Key West Department Of Mostly Sometimes Useful Statistics

03/24/2026

…Let us discuss— if we can, Degrees of Freedom.
…Have you ever looked up at the stars at night, and wondered— are some of our choices pre-destined?
…Are some of the things that happen to us just completely random?
…Are we *really* free to make all of the choices that confront us?
…Isn’t *every* statistical test just simply a measurement ratio of those things which are happening just as expected, which is then divided into all of that which is happening completely at random?
And, in so becoming— becomes an exemplary model of the Universe?

And so— if we were to just take a sample population of all of the possible choices, and put all of them into a bin, and start selecting them all out at random, until eventually, there was but one choice left to choose…

The truth would *very likely* be that we were absolutely free to choose *any* of them, until at last, we were confronted with the *final* choice, which had *actually* been chosen for us, long before any of the samples had been taken.

And why? Because of the fact that the probability of that choice is exactly n-1, where [n=the number of possible choices— less *just* the last one, as the total population of choices asymptotically approaches Zero], which means it then becomes the singular and *only* choice we can make at that point.

And so— Freedom must vary, until just the last one, and *THAT* is what we call…

DEGREES OF FREEDOM.

01/25/2026

…Is real time travel actually possible?
Let’s discuss some of the possibilities, *dialectically*, using a discussion of theoretically impossible shapes, frames of reference, and the Dialectric Constant…
Now, if you were to take a simple flat-plane, one dimensional space, then fold it, to make it two dimensional, then cut it, to make it three dimensional, and rotate it in a very specific way…

…Assuming you were to exist on the surface of the plane that transits the fold…

This is extremely confusing....Check out this cool trick you can do with a simple sheet of paper. Have fun!

12/12/2025

Yes, but *HOW* would you count all of the Gypsy Chickens?
There are answers…

Population size is the number of individuals in a population, and population density is the number of individuals per unit area. Quadrat and mark and recapture techniques can estimate population size.

12/12/2025

Nullius in verba; (vs.) Trust Me, Bro.

Sceptic communities should question their own biases toward peer review

12/11/2025

Nullius in verba; trust me, bro.

12/07/2025

…Last night, I fell in love with a poll dancer.

12/05/2025

…The models said zero.

You KNEW this was a season highlight. :PWhen the first pause comes, copy & paste this into your address bar, without the spaces:http:// www.golden-road.net/ ...

12/05/2025

…Sometimes, in Statistics— you might end up getting an unexpected result, which just means that you need to re-measure, and check your data again (which you should be doing anyway).

One *possible* approach to this is to ask a different question to the same pool of people, of which the answer is probably already known— because it has already been asked *thousands* of times before to large groups of people.
(Or, to ask the same question again, but just slightly differently).

And, setting aside some assumptions about the particular test question variously appealing to the demographics of only certain respondents (some people might only respond to research questions about guns vs. questions about butter)— if your answer comes back according to an already known population metric, it *might* be fair to assume that the original question which had provided those mysterious results actually stacks up in line with what’s actually going on.

…If we already know that human blood pressure is typically ~120/80, and we measure a sample pool of respondents that consistently come back as ~180/110, we know that there might be some bias in the pool, because apparently, we are only talking to people with high blood pressure, or that there is something *else* (a treatment effect?) which is operating, and which is causing that measurement to skew in one direction or another.

Last week, I asked NewsDash readers, “If you could have one super power, what would you choose?”

12/04/2025

…We don’t accept contributions or donations, please and thank you—
We’re just interested in finding out what it is, because that’s all that there is.

12/03/2025

…Counting on the Count.

Did someone mention counting? The Count sings a song for Elmo and Grover to help them with their counting. Watch ...

12/03/2025

…If Oracle got together with Delphi, would you predict that they could C++?