Benford’s Law

I was going through Statistics Hacks and came across Benford’s Law, which states that in naturally occurring numerical data, the distribution of the first, non-zero significant digit follows a logarithmic probability distribution described as: P(D1 = d) = log10 (1 + 1/d) In other words, first number is much more likely going to be a […]

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Physical

In anticipation of my physical, and partly to assuage fears that the post-big four-oh one would entail uncomfortable things, I sleuthed around for things on what to expect, thinking. Clearly I’ve been watching too many episodes of House. The American Academy of Family Physicians[1] has six classifications for their recommendations of common “clinical preventive services:”

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Don’t have a cow, man

Last week, I read a story about 143 million pounds of beef products from California-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Company being retroactively recalled to February 1, 2006. Questions that came to mind: Does beef keep for two years? I’d always worked from the conventional cooking wisdom that meat could be stored for up to two months in

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Year in Review

1Q 2007: Traveled to: Reno, Trondheim, San Diego. Ride: RACMOD with John, Claire and David. Did the polar bear plunge. Blizzard. Turned forty (my “permanent record” didn’t come back to haunt me, though it occasionally taunts me). Finished knitting my scarf. Pleased that Woodstock has joined and is enjoying 43things. 2Q 2007: Traveled to: Pendleton

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