Comments for

Comment on The Risks of Formula and Formulaic Science Reporting by estherar

estherar — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:17:41 +0000

I’ve been saying for quite a while that the public needs to be conversant with the concept of NNTs, in order to prevent such overstatements.

Comment on Mixing Terminology on Drink-Driving Survey Causes Media to Pile On Midwest by Karen Foley

Karen Foley — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:54:41 +0000

Regarding the stats that WI has an extremely high percentage of self-reporting drunk drivers (along with MN and ND), why hasn’t it occurred to anyone that midwest folks are, perhaps, the most honest of America’s citizenship?

From Wisconsin

Comment on Mixing Terminology on Drink-Driving Survey Causes Media to Pile On Midwest by The Numbers Guy : In Vino Veritas?

The Numbers Guy : In Vino Veritas? — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:17:56 +0000

[...] The government survey found a rate of 15% over the previous year, though it may have included drivers who had been drinking but weren’t drunk. Such findings could lend fuel to legislative efforts to broaden the use of so-called ignition [...]

Comment on The Risks of Formula and Formulaic Science Reporting by Joe

Joe — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:56:48 +0000

I have it on good authority that a child who refuses to breastfeed will later use all her parent’s money. Conversely, the breastfed child will be calm and not insist on dyeing her hair at age twelve.

Small sampling, but…

Comment on Al Gore Trusted More Than the Media on Global Warming - by Climate Experts! by Lars Karlsson

Lars Karlsson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:06:30 +0000

There must be a lot of people in both the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union (the organizations that were sampled) who are not climate scientists.

Comment on Al Gore Trusted More Than the Media on Global Warming - by Climate Experts! by frankbi

frankbi — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:18:34 +0000

How does one gauge consensus without using statistics?

Comment on New Research Shows OxyContin Epidemic to be a Myth by Steven Lakeshore

Steven Lakeshore — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:24:24 +0000

I have brutal arthritis and cannot function physically with out my Oxycontin to control the pain. I have been on the same dose of Oxy for 3 years now, never increasing it or abusing it.
It’s not my fault for the stupidity of others and I won’t be denied my medication due to the weakness of others.
This just reminds me of the smokers that refuse to stop and then whine when they get a death sentence.

Comment on Al Gore Trusted More Than the Media on Global Warming - by Climate Experts! by Brian Melancon

Brian Melancon — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:19:11 +0000

Lies, damn lies, and statistics…

Where is this consensus I’ve heard so much about?

Comment on Coffee and Miscarriage: Jitters or Junk? by Richard

Richard — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:43:43 +0000

Have a look at this study which came out at the same time, it is of a higher quality and finds the opposite.
Savitz DA, Chan RL, Herring AH, Howards PP, Hartmann KE.
Caffeine and miscarriage risk. Epidemiology. 2008 Jan;19(1):55-62.
KP seem to have a huge publicity machine which gets their study on the front page.

Comment on Media Overstating Phthalate Risk Say Doctors by Suzanne

Suzanne — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:00:44 +0000

Hi — this is a blatant plug for another blog where scientist, cattle rancher and mom Sara takes on tricky science issues that keep normal mothers like myself up at night. My kids had plastic toys in their mouths the entire time they were teething AND we used plastic bottles (in addition to breast feeding, so shoot me). Anyway — Check out the conversation here at http://downtoearthblog.com