Science vs the Media :D

[Naraoia]

Today's xkcd gave me such a chuckle.

ETA: alt-text: 'So, we did the study again and found no link. It was probably a --' 'RESEARCH CONFLICTED ON GREEN JELLY BEAN/ACNE LINK; MORE STUDY RECOMMENDED'

 

[Hespera]

Did you see where it has been uncovered that the person who came out with the study linking vaccines with autism was in fact being paid by an attorney who needed that study to back his lawsuit?

 

[Naraoia]

Did you see where it has been uncovered that the person who came out with the study linking vaccines with autism was in fact being paid by an attorney who needed that study to back his lawsuit?

Oh yes. It was an appallingly bad study even assuming it was honest. I remember we tore it to shreds in a class. And now it turns out the guy had to twist data even to make it that good. It's pathetic.

 

[Lion Hearted Man]

I love xkcd. So good.

And yeah, that Wakefield guy...what a quack.

 

[metherion]

When I saw that, I lol'd. I also noticed that they did 20 jellybean colors, so with a 95% confidence interval, it would not be amiss that one of them might trigger that.

There's an SMBC that's similar, except it uses the f-word in it, and so I can't link it.

But it goes like this:

Scientist:
The new treatment led to the elimination of 10% of the cancer cells in rats.
HEADLINES: CANCER CURED!
Scientist:
No, we didn't cure cancer, we're just moving faster towards a treatment.
HEADLINES: TIME TRAVELED DISCOVERED!
Scientist:
Screw you!
HEADLINES:
SCIENTIST RAPES REPORTER!

Metherion

 

[Upisoft]

Not far from the truth.

Today I was watching a "prophet" on TV who was claiming he gets dreams about pyramids and how they were build.

His "proof" was he was born on very rare moment when the Sun was for a moment behind Jupiter.

I thought for a second and concluded this has to be very-very-very rare thing, so rare that actually this guy does not exist...

BTW on the question "How they have build the pyramids?" he answered "By using numbers".

Media --- madness...

 

[badtim]

anyone who bases their perceptions of reality, and especially scientific inquiry, upon media reports, is highly deluded. primary sources people!

and edumakashun.

 

[Naraoia]

When I saw that, I lol'd. I also noticed that they did 20 jellybean colors, so with a 95% confidence interval, it would not be amiss that one of them might trigger that.

You actually counted them? I just looked at the lots of little panels and figured they'd be enough for that. It's a significant part of the lol factor either way

There's an SMBC that's similar, except it uses the f-word in it, and so I can't link it.

I think I saw that. Sounds strangely familiar. Of course, there are probably around a million similar jokes/cartoons circulating in the meme pool.

Not far from the truth.

Today I was watching a "prophet" on TV who was claiming he gets dreams about pyramids and how they were build.

His "proof" was he was born on very rare moment when the Sun was for a moment behind Jupiter.

I thought for a second and concluded this has to be very-very-very rare thing, so rare that actually this guy does not exist...

Hanged with his own rope, much?

BTW on the question "How they have build the pyramids?" he answered "By using numbers".

Like it takes prophetic dreams to figure that out...

 

[Upisoft]

Hanged with his own rope, much?

Actually the guy looked like he is in great need of specialized psychiatric help. But I guess the media was interested to make fun of him and they just used the poor guy.

 

[sfs]

You actually counted them? I just looked at the lots of little panels and figured they'd be enough for that. It's a significant part of the lol factor either way

I used a simple mathematical algorithm(*) to estimate the number of panels: I counted the number in one row and multiplied by the number of rows. I'm having trouble working out the uncertainty in my estimate though.

(*) I tried publishing my estimate, but one of the reviewers said I really needed to be using a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo for the estimation, and the other said I should be using a Bayesian mixture model, so I went back to bed.

 

[Naraoia]

I used a simple mathematical algorithm(*) to estimate the number of panels: I counted the number in one row and multiplied by the number of rows. I'm having trouble working out the uncertainty in my estimate though.

(*) I tried publishing my estimate, but one of the reviewers said I really needed to be using a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo for the estimation, and the other said I should be using a Bayesian mixture model, so I went back to bed.

You officially win this thread.

(I wanted to give you a trophy, but when I googled "funny trophy", the images that came up weren't entirely appropriate for this forum )

 

[badtim]

(*) I tried publishing my estimate, but one of the reviewers said I really needed to be using a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo for the estimation, and the other said I should be using a Bayesian mixture model, so I went back to bed.

don't make me call in my old high school buddy with the phd in econometrics* just to explain your comments, you

*he swears he's not really any good, but his phd from uc berkeley and the fact that NOAA created a project and position, specifically for him, right after he was awarded that phd, that is a direct continuation of his dissertation, sayeth otherwise

 

[Upisoft]

(I wanted to give you a trophy, but when I googled "funny trophy", the images that came up weren't entirely appropriate for this forum )

I'll do it instead of you. I have a filter....

 

[Isambard]

The title reminded me of this

YouTube - Dilbert Cartoon 02X16 - The Fact - part 1/3

 

[MorkandMindy]

Not far from the truth.

Today I was watching a "prophet" on TV who was claiming he gets dreams about pyramids and how they were build.

His "proof" was he was born on very rare moment when the Sun was for a moment behind Jupiter...

1. When the Sun was behind Jupiter did it get dark here?

2. That means we were further from the Sun than Jupiter so did it get cold?

3. Since Earth is the lightest of these objects most likely it was the location of the Earth that was changed, was his mum watching Dr. Who on TV at the time?

4. He learned all his science off Alan Davies on QI

 

[Blayz]

When I saw that, I lol'd. I also noticed that they did 20 jellybean colors, so with a 95% confidence interval, it would not be amiss that one of them might trigger that.

It was actually a joke about multiple test correction. I have to wonder how many people saw that.

I used a simple mathematical algorithm(*) to estimate the number of panels: I counted the number in one row and multiplied by the number of rows. I'm having trouble working out the uncertainty in my estimate though.

(*) I tried publishing my estimate, but one of the reviewers said I really needed to be using a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo for the estimation, and the other said I should be using a Bayesian mixture model, so I went back to bed.

Try publishing in biology, they'll accept any old methodology when it comes to statistics. I saw (something like) this sentence in a published paper once:

"After applying a multiple test correction, none of our results were significant, so we have not included the corrected p-values in this paper"

 

[sfs]

Try publishing in biology, they'll accept any old methodology when it comes to statistics. I saw (something like) this sentence in a published paper once:

"After applying a multiple test correction, none of our results were significant, so we have not included the corrected p-values in this paper"

Okay, that is gross. By the way, I do publish in biology, at least if you consider genetics to be biology. In population genetics, at any rate, there is often a great deal of statistical rigor (a lot of statistical theory was invented for population genetics, in fact), and even in the rest of genetics much quality work is done.