Eliezier S. Yudkowsky comprehensive guide to Bayes’ Theorem:

Bayes’ Theorem
for the curious and bewildered;
an excruciatingly gentle introduction.

Link of the day: Pirate Coelho

A) In the case that you download a book and like it, please buy the book, so we can tell to the industry that sharing contents is not life threatening to the book business.
B) You can do a relevant service to your community. Print and handle FOR FREE to a local library in a small town, to a hospital, to a prison. The intention of Pirate Coelho (as well as my free web books) is first and foremost share thoughts with people who cannot afford buying books.

Wonderful.

Time for another link of the day: Pictures For Sad Children.

A friend recommended it to me, and it goes nicely together with asofterworld, the perry bible fellowship, XKCD and doghatesme/explodingdog.

(thanks, Tobi)

If you have two political parties – blue and red – and three districts, the outcome of the election depends on the district borders. In the following case, the red party has only 4/9 of the votes, but wins the election. The resulting district is known as a “gerrymander”.

This has happened very regularly in the past, and is still being done. In the United States, districts are changed every ten years, leading to major abuse. Examples in abundance can be found on wikipedia, sometimes with hilarious graphical results:

The two big areas are mostly inhabited my Hispanics, who also live along the interstates (look at the green lines!).

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been reading abstruse goose for a couple of months now, and find it hilarious.

I hope the guys over at abstruse goose won’t mind if I repost a smaller version of their last comic: it’s just here for the purpose of promoting your website.

“We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.”

– John Archibald Wheeler

(via Abstruse Goose)

The 30th of September is International Blasphemy Day – it was chosen because the last day in September is the anniversary of the original publication of Danish cartoons in 2005 depicting the prophet Muhammad’s face.

International Blasphemy Day is a movement, not just a day, to remind the world that religion should never again be beyond open and honest discussion or reproach. Our future depends on it.

There can be nothing sacred. Because the entire concept behind “sacred ideas” is that they are “off limits”. It is something that you are not allowed to question, or speak out against, or even think. There’s another term that fits this concept perfectly… “thought crime”.
Some of you may be familiar with the term, “thought crime” from George Orwell’s brilliant book, 1984. The nightmarish, dystopian society in which the main character, Winston Smith, finds himself was entirely founded on “sacred ideas”. Ideas that you could never challenge. Ideas that you weren’t even allowed to think about. Sound familiar?

And I’m not a hypocrite about it either. Even scientists should be held to this standard. Logical people only believe an idea when it has been presented to them with enough evidence to reason that it is more probable to be true then not. This standard must be held regardless if the person presenting the idea is a “Baptist Preacher” or a “Molecular Biologist”. Nothing must be left off the table for scrutiny.

We must never let our society believe that there are untouchable ideas. We must never let a society convict us of “thought crimes”. In fact, the most sacred ideas are the ones we should attack first. The ideas we are not allowed to question are the very ideas that should draw our attention the most.

(with thanks Ms. Lohmeier)

Piratey links of the day:

• Death Metal Parrot
• What kind of Pirate are you?
• Check out the band Alestorm – they’re actually doing Pirate Metal :-)
• Pirate Party - go vote for them.

Yeah, but that they know that I am crazy?