Johan Hari: Superior Inferior Superior Storyteller
…and some thoughts about how new anti-obesity drugs could affect the UK
popular science
story-telling
drugs
weight loss
NHS
austerity
A number of factors aligned in recent weeks to encourage me to buy, and even read, Johan Hari’s latest book, Magic Pill: The…
The Game of Life Beyond
On the Psychological Mechanics of Cultist Simualtor
psychology
games
fantasy
This post contains mild-to-moderate spoilers for the game Cultist Simulator, which is available on Steam, Switch, and likely other platforms besides. If you want to experience Cultist Simulator without these spoilers, please buy the game, play it for between ten and twenty hours, then…
Part Twenty Four: Time series - Vector Autoregression and multivariate models
life expectancy
time series
vector autoregression
multivariate regression
statistics
So far in this short series on time series, we’ve looked at time series modelling from some first…
Tidy Tuesday R performance
R
tidy tuesday
R performance
We used a 1GB reviews dataset which is available on datareviews: books review
David Lynch: All-American Shaman
neurodiversity
film
television
creativity
spiritualism
religiousity
What is a mild genetic version of schizophrenia? … There was something a little bit strange about family members of…
How factor analysis is used in testing
statistics
factor analysis
testing
I mentioned in some links to my previous post on factor analysis with ordinal variables that there’s a link between the approach detailed there, and the approach used to construct standardised aptitude and knowledge tests. In some ways the testing example is…
Jason Statham vs the Nepobaby Cyberscammers
Thoughts on a mindless genre
films
cybercrime
altruistic punishment
gender
myth
Back in January, I saw The Beekeeper at the local cinema.
The Trading Mind Game
books
mental health
inequalities
economics
distinction
banking
The Frog was shouting. Shouting and screaming. All up and wailing and arching and leaning and pacing and waving his arms. I wasn’t really listening. Every now and then I…
Thoughts on Dreams from My Father
On Obama’s dialectical engagement with identity
books
identity
USA
One of the first differences I noticed about living in Edinburgh, as compared with Glasgow, is the presence and use of free book boxes. Little boxes where people are invited both to donate books they’ve finished with, and pick up books they might be interested in reading. Such boxes appear to be both well…
Part Eighteen: Causal Inference: Some closing thoughts
Including why I’ve not written about DAGs
statistics
causality
causal inference
DAGs
Over posts 14 through to 17 I’ve discussed causal inference. However, readers who’ve been involved and interested in the topic of causal inference over the last few years might be less surprised by…
Can we go Dutch? (And should we?)
Some thoughts post Amsterdam
cities
Europe
Holland
UK
cycling
Amsterdam
I’m not good at going on holidays. Ideally I’d rather live somewhere I like living…
Part Seventeen: Causal Inference: Controlling and Matching Approaches
statistics
causality
R
matching
regression
The previous post (re)introduced three ways to try to allow causal effect estimation using observational data: i) ‘controlling for’ variables using multiple regression; ii) matching methods;…
Why can’t we just get on with making and fixing stuff?
Some thoughts on Andy Weir’s Eng-Fi and neurodiversity
stories
fiction
engineering
utopia
neurodiversity
I tend to read non-fiction rather than fiction, but some of the novels I have consumed over the last few years are those by Andy Weir, whose 2011 debut novel The Martian was…
On the background to my statistical inference series
statistics
training
education
My blog series on statistical inference and modelling has, at the time of writing, 13 parts, and a feature-length reading time. 1 I’ve been strongly motivated to write this because it covers what I consider the essential theory and practice necessary to be a competent user of statistical methods. In…
On Sweary Soap Operas: A Concealed Television Genre
genres
television
stories
Back in the 1980s I used to play with He-Man dolls. My favourite came pre-decomposed: Modulok and Multi-bot. Both were collections of interchangeable heads, torsos and limbs - alien parts for Modulok; robot parts for Multi-bot - that could joined up in more ways that a young boy…
David Sederis: Humourists as Unrepentent Observational Confessionals
books
mindfulness
comedy
humour
Whereas I devoted much of the 2022 Christmas break to (re?)learning Bayesian modelling, and over 2023 took four months off to learn software development, over the 2023 Christmas break I vowed to do nothing…
Tidy Tuesday on Life Expectancy - Part Two
R
tidy tuesday
Life Expectancy
In the previous week’s TidyTuesday session, we looked at Life Expectancy.
Why such pushback against 20 minute neighbourhoods?
research
walkability
driving
conspiracy theories
human development
I had the privilege yesterday of hearing a series of talks by researchers at the University of Glasgow on 20 minute neighbourhoods.1 The talks covered areas like evidence…
Tidy Tuesday on Life Expectancy
R
tidy tuesday
Life Expectancy
This week’s Tidy Tuesday compares life expectancy across the globe and is available here:
How to wrap presents
Christmas
Birthdays
Arts & Crafts
Here’s the key information I’ve learned from watching too many Youtube videos on how to wrap presents over the years.
A Deathly Silence
Mortality
Epidemiology
Papers
What does it mean when someone dies, and no one notices for days, weeks, or months on end?
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