Polling numbers for week ending 19 september September 19, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Canada.Tags: Canada, elections, NoDice.ca, politics
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Here’s a look at the numbers from NoDice.ca, aggregated for this week.
Canadian Election roundup for 19 september September 19, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Canada.Tags: Canada, editorials, elections, Globe and Mail, Liberal brand, politics, Quebec
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It’s been difficult to keep abreast of the Canadian federal election this week because so much of the news has focused on American economic troubles. Here’s a quick roundup of the editorials that have been written.
A 500-level interlude September 17, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Academia.Tags: economics, microeconomics, price theory
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Today’s post doesn’t deal with baseball or the Canadian federal election. I’m working on an article and question cluster for my Financial Economics course (discussion is tomorrow!) and in order to get my thoughts organized I’ll be working on them behind the cut.
If you need a Canadian Politics fix, check out The Globe and Mail’s Opinion section. If you’re after an analysis of baseball until the numbers cry, try Recondite Baseball. For pure money talk, check out TwentiesMoneyMag. If you want a brief discussion of Radford, The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp, 12 Economica (New) 189 (1945), you’ve come to the right place.
Friday Polling Numbers for the Canadian election September 12, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Canada.Tags: Canada, elections, Globe and Mail, NoDice.ca
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Two sets of numbers from NoDice.ca plus two sets from the Globe and Mail.
Election Roundup for 12 september 2008 September 12, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Canada.Tags: Canada, editorials, elections, Globe and Mail, New York Times
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Let’s take a look at recent developments in the Canadian federal election and how the New York Times characterizes the major parties’ leaders! Plus, a link to a seat predictor program.
Election Opinion Roundup for 10 september 2008 September 10, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Canada.Tags: Canada, economics, editorials, elections, Globe and Mail, policy, politics
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Stephen Harper in a sweatervest! Four guys in suits! Stephane Dion doing his best to enfranchise one of the siphons of his power! All this and more… after the jump.
Silly bean counters September 7, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Baseball.Tags: Baseball, economics, Research, sabermetrics
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I came across the Beane Count, invented by ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer, by accident. My first thought: “That’s crap. Just summing ranks doesn’t accomplish anything.” My second thought: “How can I prove this?”
My third through nth thoughts involved my standard method of creating a needlessly complex spreadsheet using data culled from ESPN.com. The results were quite surprising.
Harper's Bizarre Election September 5, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Canada.Tags: Canada, editorials, elections, Globe and Mail, politics
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There’s a reason I don’t do politiblogging anymore. When I kept a LiveJournal and used it mainly for polemics and political analysis, even my friends and classmates didn’t pay much attention. The problem, I guess, was that I was really bad. Really, really bad. If I were a political candidate, and I needed a strategist to work free, I wouldn’t hire myself. I predicted Thomas, then Luttig, to fill the Chief Justice slot after Rehnquist died, Edith Brown rather than Samuel Alito to fill Sandra Day O’Connor’s slot after Hurricane Katrina, and Bill Richardson for Barack Obama’s Vice President, after Obama defied my expectations to win the primaries. I’m batting a thousand.
With that in mind, let’s leave the analysis of the upcoming Canadian federal election to the experts. I’ll take a look at the news and editorials behind the cut. (more…)
Wins Above Expectation (with a side of run differential) September 1, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Baseball.Tags: Angels, Baseball, Blue Jays, Rays, Research, sabermetrics
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In continuing my thoughts about the Pythagorean Expectation from about a week ago, I took a look at the MLB standings for the period ending August 31, 2008. I played with the stats a little bit, since I haven’t really thought through the basis for most of them.
Today’s project: find Pythagorean expectations for each team, then find the difference between the actual and expected win percentages (“pythagorean difference”). Apply the pythagorean difference to the total number of games played to determine a team’s Wins Above Expectation by multiplying the total number of games by the pythagorean difference.
Practical application: none.
Discussion and numbers behind the cut.
Question periods in Canada and the United States August 25, 2008
Posted by tomflesher in Canada.Tags: Canada, editorials, Globe and Mail, New York Times, politics
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“I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much the same as the prime minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons.” – John McCain, suggesting a Question Period should be part of the President’s duties
In Friday’s Globe and Mail Opinion section, Preston Manning uses the metaphor of a circus to criticize certain aspects of the Canadian political system. Hardly anything unusual, but Mr. Manning is quite incisive with his specific metaphor – that of Cirque du Soleil wriggling into a monopoly held by the now-merged frontrunners of the old system (Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey).
This comes a scant three weeks after the Congressional Research Service issued a report in which they vetted a parliamentary-style question period as it would apply in the United States. (The version here is cited from the Federation of American Scientists.) John McCain is of the opinion that a question period would be a good thing, while, in Manning’s view, the Canadian electorate would apparently be better served without it.
Discussion behind the cut. (more…)
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