Spurious Precision

War Death Estimates that are Lighter than Air

~ mspagat ~ 2 Comments

I'm in the middle of reexamining the data collected by the University Collaborative Iraq Mortality Study (UCIMS) (This is joint work with my former student Stijn Van Weezel.) The number of excess deaths estimated by the UCIMS is 405,000, 461,000, 500,000, more than 500,000.... well, that's the point....it's not clear exactly what the UCIMS estimate is but it … Continue reading War Death Estimates that are Lighter than Air

Columbia Journalism Review lowers journalistic standards while lecturing on said standards: Part I – Suppressing Uncertainty

~ mspagat ~ 3 Comments

Isn't Columbia University supposed to be good at journalism?  And isn't Columbia Journalism Review considered to be a decent publication? It sure doesn't look that way based on this remarkably poor article by Pierre Bienaimé which turns out to be right up my alley. The article is an embarrassment of riches for the blog since it spreads … Continue reading Columbia Journalism Review lowers journalistic standards while lecturing on said standards: Part I – Suppressing Uncertainty