The Plural of "Anecdote"...

My status message for the last few days has been:

 

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

 

As a few people have asked me to clarify, I thought I'd just post my response.

 

The status came as a result of an article by The SciGuy over at the Houston Chronicle. This specific article was about a study that found that children who were spanked a certain number of times per week lost a point to 3 points off of their IQ over the course of 3 years. In the comments section, there were a number of people saying variations on the theme: "I was spanked as a child and I have an IQ of 130! Imagine if I hadn't been spanked! I'd be a genius!"

 

I was getting frustrated because these people seemed to think that:

 

1. If their IQ was high, that meant it hadn't been lowered.

2. If their IQ was 3 points higher, that would be a noticeable change to them.

3. Their personal assumption that their IQ hadn't been lowered meant that the research was false.

 

#3 is where the status update stems from. The study evaluated over 1000 children. Of those 1000+, there were some who did not follow the pattern of the majority, that doesn't mean that the pattern is wrong, it just means that there is variation. Some children lost much more than 3 IQ points. Some may have gained. Some of those children may have had extenuating circumstances not captured in the research. Your one personal story does not mean that the research is false.

 

My dad said it like this:

 

I could sit in McDonald's and watch an old guy come in and say, "MacDonald's is where old people go to eat." I could see another old person come in and say, "That confirms it! All old people must eat at MacDonald's!" But that anecdotal evidence does not mean that it's good research. Until I study a large, random group of old people, I can make no conclusive statements about the eating habits of old people. The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

O Brew Pub, My Brew Pub

It's all I can think about. Constantly trying to come up with the perfect name for the pub. Or, a good theme, so the beer can all be named thematically. I've thought about TV Shows (see Previous Post about ideas for beer names), maybe a movie? It could be an engineering theme, since that's my actual profession. Maybe "The Fermentary". Does that sound gross?

Regardless, the Brew Pub is on my mind even more today because it's Home brewing Class Day!

M and I signed up for this class with another friend. The first week, we made a batch of beer. It will be a Pale Ale-style beer. The teacher of the class is the owner of the home brew supply store in town. He is, shall we say, NOT a germophobe. The first night, he coughed right into our precious boiling beer! We boiled it out on the sidewalk and laughed that a squirrel might land in the pot "But don't worry, that will filter out!" The second week, we tried 14 different kinds of Ale. We learned that the difference between Ale and Lager is that Ale is fermented warm, while Lager is fermented cold. Some of the ales we tried were really good (Frambois = Panty Dissolver, according to the teacher). There were Fresh Hopped India Pale Ales, and malty brown ales. Yum! The third week, we bottled our brew and tried a few more kinds of beer. We also had more of a chance to look around the store and find what we wanted to buy. This week, we're trying several different kinds of Lagers and taking a field trip to a Brew Pub in the Village called "Two Rows."

Taking this class has been a blast. I'm really glad M got it for us for my birthday. I'm really hoping that we can start to brew some of our own beer. I want to start really getting some good recipes together for The Fermentary!

My Kind of Protest

And "Yes, Barack, if you do one thing in your presidency, make it this!"

Of all the tweets...

Of all of the things I've tweeted over the past few months, the one that had to get Re-Tweeted by TWO people, was this:

Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!

1. Don't put drugs in people's drinks in order to control their behavior.

2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!

3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!

4. NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.

5. If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON'T ASSAULT THEM!

6. Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.

7. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.

8. Always be honest with people! Don't pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don't communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to rape them.

9. Don't forget: you can't have sex with someone unless they are awake!

10. Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone "on accident" you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can blow it if you do.

 

Remember: ONLY RAPISTS CAN PREVENT RAPE.

Brew Class

For my birthday, my husband, from here forward referred to as "M", signed us up for a class to learn how to brew our own beer at home. I have had a desire to learn the art of home brewing for a long time. I have dreams about someday going to culinary school, buying a little pub, and opening a little brew pub. I dream about it when I'm out running, and I dream about it when I'm sleeping. Taking this class is not helping me focus on the present, but only making me think more and more about our someday brew pub.

Last night, during class, we were thinking up names for future brews. They are all based on Arrested Development Characters, and therefore, we would never have the rights to actually use the names, but here are some:

1. Loose Seal (a bitter, IPA-style beer)

2. Loose Seal 2 (high alcohol content, makes you tipsy!)

3. The Claw!

4. Bob Lablah Lobs Lager

5. Afternoon Delight (grassy, fresh hopped beer)

Someday... ... ...

Running Entry #1

For those of you reading along who don't know me, I am currently training for The Chevron Houston Marathon.

Background:

I ran Cross Country and Track in High School - 1997-2002 (now you know how old I am). My high school athletic prowess peaked my junior year track season (All-Regional! 800m time - 2:27!) And my senior year cross country season (21:21 5k!). My senior year track season was disappointing and I didn't want to run after that for a long time.

Then, I moved to Houston and started gaining weight. I tried joining a gym, but I got bored with the elliptical and felt lame being on a treadmill when I could just go run outside. In March/April 2008 I started running outside, did a 5k in June '08, and caught the bug. Trained for a 1/2 marathon in February 2009 (2:15!). Took a few weeks/months off, and now I've been training with InFlight Running since May 30, 2009.

This past weekend, I had my first ever 16 mile weekend. Ran 10 miles on Saturday morning at 11:30 pace (as has been the pattern) and ran 6 miles on Sunday night. My first 3 miles were a little slow, but I was a little achy and tired from the 10 miles the day before. My second 3 miles were faster and I felt really good. I got home and felt like I wanted to just go out and run more! Unfortunately, the result of my big weekend is that I am sore sore sore today. And it does not help that I am sitting down all day. I need to remember to get up every now and then just to stretch out my legs!

I am feeling good, though. A few aches and pains here and there, but overall, good. And starting to feel like I'm really getting in shape. This marathon thing might be doable after all! Eek!

Upcoming Races:

United Space Alliance 10 Mile race 10-11-09

Koala Luke's Houston Half Marathon 10-25-09

San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon 11-15-09

TXU Turkey Trot 10k  11-26-09

YMCA Jingle Bell 5 Mile - 12-6-09

Chevron Houston Marathon 1-17-10