2021-12-27 Female Presenter [pointing to visual of stats charts]: "If you don't control for confounding variables, they'll mask the real effect and mislead you." Female Presenter [raising finger at audience]: "But if you for too _many_ variables, your choices will shape the data, and you'll mislead yourself." Female Presenter [arms dropped]: "Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot where you do both, making you double wrong." "Stats are a farce and truth is unknowable. See you next week!" ---- There is a _lot_ of commentary to be made here. It's notable that the expression in the comic is correct, and is a trick. In my opinion. It's notable that xkcds are different now, than they used to be. It's notable that a sudden change in my life resulted in me regularly visiting xkcd and no other webcomics. The topic of this webcomic feels similar to something I think about a lot. There's a big chance I would say that regardless of what it is. The concept of choices shaping the data deserves a statistical analysis.