In response to a fascinating article about Charles Babbage and the plantation management techniques that informed his calculating engines, Kevin Marks pointed to an earlier article about how eugenics shaped statistics that was every bit as interesting. I was familiar with some of the background to Galton, Pearson and Fisher but had not taken on board the extent to which “statistical significance” started life as a way of examining the homogeneity of human populations. Does that history negate its usefulness entirely?

Getting close now to the end of the component cleanup phase on the old bike.

Took the Brompton out for a little spin yesterday, telling myself it would let me check more places for a black spray paint for cars, needed to get on with the Raleigh restoration. On the way I got some rust converter and snagged a couple of slices of pizza at one of the best local places, unchanged...

Today is the International Day of Biological Diversity. As it happens, Eat This Podcast today published an episode that raises a question I have seldom seen given any serious discussion. Are rare breeds important for the conservation of genetic diversity?

Like all headline questions, the answer is probably “No”. Let me explain.

Another day, another unbalanced set of bearings.

While I wait for a freewheel removal tool to appear, I turned my attention to the front wheel, starting with the axle. This proved relatively easy to get undone, although there was some rather strange fibrous material that seemed to be trapped in th...