Nominative determinism
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understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.
Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.
The following text comes from an email which I sent to a friend on 28 April 2013:
"Thank you for extending this discussion* into the fruitful field of nominative determinism - which of course explains my commitment to Freedom of Information and my confident expectation of being appointed the next head of the Information Commissioner's Office.
To my delight and surprize, the subject was raised substantively on 24 April in the Royal Courts of Justice during the Judicial Review of the Chagos Marine Protected Area (MPA). That was the day for arguing points of EU law and Maya Lester QC, appearing for Olivier Bancoult, tickled the largest unprotected nerve in their Lordships' bodies [always a good move in court, sometimes even leading to a victorious debarquement on the Mornington Crescent quayside] by telling them that by a happy coincidence she had just discovered the previous evening that the head of one of a key body regulating the French fisheries industry was a certain "M. Goujon".** The law may sometimes be an ass - as in its extraordinary reinterpretation of Article 24 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations - but at least it is a happy ass, not a grumpy Eyore."
Date submitted:Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:13:08 +0000Coincidence ID:7028
