Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Economic Biases; Poor Reasoning



A great post on The Big Picture Blog describing how our biases have guided how we perceive the economic changes over the last several years. 

While this type of behavior isn't anything new--we are all human after all--biases and irrational conclusions seem to be getting a stronger lift through media outlets on both sides.   It is still amazing to me that even among individuals who are educated fall victim to biases and do nothing to change their habits.  They rarely weed through their ideology to get to the real truth.  As a psychologist once told me, "People are afraid of what they don't know or what makes them uncomfortable."

How do individuals perceive FINANCIAL REGULATORY REFORM, INFLATION, CREDIT CRISIS, MARKETS? Read ON HERE



Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Bank Failure Counter

This doesn't even make the last "block" of a newscast anymore. Yes, bank failures continue. This year, its the regional banks versus the larger banks.

NUMBER OF BANK FAILURES:

2000: 2
2001: 4
2002: 11
2003: 3
2004: 4
2005: 0
2006: 0
2007: 3
2008: 25
2009: 140

2010 (April 5th): 66

Sunday, April 04, 2010

2010 Pecota Projections Are FINAL

The 2010 Baseball season is here. PECOTA, the Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm is a statistical method for evaluating players. Using this method, accurate predictions have been made on overall team performance.

Snapshot of the American League Central.


Full link: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/dc/

Thanks to Roy Neyer of ESPN.com for this baseball note:

Box score of the last game in which a player went 7 for 7.

Box Score Snapshot:

Full link: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197509160.shtml

Friday, April 02, 2010

Very First Satelllite Photo Anniversary


Try forecasting with an image like this in 2010. It was 50 years ago when TIROS-1 (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) sent the first images of cloud cover over the United States. The mission last only 78 days but the data proved incredibly valuable in developing future satellites to enhance weather prediction. Imagine hurricane forecasting without satellite technology?

FULL STORY HERE FROM NOAA