This dataviz could be better.
1) using a hued shade for the central, plausibly neutral, category, rather than a neutral color
2) no data citation nearby (so, source: trust me bro)

1.1 Introduction to State Variables and State Space YouTube video by UCLA modeling class

www.youtube.com/@uclamodelin...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZWG...

that feeling when you discover an entire youtube channel full of quant methods lectures for inspiration... too good

Basic Research 101: have a complete and thorough understanding of where your data are coming from, including all potential sources of error. Yet another example of AI repeatedly being used to supposedly reflect reality, and that “reality” somehow passing peer review (over and over). #DoBetter

My most liberal idpol radlib take is that I think it's pretty bad that
right wing forces are actively intervening on behalf of the Klan with the full weight of the state legal apparatus

yiiiikes

arlington voters when governor spook does a ballot initiative:

To study the question of how extremist political commitments transmit across generations, I digitized 3.4 million Nazi Party membership cards, identify those that emigrated to the United States using the census, and examine the political attitudes of their descendants today.

“To study… how extremist political commitments transmit across generations, I digitized 3.4 million Nazi Party membership cards, identify those that emigrated to the United States using the census, and examine the political attitudes of their descendants today.” www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nafra...

I appreciate everyone taking a swing at the prisoner's dilemma today during the VA vote, but...
*rubs temples*
Not like this.

Love how places like the Keweenaw light up here

you're only cool if the estimated error on the estimated treatment effect is also 0 to more than 2 digits

Texas employs over 2000 political science postsecondary teachers at a mean salary of $107k per year according to May 2024 BLS data

TIL that there are more postsecondary political science teachers in TX compared to all other states (while also learning how to do stuff with maps in ggplot)

that's right theweek.com/articles/598...

The (prospective) Fed (Chair) is Independent, but Not Indifferent

"it depends on who's president"

HEAD QUARTERS MORRIS TOWN 12TH MARCH 1777 Sir You are hereby required immediately to send me an exact return of your regiment, and to send all your recruits, who have had the small pox to join the Army. Those, who have not, are to be sent to Philadelphia, and put under the direction of the commanding officer there, who will have them inoculated. You are to leave a sufficient number of proper officers to carry on the recruiting service, who are to bring up their men as soon as they are ready. No pleas, of delay, on account of the dispersion of the officers can be admitted, as every commanding officer ought to know where his inferior officers are, and they what recruits they have, and where they are to be found. You are to remain at Philadelphia, to procure arms clothing &c., and send on, your Major to Camp, to receive your detachments. Your Lieut. Colonel is also to come on, as soon as circumstances will permit. I am Sir Your most humble servant Go: Washington George Washington wrote this letter to Lt. Colonel David Grier on March 12, 1777. In it, Washington instructs Grier to send new soldiers to Philadelphia so they could be inoculated for smallpox. Washington wanted to make sure that his troops were not affected by disease, and he believed that inoculation would help with that. So, just before this letter was written, Washington created a mandated system of inoculating his soldiers.

George Washington wrote this letter to Lt. Col. David Grier on March 12, 1777. In it, Washington instructs Grier to send new soldiers to Philadelphia so they could be inoculated for smallpox... just before this letter was written, Washington created a mandated system of inoculating his soldiers."

I propose professors start talking about other societal institutions with as little respect or regard for accuracy as other folks talk about universities.

the flu vaccine was literally invented by the US Department of War during WW2

heritage.umich.edu/stories/the-...

I get it, man. I do. I try to give grace by imagining that for them, it's part of a firehose of information coming from lots of classes (and the world), so sometimes it's hard to see through the spray.

But thanks for sharing all of this. It's rad.

there's a reason for everything

Are you headed to MPSA this week? Trying to figure out where to go in the city? Here is my non-comprehensive, incomplete map list of places to eat and a couple of things to do.

MPSA · Erin
maps.app.goo.gl/TatevD4CCYbn...

I know AI tools are useful, and real force multipliers for those that understand the principles of what they're trying to create, but for a datavis course for first-timers, I'd rather see more limited projects that encourage the student to wrestle with creating.

IMO also a more informative signal.

I'm perhaps a bit more coarse when explaining my motivations to students in class: "not something you just toss away at the end of a term", "force you to deal with real data and research", "give application reviewers something useful to look at", etc.

I'm more mixed on Figma and agentic AI, though.

Policy Students Should Build Portfolios, Not Just Write Memos How AI tools are reshaping what policy students can build and show

One of my students in my datavis course (where the semester project since 2020 has been a visualization portfolio) just sent me this post from @jaeyeonkim.bsky.social. I think it expresses nicely what motivated that choice in my own class:
jaeyeonkim.substack.com/p/policy-stu...

Our time is short @SaraGonzalesTX . Mass deportations will correct this, worst of the worst won’t. If Plano, Texas, of all places, has this problem, then you can see how there are 100 million illegal aliens in our country. Commence mass deportations . @nicksortor original post: At a park in Plano, TX with my 5-year-old. We are surrounded by foreigners, speaking multiple foreign languages, making it more difficult for my son to make friends. This is my hometown. It’s unrecognizable. I want my country back.

trump's former "commander-at-large" of the border patrol greg bovino says mass deportations, not deporting "worst of the worst" will "correct" places like Plano, Texas having a diverse population

"braincell.exe has stopped"

i still imagine an alt-history there the L1011 did better and lockheed remained in commercial aviation

tired: its the Department of Defense (est. 1947)

hired: its the War Department (1789-1947)

wired: we're bringing back rum rations, handsaw amputations, trench foot, latrines made of pure cholera, and other manly things of that nature

I don't remember Lockheed being this smug and insufferable.