Lars P. Syll

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.[embedded content] Leonard Cohen — not Bob Dylan — should have been the first songwriter to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

Clearness and vividness in writing often turn on mere specificity. To say that Major André was hanged is clear and definite; to say that he as killed is less definite, because you do not know in what way he was killed; to say that he died is still more indefinite because you do not even know whether his death was due to violence or to natural causes. If we were to use this statement as a varying symbol by which to rank writers for clearness, we might, I think, get something...

Reverse causal reasoning and inference to the best explanation One of the few statisticians that yours truly has on his blogroll is Andrew Gelman. Although not sharing his Bayesian leanings, I find  his thought-provoking and non-dogmatic statistical thinking highly recommendable. The plaidoyer infra for “reverse causal questioning” is typical Gelmanian: When statistical and econometrc methodologists write about causal inference, they generally focus on...

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A pedophile writer is on trial — and so is the French academic elite MeToo has finally reached France. That’s good news. [embedded content] Jean-Paul Sartre, Roland Barthes, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilles et Fanny Deleuze … Jack Lang … André Glucksmann, et bien d’autres encore; tous font partie des 69 intellectuels français qui, aux côtés de l’écrivain Gabriel Matzneff … ont signé une tribune publiée le 26 janvier 1977. D’abord dans Le Monde puis dans...

The problem wih postmodernism Postmodernism is a flag flown by a diverse congeries, motley because lack of unity is their credo and they feel no need to be consistent. Part of the problem in coming to grips with postmodernism is that, pretending to be profound while being merely obscure (many are fooled), slathering subjects with words, its selfproclaimed practitioners fairly often don’t say much of anything … Postmodernism as practiced often comes across...

Nineteen years ago today, a newly wedded couple celebrates in the garden of their summer residence. As always, for you, Jeanette. Though I speak with the tongues of angels, If I have not love… My words would resound with but a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy​… And understand all mysteries… and all knowledge… And though I have all faith So that I could remove mountains, If I have not love… I am nothing.

What does a RCT tell us? Parachute use compared with a backpack control did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when used by participants jumping from aircraft in this first randomized evaluation of the intervention. This largely resulted from our ability to only recruit participants jumping from stationary aircraft on the ground. When beliefs regarding the effectiveness of an intervention exist in the community, randomized trials evaluating their...

Chomsky vs Foucault on politics and society .[embedded content] [embedded content]