--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Nov 8, 2005, at 10:54 PM, akasha_108 wrote: > > > You don't see how possibly "a > > single well constructed model would control for weather, > > sociological and crime-factor variabes, and the intervention > > variable, ALL AT THE SAME TIME."? > > > > If you don't understand this, then what can I say. You have no > > background or knowledge of regression, ARIMA and modeling. Why > > youare trying to interject points with no basis in knowledge is > > astounding. > > This is a constant in the TB mentality: *sound* like you know what > you are talking about and hope that if you repeat it many times, > people will believe you.
For the record--since Vaj is responding to comments akasha has made about me, I assume I'm included by Vaj in the "TB mentality"--I am most definitely *not* a TB with regard to the Maharishi Effect. I've said from the outset, moreover, that I have almost no knowledge of the statistical methodology used in the study, nor of statistics in general, beyond an intelligent layperson's understanding. I'm also on the record many times as saying that even if the ME *does* exist, I don't think it can be conclusively demonstrated scientifically. Plus which, I've said several times in this discussion that my interest is *not* in showing the study to be valid but rather in trying to make sure the broad outlines of what they were doing are correctly understood so that if criticisms are made, they aren't made of a straw man based on misconceptions. For example, in another post akasha complains that only violent crime statistics were studied and expresses suspicion that the researchers left out statistics on nonviolent crime because they didn't demonstrate any effect. That's just a mistake. The study was *always* to be about violent crime *only*. That is clearly stated in the protocol that was publicly announced before the demonstration project even began. Then we've also seen the claim that they decided to use weather as a control after the fact in order to get the data to say what they wanted. That is false; the use of the weather was part of the publicly announced protocol as well. This is the kind of misunderstanding I'd like to clear up. With regard to akasha's comment above about a "single model," the way he states it makes me think he does not understand how the study was done and why. I certainly could be wrong. I didn't say it *couldn't* be the case that a single model could do what the researchers intended, only that I didn't see *how* it could. akasha's explanations are not on a level that I can comprehend, nor has he made much of an effort to help me out. But he hasn't seen the study. It used highly sopisticated statistical methodology, and I don't think it's even possible to speculate about what was done on that level of sophistication. > I find this to be a rather common phenom in > movement type and it is a subtle and continuous form of > disinformation. When it becomes pervasive, that is, everyone > around you or that you hang out with or listen to is parroting the > same disinformation, it *becomes your reality*. It's also the > danger of trying to use a scientific methodology NOT as an attempt > to find the truth, but as a marketing tool disguised as looking for > the truth. I'm sure there are true believers in the Maharishi Effect to whom this applies. But in my case, it's just offensive and deliberately insulting bullshit, and my posts on this topic make that crystal clear. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
