Category Archives: Deception

Product placement 101

Posted on March 3, 2017 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Matt Thomas just brought this beautiful TV ad to our attention via his blog. The ad in question is composed of a series of movie scenes featuring the iconic Rolex watch. (In several of these classic scenes, the actors actually refer to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deception, Ethics, Law | Leave a comment

p-hacking primer

Posted on January 14, 2017 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Via io9, John Bohannon explains how fake science works, specifically, the problem of “p-hacking”:

Posted in Cheating, Deception, Ethics | 1 Comment

Caption this

Posted on December 3, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Romney's popular vote share: 47%.Trump's popular vote share: 46.5%. pic.twitter.com/fidZaaSZj0 — Leigh Caldwell (@leighblue) November 30, 2016 I made the Trump/Romney photo black and white, and it looks like a Twilight Zone episode where a guy just made a foolish … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooperation, Current Affairs, Deception, Politics | Leave a comment

Legal liability for research fraud

Posted on November 21, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

That is the title of our latest paper, forthcoming in the Statistical Journal of the IAOS. Props to Steve Koczela and Orlando I. Martinez-Garcia for their comments and suggestions on the paper. In addition, props to my wife Sydjia Robinson … Continue reading →

Posted in Cheating, Deception, Law, Science | Leave a comment

Trump’s toupee

Posted on November 5, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Gawker’s Ashley Feinberg did some digging and was able to trace the origins of Donald’s Trump’s meticulous hairdo. It’s a toupee! According to Ms Feinberg, Trump’s toupee is based on “a little-known, patented hair restoration treatment [pictured below] called a … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Deception, Questions Rarely Asked, Science, Truth | Leave a comment

Trump against the world

Posted on November 2, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

In our previous post, we mentioned that a small number of scholars (about 150 intellectuals at last count) have openly declared their support for Donald Trump. According to their public statement, the 150 are voting for Trump for the following reasons: … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Deception, Economics, Law, Politics | 2 Comments

How are big box stores like Wells Fargo?

Posted on September 22, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Lots of big box retailers like Walmart and Home Depot are ramping up their use of self-scanners in order to reduce their labor costs. That is, instead of waiting in a long line to have a cashier ring up your purchases, you can save … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Deception, Ethics, Game Theory, Law, Probability, Web/Tech | 5 Comments

Cheating pays … Just ask Wells Fargo execs

Posted on September 20, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

What’s up with Wells Fargo’s CEO? According to the N.Y. Times, “Wells Fargo was flowing with regrets …, taking out ads in nearly a dozen newspapers saying the bank took ‘full responsibility’ for creating sham bank accounts without its customers’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Cheating, Current Affairs, Deception, Ethics, Law | 2 Comments

City scammers (red light cameras edition)

Posted on July 18, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Posted in Deception, Law, Politics, Web/Tech | 2 Comments

Censorship in Florida (FBI/Orlando police edition)

Posted on July 11, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Hey, what are the FBI and the Orlando police trying to hide from the public in connection with the massacre at Pulse nightclub last month? The police’s slow response to the Pulse shootings (it took the police over three hours … Continue reading →