This is a guest post by Bethany Soule with assistance from Daniel Reeves. Prescript: We realize how crazy this all sounds! Nonetheless, we’re perfectly serious, and do actually pay each other to put our kids to bed and whatnot. We think we have quite clever mechanisms for deciding who does what and keeping things... »
Lies, Damned Lies, Rape, and Statistics
The vicious gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern in Delhi last month is tragically just one of many attacks on women that occur every day in India. In 2011 alone, there were more than 24,000 reported rapes in the country, with likely many times that number going unreported. This horrific incident has... »
The Irrationality of Rationing
More than two weeks after the largest Atlantic hurricane on record hit the Eastern Seaboard, the bridges and tunnels have opened, the subways are running, and a degree of normalcy has succeeded the initial panic and confusion. But the gas lines persist. In an effort to shorten these sometimes absurdly long lines, New Jersey Governor... »
Email Snooze and Gmail Zero
Two years ago, when I still had a day job and Beeminder was just a side project, I wrote about my epic struggle with email: My email is dysfunctional. I keep things in my inbox because I can’t afford for them to go out... »
Olympic Records
This is a guest post by Jake Hofman, part of the original MESS in Messy Matters and now a researcher at Microsoft Research - New York City. We’re not sure where Jake’s own PRs would appear on the charts below but he crushed both Sharad and Dan this summer in the... »
The New Digital Divide
In the 15 years since Hoffman and Novak highlighted the digital divide between those with and without internet access, use of the web has risen dramatically in the United States, increasing from roughly 30% to 80% of adults regularly going online. Even with this tremendous growth in access, however, substantial inequalities persist across... »