Weekend Editor
@weekend-editor.bsky.social
Retired physicist, after a career in machine learning & stats mostly for cancer drug discovery. Also @weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz.
Now blogging about stats in the news: https://www.someweekendreading.blog/
Now blogging about stats in the news: https://www.someweekendreading.blog/
is this the same Jules Feiffer who illustrated _The Phantom Tollbooth_?
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 AM
is this the same Jules Feiffer who illustrated _The Phantom Tollbooth_?
Seen on Mastodon via “Uncle Duke”, submitted without comment, other than to note that *some* talking lamps speak more emphatically than others:
November 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Seen on Mastodon via “Uncle Duke”, submitted without comment, other than to note that *some* talking lamps speak more emphatically than others:
Perhaps you might be looking at the bsky app, instead of the web page interface?
In the web page interface as rendered in Firefox, there's no Advanced option under Moderation (below).
Maybe they update the web interface more slowly.
In the web page interface as rendered in Firefox, there's no Advanced option under Moderation (below).
Maybe they update the web interface more slowly.
November 6, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Perhaps you might be looking at the bsky app, instead of the web page interface?
In the web page interface as rendered in Firefox, there's no Advanced option under Moderation (below).
Maybe they update the web interface more slowly.
In the web page interface as rendered in Firefox, there's no Advanced option under Moderation (below).
Maybe they update the web interface more slowly.
Experiment design is the most important step, of course. But many statistics clients of course skip that, and ask you to analyze the wounded result.
After that, it's knowing *which* statistic to use, and *why*, and explain what bad things will happen if the client chooses to deviate.
After that, it's knowing *which* statistic to use, and *why*, and explain what bad things will happen if the client chooses to deviate.
October 12, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Experiment design is the most important step, of course. But many statistics clients of course skip that, and ask you to analyze the wounded result.
After that, it's knowing *which* statistic to use, and *why*, and explain what bad things will happen if the client chooses to deviate.
After that, it's knowing *which* statistic to use, and *why*, and explain what bad things will happen if the client chooses to deviate.
... and the unicyclists dressed as Darth Vader in a kilt, with flamethrower bagpipes. Don't forget those.
www.unipiper.com
www.unipiper.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:52 PM
... and the unicyclists dressed as Darth Vader in a kilt, with flamethrower bagpipes. Don't forget those.
www.unipiper.com
www.unipiper.com
There is a web page at the ACIP web site which defines "shared clinical decision making". It dates from 2025-Jan-07 (when CDC was still moslty sane).
www.cdc.gov/acip/vaccine...
As to who's involved on the clinical side, I captured this image (because character limits). Pharmacists qualify.
www.cdc.gov/acip/vaccine...
As to who's involved on the clinical side, I captured this image (because character limits). Pharmacists qualify.
September 19, 2025 at 9:05 PM
There is a web page at the ACIP web site which defines "shared clinical decision making". It dates from 2025-Jan-07 (when CDC was still moslty sane).
www.cdc.gov/acip/vaccine...
As to who's involved on the clinical side, I captured this image (because character limits). Pharmacists qualify.
www.cdc.gov/acip/vaccine...
As to who's involved on the clinical side, I captured this image (because character limits). Pharmacists qualify.
Speaking of economic polices we saw fail 100 years ago...
Morningstar (investment analyst folk) interview Neil Shearing, Group Chief Economist @ Capital Economics. "Why the Global Economy Is Headed Back to the 1930s"
Image: Tom Toro, riffs on George Santayana.
www.morningstar.com/economy/why-...
Morningstar (investment analyst folk) interview Neil Shearing, Group Chief Economist @ Capital Economics. "Why the Global Economy Is Headed Back to the 1930s"
Image: Tom Toro, riffs on George Santayana.
www.morningstar.com/economy/why-...
September 2, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Speaking of economic polices we saw fail 100 years ago...
Morningstar (investment analyst folk) interview Neil Shearing, Group Chief Economist @ Capital Economics. "Why the Global Economy Is Headed Back to the 1930s"
Image: Tom Toro, riffs on George Santayana.
www.morningstar.com/economy/why-...
Morningstar (investment analyst folk) interview Neil Shearing, Group Chief Economist @ Capital Economics. "Why the Global Economy Is Headed Back to the 1930s"
Image: Tom Toro, riffs on George Santayana.
www.morningstar.com/economy/why-...
Obviously a cat of good taste.
It appears our cats think alike, also:
www.someweekendreading.blog/le-chat-noir/
It appears our cats think alike, also:
www.someweekendreading.blog/le-chat-noir/
August 28, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Obviously a cat of good taste.
It appears our cats think alike, also:
www.someweekendreading.blog/le-chat-noir/
It appears our cats think alike, also:
www.someweekendreading.blog/le-chat-noir/
Got a t-shirt to recommend to you, next time you're in a mood to think about Rome:
www.someweekendreading.blog/ceterum-cens...
www.someweekendreading.blog/ceterum-cens...
August 20, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Got a t-shirt to recommend to you, next time you're in a mood to think about Rome:
www.someweekendreading.blog/ceterum-cens...
www.someweekendreading.blog/ceterum-cens...
I've some trouble imagining when such question might need to be asked. Though, as the person called in when things turn pear-shaped, you have regrettable experience instead of imagination.
Babbage was asked a similarly absurdity & he was dumbfounded:
www.someweekendreading.blog/quotes/#:~:t....
Babbage was asked a similarly absurdity & he was dumbfounded:
www.someweekendreading.blog/quotes/#:~:t....
August 13, 2025 at 2:19 AM
I've some trouble imagining when such question might need to be asked. Though, as the person called in when things turn pear-shaped, you have regrettable experience instead of imagination.
Babbage was asked a similarly absurdity & he was dumbfounded:
www.someweekendreading.blog/quotes/#:~:t....
Babbage was asked a similarly absurdity & he was dumbfounded:
www.someweekendreading.blog/quotes/#:~:t....
Most whackos who try to say something to me about ice-9 have no idea that it forms only at 2-4 kilobar pressure and below -100C temperature.
Vonnegut was many things, some of which were quite charming, but "scientist" was not among them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_...
Vonnegut was many things, some of which were quite charming, but "scientist" was not among them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_...
August 13, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Most whackos who try to say something to me about ice-9 have no idea that it forms only at 2-4 kilobar pressure and below -100C temperature.
Vonnegut was many things, some of which were quite charming, but "scientist" was not among them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_...
Vonnegut was many things, some of which were quite charming, but "scientist" was not among them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_...
Clearly the correct answer is this one:
August 9, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Clearly the correct answer is this one:
One of my cats once complained about the meaning of "ChatGPT" in French, which led to the discovery that other people have been exploring cat-rocketry for some time:
www.someweekendreading.blog/misbranding-...
www.someweekendreading.blog/misbranding-...
August 8, 2025 at 3:47 PM
One of my cats once complained about the meaning of "ChatGPT" in French, which led to the discovery that other people have been exploring cat-rocketry for some time:
www.someweekendreading.blog/misbranding-...
www.someweekendreading.blog/misbranding-...
Try this: a trial of AI tools shows they actually *slow down* software development, once you include debugging time.
bsky.app/profile/metr...
bsky.app/profile/metr...
July 23, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Try this: a trial of AI tools shows they actually *slow down* software development, once you include debugging time.
bsky.app/profile/metr...
bsky.app/profile/metr...
At MIT, in Building 6, there is a bronze relief of George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak, major donor back in the day).
Students love to rub his nose for luck just before going into 6-120 for exams.
alum.mit.edu/slice/george...
Students love to rub his nose for luck just before going into 6-120 for exams.
alum.mit.edu/slice/george...
July 22, 2025 at 11:02 PM
At MIT, in Building 6, there is a bronze relief of George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak, major donor back in the day).
Students love to rub his nose for luck just before going into 6-120 for exams.
alum.mit.edu/slice/george...
Students love to rub his nose for luck just before going into 6-120 for exams.
alum.mit.edu/slice/george...
Babbage had a similarly bewildered response to members of Parliament who asked him about computing back in the 19th century:
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles...
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles...
!["On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], — 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' [... ] I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." -- Charles Babbage, _Passages from the Life of a Philosopher_, ch. 5 "Difference Engine No. 1" (London 1864)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:zvdh44dcxhoife2d6xfrpofm/bafkreifvlsfx33j4gbiappjeyisq56igvjcnszru24xhu56xjgbxecrvhy@jpeg)
July 7, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Babbage had a similarly bewildered response to members of Parliament who asked him about computing back in the 19th century:
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles...
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles...
Welp... she's doubling down on "Democrats control the weather":
July 5, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Welp... she's doubling down on "Democrats control the weather":
How about... Deadpool reading Deadpool reading Deadpool? (Unclear if the recursion ever bottoms out; the illustration is only 3 levels deep.)
July 2, 2025 at 1:49 AM
How about... Deadpool reading Deadpool reading Deadpool? (Unclear if the recursion ever bottoms out; the illustration is only 3 levels deep.)
They aren't named Mabel, but they won't mind being called that if you pet them, play with them, or give them a treat.
June 30, 2025 at 11:12 PM
They aren't named Mabel, but they won't mind being called that if you pet them, play with them, or give them a treat.
Why, yes. Yes, I am.
June 30, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Why, yes. Yes, I am.
Totally understandable, really.
I mean, if this thing were the size of your torso and suddenly appeared in front of you... you'd jump, too.
(Or at least I would. You've probably seen more weirdly frightening stuff than I have, and I'm ok with it staying that way.)
I mean, if this thing were the size of your torso and suddenly appeared in front of you... you'd jump, too.
(Or at least I would. You've probably seen more weirdly frightening stuff than I have, and I'm ok with it staying that way.)
June 29, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Totally understandable, really.
I mean, if this thing were the size of your torso and suddenly appeared in front of you... you'd jump, too.
(Or at least I would. You've probably seen more weirdly frightening stuff than I have, and I'm ok with it staying that way.)
I mean, if this thing were the size of your torso and suddenly appeared in front of you... you'd jump, too.
(Or at least I would. You've probably seen more weirdly frightening stuff than I have, and I'm ok with it staying that way.)
One of my cats does this: big black cat, sitting in front of a black marble fireplace is invisible except in *very* bright light.
When he looks, his bright yellow eyes give him away.
Alas, I have no useful picture of this. But here he shows his admiration for the art of la Belle Époque.
When he looks, his bright yellow eyes give him away.
Alas, I have no useful picture of this. But here he shows his admiration for the art of la Belle Époque.
June 25, 2025 at 1:05 PM
One of my cats does this: big black cat, sitting in front of a black marble fireplace is invisible except in *very* bright light.
When he looks, his bright yellow eyes give him away.
Alas, I have no useful picture of this. But here he shows his admiration for the art of la Belle Époque.
When he looks, his bright yellow eyes give him away.
Alas, I have no useful picture of this. But here he shows his admiration for the art of la Belle Époque.
This cartoon by Tom Toro sums it up:
June 22, 2025 at 9:58 PM
This cartoon by Tom Toro sums it up:
Not only is the US extremely unequal -- with a GINI coefficient comparable to the Gilded Age, but a high GINI coefficient decreases economic mobility: people are locked out of upward progress.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_...
June 20, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Not only is the US extremely unequal -- with a GINI coefficient comparable to the Gilded Age, but a high GINI coefficient decreases economic mobility: people are locked out of upward progress.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_...
May 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM