Comments on: Does gaining weight make you taller?

By: rehabprof

rehabprof — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:59:00 +0000

I have heard it said that we are 17 times more likely to be struck with lightening than to win the lottery. But when we go outside in the rain ee say to ourselves, “it will never happen to me.”. When we buy a lottery ticket, we say, “Somebody has to win!”. Attitude trumps statistics.

By: Steven H. Noble

Steven H. Noble — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:54:09 +0000

On a related note I’d love to hear your thoughts on debiasing methods (like Heckman, etc). I say related because sometimes even interfering with the system isn’t sufficient to know the effects of interfering with the system. Like when you interfere in a biased way. The behaviour of lottery winners perhaps does not say all that much on the general effects of suddenly making someone a millionaire. Only on the effects of making a lottery player a millionaire.

By: Big data and humility — The Endeavour

Big data and humility — The Endeavour — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:55:00 +0000

[...] data is not enough Does gaining weight make you taller? ? [...]

By: Rick Wicklin

Rick Wicklin — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:31:35 +0000

I’m also looking for a little weight gain (too skinny!) and I wouldn’t mind some extra height either.

Your comment about the “typical millionaire” and the “typical poor person” is important, too, and often misrepresented in the media. If every X hours of exercise really added Y minutes to my lifespan, I wouldn’t be sitting at this computer. And if every cigar smoked subtracted Q minutes from your lifespan, George Burns wouldn’t have lived to 100.

By: ivanskie

ivanskie — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:17:48 +0000

[Editor's note: I thought the following spam comment was funny, so I included it minus the link they included. -- John]

great post! i have been looking for helpful ideas on how to gain weight in a healthy manner and i think your posts are relevant. i also found another useful website that has a lot of great information.

By: John

John — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:37:41 +0000

Vishal, I believe there is more going on than correlation and causation. In the lottery example, influence goes both ways between wealth on the one hand and attitudes and circumstances on the other. But suddenly making someone a millionaire does not give them the typical characteristics of a millionaire. Also, a bankrupt former millionaire isn’t going to be a typical poor person.

By: Vishal

Vishal — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:23:52 +0000

Great post! Thanks.

Re. John S’s comment above, I don’t think this post is about “correlation is not causation”. Even if there’s causation in the data, I think one would still have to introduce and test a ‘change’ in the system to see what happens when you introduce that chance in the system. No?

By: John S.

John S. — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:01:57 +0000

Bravo. That is a great way of explaining “correlation is not causation”. I have already put Mosteller’s book on my wish list.