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Space Shuttle Explosion

In 1986, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded several minutes after launch. A later investigation found that the cause of the disaster was O-ring failure, due to cold temperatures. The temperature at launch was 39 degrees, colder than any prior launch. The cold caused the O-rings to become stiff and brittle, losing the flexibility thatContinue reading “Space Shuttle Explosion”

Alaskan Generosity

People in Alaska are extraordinarily generous – that’s what a predictive model showed, when applied to a charitable organization’s donor list. A closer examination revealed a flaw – while the original data was for all 50 states, the model’s training data for Alaska included donors, but excluded non-donors. The reason? The data was 99% non-donors,Continue reading “Alaskan Generosity”