http://datamineshaft.com/blog Telling Stories About People Through Data. Updated Each Thursday. Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:10:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (This is part one of a two-part series on criticism of MBTI personality theory. In part one, I set the stage and cover some basic criticisms. In part two, I'll cover some in-depth criticisms and wrap things up. I've written about the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) personality test in this blog ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/if-the-shoe-overfits-part-one The other day I happened to come across a nifty new feature on the data sharing site "Many Eyes" called "Wordles". As you may know from my last post, I've already written about Many Eyes before (here and here) as well as another data sharing site, Swivel, here. But Wordles ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/word-play Tonight's post is ready to go, but my brother won't be able to edit it until late. So, I'll just put it up early this morning. Sorry about that. The semi-relevant title of this post is from the Wu-Tang rapper GZA's song "Duel of the Iron Mic". ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/slow-movin-mcs-is-waiting-for-the-editin Well, this week I'll be out-of-town for the third straight weekend in a row. The last two weekends I've been able to post despite this, but it's finally all catching up with me. I also have to pack more than usual this week, and get up super early ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/flight-of-fancy Geography was not my strong suit in school; it required lots of memorization about a lot of faraway places I'd never been to in the 6th grade. To make matters worse, geographical names for countries and cities change all the time. Seemed kind of silly to my pre-teen ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/geography-lesson (This post is part two of a two-part series on the book "Gross National Happiness" by Arthur Brooks and, therefore, an analysis of what kind of people are happy and why. Part one mostly presented the data and objections to that data. Part two will suggest what to ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/happiness-is-part-two (This week's post is the first in a two-part series on what makes people happy, why, and what to do about it. The first part, as usual, is an explanation and summary of the relevant data. The second part will suggest ways, in light of these data, to ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/happiness-is-part-one Unless you live under a rock (or outside the US) you've probably heard about the "Economic Stimulus Act of 2008". If you made at least a little money (but not too much) last year and paid some taxes, you're entitled to between 300 and 1,200 dollars, depending on how ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/stimulating-conversation Recently my twin brother (and Ed-itor) Ed turned me on to an excellent book called "What Every Person Should Know About War", by Chris Hedges. Hedges is a long-time foreign correspondent for the New York Times, and his goal was to write an unglamorous, no-nonsense, meticulously researched book on ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/war-is-hell I apologize, folks. As I've been doing all too often lately, I have to delay tonight's post until the weekend or next week. I have to work on a personal project that's every bit as involved as anything I've done for the site. Starting next week the ... http://datamineshaft.com/blog/running-on-empty