Heh.
The Sound Of Settled Science
… that Diederik Stapel, a prominent Dutch social psychologist, was faking his results on dozens of experiments, the fallout was swift, brutal and global.
Science and Nature, the world’s top chroniclers of science, were forced to retract papers that had received wide popular attention, including one that seemed to link messiness with racism, because “disordered contexts (such as litter or a broken-up sidewalk and an abandoned bicycle) indeed promote stereotyping and discrimination.”
As a result, some of Prof. Stapel’s junior colleagues lost their entire publication output; Tilburg University launched a criminal fraud case; Prof. Stapel himself returned his PhD and sought mental health care; and the entire field of social psychology — in which human behaviour is statistically analyzed — fell under a pall of suspicion.
One of the great unanswered questions about the Stapel affair, however, is how he got away with such blatant number-fudging, especially in a discipline that claims to be chock full of intellectual safe-guards, from peer review to replication by competitive colleagues. How can proper science go so wrong?
The answer, according to a growing number of statistical skeptics, is that without release of raw data and methodology, this kind of research amounts to little more than “‘trust me’ science,” in which intentional fraud and unintentional bias remain hidden behind the numbers. Only the illusion of significance remains.
Good thing it’s not happening anywhere else.
The World Needs More Canada
The Obama administration and its economic czars have flailed about for years, baffled about how to get the U.S. economy growing.
In reality, the president need look no further than our neighbor, Canada, whose solid growth is the product of tax cuts, fiscal discipline, free trade, and energy development. That’s made Canada a roaring puma nation, while its supposedly more powerful southern neighbor stands on the outside looking in.
Reader Tips
When you’re in grave peril, seconds away from a sure death, that’s when you need a true friend to come to the rescue.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
Cash for Clunkers …
It’s been nearly a decade since General Motors Corp. cranked out Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds at its Ste-Thérese assembly plant just north of Montreal. The factory has since been torn down to make way for a vast commercial complex called Faubourg Boisbriand.
[…]
But a curious thing about the facility lingers like a ghost from a bygone era: An outstanding $110-million interest-free loan from the Quebec government to GM that the automaker has yet to pay a penny on.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors
How many solar panels does it take to make a solar panel?
Idaho Power plans to cut off electricity on Tuesday to plant in Pocatello, Idaho, that makes material for solar energy, because the factory owes $1.9 million in unpaid utility bills. The dispute is with Honolulu-based Hoku Scientific, Inc., which is backed by Chinese financing and enjoys federal and state incentives…
h/t Maz2
The Tolerant Left
Calgary’s Muslim mayor, Naheed Nenshi, has been held up as a symbol of the city’s tolerance. Which is ironic, given his own anti-Christian bigotry in return.
Last week, Nenshi ordered city police, backed up with a ridiculously large contingent of private security, to arrest a Christian pastor and five of his congregants who had the temerity to lead a Christmas service in the public atrium of Calgary’s City Hall.
Artur Pawlowski, lead pastor of Calgary’s Street Church, had foolishly taken the mayor at his word when he described city hall as the city’s “living room,” open to all.
What Pawlowski didn’t understand is that Nenshi didn’t mean Christians. Nenshi meant his own co-religionists — no, not Muslims, but the leftist activists who had comprised the Occupy Calgary protests for two months with Nenshi’s blessing.
h/t Neil.
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
The news is that after accounting for last-minute unemployment insurance extensions, “emergency” spending and higher Medicare physician payments, total federal outlays are estimated to be $3.65 trillion in fiscal 2012, up slightly from $3.6 trillion in 2011. The last year has seen no major reforms in any of the big entitlement programs—Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Spending on food stamps alone is scheduled to reach $80 billion in 2012, more than double the amount as recently as 2007.
New Year in Progressia
Ring out the new, ring in the old.
No, hang on, that should be the other way around, shouldn’t it? Not as far as 2011 was concerned. The year began with a tea-powered Republican caucus taking control of the House of Representatives and pledging to rein in spendaholic government. It ended with President Obama making a pro forma request for a mere $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. This will raise government debt to $16.4 trillion — a new world record! If only until he demands the next debt-ceiling increase in three months’ time.
[…]
Greece owes a few rinky-dink billions; America owes more money than anyone has ever owed anybody ever.
[…]
At the deepest levels within our governing structures, we are committed to living beyond our means on a scale no civilization has ever done.
It’s Probably Nothing
Y2Kyoto: Happy New Year!
Well, this has to be disappointing.
(Via)
Reader Tips
Tonight, to help us usher in the new year, throngs of proud Brits at Royal Albert Hall and in London’s Hyde Park sing rousing versions of Jerusalem, God Save The Queen, and Auld Lang Syne.
What a combo.
A big thanks to Kate, the nonpareil, for another year of superb blogging, and for providing a forum for so many interesting characters – you know who you are, you commenters you.
Happy New Years, everybody! Here’s wishing you and your families a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012.
Words and The State: 2011 Edition
Early last November, during a heated discussion with her fellow passengers on a crowded Wimbledon to Croydon tram, a grumpy and stressed 34-year-old former dental receptionist named Emma West proffered up some rather un-PC opinions about immigration and what she saw as the loss of Britain’s identity. The single mother of two remained in her seat throughout, and issued no physical or verbal threats, but she complained – profanely – that Britain’s identity has been lost due to excessive immigration (she singled out Poles, Nicaraguans, and “blacks”), and opined that these people should go back and “sort out (their) own countries.”
She would soon pay a massive price for her expressions. At the time of the incident British Transport officers merely escorted her off the tram and waited with her for the next one, but when one of her fellow passengers posted a cellphone video (language warning) a few weeks later, a nationwide womanhunt commenced – even the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party got in on the act, issuing an “important appeal” to track her down – and on November 29th West was arrested and charged with racially-aggravated harassment. Denied bail over fears of revenge attacks after her home address was circulated online, the distraught West was sent to a category A prison (“the highest security prison in England…for ‘prisoners…whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or national security’) and her children were taken away from her by social services.
Now infamous, West would become an entirely unwitting lightning rod for inflamed passions on both sides of the immigration debate. British journalist and CNN host Piers Morgan tweeted that she should be deported, scores of “anti-racist” online commenters called for her to be beaten and/or raped, and multiple death threats were issued. On the other side, anti-immigration proponents and white nationalists of all stripes appropriated her name and image, and practically deified her for her anxious outburst.
Tough gig for a single working-class mum with a history of severe depression.
One week after Emma West was arrested and jailed, four Somali-born Muslim women who had brutally assaulted a passer-by, kicking her bloody and unconscious while shouting “kill the white slag!” and “white b****!”, walked free from court. Unlike Emma West, they had not been charged with any race-related offences.
2011
Gary Clement’s Year in Review.
The True North Strong and Free…
…wins Aviation Week and Space Technology’s annual photo contest (have a look at the other pix too):
BEST OF BEST
Jason Pineau, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter [two videos here] rests under a thin band of aurora borealis on Point Lake, Northwest Territories.
Mr Pineau’s website is here. Happy New Year!
Update: I neglected to mention that Viking Air of British Columbia is making new-build Twotters–and is having success selling them.
A Good Reason to be Optimistic about 2012
P.S. Indeed, he should have say “Mayans” but that doesn’t take away from his hilarious rant!
Trust the Globe and Mail…
…to come up with this comparison:
…
“There’s still a lot of people who regard at least Kim Il-sung as a god figure, even if they are less happy about Kim Jong-il and the new guy,” he [Canadian North Korea watcher and former Pyongyang resident Erich Weingartner] said.
In that, they’re not as silly as they may seem, according to Prof. [Paul] Evans [director of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia]. “We’ve just gone through a Christmas season of virgin births and stars travelling across the sky,” he said…“That hyper-religiosity is built into the philosophy of the ruling elite in North Korea,” he said.
Do the North Korean people actually believe it?
“Do people in the West believe in transubstantiation?” Prof. Evans asked in reply. “Do they believe in the devil?”..
The Year in Pictures
Oh, Frack!
h/t Adrian
The World Is Being Run By Crazy People
Hey there, sex addicts – play your cards right, and the Vancouver Health Authority might be persuaded to assign you a free crack whore!
h/t Dan T.