Deep thoughts and silliness

In 1972, Prof. Sir. David R. Cox F.R.S. and statistical deity published one of the all-time great papers¹, where he introduced a neat idea into survival analysis which is now called the Cox Proportional Hazards model. Because survival analyses are so important (think medical trials and epidemiology, folks), and because the idea was so good, it has been cited over 21 000 times. In fact, its is do popular that, as Stephen Senn pointed out², it has amassed a good number of mis-citations too.

Continue reading →

Now this is fun for a Friday evening¹. Apparently the good (and possibly not so good) people of Washington D.C. have discovered that the quickest way to manage the commute near the airport there is to buy a cup of coffee. That, apparently, is equivalent to going to the airport.
Hence, “airport business” has become a euphemism. In Minnesota, the politicians may use it to mean something else.

Continue reading →

This morning I got the usual update from arXiv (that’s a chi, not an X, folks!) with the list of newly uploaded manuscripts. Including this one:

Bandit Exploration

How could you not be interested?

Continue reading →

Just because I’m in a maths and stats department

Of course, statistics is a part of all of these subjects, so we get to choose how pure we want to be.
Oh, I should also point out that our department is in a building called Exactum. The physicists are in Physicum (Hey I didn’t think up the names), and are most upset at the implication that they are imprecise.
When it gets dull around here, we pop over to have lunch in the meteorologists’ building, Dynamicum. Never a dull moment there.

One of the better books about statistics is Abelson’s Statistics as Principled Argument“. Amongst the many words of wisdom, he gives us this useful dictum:

Chance is Lumpy

Continue reading →

I’ve been sat in a project meeting for a Finnish Centre of Excellence that I lurk in. We have heard that swallows are more stressed when in Africa than in Finland (presumably because in Africa they are constantly being asked how fast they fly when unladen). There is also now a zombie student lurching around Finland saying “Braiiins … Stickleback braiiins”.

Continue reading →

I have been remiss about updating on The Beast lately. But he has been active – perhaps too active.
It all started when Spring arrived, so I could open the balcony for him. He could sit outside and watch the word go past.

He was happy with this, until The Visits started

Continue reading →

The Beast claims he is innocent, but a little bird told me differently.
If you insist on finding out what this is all about, Matt Brown has the reasons.

From the BBC:

Rarest rhinoceros wrecks camera

Helsinki Hub sounds nice, doesn’t it? Much better than Vancouver hub or Toronto Hub. The alliteration is alluring. So, good folks of Helsinki (and Henry⁷), join the Helsinki hub. Matt tells you how.
Oh, and if you’re not in Helsinki, either move here or join your local hub. If you don’t, the wagtail will remain grumpy

Continue reading →