tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91449512009-07-30T19:16:59.649-07:00<center>Common Sense views on technology and related topics. <br>Read in <a href="http://mitchellconsulting.net/commonsense/story/2004/11/where-our-readers-come-from.html">152 countries</a> since 1995.</center>Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comBlogger848125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-86292869663865477002009-07-29T19:02:00.000-07:002009-07-30T00:06:28.374-07:00

In the next few weeks, I may be changing the hamradio-online.com web hosting.If that happens, this web site may be off line temporarily or redirected to another server.In the interim, my other blogs (see for example Business and Economy) will still be available.Then again, you may notice no changes at all. So this is just a warning of possibilities - but hopefully nothing much will happen.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-38534590370373569162008-12-17T10:23:00.000-08:002008-12-27T14:17:13.350-08:00

As of December 2008, I am starting 3 new blogs ... one will be on general business and economics topics, one on embedded systems and robotics, and one on online video production.Their emphasis will be rather different than this original Common Sense Technology blog.Coldstreams Business and Economy is now live - check it out!Coldstreams Embedded Systems ... and Robotics ... is now live.Coldstreams

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-23260734078410172972008-03-10T11:39:00.000-07:002009-04-09T08:30:39.595-07:00

Note - this blog was ended in the summer of 2007. I left just a few old but popular posts online. The "Myths" item is a just a big collection of some old posts that I occasionally update.I saw these myths passed off as true in the news media, so of course, they must be true!Myth: "The collapse of a busy Interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis, MN is a prime example of our nation's crumbling

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-38830991776372045532007-11-16T09:21:00.001-08:002008-01-25T11:53:00.390-08:00

A must see:Animation Videos at JibJab | Funny Cartoons at JibJab | Funny Satire at JibJabThis is an appropriate follow on to the Parts 1 through 4, below, about how the media possess math skills at abou the middle school level.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-66606165074417447222007-10-19T10:00:00.000-07:002008-05-26T18:52:20.442-07:00

So at last, I have written my last blog post. Enjoy.A few weeks ago I posted an item from the Wall Street Journal about an epidemiologist who published a paper in 2005 concluding that virtually all medical science research findings are ultimately proven wrong with suggestions this may apply to other fields of science too.At that time I referred to the finding as astonishing. However, I later

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-45692791245859099202007-10-19T09:03:00.000-07:002008-01-30T12:53:04.321-08:00

I am late to noticing the lack of quantitative analysis and simple math skills amongst those in the journalism business.Since I lack a Ph.D. in the subject matter (or any Ph.D. as I only have a Masters), I am automatically not an expert and no one will care much for what I think. So instead I quote from the experts - who work in the journalism field - and who have been documenting a lack of basic

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-20790522185693886722007-10-19T08:53:00.000-07:002008-02-16T22:04:41.253-08:00

Part 1 established that your local news room is a math-free-zone and the problem is extremely well known in the field of journalism. Ironically, they never run news reports about their own math incompetency. Sounds like censorship to me.Part 2 looks at how this situation came about, plus how reporters cope with numbers, if they have to cope with numbers.Q: Why has journalism developed into a

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-53236800109981577342007-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:002008-05-26T18:28:02.274-07:00

Part 1 established the poor math skills common in the media industry.Part 2 provided background on how this lack of skill came about and examples of mangled numerical reporting.Part 3 explains how numerical ineptness leads to bad news reporting, and how organizations take advantage of naive reporters by dumbing down and manipulating the news to serve their own purposes. Q: Journalists never seem

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-14755224339892880532007-10-19T08:50:00.000-07:002009-04-09T08:19:19.660-07:00

This is how journalists are trained to censor hard data from news stories:# The most effective writing comes from selection, not compression, of facts. It's also true with numbers. Choose only the numbers that have meaning to your readers.# Consider charting numbers instead of writing them. Removing them from the text not only improves your story; it often makes a bigger impression on readers.#

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-33075448644923469182007-10-19T08:46:00.000-07:002008-02-16T22:02:22.947-08:00

A non-mathematical introduction to basic statistical conceptsThis short essay introduces basic statistical concepts without using much math. This is not a cookbook for working out statistics problems. This is a guide to understanding statistical concepts when you read the news, press releases, or scientific reports.Warning: The following text requires the use of brain cells, contains no anecdotes

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-36819475484494459172007-10-19T08:45:00.000-07:002008-02-07T16:13:45.754-08:00

Where does the terminology "Very highly confident" come from?Note: This article appeared originally on the Wordpress blog that was killed by iPowerweb. It was of a few articles that I have restored from backups since it was a popular landing spot for Internet searches.On February 2, the International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) issued a 21-page Summary for Policymakers (SPM) written by

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-8313532382095847632007-10-19T08:44:00.000-07:002007-12-15T16:58:19.967-08:00

If Southwest Airlines Was Run Like My Healthcare ProviderPermission to copy for non profit uses provided credit is given to the author. This was adapted from a humorous discussion item I posted in a graduate medical informatics class at OHSU.Southwest Airlines is one of the best airlines in the skies and is highly rated by their passengers for superb value and convenience in air travel.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-24807561706942794732007-10-19T08:42:00.000-07:002007-10-19T19:16:00.546-07:00

Newspapers are written to the 3rd grade reading level and not just for numbers.A high school journalism student told me that the editor of the local paper told his class the paper assumes the average reading ability in their target audience is at a 3rd grade reading level. That would explain a lot.There are some interesting resources to help with choosing a reading level. The best writing is said

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-57587483066574320692007-10-19T08:38:00.000-07:002007-10-19T19:15:49.320-07:00

Check Out All the Violence Here! or How I Jolt You into Submission to Get Your MoneyMovies, commercials and TV shows (including and especially "the news") are in fact measured for their likely success within the industry by their "jolts per minute," or JPM. This refers to how many times within an average minute that you, the viewer, are going to be "jolted" by something in the program that

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-57478303310163456372007-10-18T09:43:00.000-07:002007-10-18T09:43:05.313-07:00

The next OS from Apple: Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - 300 New Features.Elsewhere, MS Vista promises a "service pack" fixing bugs and security problems.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-43660033854899281672007-10-18T09:32:00.000-07:002007-10-18T09:32:47.067-07:00

Inside America's Richest Insurance Racket ... the near bogus requirement to purchase title insurance on every home carrying a mortgage turns out to be up to a 93% profit industry due to its solving a problem that barely exists. And they cut their own costs ever further by moving the jobs offshore and replacing what was left with computers, while doubling your rates to buy a policy you probably

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-56953998030027466092007-10-17T13:38:00.000-07:002007-10-17T22:53:34.716-07:00

H-1B Visa Foes Join To Pressure Congress On Green Card Reforms -- H-1B VisaThe IEEE-USA has petitioned Congress to create an unlimited number of permanent residency "green cards" for any foreign student graduating from a U.S. university with a Bachelor's degree or higher in any field of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. This might be called the "Full Employment Act for Dwindling

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-16981521127192941262007-10-17T12:50:00.000-07:002007-10-17T12:50:33.951-07:00

What is a Hypercar� Vehicle? ... the innovative work of the Rocky Mountain Institute.And a new panel meets to discuss hybrid vehicles and the electrical grid: Could hybrid vehicle batteries represent a reservoir or capacity buffer when plugged into the grid?I understand that current automobiles consume about 7x more daily energy than is produced on the national electrical grid. Future autos are

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-49059044567923758322007-10-17T12:30:00.000-07:002007-10-17T12:30:22.687-07:00

10,000 employees' data on stolen laptop - Yahoo! News: "The Home Depot Inc. said Wednesday that a laptop computer containing about 10,000 employees' personal data was stolen from a regional manager's car in Massachusetts."

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-32931882894123051762007-10-16T21:38:00.000-07:002007-10-16T22:01:00.367-07:00

TSA Laptops With Hazmat Driver Info Stolen - Storage Security News Analysis - Dark Reading: "The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is in hot water again for losing sensitive data, and this time around it has national security implications: Two laptops were reportedly stolen from a TSA contractor that contained personal information about commercial drivers who transport hazardous

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-62220420708564293892007-10-16T10:24:00.000-07:002007-10-17T12:35:07.911-07:00

Junkfood Science: Junkfood Science Exclusive: The big one — results of the biggest clinical trial of healthy eating ever ... and the results are not what everyone expected.I recently learned that the USDA low fat mantra hammered into us in 1980s is now under serious question. In our pursuit of eating low fat, we increased our consumption of carbohydrates. Rather than focus on fat or calories we

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-21475673407226866942007-10-16T10:09:00.000-07:002007-10-16T10:10:35.372-07:00

Report: Vimeo's going hi-def next week: "The New York Post reported on Tuesday morning that New York-based video-hosting community site Vimeo plans to announce this week that it will be distributing videos at a high-definition resolution of 1,280x720 pixels, making it apparently the first user-generated video-sharing site to do so."The first? Hardly. I've been doing that through Veoh since last

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-37057612308034340032007-10-15T09:30:00.000-07:002007-10-15T09:31:10.001-07:00

What is odd about this photo?Hint: Zero something.

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-47136056703177513982007-10-15T08:29:00.000-07:002007-10-16T13:11:04.573-07:00

If I read this correctly, this is so vague as to imply that any unnamed third-party designated by Google, such as perhaps the NSA, can freely read our GMail email:Protecting users' privacy is very important to Google and the Third Parties. As a condition of downloading and using the Software, you agree to the terms of the Google Pack Privacy Policy at http://pack.google.com/intl/en/

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144951.post-59348829575603428902007-10-09T11:08:00.000-07:002007-10-09T11:08:20.621-07:00

r2dot.org: News, Opinions and Group Moderated Discussion

Edwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338911901078881328noreply@blogger.com