noice

actually, I think spiders georg should be counted. just because he's the best at what he does doesn't mean we need to discredit him. he's part of the statistic too

I don't disagree that in certain contexts it makes sense to consider the statistical contribution of spiders georg, but his inclusion makes the statistic less useful as a measure of typicality. It's not about discrediting him; it's about understanding what we're measuring. The more our statistics are skewed by the presence of Spiders Georg, the less reliable those statistics become for describing the relationship the rest of us have to the spiders we may or may not eat.

that's a very good point, and very well said. I understand that considering spiders georg would upset the statistics and would likely lead to misinformation about average spider consumption. I wrote that post because I was concerned that would-be spider consumers might feel discouraged, and give up on eating spiders all together.

perhaps a compromise, I think both statistics should be published, both one including- and one omitting georg.

also, thank you for being so civil. I feel like I learned a lot, and the way you spoke was kind and informative, not at all pedantic.

Thank you! I've always been a proponent of using multiple measures of centrality, together with context about their use case. Even "rigorous" statistics often carry an unchallenged or even unstated assumption that the arithmetic mean is the most natural such measure, despite it being well known that the mean is not always stable or even defined. I've always felt that it's important to acknowledge that numbers don't speak for themselves, and Spiders Georg is a well-known pet example of that exact phenomenon.

Indeed, a comparison between two different measures of centrality - such as a simple versus trimmed arithmetic mean - is one way to examine exactly how great an effect exceptional people like Georg have on the world. As a matter of fact, similar techniques are often used to identify outliers or patterns, to determine whether certain data points are anomalous in nature, or to test the robustness of a statistical method.

There is a particular type of test I studied in college, where one takes a sample of data, creates a version with a single data point removed, builds a model with the rest, and then sees how well it can predict the remaining data point. This is then performed with many different points, or even every point, and the results are aggregated into a sort of measurement of both how "well-behaved" the data is (in the sense that there exists some relationship between its dimensions that can be used to extrapolate) and how well the model captures that behavior. This is essentially the same concept as comparing the means with and without Georg's contribution, taken to its logical conclusion.

So, from a statistics perspective, while it is perfectly acceptable and often most feasible to discard that contribution as confounding noise, a more rigorous study might look at what factors correlate with anomalous spider intake. Such correlatives could be causes that result in people like Georg eating more spiders than the typical person, effects that result from mass spider consumption, separate conditions with a common cause, or even entirely spurious; careful experimentation is needed to distinguish between those. This is why pilot studies - with no controls to reduce noise, and often too small of a sample size to draw firm conclusions - are so important: they show researchers where they can look to conduct a study with more rigor.

Really, then, the fact that the Georgs of the world skew the statistics basically puts them one step ahead of the forefront of scientific understanding. Keep it up!

I couldn't agree more :)

Made the worst brownies ever created just now

Chat where did I go wrong

the reviews are in

I'm a cryptid in Stardew valley. I live on the outskirts of town. I disappear for days on end, purchasing daily one-way tickets to the calico desert. Nobody knows where I go while I'm there. Can occasionally be found fishing at random spots throughout town. I am never not running on at least one triple shot espresso. I take the abandoned minecarts to get around and am frequently seen disappearing into the sewers. I carry a sword for some reason. Once every week or two I will stride into your bedroom to deliver you your favorite meal. I'm a self-made millionaire. I attend all the town events and will go to your concert in the next town over. I have donated approximately 2583 items to the local museum and singlehandedly revitalized the town community center. There are rumors I can talk to junimos. I'm friends with the local wizard

Percy "put your minecraft bed beside mine" Jackson

And

Annabeth "making an architectural masterpiece" Chase

I know a lot of people picture Thalia Grace as tall because she’s the daughter of Zeus, but her being short is far too much funnier to me.

Give me Thalia being a tiny, electric ball of rage.

Give me Thalia wearing 4 inch platform boots… just to be 5’5.

Give me Thalia doing a quadruple take at how big Annabeth had gotten after she came out of the tree.

Give me Percy using her head as an armrest one day, and getting zapped all the way across camp.

Give me Thalia being a whole foot shorter than her little brother Jason. (He wouldn’t say anything about it, he’s a sweetheart)

It’s in my head now, and I’m spreading it as much as I can.

Tagging @florenceisstrange, @starlightshadowsworld, and @ishouldsleepbut, I want to hear your thoughts on this.

My friend Alicia made an ATLA meme

Hi I have a question about Pacific Rim. Given that the sparring is just A way to test for drift compatibility and any activity that requires people to collaborate and anticipate each others moves works, including stuff like multi player video games

They are piloting a Jaeger together in my imagination

so bitchless they made me bisexual

its like i always say. at least theres bisexuality

drives me up the fucking wall when parents basically say “well i would rather my child be dead than autistic” like maybe you should not be allowed to have kids at all. Idk

it could be worse. at least i'm not 17 again. or 16 or 15 or 14 or 13 or 12 or 11 or

lmfao light his ass up lyric genius dot com

this is kind of changing my life as we speak

Queering the Map in Gaza and the West Bank

Image 1: “Every know and then I open on this website to re-read the Palestinian stories, and everytime I cry. I wish I was able to share a Igbtq experience I had in Tiberias but I cant because I'm a refugee. The only thing I know about this place is what my grandparents went through in the 1948. Not love but misery. To any one reading this please dont support settler colonialism please dont support our ethnic cleansing”

Image 2: “I wish I could watch the sunset over Gaza sea with you. For one night I wish this occupation was no longer and that we could be free for once on our own land.”

Image 3: “The place where you died, even though we were only penpals, I love you to my core, 5 years of the best friendship.

Ahmad died of the airstrike, you died of heartbreak. Khalid, love you, I loved the way you came out to me, how I came out to you, how you introduced Ahmad as your boyfriend, I wanted to share your hurts with me, but we're seas apart, I'll free Palestine just for your eyes. I hope you rest well in heaven, kiss Ahmad all you want, and be very happy, in this life or another I'll follow you, and we can unite, I love you to Icarus and beyond 💗”

Image 4: “I existed all over here. Was subjected to checkpoints and segregation here. I yearn to return here. A queer Palestinian. Free Palestine and f*ck pinkwashing.”

Image 5: “My sitti died without ever seeing this city again. In 1948 she was sent into exile from her homeland, from Jaffa "the bride of the sea". Before she died, she told me about a woman she once loved here. After the Nakba, she never saw her again. She never even found out if she survived. She told me she still thinks about her. I still mourn the life my grandmother might have been able to live here, in this city, in her homeland. I still mourn the love she shared with this woman, only to be torn apart by 60 years of exile. This land was her birthright. This life was her birthright.

They were stolen from her. This place will be liberated. I will return one day to a liberated Palestine. For her.”

Image 6: “I hate this fucking unfair life because if my rights aren't debatable as a Palestinian in the Arab world it's debatable as a queer and if my rights aren't debatable as a queer in the west it's debatable as a Palestinian.”

Image 7: “I'm from rafah and she's from deir al balah, she got married later and i left gaza strip, to this day i think of you, to this day i wish to be back to sleep with you in the same bed, i want you to call for my name again, i wish if i can be with you again my heart. ‎صار دايما في بالي بحبك وبالرغم من الي.”

Hey weird question but what happens if you put two reasonably likeable anthropologists of wildly different cultures together in the same room? Do they study each other? CAN they? Is it like an infinite conversational feedback loop? I'm imagining two dogs eternally sniffing each others butts at the park

Watching mad max fury road and my mom said "I would just kill myself I'm not doing any of this shit"