Posted inCulture Philosophy
Discrimination Is Everywhere!
A seventy-year-old man auditions to play the lead in Model Detective, a film about a Victoria's Secret swimsuit model who solves beach crime, and he is turned down because he…
Posted inCulture Statistics
The Quality Of Speeches And Education Has Diminished. Egalitarianism Demands It
Our friend John Cook points us to an analysis, of sorts, of the so-called reading-level of States of Union addresses, and its decline through the years, from the site Priceonomics.…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Another Puzzled Atheist Wonders Why Religion Persists
Orientation quiz. True or false: periodically, some societies have gone insane. The answer is True, true with bells on. Many examples will suggest themselves. Thing about these cultural sanitariums is…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Resolved: Statisticians To Cease Using “Independence”, Change To “Irrelevance”
What's the difference between "independence" and "irrelevance" and why does that difference matter? This typical passage is from The First Course in Probability by Sheldon Ross (p. 87) is lovely…
Posted inStatistics
How’d We Do On Our 2014 Predictions?
This post is one that has been restored after the hacking. All original comments were lost. Time to tally. As has become our tradition, each New Year's Eve we see…
Posted inStatistics
On That New “Gay Gene” Study
First and most important point: there is no way we're going to cover in 750 words the whole of this field. Much will be left out. This small article is…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Pregnant, And No Civil Rights?
Now there's nothing more wearisome than a discussion of "rights"; and having one on a Monday may be unforgivable. But I beg the reader's indulgence as last Friday's New York…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
On Nate Silver’s Predictions: Which Side Of The Probability Equation Are We On?
When I checked FiveThirtyEight.com's Senate prediction, it said "Republicans have a 72.3% chance of winning a majority." There were also words that the "probability that each party will win control…