On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 me@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> [ quot ]
> ...
> the more beer a scientist drinks, the less likely the
> scientist is to publish a paper or to have a paper cited by
> another researcher, a measure of a paper=92s quality and
> im****tance.
> ...
> In spite of his study, Dr. Grim, who said he would on occasion
> enjoy more than 12 beers in a night, is not on a campaign to
> decrease beer drinking among scientists. Why not? His answer:
> "I like it."
> [ /quot ]
>
> [ wrap ]
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/science/18beer.html?_r=3D1
> &oref=3Dslogin&ref=3Dscience&pagewanted=3Dprint
>
> J
> --
> Replies to: Nherr1professor2doktor31109(at)Oyahoo(dot)Tcom
More quotations, with my comments:
[begin]
"I was really surprised," said Dr. Tomas Grim,
the author of the study and an ornithologist at
Palacky University in the Czech Republic, who
normally studies the behavior of birds, not
scientists. "And I am happy to see that the
relation****p I found seems to be very well
sup****ted by my new observations in pubs, bars
and restaurants."
[end]
An old, old riddle: Who is the medical counterpart
of a gynecologist? An ornithologist.
And a classic:
Kdyz deti zlobily, nachlazena pani Cimrmanova na ne kricela
"Deserte, deserte!"
To bylo docentu Weiglovi zaminkou, aby obehal vsechny
videnske cukrarny a zjistil, co tim minila.
But seriously, folks:
[begin]
More im****tant, as Dr. Grim pointed out, the
study do***ents a correlation between beer
drinking and scientific performance without
explaining why they are correlated. That leaves
open the possibility that it is not beer drinking
that causes poor scientific performance, but just
the opposite.
[end]
Well, a scientist should know better. Concerning correlation, ever heard
of a "third factor"? The common cause for two statistically correlated
quantities?
(Try this - from Wikisomething:
Sleeping with one's shoes on is strongly correlated with waking up with a
headache.
Therefore, sleeping with one's shoes on causes headache.
(Third factor: think beer...)
Worse yet, a correlation between two quantities may be torn out of a
multivariable relation****p: beer consumption, overall diet, state of
health, sleeping habits, family situation, distance from the lab to the
pub, company one keeps, etc.
And to conclude, Paul Erdos's definition of a mathematician is:
a machine that transforms coffee into theorems.
Cheers, Slavek(ZVK)
-----------------------------------------
To nevite, ze se po pive pomalu blbne?
To mi nevadi, pane doktore, ja nespecham.
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