tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post2942020992360283459..comments2024-03-27T21:23:40.339-04:00Comments on Chemjobber: Did 10000 people show up at a Charlotte job fair for Siemens Energy? Chemjobberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-43561659462172710322017-09-26T14:19:47.755-04:002017-09-26T14:19:47.755-04:00Hello, Ms. Ramirez:
I regret that you have me at...Hello, Ms. Ramirez: <br /><br />I regret that you have me at a disadvantage, which is that perhaps I misunderstand your point? I found your article believable, and the New York Times article not believable. <br /><br />Want to talk more? You're welcome to e-mail me directly: chemjobber@gmail.com<br /><br />Best wishes, CJ<br /><br />Chemjobberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-3169677036870774752017-09-26T14:08:12.004-04:002017-09-26T14:08:12.004-04:00The information contained in my article, which you...The information contained in my article, which you reference, was obtained directly from Mike Panigel, senior vice president and chief human resource officer for Siemens Corporate Human Resources U.S./Americas, via phone interview. You neglected to include that attribution, which is made clear within the copy. While the trend is to cry "fake news" at anyone currently working as a journalist, my work has always been meticulous. I report facts, along with insights from the people I interview. Julie Cook Ramireznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-73332053129357415822017-02-09T08:43:10.134-05:002017-02-09T08:43:10.134-05:00Or finding hypotheses and not having an independen...Or finding hypotheses and not having an independent data set to test them on ("false discovery").<br /><br />Epidemiology is a PITA.Hapnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-22591337015118683172017-02-09T07:43:39.122-05:002017-02-09T07:43:39.122-05:00Both of those "counties with higher-than-aver...Both of those "counties with higher-than-average adverse events" are probably just small-sample-size effects, especially if they were rural counties. Given that scientists struggle to think about probabilities correctly, it's hardly surprising that journalists also get it wrong.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-5456235728102784802017-02-08T08:49:52.981-05:002017-02-08T08:49:52.981-05:00If everyone got them, though, the problems with th...If everyone got them, though, the problems with the use of tax breaks to recruit businesses would become readily apparent, so the tax breaks are unlikely to be universal (they would depend on how much mobility the company can afford or is willing to facilitate - how much the company is willing to bargain with local districts). They may either outsource local printings (in which case they don't worry about the tax incentives), may not get them, or may not ask for or accept them (though I would figure the last is highly unlikely).Hapnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-68498160840258930712017-02-08T07:41:56.953-05:002017-02-08T07:41:56.953-05:00Funny how the New York Times is oblivious to how t...Funny how the New York Times is oblivious to how this game is played. I guess they don't get local tax breaks for their regional printing plants...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-19814560186065292622017-02-07T16:27:09.503-05:002017-02-07T16:27:09.503-05:00Tony Blair did (at least, he set a goal of 50% of ...Tony Blair did (at least, he set a goal of 50% of young people going on to higher education), thereby devaluing degrees. Perhaps this helped to create what old people tell me is the modern problem of graduates not being able to find graduate-level jobs - or perhaps it isn't. SuperScienceGrlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-14603519451707996572017-02-07T13:05:24.674-05:002017-02-07T13:05:24.674-05:00Number 1 would be closer to evil - there's lik...Number 1 would be closer to evil - there's likely an intent to mislead (the numbers don't fit the hypothesis so they get ignored) rather than simple incompetence. At some point, you'd like an editor to ask these sorts of questions before the readers do, but I'm not sure if that's what they do (or can do) - in theory, it's better to pop your own balloons before someone else does, but that assumes you care.<br /><br />Would normal rates of the other diseases (cancer/B and birth defects/A) strongly hint that the differences are likely random variation rather than causal? Could there be variation of the effect with something else? It wouldn't be likely, but possible. It might also depend how far out of normal bounds the rates are.Hapnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-5370810629952545132017-02-07T12:40:49.351-05:002017-02-07T12:40:49.351-05:00Many, many,...many years ago, I read an article th...Many, many,...many years ago, I read an article that originally appeared in the NYT that was picked up by a local paper. It was about a pesticide or herbicide that was suspected of doing harm.<br /><br />The article mentioned that County A in Alabama where the chemical was used had a higher than average cancer rate. Neighboring County B had a higher than average number of birth defects. The implication was that both "may" have been caused by the chemical.<br /><br />The question that immediately entered my mind was "what was the rate of cancer in County B and of birth defects in County A?"<br /><br />The only things I could think of as to why the article didn't contain that information were 1)the journalist knew what the numbers were, but didn't think they were "material"; 2) the question never crossed his/her mind.<br /><br />Number 2 certainly qualifies as incompetence. Would Number 1 be a mistake or an evil act? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-46154506965845228092017-02-07T11:53:51.341-05:002017-02-07T11:53:51.341-05:00I also suspect that Siemens promised lots of "...I also suspect that Siemens promised lots of "local jobs" when they got their taxpayer-funded payoff, so wanted to pretend to be ready to hire. Ultimately, I am guessing these jobs will be filled, but not with locals.<br /><br />So pretense all around: Siemens pretends to offer local jobs, the local employment office pretends to be helping lots of local job seekers, dissolute job seekers get to pretend they're actually looking for a job, government gets to pretend their taxpayer-funded payoff was good for local employment rather than just a bribe (likely to be returned during next election fundraising). Win-win-win-win!DCRogershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05700101586810004089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-14864596890418576922017-02-07T11:05:30.496-05:002017-02-07T11:05:30.496-05:00Knowing dishonesty is a higher-order sin than a fa...Knowing dishonesty is a higher-order sin than a failure. It's possible the failure was a mistake (though they usually require both failures of the person to check their own work and failures of their institutions to validate their work appropriately), and it might be curable (the person could learn how to appropriately check themselves). Even if someone makes enough mistakes to make it clear that they don't care about their work, it probably isn't as bad as knowingly lying (though it approaches asymptotically over repetitions, and at some point involves willful failure of their supporting institutions). If you knowingly lie, on the other hand, there is no mistake - you did what you intended, and what has failed is your character, which supporting institutions can't fix. If an institution keeps someone who has lied, then their flaws are almost as bad, because they are knowingly supporting dishonesty.<br /><br />I think the Ayn Rand quote about being (somewhat) willing to accept mistakes but not any evil acts committed with knowledge is relevant.Hapnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-90802335177755748162017-02-07T11:04:49.983-05:002017-02-07T11:04:49.983-05:00I think it was fake framing, i.e. an anecdote that...I think it was fake framing, i.e. an anecdote that was too good to check. Chemjobberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-1616125182379790302017-02-07T11:04:12.427-05:002017-02-07T11:04:12.427-05:00You probably know more than me - fair enough! You probably know more than me - fair enough! Chemjobberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-23294289607907264932017-02-07T11:02:26.651-05:002017-02-07T11:02:26.651-05:00Dunno.
Which is worse, heart or kidney disease? O...Dunno.<br /><br />Which is worse, heart or kidney disease? One is certainly more common.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-8196190447252639522017-02-07T10:07:34.348-05:002017-02-07T10:07:34.348-05:00Which is worse: an incompetent journalist who does...Which is worse: an incompetent journalist who doesn't bother to verify the facts in their article, or a journalist who knowingly writes false information in order to manipulate their readers?lwinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15571772477328582221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-53980558297123646952017-02-07T09:19:43.868-05:002017-02-07T09:19:43.868-05:00So was the New York Times article Fake News or mer...So was the New York Times article Fake News or merely Fake Framing?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-48604303282757463782017-02-07T08:00:11.270-05:002017-02-07T08:00:11.270-05:00I know a lot of higher education administrators an...I know a lot of higher education administrators and I have never heard any of them say that they thought everyone should go to college.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-21571215781564102962017-02-07T06:48:45.357-05:002017-02-07T06:48:45.357-05:00In these times when the chemist gets no respect an...In these times when the chemist gets no respect and dignity (a low salary), check out this post!<br />http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/07/cameras-reportedly-catches-bart-janitor-who-pulled-in-270000-in-year-spending-hours-in-closet.html Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com