Yet another shoddy paper falls apart under scrutiny. David Lisak’s serial predator theory of campus rape has made him a celebrity. Once a virtually unknown associate professor at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, his work is now cited by White House officials and reporters for major newspapers. His influence is evident in the recent documentary The Hunting Ground, and the producers continue...
Don’t mess with Louisiana!
As a Texan, I have to say that he is clearly working in the wrong state.
Data on occupational licensing: we have the most highly trained cosmetologists in the world
Furthermore, the variation in regulatory stringency across industries looks arbitrary as well. You might expect that the strictest regulation would be reserved for industries in which potential consumer harms are the worst. How then to explain the fact that cosmetologists must complete an average of 372 days of education and training before getting their license while emergency medical...
Tenured professor fired for saying “fuck”
Winter is coming to higher education.
This month, Louisiana State University fired—outright fired—a tenured professor of education, Teresa Buchanan, ostensibly for creating a “hostile work environment” via sexual harassment. Her infraction? Allowing profanities to pass from her tenured lips, and unleashing a single ill-advised bon mot about sexual intercourse.
Ever wonder how Uber uses data to connect drivers and passengers?
How many colleges do we really need?
But colleges rarely go under because they are heavily subsidized and regulated by the government. They receive hundreds of billions of dollars in direct subsidies (and indirect tax breaks as non-profits) and the only way to get access to those funds is to be an accredited institution, under a system controlled by the colleges themselves. The story of Sweet Briar College is a perfect example of...
Graph: Marine officers are becoming dumber
Malcolm Gladwell is skeptical of big data
Malcolm Gladwell had some bad news for mobile marketers: Just because you have more data doesn’t mean you’re going to make better decisions. At Tune’s 2015 Postback conference on Thursday, Gladwell outlined the gap between what we may think we know about audience and the truth. In normal Gladwellian-style, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point and Outliers offered a contrarian view to the...
Data on usage of fuck and shit
North Carolina uses both frequently, one of the many things that makes it a such great place to live.
How analytics could land you in jail
Apparently, when people search on Google looking for a job, men see significantly higher paying job opportunities than women do. Given that it is generally illegal to discriminate based on gender, it appears that either Google, a male-dominated firm, could be adjusting the results to favor men, or the client companies could be, in order to get around equal opportunity laws. I think we could argue...