TMI
- What song do you want played at your funeral?: I don't want a funeral, but anything calm yet epic
- What book have you read the most?: Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
- I hate living in Seattle or I wish I lived in Seattle
- Where's your hairiest square inch?: The top of my head. I don't like having body hair.
- What keeps you up at night?: Gnomes.
May 21
lqtm commented on Rightwing Anti-Gay French Activist Commits Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral.
May 21
lqtm commented on There Are No Atheists In Foxholes.
What happened to the rest of my comment?
I said that Wolf is a jerk, but that doesn't mean dirac should insult people with GI tract issues.
And then I cheered for atheism.
I said that Wolf is a jerk, but that doesn't mean dirac should insult people with GI tract issues.
And then I cheered for atheism.
May 21
lqtm commented on There Are No Atheists In Foxholes.
Wow. Wolf Blitzer's still a constipated asshole.
May 10
lqtm commented on Desperately Needed Christian Version of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's "Thrift Shop".
Dirk7,
You forgot "hires someone to kill estranged wife."
BTW, former Lutheran, atheist, fucking hated people trying to wash my feet.
You forgot "hires someone to kill estranged wife."
BTW, former Lutheran, atheist, fucking hated people trying to wash my feet.
Apr 29
lqtm commented on Contraceptives Are the Root of All Evil Dandelions.
Nothing says chastity like a big ol' plant dick/pussy. Additionally, it's technically bestiality, since flowers like these use birds and bees to pass pollen from flower to flower. Sick fucking roses.
By the way, notice the logic that if you like to fuck, you must not be good at caring for the elderly or disabled. Oops, no one told that to my promiscuous friend who has worked in health care for the elderly and disabled since just out of high school.
By the way, notice the logic that if you like to fuck, you must not be good at caring for the elderly or disabled. Oops, no one told that to my promiscuous friend who has worked in health care for the elderly and disabled since just out of high school.
Apr 21
lqtm commented on Over 90% of the American People Support Universal Backgrounds Checks.
@62
So your reasons for not trusting the poll are because you do not trust Gallup, and they are not mathematical?
So your reasons for not trusting the poll are because you do not trust Gallup, and they are not mathematical?
Apr 21
lqtm commented on Over 90% of the American People Support Universal Backgrounds Checks.
Truly random doesn't exist. Theoretically random does.
I think we agree on this part, true randomness is excruciatingly difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. There are certain things that could skew it. There is the famous example of phone polls calling an election for the candidate favored by the wealth, who were the only ones who could afford phones at the time. A pollster who cares about significant randomness must call upon segments of the population in a manner that does not tend to select for or against particular demographics.
But this isn't really necessary for randomness is it? If a poll is set up in a way to minimize the selectivity of the sampling, then this is not necessary. Also, when they give those numbers, they don't always tell you the proportions of those demographics.
Besides, if you go around actively selecting to fill in a quota of demographics, then you do not have randomness.
I think we agree on this part, true randomness is excruciatingly difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. There are certain things that could skew it. There is the famous example of phone polls calling an election for the candidate favored by the wealth, who were the only ones who could afford phones at the time. A pollster who cares about significant randomness must call upon segments of the population in a manner that does not tend to select for or against particular demographics.
Normally they post, in their full report, things like "number of females/males", ages, or political leanings
But this isn't really necessary for randomness is it? If a poll is set up in a way to minimize the selectivity of the sampling, then this is not necessary. Also, when they give those numbers, they don't always tell you the proportions of those demographics.
Besides, if you go around actively selecting to fill in a quota of demographics, then you do not have randomness.
Apr 21
lqtm commented on Over 90% of the American People Support Universal Backgrounds Checks.
49
The ACLU also defends the rights of anti-gay Christian students to wear anti-gay T-shirts to school. They care about everyone's civil rights, not just the rights of those who agree with them.
No matter what Tsarnaev did, he is an American citizen. We cannot set the precedent of revoking a citizen's rights.
The ACLU also defends the rights of anti-gay Christian students to wear anti-gay T-shirts to school. They care about everyone's civil rights, not just the rights of those who agree with them.
No matter what Tsarnaev did, he is an American citizen. We cannot set the precedent of revoking a citizen's rights.
Apr 21
lqtm commented on Over 90% of the American People Support Universal Backgrounds Checks.
Yes, because there were a lot of polls done by people who didn't give a single waft of shit about proper statistical practices (such as getting as close to a truly random sample as possible). There were, however, many polls that were pretty damn close. The thing about the pre-election time was that the nation was split so evenly that the difference was within the margin of error. In fact, Obama only won the popular vote by a narrow margin of a few percent. It was the electoral college where he cleaned up.
I will repeat here what I said earlier. It is not bullshit if you get a random sample. The proportion of sample size to population size does not affect the validity of a poll or study. It's called extrapolation, and it works in statistical polls as well as in many other aspects of research.
Really, it is something we should not wait until college to teach. It does not require any math skills higher than algebra, and I hear people too often who write off statistics because they don't get it.
More...
Then why do two polls of small sample sizes vary so wildly? See any pre-election polls.
Yes, because there were a lot of polls done by people who didn't give a single waft of shit about proper statistical practices (such as getting as close to a truly random sample as possible). There were, however, many polls that were pretty damn close. The thing about the pre-election time was that the nation was split so evenly that the difference was within the margin of error. In fact, Obama only won the popular vote by a narrow margin of a few percent. It was the electoral college where he cleaned up.
Polls of .0003% of the population generally are bullshit despite politicians protestations otherwise.
I will repeat here what I said earlier. It is not bullshit if you get a random sample. The proportion of sample size to population size does not affect the validity of a poll or study. It's called extrapolation, and it works in statistical polls as well as in many other aspects of research.
Really, it is something we should not wait until college to teach. It does not require any math skills higher than algebra, and I hear people too often who write off statistics because they don't get it.
Apr 21
lqtm commented on Over 90% of the American People Support Universal Backgrounds Checks.
I don't think you know how statistical analysis works.*
Also, are you really laughing out loud, or are you STS (scoffing to self)?
*For the purposes of extrapolation, 1,013 is a pretty good sample size, so long as the data points were truly obtained in a random way. 1200 would be preferred, though.
Plus, LOL at large national sample size of 1,013.
I don't think you know how statistical analysis works.*
Also, are you really laughing out loud, or are you STS (scoffing to self)?
*For the purposes of extrapolation, 1,013 is a pretty good sample size, so long as the data points were truly obtained in a random way. 1200 would be preferred, though.
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And before you go off on me for being insensitive, I have depression and used to think ceaselessly about ending it. Many of my friends had similar struggles. I feel sad every time I hear of a young person killing themselves for these reasons. I'm not sure I feel anything about the suicides of terrorists (provided they take no one with them).