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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
thisdayintrek
thisdayintrek

This Day in Trek

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

In the Hands of the Prophets - Season One, Episode Twenty (X)

Original Air Date: June 20, 1993

“It is my philosophy that on this station there is room for all philosophies.”


“We’re all very good at conjuring up enough fear to justify whatever we want to do.”


“I’m a teacher. My responsibility is to expose my students to knowledge – NOT hide it from them!”


“Is the Emissary of the Prophets blaming me for this act of terrorism?”
“The commander of this station is.”


“I don’t think that you’re the devil.”
“Maybe we have made some progress after all.”

spongebobssquarepants
slenderlock

if you haven’t seen Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, you are missing out

dancinbutterfly

Thank you for this. I clearly was missing out on a lot in my life. Knowing that this is the guy who Cinderella ends up with makes me feel SO much better about the first one.

Of course this is the kind of asshole who would track down a girl based on 1 night of dancing and a lost shoe. Why didn’t we think of this? Well played, Mickey, well played.

gaiomon

He’s such an airhead, I love him.

teded

How to spot a misleading graph (Vol.1)

teded

A toothpaste brand claims their product will destroy more plaque than any product ever made. A politician tells you their plan will create the most jobs. We’re so used to hearing these kinds of exaggerations in advertising and politics that we might not even bat an eye.

But what about when the claim is accompanied by a graph? After all, a graph isn’t an opinion. It represents cold, hard numbers, and who can argue with those? Yet, as it turns out, there are plenty of ways graphs can mislead and outright manipulate. Here are some things to look out for.

image

In this 1992 ad, Chevy claimed to make the most reliable trucks in America using this graph. Not only does it show that 98% of all Chevy trucks sold in the last ten years are still on the road, but it looks like they’re twice as dependable as Toyota trucks.

That is, until you take a closer look at the numbers on the left and see that the figure for Toyota is about 96.5%. The scale only goes between 95 and 100%. If it went from 0 to 100, it would look like this.

image

This is one of the most common ways graphs misrepresent data, by distorting the scale. Zooming in on a small portion of the y-axis exaggerates a barely detectable difference between the things being compared. And it’s especially misleading with bar graphs since we assume the difference in the size of the bars is proportional to the values.

image

So the next time you see a graph, don’t be swayed by the lines and curves. Look at the labels, the numbers, the scale, and the context, and ask what story the picture is trying to tell. Look out for more tips on reading graphs coming later this week!

From the TED-Ed Lesson How to spot a misleading graph - Lea Gaslowitz

Animation by Mark Phillips

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