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La fussy jade laity requited First annual Applied Statistics Center Art Contest

Helen DeWitt’s blog

Posted on March 18, 2008 4:35 PM by Andrew

Rachel sent me this link. I don’t know what sort of novelist would have a blog about statistics, but since we blog about art and literature, I guess it’s only fair. Also she links to Ben Goldacre which is a good sign.

P.S. DeWitt responds here to my question.

This entry was posted in Literature by Andrew. Bookmark the permalink.
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  1. Bill Bottenberg on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 11:45 PM

    as Andrew said above, "but I’m devoting all of that part of my brain to being confused by quantum mechanics",…

  2. Dmitri Tymoczko on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 9:40 PM

    Switching from David Huron to John Baez now! Yes, well, I find John worth reading on just about everything, whether…

  3. Dmitri on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 9:38 PM

    Right, well, when I was in high school I wanted to learn QM and hear all about complementarity and half-dead…

  4. Joshua on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 9:11 PM

    Wonks – “My subjective impression is that Scott’s variation is not based on right vs left.” I can’t tell from…

  5. Anonymous on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 6:49 PM

    That's not unusual, it's just that the moon is full.

  6. J, not that one on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 6:42 PM

    WA: Your responses to my comments are such wild overreactions that don't limit themselves to what I actually said, but…

  7. Joshua on My desert island discsJune 12, 2026 6:41 PM

    dsapsis - I doubt you'll see this but in case you do, and for anyone else....just listened to this while…

  8. Wonks Anonymous on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 6:30 PM

    He doesn't think it can be equated with postmodernism, he explicitly said: "The Frankfurters themselves weren’t postmodernists. They thought there…

  9. Andrew on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 6:19 PM

    Wonks: In my post from a few years ago, Why I’m skeptical of “steelmanning”: By bending over backward to see…

  10. Wonks Anonymous on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 6:16 PM

    The reference to Lynn being a number bumbler was not a matter of discretion in which studies should be considered…

  11. Wonks Anonymous on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 6:02 PM

    My subjective impression is that Scott's variation is not based on right vs left. Some things he's willing to dive…

  12. Bill Bottenberg on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 6:01 PM

    Dmitri, I'm sure your familiar with his harmony thoughts in blog form, an example being [Baez mathstodon harmony blog](https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/115780091005179545) I'm…

  13. Bill Bottenberg on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 5:43 PM

    Joan is his cousin.

  14. Andrew on Survey Statistics: should MRP workflow include LOCO-CV ?June 12, 2026 5:10 PM

    Shira: I watched Free Solo (on a flight; I don't know if that counts as ironic). The main character reminded…

  15. David J. Marcus on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 4:59 PM

    Math is not taught in a historical way since it would take much longer and would be much harder. Our…

  16. David J. Marcus on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 4:54 PM

    Feynman was wrong. They behave like particles guided by waves, since that is what they are.

  17. Joshua on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 4:30 PM

    Wonks - Someone linked the RationalWiki. Not sure how the contributions of a former neo-Nazi are relevant to a quote…

  18. Theiss Bendixen on “The Data Analyst’s Guide to Cause and Effect”June 12, 2026 3:48 PM

    Thanks, this perspective aligns quite well with the approach we take in the book.

  19. shira on Survey Statistics: should MRP workflow include LOCO-CV ?June 12, 2026 3:46 PM

    AAAnonymous, you're braver than I am, I don't think I'll ever parachute jump ! Now I definitely want to watch…

  20. shira on Survey Statistics: should MRP workflow include LOCO-CV ?June 12, 2026 3:38 PM

    well said, gec !

  21. shira on From a message I sent to a potential co-bloggerJune 12, 2026 3:34 PM

    Thanks, Max ! Please do relax after work, and in my posts just enjoy the photos of the polar bear…

  22. shira on From a message I sent to a potential co-bloggerJune 12, 2026 3:32 PM

    I bet you'll have a fun weirdo musician audience ! Only one way to find out :)

  23. Roy on “The Data Analyst’s Guide to Cause and Effect”June 12, 2026 3:19 PM

    Without getting into arguments about what "causality" means or how to estimate it, some of the things I like about…

  24. Z on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 3:11 PM

    I read John Baez as Joan Baez, who would have probably introduced even more musical connections

  25. Meese on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 2:31 PM

    That seems like a very interesting book! Will check it out.

  26. Meese on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 2:23 PM

    Interesting analogy. QM being 19th century CM with a twist is something I can get behind. Many people, including physicists,…

  27. Chris on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 2:22 PM

    Interesting; I recently finished Seicho Matsumoto's "Inspector Imanishi Investigates" which I really enjoyed - I'll look out for "Tokyo Express".…

  28. Dmitri Tymoczko on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 2:20 PM

    This is why I have always loved M. S. Longair's "Theoretical Concepts in Physics."

  29. Dmitri on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 2:18 PM

    Oof. That book is a bit of a sore subject for me. David Huron was a teacher of mine, and…

  30. Meese on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 1:48 PM

    I am a physicist and modern classical mechanics is not understood in a historical context. It is just said to…

  31. David, a Bostonian in Tokyo on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 1:44 PM

    Bebop jazz I get: those guys were writing classical music in real time: scalar lines, arpegios, enclosures, octave displacements, etc.…

  32. gec on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 1:18 PM

    This is an interesting comparison: both jazz and quantum mechanics tend to be learned and understood in a historical context,…

  33. Dmitri Tymoczko on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 1:16 PM

    I think John is one of the great mathematics writers, kind of like a supercharged Martin Gardner -- but with…

  34. Bill Bottenberg on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 12:30 PM

    John Baez is a fun guy to read, I read his blog regularly. I hadn't come across this paper and…

  35. Chris on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 12:25 PM

    Calling Lynn’s work shoddy and Lynn a bumbler doesn't quite hit the spot Wonks. It’s nasty garbage and someone writing…

  36. somebody on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 12:13 PM

    I pointed this out last time, but Scott Alexander is not his real name and he was only deanonymized unwillingly.…

  37. Anonymous on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 11:49 AM

    That was a slight misphrasing-Scott’s followers are like that. He himself is also obsessed with IQ, but he has the…

  38. notAMusicPerson on Jazz and quantum mechanics: Eventually Dmitri realized that they are kind of similarJune 12, 2026 11:40 AM

    A book about the cognitive and perceptual bases underlying some of the "rules" in music that you and Dmitri might…

  39. Raghu Parthasarathy on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 11:14 AM

    It would be great if all the "anons" used their actual names and pointed to their "real achievements."

  40. Andrew on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 11:05 AM

    Anon: It's ridiculous to say that Alexander has "no real achievements to point to"! He's created this influential blog with…

  41. Anonymous on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 10:47 AM

    Scott Alexander and his so-called “rationalist” followers are rather like Mensa. They are obsessed with their own IQ scores because…

  42. Jeff on Don’t get any on youJune 12, 2026 10:21 AM

    I mostly agree, especially with your last paragraph. If you aren't going to act on your principles, maybe you lose…

  43. Wonks Anonymous on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 9:02 AM

    Joshua, I haven't seen that quote, as I don't read RationalWiki (I only know of it that a deranged former…

  44. Wonks Anonymous on Scott Alexander as a modern-day Edmund WilsonJune 12, 2026 8:47 AM

    Seth, indeed you don't "know how to deal with it". You point out that the real world is messy and…

  45. Anonymous on From a message I sent to a potential co-bloggerJune 12, 2026 1:48 AM

    I skip every post by anyone else and would gladly subscribe to an Andrew-only RSS feed.

  46. Theiss Bendixen on “The Data Analyst’s Guide to Cause and Effect”June 12, 2026 12:52 AM

    "Isn’t the DAG just a representation of our conditional independence assumptions?" Yes, that's a more technical way of saying it.…

  47. AAAnonymous on Don’t get any on youJune 11, 2026 6:35 PM

    It seems to me that things like poetry and art and other things you might value regularly get mentioned in…

  48. Ruben Arslan on Adjusting for nonrepresentativeness in continuous norming using multilevel regression and poststratification.June 11, 2026 5:51 PM

    We also recently put out something similar, all in brms, using a somewhat more regularised model than their GAMLSS. Psychology…

  49. Jessica Hullman on Don’t get any on youJune 11, 2026 5:34 PM

    It's funny that I said I had no passion for something that I then designed my life around. Either I…

  50. Jeff Helzner on “The Data Analyst’s Guide to Cause and Effect”June 11, 2026 5:03 PM

    "So it’s mostly just a language gap, like someone’s talking about stats in Greek or some other language I don’t…

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