We all probably think we're pretty good at spotting #bullshit when someone tries to feed it to us.

Honestly, we are probably all less-good at it than we think.

#CallingBullshit is an actual University course, taught by actual University Data Scientist Professor persons.

The entire course is available online, for free. No bullshit. Educate yourself.

https://callingbullshit.org

Just finished "Calling Bullshit" - an engaging read that sheds light on the complexities of human cognition around statistics. While not a must-read, it might be worth picking up if you're a fan of authors like Taleb. #CallingBullshit
https://a.co/d/6cokzq2

Time to get reading! 📚 Starting off with: "Calling Bullshit". 🐃 Check it out here: https://a.co/d/3EWLCyx I'm gonna be sharing a book from my backlog every day, so stay tuned! #ReadingChallenge #BookLovers #CallingBullshit

@lauren
Oddly, the people who use Mastodon like Mastodon, as @lauren says

In #CallingBullshit there is a chapter "Selection Bias", which explains this concept, book by
@ct_bergstrom and @jevinwest

Although the lawsuit over the Penn Station project does not make such a claim, the lawyers noted that Vornado’s chief executive, Steven Roth, once boasted about letting a Manhattan property languish on purpose to spur the government to offer financial assistance. That site on Lexington Avenue later became the headquarters for Bloomberg LP.

Vornado declined to comment about blight in the Penn Station area, citing the lawsuit. #blight #callingbullshit #nycrealestate handout

@phillmv a fascinating conclusion:
"These data suggest that COVID vaccine hesitancy is associated with significant increased risks of a traffic crash. An awareness of these risks might help to encourage more COVID vaccination."

Well... probably not.
This study seems to be a case for @ct_bergstrom

#callingbullshit

Oooh!

--

Calling Bullshit by Carl T. Bergstrom, Jevin D. West: 9780525509202 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Bullshit isn’t what it used to be. Now, two science professors give us the tools to dismantle misinformation and think clearly in a world of fake news and bad data.   “A...

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563882/calling-bullshit-by-carl-t-bergstrom-and-jevin-d-west/

#callingBullshit #misinformation #disinformation #skepticism #bookRecommendation

Oooh!

--

Calling Bullshit by Carl T. Bergstrom, Jevin D. West: 9780525509202 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Bullshit isn’t what it used to be. Now, two science professors give us the tools to dismantle misinformation and think clearly in a world of fake news and bad data.   “A...

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563882/calling-bullshit-by-carl-t-bergstrom-and-jevin-d-west/

#callingBullshit #misinformation #disinformation #skepticism

Does the #USDA perform enough #salmonella testing for chickens to be statistically significant?
Slaughterhouse which processed my Thanksgiving turkey tested 23 whole chickens in 12 months
The plant processed an estimated 100,000 to 1 million pounds of meat and poultry in total each month
Very big rooster is 6 lbs, so probably lots of chickens processed
#callingbullshit
@ct_bergstrom
https://sfba.social/@kevindalley/109389948638777816
@twyspy
@ProPublica

@erosalie
#callingbullshit
@madamscientist

In addition to my book recommendation yesterday (https://qoto.org/@bloc/109377741972697407), I'd like to share this gem, even if the original article is in German:

https://www.handelszeitung.ch/politik/klima-auto-schlagt-velo-und-ov-545475

This one is a textbook example of bullshit, although a pretty obvious one. For those not capable of the German language:

A professor of financial and economics tries to work out the numbers showing why bicycle and public transport are worse options going by car in terms of climate effects.
For public transport, he argues that even why those may be powered by green, locally generated electricity, this electricity could otherwise be provided to the power grid, therefore public transport was the reason CO2-intensive power plants could not be taken of the grid.
For bike, he compares the CO2 footprint of a 5 Liter per 100 km (app. 47 mpg) car with 4 passengers (no, this is certainly not the standard here) to the additional food intake a biker would need to handle longer travels (seriously!), which, for the calculation to carry home the point, is assumed to be almost pure beef.

#callingbullshit @ct_bergstrom #climatechange

@ct_bergstrom Reading #CallingBullshit, I always wondered, and this thread just confirmed, did you ever consider/try standup?