## Open Letter to Khan Academy about Basic Probability

September 1, 2013
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Khan academy probability videos and exercises aren’t good either Dear Mr Khan You have created an amazing resource that thousands of people all over the world get a lot of help from. Well done. Some of your materials are not … Continue reading →

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## Sunday data/statistics link roundup (9/1/13)

September 1, 2013
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There has been a lot of discussion of the importance of open access on Twitter. I am 100% in favor of open access (I do wish it was less expensive), but I also think that sometimes people lose sight of … Continue reading →

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## Summary stats for ABC

September 1, 2013
By
$Summary stats for ABC$

Introduction In the previous post I gave a very brief introduction to ABC, including a simple example for inferring the parameters of a Markov process given some time series observations. Towards the end of the post I observed that there were (at least!) two potential problems with scaling up the simple approach described, one relating […]

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## Summary stats for ABC

September 1, 2013
By
$Summary stats for ABC$

Introduction In the previous post I gave a very brief introduction to ABC, including a simple example for inferring the parameters of a Markov process given some time series observations. Towards the end of the post I observed that there were (at least!) two potential problems with scaling up the simple approach described, one relating […]

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## Post-publication peer review: How it (sometimes) really works

September 1, 2013
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In an ideal world, research articles would be open to criticism and discussion in the same place where they are published, in a sort of non-corrupt version of Yelp. What is happening now is that the occasional paper or research area gets lots of press coverage, and this inspires reactions on science-focused blogs. The trouble […]The post Post-publication peer review: How it (sometimes) really works appeared first on Statistical Modeling,…

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## Is Bayesian Inference a Religion?

September 1, 2013
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Time for a provocative post. There is a nice YouTube video with Tony O’Hagan interviewing Dennis Lindley. Of course, Dennis is a legend and his impact on the field of statistics is huge. At one point, Tony points out that some people liken Bayesian inference to a religion. Dennis claims this is false. Bayesian inference, […]

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## Is Bayesian Inference a Religion?

September 1, 2013
By

Time for a provocative post. There is a nice YouTube video with Tony O’Hagan interviewing Dennis Lindley. Of course, Dennis is a legend and his impact on the field of statistics is huge. At one point, Tony points out that some people liken Bayesian inference to a religion. Dennis claims this is false. Bayesian inference, […]

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## Mixed models exercise 2. Repeated measurements

September 1, 2013
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Continuing my exploration of mixed models, I now understand what is happening in the second SAS(R)/STAT example for proc mixed (page 5007 of the SAS/STAT 12.3 Manual). It is all about correlation between the time-points within subjects. The data as suc...

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## Overheard at the comedy hour at the Bayesian retreat-2 years on

September 1, 2013
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It’s nearly two years since I began this blog, and some are wondering if I’ve covered all the howlers thrust our way? Sadly, no. So since it’s Saturday night here at the Elba Room, let’s listen in on one of the more puzzling fallacies–one that I let my introductory logic students spot… “Did you hear […]

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## EU – Consultation on best ways to open up more public data

August 31, 2013
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From: http://www.investineu.com/content/consultation-best-ways-open-more-public-data-12c3Consultation on best ways to open up more public dataThe Commission is asking for help in drawing up guidance and practical advice for boosting the re-use of ...

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## GitHub Package Ideas I Stole

August 31, 2013
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One of my favorite sources of good ideas is looking at the GitHub repositories of others and modeling my repos after the good ideas I see others doing. Here's Steve Jobs on stealing ideas: In the past few weeks I've … Continue reading →

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## Open data & storytelling – 4 presentations from the Nordic Statistical Meeting 2013

August 31, 2013
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From:http://www.ssb.no/omssb/tjenester-og-verktoy/kurs-og-seminarer/nordisk-statistikermote-vedlegg/artikler-og-presentasjonerOpen Data - Experiences from a National statistical office's point of viewHeli MikkeläStatistics FinlandStatistical storytell...

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## Stan Project: Continuous Relaxations for Discrete MRFs

August 30, 2013
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Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC), as used by Stan, is only defined for continuous parameters. We’d love to be able to do discrete sampling. So I was excited when I saw this: Yichuan Zhang, Charles Sutton, Amos J Storkey, and Zoubin Ghahramani. 2012. Continuous Relaxations for Discrete Hamiltonian Monte Carlo. NIPS 25. Abstract: Continuous relaxations play […]The post Stan Project: Continuous Relaxations for Discrete MRFs appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal…

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## Econometrica, Heteroskedasticity and the Greeks

August 30, 2013
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Over at Leisure of the Theory Class, Ricky Vohra asks why Econometrica is spelled with a "c" rather than a "k." As he notes:The journal Econometrica is spelt as I just wrote. The journal Biometrika, however,...

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## AAAS S&T Fellows for Big Data and Analytics

August 30, 2013
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Thanks to Steve Pierson of the ASA for letting us know that the AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship program has a new category for "Big Data and Analytics". For those not familiar, AAAS organizes the S&T Fellowship program to get … Continue reading →

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## Blogging

August 30, 2013
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A journalist asked me for my thoughts on academics and blogging, in light of the recently announced move of the sister blog to the Washington Post. I responded as follows: John Sides is the leader of the Monkey Cage and in particular was the key person involved in the Washington Post move. But I will […]The post Blogging appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science.

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## ECVP tutorial on classification images

August 30, 2013
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The slides for my ECVP tutorial on classification images are available here. Try this alternative version if the equations look funny. (image from Mineault et al. 2009) The slides are in HTML and contain some interactive elements. They’re the result of experimenting with R Markdown, D3 and pandoc. You write the slides in R Markdown, […]

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## Bayes Theorem and the Forward Arrow of Time.

August 29, 2013
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Shalizi wrote a paper purporting to show Statistical Mechanics couldn’t be an application of Bayesian Statistics because Bayesian updating implies Entropy is decreasing. Such confusion arises because empirical entropies computed from frequencies are ...

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## The return of the stat – Computing for Data Analysis & Data Analysis back on Coursera!

August 29, 2013
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It's the return of the stat. Roger and I are going to be re-offering our Coursera courses: Computing for Data Analysis (starts Sept 23) Sign up here. Data Analysis (starts Oct 28) Sign up here.

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## Edgar Allan Poe was a statistician

August 29, 2013
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Antony Unwin writes: Rereading Edgar Allan Poe’s “Murder in the Rue Morgue” reminded me of his astute remarks on analysis. For instance But it is in matters beyond the limits of mere rule that the skill of the analyst is evinced. He makes, in silence, a host of observations and inferences. and and the difference […]The post Edgar Allan Poe was a statistician appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference,…

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## Is being lonely unnatural for slim particles? A statistical argument

August 29, 2013
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Being lonely is unnatural, at least if you are a slim Higgs particle (with mass on the order of the type recently discovered)–according to an intriguing statistical argument given by particle physicist Matt Strassler (sketched below). Strassler sets out “to explain the scientific argument as to why it is so unnatural to have a Higgs particle that is “lonely” — with no […]

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## What is Numbersense about?

August 29, 2013
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Michael Elves interviews me for UMFM, the University of Manitoba radio station. We chatted at length about pretty much all the different chapters of Numbersense. He was very interested in the fantasy football materials since the draft is happening this week. You can hear the interview at 11:30 am CST on Thursday Aug 29. Michael tells me a recording will be made available later. *** JMP will be giving away…

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