Carl Schmertmann

"It is now possible to compute the mean and variance of the projected Lifetime Kin Overlap with any type of kin, in one-sex or two-sex models based on age or combinations of age and stage."

www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...

Plot with state's share of votes for Republican candidates on horizontal axis, and share of state's US House seats won by Republicans on the vertical axis. Many states are far from the 45-deg line that would signify proportional representation. Examples of Republican "overperformance" include Tennessee (64% R votes, 89% R seats [8 of 9]) and Wisconsin (51% R votes, 75% R seats [6 of 8]). Examples of Republican "underperformance" include Illinois (47% R votes, 18% R seats [3 of 17]) and California (39% R votes, 17% R seats [9 of 52])

One measure of current gerrymandering: Republican share of 2024 votes for US House candidates in each state vs. share of US House seats won.

Red = Rep overperformance. Blue = Dem overperformance.

Plenty of inequity in both directions.

Opinion | How to Fix America’s Two-Party Problem (Gift Article) Proportional representation could help restore American democracy.

A proportional representation system for the House of Representatives sounds pretty appealing right now.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Por enquanto somos a Venezuela do Norte

UC stands up for us. Let's stand up for UC.

Um pássaro amarelo-esverdeado pousado em um galho. Tem um bico laranja-avermelhado e uma pequena mancha branca acima do bico. A parte inferior do pássaro é laranja-avermelhada. A cauda é amarela. O fundo é desfocado e mostra um tom azul-acinzentado e algumas folhas verdes. Atenção: O alt da imagem foi gerado automaticamente.

🇧🇷Japu-verde
🌎Psarocolius viridis
Conservação:Pouco Preocupante

O japu-verde é um passeriforme da família Icteridae. Conhecido também como joão-congo.


📷 Anselmo d`Affonseca

The contrast is unrealistically high on this close-ad button

Um pequeno pássaro preto está empoleirado em um galho. Tem uma crista ereta de penas pretas e uma mancha branca distinta acima de cada olho. O bico é pequeno e preto, e as pernas e os pés são escuros. O pássaro parece estar em um ambiente florestal, com um fundo desfocado de folhas verdes e galhos. Atenção: O alt da imagem foi gerado automaticamente.

🇧🇷Formigueiro-de-taoca
🌎Hafferia fortis
Conservação:Pouco Preocupante

O formigueiro-da-taoca é uma ave passeriforme da família Thamnophilidae.


📷 Bruno Rennó

So bad.The EO institutionalizes and intensifies the politicization of federal research funding. The provisions weaken scientific expertise in funding decisions and effectively cede control to political appointees. The basic logistics here will also further slow walk release of federal research funds

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

1. Federal funding for research promotes tech, biomedical, and scientific discovery in the US, and provides training for the sci/tech workforce that has brought immeasurable wealth to the US over the past 75 years.

Today's executive order includes a provision that will obliterate both functions.

I now realize that it's hopeless (somehow the trade war angle is just editorial catnip that journalists can't resist). But this should say "Trump hits Americans with an additional tax on imports from India".

A proposed edit would eliminate race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression from FSU's non-discrimination statement.

Florida State University's politically-appointed Board of Trustees proposes this change to the university's non-discrimination policy.

Talk about saying the quiet part out loud...

14-1

A perfect summer night at Coors Field. The Rockies aren't doing their part, though. They're down 9-1 to the Blue Jays in the 5th. 😑

Texas A&M #Sociology is hiring an Assistant Professor (tenure track) in Criminology, Criminal Justice, or Law and Society. I'm not on the hiring committee, but I'm happy to chat about A&M Soc and College Station at #ASA2025.

Link to ad: apply.interfolio.com/171025

Trump yelling at kid mowing White House lawn meme

Do you know anything about labor statistics?!

Firing the BLS Commissioner — the wonk in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire.

It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.

Road trip, at the South Dakota - Wyoming border. Lots of nothing.

Hidden population heterogeneity: Using highly stratified neonatal cohort lifetables @jschoeley.com shows how mortality selection acts on the observed distribution of frailties and provides a test for the selection hypothesis of "ontogenescence". www.demographic-research.org/articles/vol...

Just over a week left for applications for this role. Would suit an earlyish career demographer or demography-adjacent statistician who wants to live and work in the Pacific!

Floridian here. Yeah, sure... that'll happen. 😑

United we stand. Divided we fall, and fall, and fall...

"They did their own research" 🤬🤮

America's wealthiest Census tracts by mean household income

While mean incomes can be misleading due to skewed distributions, they offer insights not available from median household income in the ACS, which is top-coded at $250,001.

The top 5 (minimum 500 households):

FWIW, the current American preoccupations with hydration and proteins are both new-ish. No one talked this way about food and nutrition when I was a kid or young adult (🦕 times).

For non-Brazilian followers: The Trump administration sanctioned Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice overseeing a case against former president Bolsonaro for an alleged coup attempt, using a law designed to punish serious human rights abuses

Assistant Professor - Madison, Wisconsin, United States Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...

We're hiring! Please share with your networks!

The Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant professor in the field of demography of health and aging beginning in August 2026
jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...

Faculty Support of George Mason’s President Draws Federal Investigation

Faculty who wrote to defend their president and object to a DOJ investigation of their university...are now being investigated by the DOJ.
The most banal defense of free speech and academic freedom will trigger the full wrath of the US government now.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...

Harvard Is Said to Be Open to Spending Up To $500 Million to Resolve Trump Dispute

"resolve dispute" is a bizarre way to describe extortion.

Headline says "Trump: Global baseline tariff will likely be 15% to 20%"

News should remind us that this disruption in econ flow *of entire world* is SOLELY and ENTIRELY at the whim on one single person. Not Congress, not any international agreement, just one person. Who also happens to be ignorant, petulant, grievance-driven, etc

Caligula /Pol Pot /Kim Jong Il time