Also this week: variance-mean scaling (tennis edition), mean scaling (pumpkin edition), and more
From Jeremy:
A good post on the history and purpose of statistical null hypothesis testing. Key line:
Statisticians and philosophers spend far too much time close-reading Fisher and Neyman and far too little reading Bradford Hill.
Statistician and polymath Cosma Shalizi has been keeping public online notebooks on the stuff he reads and thinks about for 30 years (!) He’s not sure if it’s time well spent.
Modern professional tennis players aren’t using riskier, higher-variance tactics than past players. Rather, they’re just better than past players (and/or have better equipment).
Priyanga Amarasekare is suing UCLA for discrimination. As usual, I post this item because the news is likely to be of interest to some of you. But experience shows that public discussion of Priyanga’s situation tends to turn into an unproductive shouting match pretty fast, which I don’t want to happen here. (As an aside, that’s why I always phrase my posts on Priyanga’s situation very carefully, and don’t publicly share all of my own views on her situation. I’m fine with people disagreeing with me, but I prefer not to be shouted at.) As usual, I discourage commenters from weighing in on this item.
A well-lived life can involve wasted time.
And finally, for anyone teaching indeterminate growth, here’s your new go-to example: no one knows how big pumpkins can get. 🙂
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About Jeremy Fox
I’m an ecologist at the University of Calgary. I study population and community dynamics, using mathematical models and experiments.