Random Sampling Nerds of the World, Unite!

I know I'm not the only one who geeks out on the subject of sampling. Here's a useful two minute video about random sampling. There's a helpful soup analogy in the video. The accompanying article mentions the video series Methods 101 that is "dedicated to explaining and educating the public about the basic methods we use to conduct our survey research." Good stuff.

The Continuing Relevance of Sociology

Sociology is having a good year. Two quick examples of sociologists getting well-deserved acclaim.

Matthew Desmond was awarded a Pulitzer for his book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.

Tressie McMillan Cottom appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to talk about her book Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy.

Her book was reviewed in the New York Times.

Sociology is alive and well. Kudos to these and other sociologists who produce work that is accessible to the public.

1993 > 2017

In today's edition of 1990s appreciation, I offer you a tremendous song from 1993. It's by Digable Planets from the album Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time And Space), which you should own.

100% guarantee that "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" is the best song you'll hear today.


2017 get out of here with your fidget spinners.

Cold Take: Nirvana is Still Great

Maybe I'm biased as a Generation X person but Nirvana's music is great and continues to hold up beautifully. If you're visiting a desert island anytime soon you best bring Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York album. Though this is a cold take about Nirvana, I'm going to mix in a hot take about Courtney Love because when I think about Kurt Cobain I also think of Courtney Love. Courtney's a great musician in her own right and I dare say if not for sexism she would get way more acclaim. Go ahead and listen to Live Through This and tell me it isn't a great album. You could tell me it isn't great but you'd be wrong. I'm wearing my sassy pants today, fyi. And when you're done listening to Live Through This watch the movie Basquiat and enjoy Love's outstanding, scene stealing performance. But your first priority should be to listen to this phenomenal Nirvana cover of The Velvet Underground's "Here She Comes Now". I've got all the superlatives today, I know.

We'll Make Great Pets

We humans aren't very good at being human. Our record is dismal in many ways: war, slavery, racism, poverty, terrorism, violence.

On a micro-level, we fail at the art of communication, we aren't consistently nice, we brag, complain, complain more, then complain some more, and finally ask "How are you?" without really wanting to hear the answer. Listening, compassion, and empathy are in short supply.

Counter point: humans do good and surprising things too. Suddenly a human drops a nice gift on you, or offers a lovely compliment, or flashes a brilliant smile, or hugs you. Humans are great to share a beer with and they're important if one wants to make love. They also tend to say funny things. They even argue about Oxford commas.

Plus, to err is human or something like that. Maybe we take the good with the bad, maybe we all work on being a little bit better and a lot less terrible.

I mean, what's the alternative? Leave it to the algorithms and robots? I don't know.

Like the song goes, maybe Martians could do better than we've done...

Pregnant and Poor with Two Jobs

A video from the Washington Post, accompanied by an article available by clicking here.

Ivanka Trump Feminism

Ivanka Trump feminism: When a super rich white woman makes generic statements about economic equality, ignoring racism, poverty, heterosexism, and those who are gender rebels. It pays disproportionate attention to women with higher levels of educational attainment. It pays sparse attention to women with less earning power. It is a businesswoman ("lean in") and middle-class feminism, not a working-class feminism.

This is a definition in progress. Please let me know if you have suggestions for improvement.