Four short links: 3 February 2010

Bad Census Data, Telephone Fraud, Math Art, and EBook Bugs

1. Bad Census Data for The Last Decade (Freakonomics blog) -- the "representative sample" of statistics data that the Census Bureau releases has apparently been flawed. It's been used in thousands of studies, and the Census Bureau has refused to correct it.
2. Modern Telephone Fraud -- it's actually an old fraud updated: an insecure digital PBX used to route expensive calls. Innocent company is whacked with bill at end of month. Interesting questions raised about what we expect company to do (pay?) and telco to do (forgive?). It's a good reminder that every electronic product is now an avenue for fraud or intrusion, but we don't plan or contract for these situations.
3. Found Functions -- Nikki Graziano adds mathematics to photographs. Her photos let me see the world through a mathematician's eyes. (via sciblogs)
4. Getting Past Good-Enough E-Books -- fantastic list of TODOs for ebook publishers.