Evolution

[Peter N Spotts]

On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:53:51 -0600
Karl Larsen <k5di at zianet.com> wrote:
 
>     OK your such a lier and think telling lies make them right. So 
> please do exactly what I do. Look at the results and give us all the 
> results. Then try to make it look like your stuff.
> 
> Karl

Hi Karl,

Fist, a confession: I've got no dog in this hunt. I've used Evolution,
Thunderbird, Claws Mail, and for my purposes, I prefer Claws. But I'm
comfortable with any of them. As a ham operator with a good deal of
theory and experiment under your belt (and the only one with enough
common sense to bring along shade to Trinity!) it's commendable you're
trying to tackle this in a numeric way. However, as you undoubtedly
know, the science of propagation, the physics behind the electronics we
use, or any other well-tested physical theory supporting the technology
behind our hobby achieved its success because the hypothesis survived
not just one person's method, performed over and over. That's only the
first step. They were successful because they were verified by
different people pursuing (or trying to falsify) the original
conclusion by using independent lines of experiment. 

If someone else uses your approach and gets the same results, that just
means they used your approach and got the same results. It doesn't mean
the results resemble reality (although in principle they certainly
could.) In this case, your statistical tools are your experimental
apparatus. But as another poster has pointed out, the tools you used
may not be appropriate for the task. Or they may work, sort of, but
allow for too many alternate explanations to be conclusive. So, use
another approach as well to test your thesis further. If a more
statistically rigorous approach to selecting a sample leads to the same
conclusion, you're on somewhat more-solid footing than if you use just
one test. If different tests lead to results that don't agree among
themselves, then the best one can say is that your (and the others')
results are inconclusive -- until a preponderance of results from
different statistically valid tests tilt the scale one way or the
other. 

This isn't a personal battle. It's an experiment. Have fun with it.

With best regards,

Pete

-- 
Peter N. Spotts 
Amateur-radio call: KC1JB
www.kc1jb.net

"The knack of flying is to throw yourself at the ground and miss." 
            -- Douglas Adams, "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"