Humor4u

When trials disagree...it can get ugly! But going into meta-analysis could help sort things out. For a meta-analysis - a technique for combining the results of multiple trials - trials have to pretty much belong together. Differences might be responsible for contradictory results - including differences in the people in the trials, the way they were treated, or the way the trials were done. That's called heterogeneity. Too much of it, and the trials shouldn't be together. But heterogeneity isn't always a deal breaker. Want to read more about heterogeneity in systematic reviews? Here's an article by Paul Glasziou and Sharon Sanders from Statistics in Medicine . Or try the open learning materials from the Cochrane Collaboration .

The astute recognized the absurdity of the diabolical carbon tax grab attempt immediately, some realized later... and soon, as disclosure seeps out... many more will. The carbon tax scandal is just one of many schemes hatched by elitist power-mongers to shear the sheep as closely as possible using ignorance of fact and false scientific study to provide traction to their twisted plans. Before I begin properly -- it is important to distinguish the difference between "climate shift" and "toxic atmospheric pollution." Toxic pollution, be it atmospheric or not is NOT acceptable, it directly kills life bearing habitat and even life itself. It is toxic pollution folks should be screaming about, that at least has a human control solution. Toxic pollution is a cause worthy of pursuit and citizens should demand the end of it. Cause of death - Science! On the other hand, climate shift is a natural phenomena evident on all planets. Climates shift... that is what they do, alw

Let's start with a warmer... Which of these tasks or exercises do you normally see in coursebooks? Look at the highlighted verbs in the text and match them with the following synonyms:   investigate, find, catch, escape Match the adjectives with their opposites, e.g.   tall / short Underline in the text all the expressions with OF Group the words according to categories, e.g. vehicles:   car, motorcycle ; musical instruments: g uitar, piano   etc Underline all the adverbs in the text. Now underline the verbs they go with. Rick says "the journey was long and tiring". What other adjectives can be used to describe journeys? Which is the odd word out?   gaze - smile - stare - look You probably answered 1, 2, 4 and 7 and to a lesser extent 3, 5 and 6  Now read on to find out why... Words in a language can be described in terms of two types of relationships: paradigmatic and syntagmatic. A paradigmatic relationship ref

For decades I have wondered about the sanity of implementing scientific discovery fraught with either obvious or implied catastrophic result, (a prevalent category judging by result.) The deadly effect is often referred to (blithely) as "unintended consequence" and is shrugged off as a natural "Oops" of the "progress" process.   It seems in 2012 the world is awash and ablaze with the aftermath of ill-advised, reckless, wanton and ultimately catastrophic "progress"--aftermath courtesy of science and their benefactors - corporate interests and their enablers in combination with government approval agencies.   You could be forgiven if you suspect a well orchestrated unholy alliance between science, corporate interest and government, who as a team have unleashed horrendous environmental catastrophe upon the planet.  The forms of industrial effluent and wastes are far too many to list as are the ailments and debilitating effects on the environment in

I first wrote about the tendency of "promising" treatments to metamorphose into "disappointing" treatments in a BMJ piece about evidence based mistakes . Early results, after all, can't promise anything at all. The graph depicts a cumulative meta-analysis: each new study is being absorbed into a summation of the evidence so far. With 4 studies, it's shifted from the "this helps" side of the ledger over to the "this harms" side. See more about cumulative analyses in  this classic article . "Promising" is a media and marketing staple, too. Several wonderful initiatives keep the media to account on this, story by story: Behind the Headlines , Germany's  Median-Doktor.de , Japan's Media Doctor, and  the US  Health News Review .

INTERLUDE Stay tuned...

From my guest blog post at Scientific American - Holy sacred cow! Personal bias, wishful thinking plus biased research results is one recipe for a  sacred cow . If more rigorous research results in a conflicting message, it could cause  cognitive dissonance - and the less biased research often faces an uphill battle for acceptance. And I also wrote about the importance of being just as rigorous about the claims we want to believe as those we're skeptical of here at the British Journal of Sports Medicine blog . If you want to get better at critically assessing health claims, Smart Health Choices is a great place to start.

The most inconvenient truth I am aware of is... "Spent yet lethal nuclear waste has no known (safe) disposal solution!" After 60 years of accumulating 65,000 Tons or more of this deadly waste material in the USA alone, science is still as stupefied and bemused at how to neutralize their nuclear toxic waste and effluent... as ever they were! This is yet another episode in the ongoing "death by science saga" -- documented, irrefutable evidence of... "Wanton and destructive science gone mad." To call the situation a travesty is literally the understatement of the centuries. Cause of death - "Science" Could it be someone is finally realizing the absolute insanity of not addressing the situation, albeit in a token fashion? Headache Link In a blow to the nuclear energy industry, a federal appeals court on Friday threw out a rule allowing plants to store spent nuclear fuel on-site for decades after they've closed, and ordered regulators to study the

As if there's not enough for us to remember, we're supposed to remember endless acronyms for trials too now. There's even a wiki to help us keep them straight and a call for a register of trial acronyms to reduce multiple use of all the words ending in T! Somewhere along the line this became marketing: not much equipoise in ACHIEVE, MIRACLE or PROMISE , eh? A study has classified this as a form of coercion. Ivan Oransky called for a HALT (Help Acronyms Leave Trials) . If you're irritated by the next outbreak of trial acronymania or acronymesis  you come across, you're not alone! Another trial acronym here at Statistically Funny.....Meet the AGHAST Investigators !

I haven't had much time for drawing lately, but here are some sketches I did a while ago while re-watching Conan the Barbarian for the 50th time.  They look a bit somber to me.  I still feel weird drawing men, so it's harder to loosen up.  I'm also just rusty from not drawing for myself lately. Thulsa Doom and Conan in his little cultist getup. These ones are actually from Conan the Destroyer, cause I couldn't find my copy of Conan the Barbarian and got desperate.     Rexor.  I love this guy. There's been a trend lately to use the app Instagram to take photos of your drawings, and add filters to them.  It seems a bit like cheating, but the results just look cooler, and I can't help but wanna do it.  Conan's ma. Cultist princess lady. Valeria! It's been kind of a crappy time lately, so I've been having a hard time drawing loose and cartoony. A couple years ago I did some Conan drawings that are more spontaneous and lively.  You can see them here , if