After spending WAY TOO MUCH TIME trying to figure out how to get excel (>2004) to display DIFFERENT ERROR BARS for values on the SAME SERIES I thought I’d save all you other poor souls looking for an answer by providing an easy step-by-step guide.

Alright, here’s what we have with our graph already made and our data laid out. The blue is one series and the red is another series. We want to apply error bars with different values to EACH bar in the graph.

First thing we need to do is calculate the error for each condition. You can use standard deviation (STDEV) but I need standard error for this case (STDEV/SQRT(COUNT)).

Click on the graph. Under Chart Tools go to Layout > Error Bars > More Error Bars Options…

Select the series you want to work on first.

Vertical Error Bars > Custom > Specify Value

Specify the positive error value…

By selecting the two cells that contain the error you previously calculated. The first cell will apply the error to the FIRST bar, the second cell will apply the error to the SECOND bar.

Do the same for the negative error value if needed and hit OK.

HOLY CRAP! Different error bars! Finally, I know.

Do the same thing for the other series.

And there you have it, an illustrated guide on how to make different error bars for values in the same series in excel!

So I’ve noticed that a lot of wandering internet folk are stumbling upon the Spiffy Owl (specifically, the Threadless Gift Certificates post) while searching for Threadless Owl Shirts. I thought I’d help you guys out and compile a list of owl-themed or owl-containing tees! Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed any.

Updated May 3/2010 – 5 New!

Flow of Wisdom

Night Sky Projector

» CONTINUE for more Threadless Owl-y Goodness!

Here I am wishing all my readers a craptastic 2009!

I’d like to share a super wicked site that I’ve been following religiously for the past couple of years. It’s known as Cockeyed.com, and is run by an intrepid fellow by the name of Rob Cockerham.

Each year he creates a calendar containing photographic highlights of his articles and experiments. That in itself is neat, since a lot of the stuff he does is hilarious, but as an added bonus you can actually request for your birthday to be printed on the calendar!

I finally took the plunge this year and purchased one to help support one of my favourite websites. Check it out:

On the left is my birthday. On the right is the image for January, taken from the investigation into Cash4Gold.

Yes, that’s a nail you can see in the left there. I ask you, what other seller-of-calendars would have the insight to include a hanging device with every purchase?

The Instant Outlet™ was also a surprise gift. In just five seconds and no electrical experience, I was able to install the outlet in a place where no outlet has ever been installed before.

Beautiful.