tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514352312859447561.post1816230791298276006..comments2024-01-30T03:30:45.740-05:00Comments on Bad Data, Bad!: Tracking the wild bad databs kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02871717971078952304noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514352312859447561.post-38219050032309051452012-07-30T06:50:11.144-04:002012-07-30T06:50:11.144-04:00Yes, most of these conversations should be had sep...Yes, most of these conversations should be had separate from the policies they effect. I can't stand it when people act like the policy should influence the acceptance of the data.bs kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02871717971078952304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514352312859447561.post-63305224995630328682012-07-30T06:49:18.319-04:002012-07-30T06:49:18.319-04:00Yeah, I figured it was a moment of tossing a numbe...Yeah, I figured it was a moment of tossing a number in to make it look like you weren't just repeating your own narrative. Ah well.<br /><br />Your "conversion story" makes me laugh.bs kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02871717971078952304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514352312859447561.post-37821440282776400512012-07-27T13:38:58.000-04:002012-07-27T13:38:58.000-04:00The information looks so different when you track ...The information looks so different when you track it down, and decipher it's meaning within the population sampled.<br /><br />I had a similar response after I thought about one of the claims from the early days of the War on Drugs.<br /><br />You see, there were lots of claims that Marijuana was a gateway drug. A very high number of people who smoked crack or snorted cocaine had originally smoked weed.<br /><br />When I constructed the Venn diagram in my head, I noticed an un-mentioned category. The people who had smoked weed and never gone on to harder drugs is unmentioned and unenumerated. <br /><br />Without that number, we can't quantify the gateway factor. We don't know what percentage of people who start smoking weed end up in harder drugs. <br /><br />(This discussion can be had entirely separate from the question of whether marijuana belongs on the FDA's Controlled Substance list; or whether any other narcotic belongs on that list.)karrdehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00205160745963596856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514352312859447561.post-74820522811949346232012-07-27T10:01:21.866-04:002012-07-27T10:01:21.866-04:00That's why only 41 percent of custodial parent...<i>That's why only 41 percent of custodial parents receive child support.</i><br /><br />Versus<br /><i>In 2009, 41.2 percent of custodial parents received the full amount of child support owed them.</i><br /><br />Big difference. Good catch.<br /><br />I get the impression that Amanda Marcotte didn't know the difference. She wasn't being deceitful- just ignorant. I am of the opinion that libs are more number-challenged than wingnuts. Looking at numbers was a factor in changing me from a lib to a wingnut. <br /><br />Example. I started grad school after working 4 years in the stagflation era, where inflation could kick you up to a higher tax bracket without your earning any more pre-tax income in real terms. In a conversation with my roommate my first semester in grad school, I pointed this out. The reply: "That's a very right wing way of thinking." <br /><br />I thought to myself : so be it.Gringonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514352312859447561.post-71485171605333163472012-07-26T06:48:15.809-04:002012-07-26T06:48:15.809-04:00Ah, the life of the mother to be = posting at 4 AM...Ah, the life of the mother to be = posting at 4 AM.<br /><br />Having done a fair amount of family law during my 13 years in private practice, I experienced the evolution of child support payments. When I first practiced, payments were on the honor system with the court for enforcement purposes. One of the tools was a wage assignment. During the next 13 years, it went from the honor system to mandatory wage assignment. The main weakness with wage assignment is that the paying spouse needs to be on a payroll. So, the self employed, work under the table person can avoid the responsibility. However, they don't avoid the debt and child support is generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy. <br /><br />So, the ones who aren't paying are either unemployed or their income is untraceable. As for the ones who say they didn't ask for it in the first instance are likely unmarried.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05680174513083261237noreply@blogger.com