Electrical Engineering student. Life is pretty good, but boring.
Age 33, Male
Studying Engineering
JH
Alpha Quadrant, Milky Way
Joined on 12/3/05
In other words, you said something intelligent and intelligently didn't base a conclusion off of what data you had.
Therefore no one here knows how to respond......NG bbs.....go figure.....
Weird thing is because the issue is largely dependent on outlook, people could actually use this info to win arguments and pwn others.......
Well, let's say you start with a war where 0 people die per day. By the end of the first month, 10 people are dying per day. A new policy is implemented, and by the end of that month 0 people are dying per day. (The rate of change in casualties is linear from day to day).
Was the policy a success? The number of people who die from day 0 to day 30 is the same as the number who die from day 30 to day 60. In that way, it's not a success. But the number of casualties per day still goes down every day...
It's hard to say if the troop surge was a success. We were at an EXTREMELY high point in terms of casualties when the surge started (over 120 per month), and we've seen variations like this in the past - so I don't believe that statistics can show that the surge has been successful.
they're not designed to, no. But we're talking debate, and NG debate at that.
A professional looking neat little analysis like the above can be easily manipulated to give the appearance of a sound argument. "Making the weaker argument appear the stronger" as they say.
Hell, I know it doesn't really conclude anything, and in any thread talking about the "best" this or that I'm always the first to ask for criteria and measurements to base that claim on, but that doesn't really stop people from using and abusing statistics, links, and other such data.
I officially appoint you as my personal statistician. I'll provide case studies, you'll provide numbers.
Hmmm... Thanks...
No, I was being facetious. I do my own research.
Hilarious.
Now, if this went on for another twenty years, we could really see if it was working. But of course that won't happen.
It's always pretty easy to tell what was a good idea and what was a bad idea after the idea plays out.
The challenge is predicting how it will turn out before it happens.
I enjoy reading your abortion arguments. They're fairly complex for someone who doesn't have a history (as far as I know) in medicine.
Well, yes. I'm starting a degree in electrical engineering this fall, and I've often considered going to medical school after finishing off an engineering degree.
If I did go to medical school I'd either do neuroscience, some sort of infectious diseases, or OB/GYN (it seems like its the only non-depressing place in a hospital).
I've never gotten all that serious into medicine, however, because I have a condition where my hands shake and thusly I have very poor fine motor control (not a good thing for a neurosurgeon).
But I won't have to decide for another 4 years or so, since you enter into medical school after getting a Bachelor's degree.
Imperator
This is probably one of the most useful, and thorough analyses on the NG bbs, and you've got ZERO comments?
I fucking hate Newgrounds.
But good work, if you've done your math right this puts the entire debate in proper perspectives. And as you said, it's really a matter of perspective.
Al6200
I've only taken one college level (community college) statistics class, so I'm by no means an expert, but I do think that the success or lack thereof of the troop surge is interesting.
I also think that the lack of comments/interest comes from the fact that I don't draw a conclusion one way or the other. I'm sure if my conclusion was "Troop surge is an amazing success!", then I'd be swimming with people looking to pwn me.