The Wisdom of Whores » public communication of science http://www.wisdomofwhores.com Of sex and science. Elizabeth Pisani's blog about HIV and other sundry things. Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:15:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Beating it up and dumbing it down http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2009/06/18/beating-it-up-and-dumbing-it-down/ http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2009/06/18/beating-it-up-and-dumbing-it-down/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:43:22 +0000 elizabeth http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/?p=1668 sciencenewscycle

For a larger version, visit Jorge Cham at PhD comics. It’s worth it. Especially if you are killing time not finishing your thesis (Sara…)

This comic came to me by way of Laura (thanks) and Language Log, where the true nerds among you can go for an illuminating discussion of the difference between ρ and p. Really.

]]> http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2009/06/18/beating-it-up-and-dumbing-it-down/feed/ 0 Chart junk-ies http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2008/07/18/chart-junk-ies/ http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2008/07/18/chart-junk-ies/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:44:24 +0000 elizabeth http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/?p=449 Though I’ve been wrestling the dreaded PowerPoint more than I’d like to recently, I haven’t posted for a while on data presentation. So I’m stealing this absolute gem that Environmental Graffiti ran under the title “World’s most expensive place to have sex” and Presentation Zen relayed under the title “When bar charts go bad”.

What I love best about this is discussion of Chart Junk that it prompted at Presentation Zen. Read. Go ahead, read. Then tell me if you think the discussion is po-faced or tongue in cheek? And how come nobody picked up on Environmental Graffiti’s true wickedness, the Misleading Headline. As a resident of Ireland who has also spent time in Shanghai, I can tell you that having sex costs exactly the same in both places. Having safe sex, though; aah, that’s a different matter….

Thanks to Peter at Apt for the tip.

]]> http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2008/07/18/chart-junk-ies/feed/ 3 Random thoughts on data from Dilbert http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2008/05/14/random-thoughts-on-data-from-dilbert/ http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2008/05/14/random-thoughts-on-data-from-dilbert/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 09:02:41 +0000 elizabeth http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/2008/05/14/random-thoughts-on-data-from-dilbert/ This evening, I’m speaking at London’s Southbank Centre about how to communicate uncertainties in data to a non-scientific audience. And what pops into my in box but this, from Scott Adams (via Tim Brown)?

Dilbert data

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