Comments for Idle Analytics

Comment on Mark Kelly is right about gun policy. His 85% statistic is bullshit by How Fake Statistics Become “True”: A Case Study From The Newtown Massacre Ethics Train Wreck | Ethics Alarms

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:25:33 +0000

[...] But that number is not “85 percent of the children in the world that are killed with guns and killed in the United States,” not even close. A liberal blogger and gun control advocate who is also a scientist was asannoyed by the fake statistic as I was, and did some digging and calculating, expanding beyond the 22 countries in the Richardson and Hemenway study: [...]

Comment on Strange things in conditional probability by Greg

Greg — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:46:11 +0000

relevant:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/10/how_do_children_learn_so_quickly_bayesian_statistics_and_probabilities_help.html

Comment on Thermo for Normals (part 16): How heat gets around by Rosaria Williams

Rosaria Williams — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:01:07 +0000

Reuben, this is still easy to read, and most approachable. Thanks to you, many of us with little science background can make up for those lacunae.

Comment on Something that confuses me about other people's viewing habits by Jason Flatley

Jason Flatley — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:31:08 +0000

It's not surprising to me that people don't identify movies by directors. If you showed 100 people 5 movies each (from the same genre), of which two were by a single director, and the other three were by other different directors, how many people could correctly identify the two, and tell you why? Not many, I reckon. The point here is that the director's influence on a film is extremely subtle to everyone except film buffs. With actors, or musicians, as you note in your post, it's much easier to identify their influence. If you don't agree, let's try this: pick your favorite director I've never heard of, and try to formulate a really precise set of criteria that distinguishes his or her work. Then pick 5 movies and give me the 2/5 test above. Do you really think I will pass?

Comment on Thermo for Normals interlude: questions to ponder by Rosaria Williams

Rosaria Williams — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:37:49 +0000

This is so cool! The closing thoughts, priceless! Rosaria

Comment on Thermo for normals (part 8): The first law of thermodynamics by rosaria

rosaria — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:46:32 +0000

i didn't know you had a blog!
Thanks for sharing.

Comment on The facts of the case by Snow

Snow — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:03:12 +0000

Can't argue with facts...

Comment on Danny Gokey's dead wife is a sickening prop by Julianna

Julianna — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:07:01 +0000

Ditto that!

Comment on The Wedding, The Honeymoon, and Oenophilia by Julianna

Julianna — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:36:33 +0000

CONGRATULATIONS! I am so very happy for the two of you. Jessica, my dear, you are stunning!

Comment on Being Nice is Stupid: A Lesson Learned from My Cat by Reuben

Reuben — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:33:31 +0000

I know there's a message in here somewhere...