I can recommend heartily a documentary by William Shatner from 2011 entitled "The Captains." I took some time recently to watch it in a couple sittings on Netflix, and it's extremely worthwhile. If you've always wondered how much fun it would be to be a big-time movie star, this will set you straight. Also, if you've never been to a Star Trek convention there are some shots of several of those as well.
Shatner interviews Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Scott Bakula and Kate Mulgrew (the other captains from subsequent series in the ST universe) and talks a few moments with his friend and mentor Christopher Plummer as well. It's very interesting to hear consummate professionals talk about their work, how they approached it, how they got their breaks, and how it impacted their personal and professional lives to have a successful Star Trek series. Sure, it's about Star Trek, but it's also about some folks who have become living legends by being part of one of the most influential popular culture phenomena of all time. It's worth a watch.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Causality versus Association, Lesson 467: Gun Control
In a recent article in USA Today about NFL-related violence, we get another lesson on how "journalists" understand science. In reporting about the prevalence of guns in NFL households, the article states that:
Because Belcher was a gun owner, a person in his home would have been three times more likely to be involved in a homicide, and five times more likely to have killed himself, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
No... homes with guns are associated with these things (link goes to NEJM article on this from 2008, there's a more recent one here). Being a gun owner doesn't cause these things to happen. In fact, you have to associate this with household wealth, violent crime in a particular geographic area, demographic information and anything else that might increase an individual's risk of gun violence. In addition, these studies almost never acknowledge the value of guns as a preventative or safety measure, which seems to be a focus in the NFL article, at least among the players they talked to about it.
John Lott and others have successfully integrated politics with science and shown some real links between gun ownership and declines in violent crime and gun violence in certain areas of the country. Virginia's recent history is probably one of the best examples of how guns in the hands of private citizens can be seen as having a positive impact on crime rates.
What's the lesson? Don't leave it to journalists to explain scientific results - do your own investigation of the sources. Unfortunately, that may be the only way we have of getting to the truth in this era of Internet "journalism."
Because Belcher was a gun owner, a person in his home would have been three times more likely to be involved in a homicide, and five times more likely to have killed himself, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
No... homes with guns are associated with these things (link goes to NEJM article on this from 2008, there's a more recent one here). Being a gun owner doesn't cause these things to happen. In fact, you have to associate this with household wealth, violent crime in a particular geographic area, demographic information and anything else that might increase an individual's risk of gun violence. In addition, these studies almost never acknowledge the value of guns as a preventative or safety measure, which seems to be a focus in the NFL article, at least among the players they talked to about it.
John Lott and others have successfully integrated politics with science and shown some real links between gun ownership and declines in violent crime and gun violence in certain areas of the country. Virginia's recent history is probably one of the best examples of how guns in the hands of private citizens can be seen as having a positive impact on crime rates.
What's the lesson? Don't leave it to journalists to explain scientific results - do your own investigation of the sources. Unfortunately, that may be the only way we have of getting to the truth in this era of Internet "journalism."
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