Posted inStatistics
How Effective Was This Year’s Flu Vaccine?
A reader asks, was this year's flu shot effective? Short answer: Looks to be, but there is no definitive way to know. In order to know definitively for any one…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Give Children The Vote?
"After soccer practice, I'm going to bring you to the polls." "Ah, mom! Do we have to go?" "Everybody has to vote, Johnny. If you don't, you're disenfranchised." "I want…
Posted inStatistics
Beer Goggles Not Real?
Perhaps the best reaction to a new study which says beer goggles are a "myth" is from MSN, which said: Contrary to literally everything we've ever heard (or experienced), "beer…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Correlation And Coincidence
A hastily written entry today, folks. Busy day. Typos at no extra charge. Reader Al Perrella invites us to Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manner, where a note from our friend Mike…
Posted inStatistics
Bayesian Statistics Ruled Illegal?
Andrew Montford, who runs Bishop Hill blog, had a post titled "IPCC statistics ruled illegal" in which he said, "Bayesian statistics, the approach favoured by the IPCC in its assessments…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Academics Call For The Killing Of Babies In “After-Birth” Abortions
Update This is back in the news. This (lightly edited) post originally appeared 28 February 2012. Academic philosophers Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva---shockingly working in Australia1, a land where commonsense…
Posted inStatistics
EPA’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan
The EPA has asked for my advice.1 They will not listen to, or harken, or act on this advice, but asking for it gives them a sense that they have…
Posted inCulture
7-Year-Old Suspended For Carrying Unlicensed Pop Tart: Update
Did you feel it? The latest lurch towards insanity happened in Baltimore, where seven-year-old Josh Welch was suspended from school for eating a Pop Tart. Turns out he bit off…
