I would be laughed out of my profession if I used any of the rhetorical and logical fallacies people use on the internet. — A friend of mine posted a screen capture of the “stop the bleed” training they are doing as part of the intake process for their new job as a high school teacher. The training explains how to stop bleeding from injuries due to stabbings and gun shots. My friend expressed…

One Lorenz Curve can tell you a long story — In a previous post, I showed you different ways to visualize time data on homicides in Baltimore using data from Baltimore’s Open Data portal. For this post, I’m going to show you in one image how homicides in Baltimore are related to income, and how lower-income neighborhoods bear most of…

Don’t limit yourself to simple graphs, or simple maps. — Baltimore City in Maryland is one of the world’s most violent cities, constantly ranking in the top 50 most violent cities in the world, and the top five most violent cities in the United States. The reasons for this are many, and they are complex. …

How do you give unbiased, actionable information in map form? — I woke up this morning needing to fill-up the fuel tank in my vehicle, so I jumped online to look up gas prices. I was met with a graphic from Fox News that seemed interesting to me. Here it is: The color bar seemed weird to me, along with the…

A relatively small investment in social programs, education, and public health would have avoided this mess. — I’m going to start this post by saying that my opinion should not matter about the morality of abortion, because I do not have a uterus. Absent some sort of major scientific advancement, I will never be pregnant. …

How to try to win an argument when facts, science, and reason are not on your side. — With the recent approval of the COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5, the anti-vaccine community has gone into an even higher level of frenzy. The accusations of corruption and claims of “alternative facts” are plenty, but too many of the arguments being made are fallacious. If you are anti-vaccine, and…

Public health discussions and interventions need to consider the people impacted by the diseases and conditions of others — There is an interesting phenomenon in epidemiological surveillance, and it is something that I teach my epidemiology students. The phenomenon is called “surveillance bias,” where a rise or fall in cases (or the perceived burden of the disease) has to do with how the disease or condition is detected. If…

Gun violence can be prevented through several means. Cultural change can happen. There is hope. — According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the National Rifle Association has given politicians millions of dollars to influence votes on gun control legislation. The investment by NRA and other pro-gun groups seems to pay dividends. Even after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, no meaningful gun control…

Children are smarter and more resilient than we think. — First things first: I am not a child psychologist/psychiatrist. I am only the father of an American little girl. This is how I’m dealing with her questions about what happened. This is not advice. If you or your child exhibit signs of emotional or mental distress over the incident in…