Wolfram Alpha

Progress. Wolfram Alpha. One step towards the dream of instantly accessible data.

Google Data

Want to see the current unemployment rate for La Crosse plotted against previous observations? Simply type "unemployment rate la crosse" into google and the first hit will produce a google chart. Or hit the link here.

Hat tip: Lifehacker.

Economic Recovery Dashboard

Keep an eye on our recovery here.

Geography of a Recession

Excellent interactive graphic from The New York Times.

Correlation

Correlation does not equal causation. Here is a classic example of an observational study leading to the wrong conclusion. Sadly the original studies continue to be promoted, despite their shortcomings and empirical refutation.

A Simple Regression

For my econometrics class. Here is a nice example of a simple regression and an excellent graph.

Kidney Donation

Looks like the fear that donating a kidney reduces life expectancy is unfounded. Maybe this will clear the way for selling kidneys and saving lives?

People who donate a kidney live just as long and are just as healthy as those with two kidneys, according to a new study by University of Minnesota researchers that is the largest ever done on the long-term health consequences of donation.

The study provides a reassurance that experts hope will encourage more organ donations at a time when the need for such life-saving transplants is on the rise. Today there are 78,000 people on the kidney transplant list, and most will not survive the five- to seven-year wait for a kidney from a deceased donor.

Researchers tracked down nearly all of the 3,700 people who had donated kidneys at the university’s transplant center between 1963 and 2007.

The findings will be published today in the New England Journal of Medicine with an editorial that described the results as surprising and quite reassuring.