12:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - Perhaps it's Mike Huckabee's admitted distrust for math, but he's dead wrong about the best strategy to bring back the Republican Party's power, writes Nate Silver on his blog. To make the case that the party shouldn't move to the middle, Huckabee says, "People that are social conservatives are... More »

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GOP • Mike Huckabee • voters • Republican Party • statistics • fiscal conservatives • social conservatives • moderate

ANALYSIS

Are Americans Falling Out of Love With Cars?

Drop in driving could be delayed reaction to gas prices—or not: Silver

May 6, 09 4:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - Is the fact that Americans are driving less even after the cost of gas has come down a sign that US attitudes are changing, Nate Silver asks in Esquire—or is it just another example of how slowly they respond to changes in fuel prices? “The real test,”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Detroit • automaker • driving • Seattle • statistics • Big Three • US automakers • automobile • car culture

 Plane-Bird Collisions Up: FAA 

Agency compelled to release statistics after Flight 1549

Apr 24, 09 12:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - Collisions between airplanes and birds have increased dramatically since 2000, with the number of instances at 13 major US airports doubling. New York’s JFK topped the list with the most avian accidents—30—since 2000, with California’s Sacramento International the runner-up at 28, the AP reports. Both are... More »

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FAA • JFK Airport • Sacramento • accident • airport • statistics • bird strike

ANALYSIS

Bank Lending Still Down 23%
4 Months
After Bailout

Journal says Treasury's tally hides damage

Apr 20, 09 8:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Banks that received taxpayer aid to restart lending are loaning less than they did before the bailout, a Wall Street Journal analysis finds. The most recent figures available, from February, show a 23% drop in new loans from the lending level in October, when the Treasury Department kicked off TARP,... More »

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loans • bank • Treasury Department • credit crisis • statistics • lending practices • bailout • financial crisis • TARP

 NBA's Lone Constant: 
 Free-Throw Stats 

NBA's success rate has hovered around 75% for half-century

Mar 4, 09 7:53 AM CST
(Newser) - Basketball's free-throw statistics have stayed steady at a rate that amazes academics, the New York Times reports. While most aspects of basketball and other sports have seen records steadily edge up over the years, free-throw shooting hit a plateau of a 75% success rate in the NBA more than 50... More »

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NBA • basketball • statistics • coaching • Pro basketball • college basketball

 Teen Sex: 
 Everybody Else 
 Isn't Doing It 

Teen sex is on a downswing

Jan 27, 09 1:29 PM CST
(Newser) - Kids these days, with their sex, their sex, and all their sex. Just look at Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin—it’s getting worse all the time, right? Nope. The portion of high-schoolers who’d had sex in 2007 was 47.8%, reports the New York Times—down from... More »

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study • sex • oral sex • statistics • Jamie Lynn Spears • teen pregnancy • teen sex • teenager • Bristol Palin

Polling Guru Nabs $700K Book Deal

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight fame will write two tomes

Nov 15, 08 11:58 AM CST
(Newser) - Polling expert Nate Silver, the statistical mastermind behind FiveThirtyEight.com, has a new number to crunch: $700,000. That’s roughly how much Silver will net in his new two-book deal with Penguin, the New York Observer reports. Silver will pen one tome on the art of prediction, and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
statistics • book • predictions • Penguin Group • poll numbers • book sale • Nate Silver

A Baseball Nerd Turns to
Election Stats

Nate Silver was right
on the Rays; he's now calling the presidency

Oct 15, 08 11:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Give the sheer number of political polls being produced, and the history of many of them proving wrong, it takes a seriously smart statistician (and something of a nerd) to predict the presidential race with any authority. Nate Silver, the man who "revolutionized the interpretation of baseball stats,"... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • Obama 2008 • Tampa Bay Devil Rays • statistics • predictions • baseball • McCain 2008 • Election 2008 • polls • Nick Silver

Brits Working Longer Days

UK employees put in 41.4 hours a week,
up from 40.7 in 2006

Sep 3, 08 7:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Britons are among the hardest working Europeans, with only Romanians and Bulgarians working longer than the 41.4 hours our former colonizers put in at the office weekly. That's 2 more hours than the average European, the Telegraph reports, and it's up from 40.7 hours in 2006. Workers in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
European Union • office • statistics • Britain • 35-hour working week

Gallup Shows Biggest Obama Lead—Even as McCain Gains

Republican has edge among those most likely to vote, poll finds; Dem sees bounce

Jul 28, 08 6:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - After a Gallup poll yesterday showed Barack Obama with his biggest lead to date among all registered voters, at 9%, a Gallup/USA Today survey out today has John McCain ahead among those voters deemed most likely to actually go to the polls in November. A rep for Gallup—which conducts... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • statistics • opinion polls • poll bump

 Justices Don't Buy 
 MLB's Fantasy Pitch 

Using players' real names in for-profit leagues is free speech, Supreme Court rules

Jun 2, 08 2:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court refused today to hear an appeal by Major League Baseball against a ruling that allowed fantasy sports leagues to use real players' names and stats without paying a licensing fee, the Los Angeles Times reports. MLB contended such leagues shouldn't "exploit players' identity for commercial gain;... More »

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MLB • First Amendment • athlete • fantasy sports • statistics • baseball • US Supreme Court

Opinion

 Baseball Finally Back to Normal 

After over a decade of insanity, home run totals normal once more

May 23, 08 10:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - After over a decade of chemical-fueled insanity, baseball is back to normal, writes Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post. Home run totals are down 10.4% this spring, after an 8% drop last year. The sport is on pace to return to the century-old statistical norms ripped to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
steroids • MLB • home run • statistics • baseball • performance-enhancing drugs

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