[From Homer the Smithers, Mr. Burns sends Smithers on a forced vacation and tasks him with finding a temporary replacement]
Smithers: I’ve got to find a replacement who won’t outshine me. Perhaps if I search the employee evaluations for the word ‘incompetent…’
[Computer beeps, screen displays “714 Matches Found’]
Smithers: 714 names?! Heh. Better be more specific. ‘Lazy,’ ‘clumsy,’ ‘dimwitted,’ ‘monstrously ugly.’
[After a couple seconds, computer beeps, screen displays ‘714 Matches Found’]
Smithers: Ah, nuts to this, I’ll just go get Homer Simpson.
Actually, I tried to find the statistical nomenclature for this kind of thing, but couldn’t. Anyone have any idea what this is? (I want to say selection bias, but that’s not quite it…)
New Extremal Toolbox post should be coming later this weekend.
Portrait of the Mathematician 