one down, how many to go?

Major thesis crisis number 2 has been averted. I was panicking so much, I didn't even get round to telling you about it. To cut a long story short, the reason different people were giving the results of the same method as H-1, 2H-2 and 2H-1 was that they were using different methods! The reason I hadn't noticed was that they are only subtly different - too subtle for a non-statistician to notice at 5am after not enough sleep.

Major thesis crisis number 1 continues to boil. To answer everyone who wondered why I didn't try a book, my problem concerns holes in data. The vast majority of stats books don't seem to consider that data could ever have holes in it. ( Read more... )

the swearwords in my vocabulary are not strong enough

I am really fucking upset. Cabury's Bournville no longer vegan, and allergy warning.

Here's the text of my email to Cadbury's:
I am EXTREMELY unhappy to discover that Bournville and Fry's Chocolate Creams have suddenly started containing milk. I have a severe intolerance to lactose, and cannot eat chocolate containing milk. I also have a very sweet tooth, and cannot eat the explicitly vegan chocolates made by companies such as Green and Black's, as they are far too bitter. Fry's Chocolate Creams were perfect for me, with their sugar centre, and melted Bournville was perfect for mixing with syrup to make chocolate cornflake cakes.
( Read more... )

update on chocolate

Read this first.

Cadbury's have mailed me back and said that the Fry's Chocolate Creams don't actually contain milk, but are made in the same factory as milk chocolate and are thus unsuitable for people with anaphylaxic milk allergies. Bournville, on the other hand, definitely now contains milk. My mind is not exactly set at rest. It looks like I can still eat the Chocolate Creams, because microscopic traces of milk aren't a problem for me, but bars of plain chocolate - which I use in cooking, as well as eating - are out. Grrr.

If you feel angry about the change, write to Cadbury's by email or post, and point out that it's really crap for any of the following groups of people: (a) lactose intolerants, (b) milk allergic, (c) people with ezcema, asthma or IBS aggravated by dairy, (d) people who do not consume milk for religious reasons, (e) ethical vegans. Category (c) actually includes a hell of a lot of people, many of whom might not realise it. I still can't believe the fact I thought I was allergic to chocolate for 20-odd years (but ate it anyway, in very small quantities, and suffered afterwards) and it turned out to be the milk in chocolate that was the problem all along. Humph.