May reading list

Does reading make you a better person. Probably not! But reading is a great way to expand your horizons. So, now that the spring semester is almost over, this is what we will be reading during the month of May:

Beyond Legal Reasoning by Jeffrey Lipshaw (Routledge, 2017). We need to thank Paul Caron (via TaxProfBlog) for bringing Lipshaw’s ambitious new book to our attention. It’s a book about legal theory, one that explains what “thinking like a lawyer” means. This book is an intellectually ambitious one because Lipshaw attempts to demarcate the outer limits of legal reasoning and tries to bridge the gap between legal reasoning and legal judgement. We will write up an extended review of this book in the days ahead.

Never Caught by Erica Armstong Dunbar (Atria, 2016). This tome tells the story of Ona Judge, a runaway slave belonging to George and Martha Washington, and the Washingtons’ attempts to recover their slave. (We discovered this work via “Book TV” on C-Span.)

Freedom National by James Oakes (Norton, 2013). This book chronicles the destruction of slavery in the United States. (Randy Barnett, via Volokh Conspiracy, brought this historical opus to our attention.)

Better Presentations by Jonathan Schwabish (Columbia University Press, 2016). Or: how to avoid “death by power point.” (Jason Kottke, via kottke, brought this useful book to our attention.) Continue reading

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Culture, History, Law | 2 Comments

Dreams, memories, and movies

hat tip: kottke

Posted in Art | 1 Comment

The original minivan

Why are most contemporary minivans and SUVs so damn ugly and uncool? (The new Jeep Compass is especially hideous.) Via Popular Mechanics, check out this essay by Ben Stewart on the original VW bus.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Little Data


You  may already be familiar with the term Big Data, datasets that are so gigantic that special computational methods are required to analyze them. But how about some “little data” for your pleasure? The frequency analysis pictured above, for example, is from Alice Zhao, who wrote this fun post titled “Text Messages Change from Dating to Marriage.” Below the fold is an extended excerpt: Continue reading

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Culture, Mathematics, Probability, Questions Rarely Asked | 1 Comment

💯 

Ella Fitzgerald would have been 100 years old today

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Dinosaur fossil ice tray

Hat tip: Cliff Pickover

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Follow the money

Too big to fail?

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Economics, Law, Politics, Questions Rarely Asked | Leave a comment

Was the march for science a waste of time?

Probably. But we loved all the geeky posters and colorful outfits. Special shout out to whoever designed the T-shirt pictured below.

Hat tip: Dylan Hunt

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Politics | Leave a comment

An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg

Dear Mark,

Like the Bob Marley song of yore, we continue to wait in vain for Facebook to introduce a “dislike” button. Although it’s your website, it’s very patronizing that you refuse to give us this choice. Nevertheless, instead of endlessly debating the merits of our proposal, here’s a friendly suggestion from your friends at Prior Probability: let us vote! That’s right. Just let all active Facebook users cast a vote on this issue once and for all (one vote per Facebook account). If a majority of users reject our suggestion, we will cheerfully accept the results and never mention this pet-peeve ever again, but if “dislike” wins, then you agree to abide by the results and install a thumbs-down button, as per the will of the majority. Deal?

In the alternative, why not allow users to decide for ourselves if we want to enable a “dislike” button on our individual accounts. After all, you already allow us to decide what privacy settings we prefer. So, why not extend this logic of choice to the “like” and “dislike” icons as well?

Yours truly,

F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Image result for democracy on facebook Image result for democracy on facebook
Posted in Culture, Web/Tech | Leave a comment

Who wore it best? (periodic table edition)

Image result for periodic table dress    Image result for periodic table dress

utah photographer

Posted in Art, Culture, Science | Leave a comment