New mean/ mode illustration just dropped. Between Rogan and Trump the mean necktie length is correct, but the modal necktie length is tied at “stupidly incorrect.”
Dilip Soman 🇨🇦
@dilipsoman.bsky.social
Testing the waters, floating the trial balloons. Professing and researching. Author / editor of a few books, but claims to have no time to write book called "Its About Time"
I have a similar take as it relates to referring to research results/information/expert opinion/advice etc as "insight"
My crankiest old man take is that referring to all art/entertainment/journalism/criticism/comedy/advertising as “content” helped pave the way for broad-ish acceptance of AI slop.
AI-assistants on every webpage are beginning to sound like the Wal-Mart and other "may I help you find something" in-store agents of yesteryear!
A good idea for smaller grants but for the bigger ones, the grind of having to put together a detailed proposal is actually very helpful in sharpening the project and getting various stakeholders on board. HT @rafmbatista.bsky.social
Idea for grant proposal formative assessment. Very short proposal (1 page say) and reviewers are each allowed 3 questions which you get a very limited character count to respond to. Overall effort hugely reduced and lets the proposal evolve within a round rather than needing resubmission. Thoughts?
They said "doesn't matter" while simultaneously waving me in. @leftbobgolfer.bsky.social
I went to the library to get a book on Pavlov's dog and Schrodinger's cat. The librarian said that she thought it rang a bell but wasn't sure if it was there or not!
I went to the library to get a book on Pavlov's dog and Schrodinger's cat. The librarian said that she thought it rang a bell but wasn't sure if it was there or not!
If we made the green energy transition this war would be unthinkable and these authoritarians wouldn’t be in power — not in the US, not in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia, not in Russia. Hydrocarbons are killing our freedom and just plain killing us.
Iran’s people were facing a horrible shortage of water before the war began. If we are destroying desalination plants and setting fire to Teheran we are committing unfathomable crimes.
All this while I've been thinking it's a mischievous rabbit!
A workshop on making events more equitable and inclusive. In-person only.
AI deepfakes affect people even if they know the videos are fake: nice media coverage here of phys.org/news/2026-0... one of our recent studies. 1/2 1/2
People are swayed by AI-generated videos even when they know they're fake, study shows
Generative deep learning models are artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can create texts, images, audio files, and videos for specific purposes, following instructions provided by human users. Over ...
phys.org
After jailing Imran Khan two years ago, Pakistan’s military establishment has tried to erase him from public life. @osmansamiuddin.bsky.social travelled to Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore to report on this bizarre effort to disappear the country’s most famous man. www.equator.org/articles/the...
The Hidden Imran • EQUATOR
The cricketing legend is Pakistan’s most famous man. Can the state make him vanish?
equator.org
Paper by @avicgoldfarb et al examines how computers could be “bicycles for the mind” [← Steve Jobs] and leverage key human capability skills: •implementation ability→substitute •opportunity judgment→complement •payoff judgment→nuanced & complex buff.ly/27CdQUi
I miss the days when we criticized Presidents for relative peccadillos like starting wars without evidence!
Trump's Davos speech is an embarrassing ramble. America, humiliated.
This is the best speech, just from a pure rhetoric perspective - its sophistication and persuasiveness - that I've seen a politician deliver in a good long while. Really recommend watching or reading the whole thing.
A YouTube link for those looking for it. No words. youtu.be/btqHDhO4h10?...
"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato." surreal times dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...
Texas A&M Bans Plato - Daily Nous
Drop the race and gender material from your course and the Plato readings, or teach a different course. You have a day to decide. That's a paraphrase of what Martin Peterson, professor of philosophy a...
dailynous.com
Neat trial building on earlier work by @jiayingzhao.bsky.social and colleagues! @nealemahoney.bsky.social @katymilkman.bsky.social @erikbryn.bsky.social @casssunstein.bsky.social
A new trial gave homeless people £2,000 to spend however they choose. What they spent the money on may surprise you.
Saying that "on average, nudges [or insert any other intervention here] aren't very effective" is a bit like saying that "on average, vehicles are not very fast".
DOGE was A LOT less likely to cancel contracts from companies that donated money to Republicans than companies that donated to Democrats.
Brilliant little online tool: Spin the globe and see what your life would have been like had you gotten a different draw in the place-of-birth lottery h/t @leightjessica.bsky.social on LinkedIn
Birth Lottery
If you were reborn today, where would you land? And how would that change your life?
givingwhatwecan.org
If you randomly select an option for this question, the probability that your answer is true will be A. 0% B. 25% C. 50% D. 25%
Grumpy opinion: Too many young development economists are working on behavioral econ questions that are unimportant for development. The topics are amenable to small experiments that can nail mechanisms and demonstrate smarts via a clever design. The profession over-rewards those attributes.
Demolishing the East Wing of the White House before finalizing plans for what will be built above its ruins is a near-perfect metaphor for Trump's approach to economic policy. The only difference is the wrecking crew doesn’t claim the rubble is evidence of unprecedented growth.
It's time for Guns N Roses to update that November weather song #Toronto.