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Florence Nightingale, Statistical Graphics Pioneer
Science News has a fascinating look at an under-appreciated corner of the career of Florence Nightingale — as an innovator in the use of statistical graphics to argue for social change. Nightingale returned from the Crimean War a heroine in the eyes of the British citizenry, for the soldiers' lives she had saved. But she came to appreciate that the way to save far more lives was to reform attitudes in the military about sanitation. Under the tutelage of William Farr, who had just invented the field of medical statistics, she compiled overwhelming evidence (in the form of an 830-page report) of the need for change. "As impressive as her statistics were, Nightingale worried that Queen Victoria's eyes would glaze over as she scanned the tables. So Nightingale devised clever ways of presenting the information in charts. Statistics had been presented using graphics only a few times previously, and perhaps never to persuade people of the need for social change."
Troll mod? Gee, looks like we have a PHB in the audience.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Same with the recent US election.
I find it appalling that Obama is celebrated because of his skin colour.
I like the guy but I care just as much about what colour his car is, as what colour his skin is.
It just goes to show that the US is still extremely racist - just now its sympathetic and not derogatory.
"Seriously, feel free to go to some other website. Some of us want lack of quality here on /.. That's what gives it character."
More importantly, I think people who complain about spelling and errors forget what it is to be human. In fact I think most sane people as they get older are not bugged by the small stuff and know errors will happen. People aren't perfect and this naive idea that they should be held up to a "higher standard" is nonsense. I'd certainly like to talk to the co-workers and wives/husbands exboyfriends/girlfriends of these complainers and see what kind of mistakes they make in their lives and how they treat other people.
People need to chill out and relax and not take everything so seriously, there are far more serious things in the world to worry about that actually need to be addressed like war and poverty, then pedantically worrying about mistakes people make. You'd think professionals would know by now that mistakes always happen, constantly, even if you are not aware of them and human beings are not these perfect machines. They get old, they have health problems, they are under constant stress... they are for the most part just trying to live like everybody else.