Just Marginal Joints

Here is a joint distribution of wear on the counter top of a Home Depot. The counter top was originally white. This has worn away to reveal various layers of shading in the laminate and further into the underlying wood of the table. The innermost area has been actually gouged out by many tools, cans of paint, and other heavy hardware. We see nested triangular patterns of wear revealing the joint distribution of tool placement on the counter and their movement across the checkout scanner.

But wait. There's more, as they say on infomercials. Not only do we get the joint distribution of wear, we also get one marginal distribution of wear along the front edge of the counter. As customers drag their purchases onto or off of the counter they leave a bell-shaped pattern of use along that front edge.

Our Video

Award for Best Evidence of Inspiring Students at the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach. Double click on video for full screen.

YADWFD: Yet Another Door Wear Freqency Distribution

This is an edge-on view of an open door. Notice the wear pattern along the edge. Another bell-shaped frequency distribution of wear.

Mc-Bell-Shaped

Wear caused by hands (fingers?) holding a door? Perhaps left hand fingers in the PULL slot and thumbs wearing away on the door edge. More frequent wear near the middle and less above and below. We've seen this pattern before, like here. There will be more to come. This pattern is quite common. Find one for yourself and share.

Skyscraper Frequencies

A sculpture of a keyboard with the key's height proportional to its letter's frequency of use in English. Looks like a small city block full of skyscrapers. How would the block look different if the frequencies of use were in another language. Via Geekologie. Thanks to Laura.
I examined related frequency and language questions here.

Automated Histograms c. 1962

This is a device, from Nature in 1962, to construct a histogram during an experiment of stimulus-response times. The histogram forms by the careful timing of the release of ball-bearings into plastic bins. As a stimulus is given to a subject, the machine comes to life, starting a motor and engaging an electro-magnet. The motor hums, driving a treadmill-type belt at a constant rate. A ball-bearing is then projected onto the underside of the belt by a solenoid. The ball-bearing is held fixed at a point along the moving belt by the magnet. Once the subject responds to the stimulus, the electro-magnet is switched off, and the ball-bearing drops into the appropriate bin indicating the response time. The histogram grows as more response times are measured. It is suggested that the mean can then be found by balancing the display, and the variance by finding its moment of interia.

Earthquake/Population Density Map

A map of global earthquake intensity, showing magnitude and density of seismic activity weighted by population (larger version here). According to Views of the World this map allows us "to understand the earthquake intensity in relation to today’s population distribution, and thus gives an idea of where most people are of risk related to seismic activity." The algorithm uses kernel density estimation followed by a density equalizing algorithm.
Via The Map Room.