resources
visualizations
presentations
lunch break
Distractions and amusements, with a sandwich and coffee.
fun + amusement
Dummer — Like Nothing Else
The Hummer font is a slightly modified Antique Olive Nord. The Like Nothing Else tag line is Trade Gothic. Both have character widths increased to 110-120% and individually adjusted kerning. Get the Illustrator CS5 file for both logos.
Download high-resolution images.
This project might give you the impression that I don't like Hummers. You'd be right.
update
The Maurauder. Over 25,000 lb — five times what an H3 weighs. Enough said.
Dummer - Like Nothing Else
Hummers are a cultural equivalent of a toxic warning label and have the same effect on me as bug spray on mosquitoes.
I am not the first one to satirize this automotive aberration, so there's some hope.
GM's advertisement images require no modification for the satire, which makes it all that much better.
I could have just as well used the Lincoln Navigator or Cadillac Escalade, but they don't embody the superlative like the Hummer.
The Hummer brand proved itself to be aesthetically, rationally and economically unsustainable and collapsed after a failed attempt to sell it to China. There continues to be a robust market for used Hummers. Let the farce continue.
I'm hated
It delights me that this project produced my first hate mail.
Only a Canadian and a liberal professor, would set up a website as ludicrous as Dummer.com.
Extremely Dumb!
If you are going to make fun of a Hummer, what about a Dodge powerwagon that obtains less miles per gallon? Many other vehicles on the road with worse mileage. But, I guess your location, and your profession tells it all.
Have a great day in BC...
Doug
I want to meet Doug and give him a hug for adding another dimension to this project.
I'm loved
The images got picked up by the New York Times laughlines blog, which drew a couple of fan mails.
Excellent work. One of the best ad parodies I've seen.
Gil
I don't normally write people to tell them I think their web work is good/bad, but I had to write and just say I think these are fucking brilliant. Should probably look into getting them made into billboards.
Dave
But neither made me feel as good as Doug's email.
Dummer Images
news + thoughts
Quantile regression
Quantile regression robustly estimates the typical and extreme values of a response.Quantile regression explores the effect of one or more predictors on quantiles of the response. It can answer questions such as "What is the weight of 90% of individuals of a given height?"
Unlike in traditional mean regression methods, no assumptions about the distribution of the response are required, which makes it practical, robust and amenable to skewed distributions.
Quantile regression is also very useful when extremes are interesting or when the response variance varies with the predictors.
Das, K., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2019) Points of significance: Quantile regression. Nature Methods 16:451–452.
Background reading
Altman, N. & Krzywinski, M. (2015) Points of significance: Simple linear regression. Nature Methods 12:999–1000.
Analyzing outliers: Robust methods to the rescue
Robust regression generates more reliable estimates by detecting and downweighting outliers.Outliers can degrade the fit of linear regression models when the estimation is performed using the ordinary least squares. The impact of outliers can be mitigated with methods that provide robust inference and greater reliability in the presence of anomalous values.
We discuss MM-estimation and show how it can be used to keep your fitting sane and reliable.
Greco, L., Luta, G., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2019) Points of significance: Analyzing outliers: Robust methods to the rescue. Nature Methods 16:275–276.
Background reading
Altman, N. & Krzywinski, M. (2016) Points of significance: Analyzing outliers: Influential or nuisance. Nature Methods 13:281–282.
Two-level factorial experiments
To find which experimental factors have an effect, simultaneously examine the difference between the high and low levels of each.Two-level factorial experiments, in which all combinations of multiple factor levels are used, efficiently estimate factor effects and detect interactions—desirable statistical qualities that can provide deep insight into a system.
They offer two benefits over the widely used one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) experiments: efficiency and ability to detect interactions.
Since the number of factor combinations can quickly increase, one approach is to model only some of the factorial effects using empirically-validated assumptions of effect sparsity and effect hierarchy. Effect sparsity tells us that in factorial experiments most of the factorial terms are likely to be unimportant. Effect hierarchy tells us that low-order terms (e.g. main effects) tend to be larger than higher-order terms (e.g. two-factor or three-factor interactions).
Smucker, B., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2019) Points of significance: Two-level factorial experiments Nature Methods 16:211–212.
Background reading
Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2014) Points of significance: Designing comparative experiments.. Nature Methods 11:597–598.
Happy 2019 `\pi` Day—
Digits, internationally
Celebrate `\pi` Day (March 14th) and set out on an exploration explore accents unknown (to you)!
This year is purely typographical, with something for everyone. Hundreds of digits and hundreds of languages.
A special kids' edition merges math with color and fat fonts.
Check out art from previous years: 2013 `\pi` Day and 2014 `\pi` Day, 2015 `\pi` Day, 2016 `\pi` Day, 2017 `\pi` Day and 2018 `\pi` Day.