I was talking to Luke recently and was surprised to find out that in his over 500 beers, he has never rated one 5 stars. That got me thinking about how we all use the rating scale. Here are some stats…
| Row Labels | Average | Standard Deviation | Max | Min |
| Ben | 2.91 | 1.03 | 5 | 0 |
| Dad | 3.54 | 0.70 | 5 | 0 |
| Logan | 3.22 | 0.80 | 5 | 1 |
| Luke | 3.18 | 0.78 | 4.5 | 0 |
| Grand Total | 3.24 | 0.87 | 5 | 0 |
The standard deviation column gives a bit of a feel for how much each user uses the full spread of ratings available to them, but it’s still a bit hard to visualize. So I took all of the ratings and rounded them down so that there were only 6 buckets (0-5). Then I calculated what percentage of each user’s ratings were in each bucket. So effectively, the histogram below is normalized across all users so we can compare apples to apples (e.g. I rate 39% of my beers a 3 and Luke rates 61% of his beers a 3.)
Obviously everybody has their own system for how they use the available ratings, but it does look like they are all close to a normal distribution centered around 3 which makes sense. I think I’ve written this before, but here’s how I personally use the ratings:
- 0 – Yuck. I’d pour it out if you handed it to me. (e.g. Bud Light Lime)
- 1 – I’d politely decline or hand it back if you offered me this.
- 2 – Sure, I’ll drink this but I wouldn’t pay for it.
- 3 – An average beer. I don’t have a problem paying for this but I don’t seek it out.
- 4 – This is a really good beer. If I see it in the grocery store, I’ll probably buy it.
- 5 – Epic beer. Buy it whenever you see it!
And since that’s how I do it, it’s obviously the right way to do it.
Heaven
Who knows what really goes on in the mind of a four year old, but he seems to be taking this all in stride. For the past couple months, I’ve been preparing Elijah for the death of his grandma. He knew she was sick and we talked about how some day she wouldn’t be around anymore. That was hard for him to understand, but what he did understand that she was going to join Jesus in heaven. There have been a number of times when he has walked over to a crying family member, stood there quietly and said, “It’s ok. She’s with Jesus now.” Oh the faith of a child!
We are all comforted knowing that Nancy is in heaven right now. There are still a lot of tears as we come to grips with the fact that we’re not going to see her again here on earth, but the separation is temporary because we’ll be reunited in heaven. Nancy knew that she was a sinner and deserved only God’s wrath and punishment. But when Jesus died on that cross 2000 years ago, he paid for her sins and she believed that. The Bible says that anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. It really is just that simple. Heaven is our free gift and requires zero effort on our part (thank goodness because I know I’d screw it up if any of it depended on me!) Reject that message and the result is much different.
If you’re in the area, you’re welcome to attend the funeral on Friday at 3pm at Calvary. Don’t expect to hear how Nancy was “a great person” or other common funeral quotes. Instead, you’ll hear something like what I wrote above: Nancy was a sinner like all of us, but when she died and stood before the judgement seat, God declared her not guilty, not because of anything she had done, but because Jesus had already paid the debt for her sins and she believed that.