Still Likes Dinosaurs,

I am not going to completely address your question, but let me hit part of it.

Why isn't calculating the possiblility of two false positives as simple as multiplying the possibility of a false positive by itself?

Calculating the possibility of two false positives is not as simple as multiplying the two together in this case because the tests are not independent. The same tests are being run on two parts of a sample that was taken at the same time by (I believe) the same labs. There are many possible places in this chain of testing for the same type of systematic error to occur.

In order for simple multiplication to work, the tests would have to be completely independent. The tests would have to been collected in a different container using. different techniques on different equipment in a different lab. I think that completely independent tests are rare in drug testing.

ole99,

Testosterone has relatively short half-life, which I believe is less than a day. So the theory is that Floyd took some the night before or the day of stage 17 and that his body used up and passed through enough of it before the next time he was tested.

While this book sounds interesting, though from this review it sounds like the book dallies in existential nonsense.

In other words, sound is essentially a psychological phenomenon. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? "Simply no," Levitin points out. "A suitable measuring device can register the frequency made by the tree falling, but truly it is not pitch unless and until it is heard."

Maybe it just a difference in definitions, but sound is just vibration of air (or some other medium). That vibration is exists whether there is anyone around to perceive the tree falling or not. Pitch is our way of categorizing the sounds frequency, but there is nothing innately human (or animal) about that categorization. It is perfectly reasonable speak of a device capable of distinguishing frequencies of sound as measuring pitch.

Similarly, people who cannot hear can still perceive the vibrations of sound directly through touch. They also can frequencies apart, though obviously not as sensitively as can be done by ear.

I agree that the way that humans detect sights and sounds color our perceptions of the world. That does not mean that sound "is essentially a psychological phenomenon."

Hey King, don't rag on the Metrodome. You are playing right into the hands of the stadium-pushers.

While I am not a fan of the Metrodome, it is not a bad place to watch a football game. (It is, on the other hand a bad place to watch a baseball game.) I am quite happy that we in Minnesota have been able to stave off building a new Vikings football stadium, even though plans just passed to build the Twins and Gopher football teams new stadiums.

Hopefully we will be able to hold off the Vikings another 10 or 20 years. My understanding, though I wasn't around at the time, is that the Vikings management are the ones that pushed the Metrodome through. So it is fitting that they should get to play in it a bit longer.

It should be possible to get Congress to push TSA on at least the most recent security restrictions, since most Congressmen are themselves frequent fliers. If the idiocy of these restrictions can be explained to them individually, I don't see why this would have to be a partisan issue.

The airlines know full well that congressmen are frequent fliers. On a recent flight back from DCA on a Friday afternoon, I noticed that at least three congressmen from my state were on the flight as well. There were some annoying, but not particularly unusual problems with the flight. Boarding was delayed for a couple of hours because the incoming flight was delayed by weather, and then technical problems had the flight bouncing back and forth between the gate and the runway for a couple of more hours. It was annoying, but the passengers and crew dealt with it well enough. Imagine my surprise, though, when a week later I got a note from the airline that they were giving everyone on the flight a couple thousand bonus frequent flier miles for the inconvenience. I wonder if that would have happened if we hadn't had VIPs on the flight?

It is "court martial", not "court marshall".

King,

In your blurb on the Packers/Eagles game do you mean to suggest the the Eagles defense is better than the Bears defense? Because the Bears crushed the Packers in their season opener, so the Packers have seen some good defense this year.

Paying attention to these Midwestern legislative moves in the Midwest is important, because they are proof of grass-roots discontent with Monsanto's corporate activities by farmers, as opposed to environmental activists or anti-GMO crusaders.

Right Andrew, because there are no environmentalists or anti-GMO crusaders in the Midwest. I know enough of both around here to put lie to that bit of coastal arrogance.

The Buckner picture is excellent. And reminds of a recurring theme from many Mike Royko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Royko) columns (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/730735.html) - the ex-Cub factor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-Cubs_Factor). In brief, in a playoff series, the team with fewest ex-Cubs is the most likely to win.

Royko would have had a field day with this picture!

Any chance that you'll cover anymore races? There a several close races in the Midwest where the environmental issues involved could use more coverage. The Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota governor's races are all closer than many of the ones that you covered.