“Beware the Tipping Point, my son! That little wee thing, the difference it makes! Beware its Connector Theory, and shun Its luminous Balderdash!” With appropriate apologies to the great logician whose words […]
Can Telomeres Predict How Long You Will Live?
No, they can’t. Not exactly, and perhaps not with sufficient precision to be useful to you. But there is a new company called Life Length who will sell you, for the low, […]
Italian Scientists On Trial For Manslaughter After Failing To Predict Earthquake
Seven Italian geologists have been hauled before an Italian judge—whether in chains or no, we are not informed—and charged with the heinous crime of manslaughter. Specifically, these men are being held culpable […]
Can Cell Phones Cause Cancer?
2015 — Dateline, New York City. Michael Bloomberg, who after purchasing his fourth term as Mayor of Gotham, today signed into law a ban on cellphones in public. This follows similar bans […]
Bad Statistics Is Now A Crime
All p-values are not created equal, nor equally. Use one inappropriately, and you can land in jail. Just like Scott “Baron” (I’m guessing) Harkonen, former CEO of InterMune, a company which makes […]
The Purpose Of All Statistics. Ithaca Teaching Journal, Day5
First, and most strongly, probability need not have anything to do with data. For example, we can compute a value for the probability that “Matt wears a hat” given the assumed evidence […]
Statistical Significance Does Not Mean What You Think. Climate Temperature Trends. Ithaca Teaching Journal, Day 7
There are a subset of professional statisticians—defined as folks who have had formal training in the field given to them by other professionals—who feel that the field of statistics is useless. That […]
Regression Is Not What You Think. Climate And Other Examples. Ithaca Teaching Journal, Day 8
Be sure to first read Statistical Significance Does Not Mean What You Think. Climate Temperature Trends, as this post is an extension of it. As yesterday: If y is some temperature and […]
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