Can Statistics Save Our Health-Care System?

Perhaps it can.
This article was shared by a teacher on the AP-Statistics listserve. "How to Take American Health Care From Worst to First" is written by Billy Beane (former MLB player and current general manager of the Oakland A's), Newt Gingrich, and John Kerry. Makes me wonder how the three of them ended getting together to write an op-ed piece for the New York Times.

Happy Halloween

Last night we held Trick or Treat Street at my school. This was my favorite trick-or-treater of the evening. She was so excited.
I was the official counter. Yes, it does take a Masters Degree in Statistics to be made the official counter. Or they needed someone who could press a clicker for two and a half hours. I would like to think it's because of my education.

One of my fellow math teachers made the pumpkin with our school logo- everyone was very impressed.
You can check out the rest of the pictures here.

Merger On

Today, the Justice Department approved the merging of Northwest and Delta airlines. Faster than a speeding bullet, the companies closed the deal and as of midnight, Eric will officially be a Delta pilot.

Pollster.com

One of the social studies teachers at school likes to check up on the latest election news on Pollster.com. It's a pretty neat site. This is a copy of the map they post and update quite often. (Unfortunately, I couldn't get their html code for a real-time map to work on this post.) You can also click on each state to find out about their current polling outcomes for the presidential election or you can switch over to state races.

Boo!

Count Spudula watches Eric study.

More Fall Colors, Plus a New Recipe

Went for another walk this afternoon during half-time of THE Ohio State University and Michigan State game. It was a snoozer of a game and Ohio State won pretty handily.

Also tried out another new recipe from beckyhiggins.com. She has quite a few, easy-to-make recipes on her blog. This is a good recipe for using up old bananas, and it contains chocolate!

(P.S. I make photocopies or print off copies of recipes and then slide them into a page protector. I then store them in a three-ring binder, which I find pretty handy for organizing. The page protectors also keep the recipes from getting dirty during the frenzy of cooking.
I also use page protectors at school- I keep my original copies and answer keys in binders as well. By using the page protectors, I don't have to punch holes in any of my papers.)


Black-Bottom Banana Bars
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. baking cocoa

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined. Blend in the bananas. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide batter in half. Add cocoa to half; spread into a greased 9" x 13" baking pan. Spoon remaining batter on top and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the bars test done. Cool.
(Note: I decided it would be easier to put the chocolate part on top, so my picture shows the layers reversed.)

Fall Colors

Eric and I went out for a walk this afternoon. We found a whole flock of ducks on the pond. It sounded like they were telling jokes- every so often we would hear "Wah, wah, wah, wah!!!"

Q: What time do ducks wake up?
A: At the quack of dawn.
"Wah, wah, wah, wah!!!"