fun facts for the next time someone asks

Anscombe’s Quartet : Four sets of numbers that look identical on paper (mean average, variance, correlation, etc.) but look completely different when graphed. Describes a situation where exact calculations don’t offer a good representation of how the world works.

Compassion Fade : People have more compassion for small groups of victims than larger groups, because the smaller the group the easier it is to identify individual victims.

Buridan’s Ass : A thirsty donkey is placed exactly midway between two pails of water. It dies because it can’t make a rational decision about which one to choose. A form of decision paralysis.

Weasel Words : Phrases that appear to have meaning but convey nothing tangible. “Growth was solid last quarter,” or “Many people believe.”

50 years ago today, Cleveland hosted 'Ten-Cent Beer Night' against the Texas Rangers. About 60,000 beers were consumed by 25,134 fans, seven people were sent to the hospital, and the game was stopped due to drunken rioting. The Rangers were declared winners via forfeit. https://t.co/2nMnhYB7N9

According to data from Forbes, there were 2,781 billionaires worldwide as of March. The combined net worth of U.S. billionaires totals $5.7 trillion, more than any other country. China’s billionaires rank second, worth $1.3 trillion, and India’s billionaires rank third at $954 billion.

There is no formula, scoring system or checklist. One thing to remember is that it is not our intent to honor the dead; we leave the tributes to the eulogists. We seek only to report deaths and to sum up lives, illuminating why, in our judgment, those lives were significant. The justification for the obituary is in the story it tells.

Pareto Principle : The majority of outcomes are driven by a minority of events.

Perhaps because names are so crucial and personal, naming things can feel uniquely human. And until a little over a decade ago, scientists predominantly thought that was true. Then, in 2013, a study suggested that bottlenose dolphins use namelike calls. Scientists have since found evidence that parrots, and perhaps whales and bats, use calls that i... See more