Posted inStatistics

Foreclosures Causing Suicides?

Remember our discussion of the Spurious Correlations website, nicely paired with the Regression Isn't What You Think post? The two keys points of both are the (a) "statistically significant" correlations,…
Posted inCulture Fun

#IAmOutraged!

I am outraged! It's true. I am so outraged that I have created my own hashtag: #IAmOutraged. Use it to join me in my outrage. Let us unite in our…
Posted inStatistics

Regression Isn’t What You Think

We've done regression a hundred times, but it isn't sticking. That means my explanations are failing. Let me try again. Everybody knows normal distributions, i.e. bell-shaped curves: in shorthand N(m,s),…
Posted inCulture Philosophy

The Consensus Fallacy

Here is the word-for-word opening in the Vox "explanatory journalism" tidbit "John Oliver shows how to debate climate deniers": That climate change is occurring, and that humans are the primary…