Some of the discussion of yesterday’s post reminded me of a wonderful bit from Life on the Mississippi: When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboatman. We had transient ambitions of other […] The post Macassar appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science.
Paul Alper points to this news article by Susan Perry: Probiotics have been overhyped and rely on ‘shaky’ science, reporter finds Although some of these studies’ results may be promising, they aren’t strong enough to support the long list of claims currently being made by the manufacturers of probiotic products. . . . Perry links […] The post Are you pro or anti-biotics? appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference,…
Saw a couple of plays, both excellent. Fun Home. Compared to what I remembered of the book (which I also thought was excellent), the play seemed to be more about her family and less about Bechdel herself. But that worked for me. Bechdel’s story won’t be shared by everybody, but we all have families. The […] The post Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood…
I love this stuff: Alice/Celia: This subtle anagram yields two charming classics with completely different sounds. Beckett/Marlowe: Two playwrights representing two of the hottest contemporary name styles, double-t names and hidden-o names. Zoe/Eve: These Greek and Hebrew “life” names look similar on paper, but not spoken aloud. Rima/Amir : These mirror-image Arabic name make a […] The post These Twin Names Match, But Aren’t “Matchy-Matchy” appeared first on Statistical Modeling,…
From John Lardner: A young ex-paratrooper visited Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, one day, and addressed some language, as ball fans will, to Mr. Leo Durocher, the Brooklyn manager, himself the most polite and clean-tongued gentleman in the national pastime when his mouth is shut, which is a hypothetical situation. I should really stop here because this […] The post For Opening Day appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social…
I got an email last month offering two free tickets to the preview of a new play, Chatting with the Tea Party, described as “a documentary-style play about a New York playwright’s year attending Tea Party meetings around the country and interviewing local leaders. Nothing the Tea Party people in the play say has been […] The post “Chatting with the Tea Party” appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference,…
It says “Never miss another deadline.” But if you really could never miss your deadlines, you’d just set your deadlines earlier, no? It’s statics vs. dynamics all over again. That said, this advice seems reasonable: The author has also developed a foolproof method of structuring your writing, so that you make effective use of your […] The post My namesake doesn’t seem to understand the principles of decision analysis appeared…
It just came to me when I saw his obit. The post Grizzly Adams is an object of the class Weekend at Bernies appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science.
Palko points to the ultimate takedown of Mars One, courtesy of Sydney Do and Andrew Owens. At this point, shooting down the financials of Mars One seems a bit of overkill, something comparable to debunking the statistical expertise of Satoshi Kanazawa or Daryl Bem, or questioning the quality of publications with the name “Edward Wegman” […] The post Mars 1, This American Life 0 appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal…
The other day at the library I noticed a pink-covered book, “We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy.” It was filled with interviews. Cool! I checked it out and . . . jeez was it boring. It’s hard to imagine you could interview a bunch of comedians and come up with something so […] The post Comedy book with surefire can’t-miss formula, misses appeared first on Statistical Modeling,…
