Thaaaat's Numberwang

"Number occupies a strategic position in this conflict, because it is simultaneously the most generalized basis of thought and that which demands most abruptly the question of its being." — Alain Badiou

See also Mitchell & Webb's "Numberwang" sketch.

December 30
“a bigger, more prominent Saudi institution—King Saud University in Riyadh—has climbed several hundred places in international rankings in the past 4 years largely through initiatives specifically targeted toward attaching KSU’s name to research publications, regardless of whether the work involved any meaningful collaboration with KSU researchers” — Cash for Citations? photo via: Another day on earth, Olivia Locher
“a bigger, more prominent Saudi institution—King Saud University in Riyadh—has climbed several hundred places in international rankings in the past 4 years largely through initiatives specifically targeted toward attaching KSU’s name to research publications, regardless of whether the work involved any meaningful collaboration with KSU researchers” — Cash for Citations?

photo via:

Another day on earth, Olivia Locher

(via nevver)

December 14
newsweek: meredithbklyn: The Fox news graphics department is on a roll, guys. (look at Romney’s pic) ((via)) Nice try, Barack.

newsweek:

meredithbklyn:

The Fox news graphics department is on a roll, guys.

(look at Romney’s pic)

((via))

Nice try, Barack.

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“Note how the 8.6 percent unemployment rate in November looks higher than March’s 8.8 percent rate, and about the same as the 9 percent unemployment rate in October.” — Today In Dishonest Fox News Charts

“Note how the 8.6 percent unemployment rate in November looks higher than March’s 8.8 percent rate, and about the same as the 9 percent unemployment rate in October.” — Today In Dishonest Fox News Charts

November 13
November 7
“So what we did was we crafted language that was so obscure, so confusing, so uninformative, but so precise.” — Jack Abramoff’s guide to buying congressmen nevver: FREE
“So what we did was we crafted language that was so obscure, so confusing, so uninformative, but so precise.” — Jack Abramoff’s guide to buying congressmen

nevver:

FREE

November 2
“ Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them, they translate it into their own language, and forthwith it means something entirely different. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

(Source: quantumaniac, via proofmathisbeautiful)
October 30
Why Economic Models Are Always Wrong: Scientific American

“When you have to keep recalibrating a model, something is wrong with it,”
October 29
Laszlo Birinyi talks markets, protests, Apple after Jobs: Q&A - Connecticut Post

“One of the dark secrets of the market is we don’t really do much research on Wall Street,” he said. “I started off on the trading desk. I worked at my job. There were a lot of people who really…
October 18
langer: Because I know you needed it, internet, I made you this reaction gif of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West hearing the news from Bill O’Reilly that nobody on Wall St. committed any crimes.

langer:

Because I know you needed it, internet, I made you this reaction gif of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West hearing the news from Bill O’Reilly that nobody on Wall St. committed any crimes.

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Economics has met the enemy, and it is economics - The Globe and Mail

The confusion is understandable, and deliberate, according to Philip Mirowski, an economic historian at the University of Notre Dame. “It’s part of the PR trick,” Prof. Mirowski argues. Awarding the economics prize immediately after the prizes for physics, chemistry and medicine helps to place economics on the same level as those other natural sciences.