This is just a catch-all section for any old rubbish I might come up with. You might find anything in here. Most of it will probably be trivial nonsense but on the old 'monkeys typing out Shakespeare' principle there might just be something profound. If there is then that's most likely something to do with the passage close by of an Infinite Improbability Drive (thanks fellow travellers and Mr Adams in particular). Anyway, good luck and read at your own risk - dolphins welcome by-the-way.
On Gender Pay Gaps (Simpson's Paradox)
Just recently here in the UK there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over gender pay gaps. The government has required larger companies to provide information that essentially shows the average pay for women compared to the average age fro men. As was probably predictable this has shown many firms where average pay for one sex is much greater than for the other - guess which way the unbalance fans???
But is all that it seems? Will we ask the right questions about this? Just a short little demonstration that, once again, raw statistical 'truth' can mask a more important underlying question.
By-the-way, this is an example of 'Simpson's Paradox' - go on, Google it, you know you want too!
Equal Opportunity or Equal Outcome?
However, this egalitarian ideal may well be great when considering the population whose personality traits are reasonably close to the average, but what happens if we are selecting the very best person for a role, where we might be looking at people with traits near the extremes? Does this make a difference?
A picture of a Norwegian clipper (I think) taken somewhere off the Leeward Islands in 2012