Posted inStatistics
Time Series And Causality: Global Warming Example
Temperature causes Here is an atmospheric monthly average temperature series: T = (61, 69, 69, 70, 72, 65, 63) (all F). What caused the temperature to take the value T1…
Posted inStatistics
Time Series Aren’t Easy: Tornado Deaths Example
Time series are the most abused statistics in the physical sciences. (It's an endless, raucous, peer-reviewed contest for the worst in the "soft sciences.") The Mann problem (is that a…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Correlation Implies Causation
A version of this post originally appeared on 20 October 2012. But after a Twitter conversation with our friend @Neuro_Skeptic, it's time for an addition. Comes a Salon article entitled…
Posted inStatistics
On UFOs, Salt Intake, And Heart Disease
Michael "State of Fear" Crichton once proposed that UFOs were responsible for global warming. Why not? After all, something caused that record amount of snow in Detroit yesterday. Don't get…
Posted inBook review Culture Statistics
Party’s Over, Baby: The Twilight of Abundance Reviewed
The Twilight of Abundance: Why Life in the 21st Century Will Be Nasty, Brutish, and Short by David Archibald, visiting Fellow Institute of World Politics. I am a curmudgeon, which…
Posted inCulture Philosophy Statistics
It’s Time To Lynch Those Who Deny Climate Skepticism
Let us agree with the enlightened that the world is imperfect and ought not to be. The cause of imperfection is human error which ought to be eradicated with extreme…
Posted inStatistics
Researchers Claim Gays Who Face Prejudice Live Shorter Lives
The Daily Mail reported it like this: "Gay people who face regular homophobic abuse have a shorter life expectancy than those who live in more tolerant communities." Homophobic abuse, they…
Posted inCulture Philosophy Statistics
Scientists: Moral Traits Considered Most Essential Part Of Identity
Answer me this. You're on the job and the fancy iH20 cooler (with remote iPhone app) blows and shoots a bolt through your skull. The doctors say removing the bolt…