Who the?
I'm Rob Minto, and this is my personal website or blog.
See the [About Rob] page for a bit more about this blog and the story behind the picture.
RSS
Site feed: use this to add to Google reader or any other RSS-based thingyGet updates by email
Best of this blog
- The internet of 1901
- The lazy journalism of citing Facebook and Twitter
- The gender timebomb of India and China: a stab at the numbers
- Changing the clocks – how the numbers (don’t always) stack up
- The X-factor flaw: the new demographics of pop
- Zuckerberg vs Hirst
- What Sarah Palin has in common with Ludwig Wittgenstein
Author Archives: rob
How to live dangerously – a book that does statistics a disservice
TweetBeing a statistics junkie, a couple of people recommended to me the book How to live dangerously by Warwick Carins. Normally, I would read it, enjoy, and move on. But this book has prompted a mini-review (several years late, but … Continue reading
Posted in Books, ideas, Society
Leave a comment
Secret winning formula: high fives
TweetApparently giving high fives makes you a winning team! High Five! You don’t have to be sport’s answer to Ben Goldacre to realise that it might be something to do with winning in the first place that makes people high … Continue reading
The gender timebomb of India and China: a stab at the numbers
TweetWhen I visited India in 2003, I was shocked by areas of the countryside where there seemed to be not a young girl in sight. It was all boys, as far as you could see. When we asked our tour … Continue reading
The crazy world of Wimbledon’s prize money
TweetIn a good but not great Wimbledon final, Novak Dkokovic beat Rafael Nadal today. I was supporting Nadal (actually I am quite a big Nadal fan). So I did what you might call an “emotional hedge” and put a bet … Continue reading
Posted in Sport, Sport finance, tennis
Leave a comment
The Wimbledon roof myth
TweetThere’s been quite a lot of rain already at Wimbledon this year, and that new roof has been wheeled out a few times. Which is great – for TV, and the 15,000 Centre Court spectators. However, I keep hearing the … Continue reading
The lazy journalism of citing Facebook and Twitter
TweetI’m getting very annoyed with the phrase “such as…” in journalism. It’s becoming a lazy substitute for not having concrete facts, and is used especially to write about websites and social networks where the writer usually has no idea what … Continue reading
The limits of sports stats: the example of Nadal and the WSJ
TweetThis year in tennis is been all Djokovic and that winning streak. The narrative of sports is always about who is “the Man”, so therefore, Rafael Nadal must be a spent force. The Wall St Journal have, they think, proved … Continue reading
The FA cup: magic and economics
TweetThere are three things always said about the FA Cup. It’s the world’s oldest cup competition; it has a magic to it; and it isn’t what it once was. But few people actually manage to quantify how or why the … Continue reading
Posted in Sport, Sport finance, Sportonomics
Leave a comment
Tennis: A rivalry in decline
TweetLost in all the battle of the streaks – Nadal on clay vs Djokovic in 2011 – was the fact that Nadal and Federer met again in a semi final on Saturday. It’s a bit of a comedown for the … Continue reading
Where is the Marathon’s Usain Bolt?
TweetToday is the London Marathon. Aside from the amazing efforts of people to raise money for charity, and the tremendous physical effort to complete the course, we are unlikely to see a world record today. Why? With all the improvements … Continue reading