“Statisticians lambasted the Health and Security Agency for its weekly vaccine surveillance report, which erroneously suggests that vaccines make you more likely to contract Covid.” The denominator problem explained. (tags: covid19vaccinationsciencemathematicsstatisticsmedicine)
Points out that the QAnon new religious movement has some familiar sounding rhetoric: “A secret cabal is taking over the world. They kidnap children, slaughter, and eat them to gain power from their blood. They control high positions in government, banks, international finance, the news media, and the church. They want to disarm the police. They promote homosexuality and pedophilia. They plan to mongrelize the white race so it will lose its essential power.” (tags: conspiracyqanonnazis)
1 Kings 18 re-imagined as if Baal had a William Lane Craig on his side. Fun times. “A Pasta Sea” is a good name for an ex-Christian blog, too. (tags: bibleapologeticsahabbaalelijahfunnyparody)
“As the NHS faces its worst winter in years, Robert Colvile provides an in-depth, first-hand account of the pressures facing the health service.” Interesting: combination of people unable to see a GP quickly enough and hospitals unable to turf old people to social care quickly enough. Targets sometimes provide perverse incentives. (tags: nhshealthhealthcaremedicinehospital)
Via Hacker News, where there’s the usual debate about all this. Previously I’ve read research which says you can get gains out of doing it for short bursts but must then rest: longer periods of overtime end up producing less, not more. This article is more about the cultural impact, though. (tags: workprogramminghoursovertimebusinessproductivity)
Linked to the Hacker News thread rather than the original post as the commenters at HN came up with some good additional ones. (tags: worksoftwarejobsinterviewinterviewing)
Scott at Slate Start Codex points out that there’s no good evidence that those “Don’t be that guy” posters have reduced the incidence of rape. (tags: societycrimeadvertisingpostersrapestatistics)
“A weekend in Warsaw made me think about Cambridge at night. In Cambridge after 6pm the city centre empties ready for the only true night time economy: binge drinking. The Market Square alive with stall holders and shoppers at 5pm magically transforms into a ghostly empty space one hour later. It is a Cinderella midnight moment that never fails to astonish. By dusk the Cambridge ball is over and the Prince has gone home to watch T.V. Only a lonely burger van takes up residence creating a sad and soulless image that realist painter Edward Hopper could capture.” Yeah, it’s crap. (tags: night-lifedrinkingalcoholnightcambridgewarsaw)
…unless you want to contribute towards evangelical Christian evangelising, of course. But apparently some schools in the UK are collecting shoeboxes of gifts for the Samaritan’s Purse organisation without fully realising what they’re about. (tags: religionsamaritans-pursechristianitychristmas-childchristmasevangelism)
“Scientists like to think of science as self-correcting. To an alarming degree, it is not.” Talks about the problems with reproducing research. (tags: economistjournalsresearchstatisticsscience)