Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Why Memes Are Stupid: The Short Version
In 1976, in his The Selfish Gene, a book which revealed that most of us are slaves to our genes, biologist Richard Dawkins "discovered" the meme which, in one definition,…
Posted inFun
Ecoheroes For the Climate Join Global Warming Superheroes!
Remember Global Warming Superheroes? A site where I---cough, cough---made villain of the day? While glancing through my logs, I was led to Timberati: Reasonably green thoughts. The folks there were…
Posted inStatistics
Global Warming Causes Death
Work is catching up to me this week, so today only the briefest of reports, with the promise of a return to regularity after this weekend. Also keep those post…
Posted inStatistics
Can Catching A Cold Make You Fat?
Jeff Schwimmer and his University of California-San Diego colleagues seem to think so. In a press-release that is being cut-and-pasted across across the internet, Schwimmer tells of a study he…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Postmodernism and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
Since I am, by nature, a compassionate individual, I had been thinking of how we might Sokal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). It is for their…
Posted inCulture
“Bring Who Did It To Justice” and Other News Words I Hate
Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-American, who, preliminary reports indicate, is not a member of the Tea Party, has been arrested in connection with the Times Square bombing. Officials think that either…
Posted inCulture Statistics
Malthus Was Wrong, But Not Why You Think
It's hard to think of a historical writer more misunderstood than Thomas Malthus. A week doesn't go by without somebody dropping his name, but only to show how wrong he…
Posted inCulture
Carbon coaching
In one Seinfeld episode, Kramer has joined the annual Manhattan AIDS walk but has refused to wear the symbolic twisted red ribbon. He is confronted by an angry group of…