Berna Devezer
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devezer.bsky.social
Berna Devezer
@devezer.bsky.social
9.9K followers 930 following 28K posts
Metascientist @ uidaho. I work at the intersection of behavioral sciences, statistics, and philosophy. Love thinking and talking about science. Post lots of cat and food pics. Allergic to unsolicited advice.
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devezer.bsky.social
hand paint your posters, i dare you!
The image is a hand-painted movie poster for X-Men, featuring Wolverine at the center, with his iconic claws crossed across his chest, set against a yellow background. Below Wolverine, there are two other characters, one holding a pistol and the other, likely Mystique, wielding a larger firearm. The title "X-Men" is printed at the top. Wolverine definitely doesn't look like Hugh Jackman. It looks like a reimagination of a black Wolverine. Same with the other two characters. The image is a hand-painted movie poster for "Mrs. Doubtfire," featuring the titular character assaulting a man with the handle of a broomstick which gouges the eye of the man who is bleeding profusely. There's also the top half of another man holding Mrs. Doubtfire's foot in the lower left corner. The overall tone is violent, humorous, and chaotic.
November 9, 2025 at 6:58 PM
devezer.bsky.social
so sad that there wasn't a single usable still in the whole first season of murderbot that apple had to go with this for their promo
An AI-distorted promo image of Murderbot series on Apple TV with the whole cast surrounding the murderbot, hugging him and each other. Except it's not a real photo or still from the show but a generated or at least heavily manipulated image where all actors, and especially Alexander Skarsgård at the center look like an uncanny valley version of themselves. At the bottom of the poster, the title of the show Murderbot is written in white capital letters. On upper right is the Apple TV logo in white.
November 9, 2025 at 6:31 PM
devezer.bsky.social
and ofc at the headquarters
A photo of the massive russet potato statue at the entrance of the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot Idaho
November 9, 2025 at 6:27 AM
devezer.bsky.social
I'd like to re-up this paper we published last year bec I believe it makes a fundamental contribution to theoretical metascience but it is woefully underappreciated. We address a key challenge in estimating the reproducibility of a result: The distance of a replication study from the original. 1/n
Screenshot of an article abstract. Title: Statistics in Service of Metascience: Measuring Replication Distance with Reproducibility Rate Authors: Erkan O. Buzbas and Berna Devezer Abstract: Motivated by the recent putative reproducibility crisis, we discuss the relationship between the replicability of scientific studies, the reproducibility of results obtained in these replications, and the philosophy of statistics. Our approach focuses on challenges in specifying scientific studies for scientific inference via statistical inference and is complementary to classical discussions in the philosophy of statistics. We particularly consider the challenges in replicating studies exactly, using the notion of the idealized experiment. We argue against treating reproducibility as an inherently desirable property of scientific results, and in favor of viewing it as a tool to measure the distance between an original study and its replications. To sensibly study the implications of replicability and results reproducibility on inference, such a measure of replication distance is needed. We present an effort to delineate such a framework here, addressing some challenges in capturing the components of scientific studies while identifying others as ongoing issues. We illustrate our measure of replication distance by simulations using a toy example. Rather than replications, we present purposefully planned modifications as an appropriate tool to inform scientific inquiry. Our ability to measure replication distance serves scientists in their search for replication-ready studies. We believe that likelihood-based and evidential approaches may play a critical role towards building statistics that effectively serve the practical needs of science. Keywords: replication distance; reproducibility rate; philosophy of statistics; scientific inference; idealized experiment; minimum viable experiment
November 5, 2025 at 7:07 PM
devezer.bsky.social
it's getting dark early, it's cold, and it's raining. avgolemono soup because the spirits need uplifting.
In a black bowl, a cream colored soup with carrots, chicken, orzo, and dill. A thin slice of lemon floating on top.
November 4, 2025 at 2:33 AM
devezer.bsky.social
the thing that's happening in your data is not happening
AI Overview It is not possible for a main effect to become significant after adding an interaction term. Rather, it is the opposite: adding an interaction term can cause a previously significant main effect to become non-significant. This happens because the interaction term explains variance that was previously attributed to the main effect, and the main effect coefficient in a model with an interaction term no longer represents the overall effect, but rather the effect at a specific level (often zero) of the other predictor.
November 3, 2025 at 6:33 PM
devezer.bsky.social
Decided to make a not-so-sweet Romanian sweet cheese pie for dessert, from Irina Georgescu's Eastern European cookbook Tava . Turned out lovely and smells rather appetizing. But now we have to wait a few hours for the ideal texture. It's torturous.
A rectangular golden brown pie in a glass pie dish. Recipe for Curd Cheese and Golden Raisin Pie from the cookbook with an appetizing photo showing a square piece of the pie on a colorful dessert plate, showing layers of bottom crust, filling, top crust, and powdered sugar.
November 2, 2025 at 1:13 AM
devezer.bsky.social
Halloween menu: Red curry with red kuru squash, tofu, spinach, and lots of roasted cashew. Cilantro-lime jasmine rice. Cucumber salad. The squash in the curry is cooked to pillowy perfection. The whole thing is so smooth, creamy, comforting, and flavorful. I should make more curry.
On a white plate, a dome of cilantro surrounded with cucumber salad on one side, next to an orange bowl of red curry.
November 1, 2025 at 1:23 AM
devezer.bsky.social
Happy Halloween! Pseudo allows you to let loose and have fun tonight. Don't be too scary though, or else...
Pseudo, a black and white cat, lying on a colorful rug next to a bowl of catnip. The rug is patterned with pink, orange, and blue designs and sprinkles with a lot of catnip. The cat has bright green eyes and is looking directly at the camera in a semi-threatening fashion.
October 31, 2025 at 3:17 PM
devezer.bsky.social
not bad for a weeknight! beautiful crust
a golden brown sourdough boule with criss cross scoring showing a great rise cooling on the rack
October 31, 2025 at 1:25 AM
devezer.bsky.social
morning bliss
Me hugging Pseudo, a large tuxedo cat, in bed. His face is resting on mine and he is resting on my chest and belly. We both are still half asleep.
October 29, 2025 at 3:44 PM
devezer.bsky.social
it's freezing but the campus is beautymaxxing today
A lawn covered in yellow and orange leaves extending under trees turning from green to yellow. There's a stone bank at the center of the photo.
October 28, 2025 at 5:13 PM
devezer.bsky.social
Just watched Demons (1985) by Lamberto Bava. Truly speechless about the sheer absurdity and campiness, the non sequiturs, the terrible sound and haphazard editing... The acting!!! No wonder it's a cult classic. Can't explain. You gotta live through it!
Movie poster in Italian for Demoni. Black background, yellow and white text. Black demons with white eyes rising through a light source at the center into the dark.
October 26, 2025 at 4:41 AM
devezer.bsky.social
Miso-glazed Idaho trout and beet-lentil salad topped with Humboldt Fog for dinner. That'll hopefully get me to finish this exam I've been trying to write so perhaps I could take tomorrow off and not do any work. Fingers crossed!
Two pieces of orange glazed, part charred trout with a scoop of reddish salad on the side on a white plate.
October 26, 2025 at 1:40 AM
devezer.bsky.social
Not to be that person but from the original Box (1976)
4.1 Cookbookery and Mathematistry The maladies which result may be called cookbookery and mathematistry. The symptoms of the former are a tendency to force all problems into the molds of one or two routine techniques, insufficient thought being given to the real objectives of the investigation or to the relevance of the assumptions implied by the imposed methods.
October 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
devezer.bsky.social
"I ate a Nazi once. Tasted awful. I did it anyway. Don't make me do it again!"
A fluffy black and white cat lounging in a light blue-grey pet bed. The cat is lying on his side, with one leg stretched out and another folded over. His right front paw is resting on his belly. He has green eyes and a stern expression. In the background, there's a stack of firewood and a window.
October 22, 2025 at 4:47 PM
devezer.bsky.social
Been tasting so many olive oils from everywhere for years and this is the pepperiest, most aromatic olive oil I've been able to get in the US. If any of you care about such a thing. I grew up dunking whole thick slices of bread in a humongous bowl of olive oil at breakfast so the quest is real.
A picture of an elegant looking bottle and outer box of Entimio Intenso artisanal Italian extra virgin olive oil.
October 19, 2025 at 8:26 PM
devezer.bsky.social
It's gotta be him, doesn't it? Now where's Zenigata?
Lupin the 3rd driving a car with a bejeweled crown on his head, that he most certainly stole from the Louvre!
October 19, 2025 at 6:05 PM
devezer.bsky.social
Chang argues against a general preference for one unified theory and highlights the provisional role of theories (as opposed to striving for a perfect one).
One may think that it would have been better to have one unified theory which explained all the facts; in Chap. 5 I am actually going to argue against a general preference for unity, but for now there is a more immediate and pragmatic point. Given that an all-conquering unified theory was not forthcoming, it was better to have multiple theories so that every important phenomenon could receive some theoretical account, which not only provided a measure of understanding but also facilitated further research. If we do not allow such provisional role to theory, then theoretical science would have to suspend until we reach the perfect theory and know that we have reached it.
October 18, 2025 at 6:17 AM
devezer.bsky.social
Quite a hot take on the performative exactitude in Lavoisier's work by William Nicholson: "serve only to exhibit a parade which true science has no need of"
William Nicholson (1753-1815), who did accept Lavoisier's system, gave some detailed reasons to doubt the claimed degrees of accuracy in Lavoisier's weight measurements. This was one aspect of Lavoisier's work that made him annoyed and doubtful: "I must beg leave to observe, that these long rows of figures, which in some instances extend to a thousand times the nicety of experiment, serve only to exhibit a parade which true science has no need of: and, more than this, that when the real degree of accuracy in experiments is hidden from our contemplation, we are somewhat disposed to doubt whether the exactitude scrupuleuse of the experiments be indeed such as to render the proofs de l'ordre demonstratif."
October 18, 2025 at 3:32 AM
devezer.bsky.social
Finally transferring my mastodon book thread on Hasok Chang's Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism over here. My notes are somewhat haphazard, just remarking on things I found interesting at first read. And the thread appears to end abruptly. Been a while; can't remember why.
Dark blue cover of Hasok Chang's Is Water H2O: Evidence, Realism and Pluralism published by Springer in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science (293).
October 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
devezer.bsky.social
I had to post Pseudocula now, didn't I?!
Headshot of a tuxedo cat with his long neck hairs swept up like the raised collar of a cape. His green eyes half open. He'd look menacing if he weren't adorable.
October 16, 2025 at 12:03 AM
devezer.bsky.social
Been craving Hünkar Beğendi (Sultan's Delight)*. Finally made it for dinner. Comfort food at its best! Also the fresh picked olives we ordered arrived today; they're gorgeous. We'll brine them next.

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*Bechameled roasted eggplant puree with stewed meat (typically lamb but I used chicken)
In a white plate, eggplant puree topped with peppery chicken stew in tomato sauce. A large box of raw green olives, some of which have turned red.
October 14, 2025 at 2:45 AM
devezer.bsky.social
The tuxedo is back. Hard to believe these two are the same species. Just look at our megachomk!!
Two cats on opposite sides of a patio door. Both are tuxedo. The one outside is tiny, crouching over a bowl full of cat food. The one inside is sitting on a couple of outdoor slippers, looking gigantic, towering over the little guy.
October 12, 2025 at 10:16 PM
devezer.bsky.social
The tartness of the extra lemon juice I decided to add, the tanginess of yogurt (Greek and Bulgarian), the mild and rich bitterness of the poppy paste, the soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture of the original batter mixed with the crumbly, crunchy, tingly poppy swirls... Just so good!
A thick slice of cake cut and pulled out of the Bundt ring, showing inside colors and texture.
October 12, 2025 at 2:14 AM