On being dealt a 5 and a 7, but drawing a straight on the river in a game of Texas Hold ‘em

In case you wonder: Odds/probability of making a straight by the river from an open-ended straight draw on the flop - 2.2 to 1 (or 31.3% chance) That doesn't sound so bad. Then again: Odds/probability of hitting an open-ended straight draw on the river card -- 4.8 to 1 (or 17.2% chance). I'll let AA compute the probs.

How to conduct a poll!

First 'graf: Two out of three Americans who watched President Barack Obama's health care reform speech Wednesday night favor his health care plans — a 14-point gain among speech-watchers, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll of people who tuned into Obama's address Wednesday night to a joint session of Congress.

Last 'graf: The sample of speech-watchers in this poll was 45 percent Democratic and 18 percent Republican. Our best estimate of the number of Democrats in the voting age population as a whole indicates that the sample is about 8-10 points more Democratic than the population as a whole.

Pretty good, eh? 45/(45+18) ~ 0.7 ~ 2/3 and the 37 left are about split.

Anchors Away for Shock Shock Shock of the Day....Not

And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Send him to re-education camp

Read Lolita, and listen to Ludwig van

It all started small

Those brokers amassed 1,313 sales in the three years. Through December, 455 of those properties were seized by banks. With foreclosure rates between 25 and 60 percent, the 21 brokers strayed from even the Back Gate's above-average foreclosure rate, which is 15 percent, by three standard deviations. Such large deviations from the average are almost impossible to achieve randomly, said Jim Lackritz, a statistics professor at San Diego State University. And of those 21, three brokers shattered the standard of impossibility, veering off the average rate by 10 standard deviations. "It's at that point where you have to use the Jim Carrey line from 'Dumb and Dumber': 'So you're saying there's a chance?' " Lackritz said. "Yeah, but not in your lifetime or mine."
You don't say! Deep statistics in all its glory.