Procrustes and the climate

In Greek mythology, Procrustes was a not so nice guy who prey on tourist passing through his territory. He had an iron bed (actually 2...) where he made his 'guests' lie in. He would essentially work on each guest to make them fit the bed. If the legs were too long, he would just amputate them...etc...

In science, this is called committing a Procrustean crime. Wikipedia explains a Procrustean solution as being:
"the undesirable practice of tailoring data to fit its container or some other preconceived stricture. A common example from the business world is embodied in the notion that no résumé should exceed one page in length.

In statistics, instead of finding the best fit line to a scatter plot of data, first choose the line you want, then select only the data that fits it, disregarding data that does not, so to "prove" some point you are making. Its a form of deception that rhetoricians make so to forward their own interests at the expense of others. The unique goal of the Procrustean solution is not win-win, but rather that Procrustes wins AND the other loses. In this case, the defeat of the opponent justifies the deceptive means."

Sound familiar? Seems to me that this was what the climate scientists were doing. They had a model of global that they knew had to be right. Just too bad that some of the data didn't quite fit in with the model. So they just did what Procrustes did.

Interestingly there is actually a Procrustes analysis of climate data. Even though the context is a little different. :)

There is a nice simple write up about theoretical thinking here.... something even I can understand; even though the climate scientists seem to have difficulty with these concepts.

"The second reason you can't prove a theory true is that there is never just one theory that fits the facts. A theory is really just a narrative. A tale that explains. But stories can be told very differently. In a sense, there are always an infinite number of theories that fit the facts."

But for climate science, we are told repeatedly that the science is settled. Theory proven.

Procrustes would have been proud.

Hospital infections - the saga continues

I am glad that following Salma Khalik's report that there have been a flurry of hospital and MOH responses appearing in today's Straits Times. If nothing else it would appear that they have taken cognizance of the groundswell of public concern.

It would appear that some sort of 'awareness' had arisen at their level back in 2007, and that there were some (albeit kinda half-hearted) attempts then to deal with the problem. That was back then. Hopefully this display of public angst may provoke them to adopt more concrete and enduring solutions.

So far, they seem only to be playing with numbers. Sure, there is a problem with definitions. But to sit back and wring their hands for 2 years knowing the stats are not meaningful because of a non-harmonised approach towards data collection smacks of a fairly large dose of a 'boh chap' attitude. I mean, if you are really interested in the data, it doesn't take too much effort to standardize the definition regardless of the limitations. And why not provide the public with a tracking of this problem over the years? Don't just tell us the comparisons between the worst year and the best. Don't fudge by playing with the denominator to make the numbers look miniscule (per patient days? errmmm...why not per patient seconds?). Is the situation really getting better as every hospital seem to suggest? If really so we shouldn't need to worry and these discussions would be totally unnecessary. But I suspect not, so give us the real news.

The MOH provides weekly stats of the reporting of of all kinds of infectious diseases. Why can't the MOH tell us the yearly-hospital incidences and let us judge for ourselves if the situation is really under control, and which hospital is really biting the bullet where this is concerned?

DNA tests for talent...? BULLSHIT!!

My Paper this morning carried this report of a lab in Singapore offering genetic services to do genetic testing for talent. Ifd it were April1st, I would have passed it off as a joke. But this is pure bullshit!!

Apparently brought in by brought in by local health-marketing services DNA Dynasty, its contracted laboratory is Shanghai Biochip in Pudong, China. I tried to Google DNA Dynasty and cannot locate it anywhere. Only an anonymous blogsite soliciting testimonies....and a CEO blogsite with no identity.

Apparently..."Dr Y.M Wong, who runs an anti-ageing management practice at Paragon Medical Centre, is a doctor who recommends his patients to DNA Dynasty to complement his treatment." C'mon Dr YM Wong....! This is pure BS and you know it!