Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment

Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment 397

Posted by kdawson on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:22PM from the it's-not-the-company-it's-the-hour dept.

markmcb writes "Most everyone knows and loves the MythBusters, two guys who attempt to set the story straight on things people just take for granted. Well, maybe everyone except Brandon Hansen, who has offered them a taste of their own medicine as he busts the MythBusters' improper use of statistics in their experiment to determine whether yawning is contagious. While the article maintains that the contagion of yawns is still a possibility, Hansen is clearly giving the MythBusters no credit for proving such a claim, 'not with a correlation coefficient of .045835.'"

Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment

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Looks like it really was contagious! (Score:1, Funny)

by Lunix Nutcase ( 1092239 ) writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:24PM (#18848465)

*yawn*

Conversation slayer (Score:4, Funny)

by Timesprout ( 579035 ) writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:30PM (#18848519)

Facinatingly detailed observations like this must go down a treat at the parties you attend Brandon Hansen.

Re:Precision? (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:35PM (#18848555)

precise or not, reading that article sure did make me yawn...

Re:well... truthfully... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:48PM (#18848673)

Tonight on this episode of Mythbusters: Whoever smelt it, dealt it!

Re:yawn (Score:2, Funny)

by pyro_peter_911 ( 447333 ) writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:49PM (#18848679) Homepage Journal

*yawn*

Where's the +1 Redundant moderation when you need it.
Peter

Re:yawn...here you go (Score:1, Funny)

by ScottyMcScott ( 1003155 ) writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:55PM (#18848713)

**yawn**

Re:Mythbusters is not scientific (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @10:01PM (#18848759)

Announcer: In today's episode, Jamie and Adam test whether Slashdot poster slughead is capable of posting intelligent, insightful comments.

{Commercial break. }

{ Adam and Jamie read slughead's comment. }
{ Jamie chuckles. Adam laughs really hard, pisses his pants, and continues to laugh really hard. }

{ Commercial break. }

Announcer: BUSTED! slughead can apparently only state nothing but the blatantly obvious!

it's already been done (Score:3, Funny)

by acvh ( 120205 ) writes: <`geek' `at' `mscigars.com'> on Monday April 23, 2007 @10:25PM (#18848967) Homepage

Dr. Seuss has already proved the contagion of yawns.

Re:well... truthfully... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @10:38PM (#18849089)

Get real. Everyone knows it was Adam.

Re:Well... (Score:4, Funny)

by Max_Abernethy ( 750192 ) writes: on Monday April 23, 2007 @11:06PM (#18849343) Homepage

pfft, more like underly critical guy.

Re:Looks like it really was contagious! (Score:3, Funny)

by BiggerIsBetter ( 682164 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @12:17AM (#18850021)

*yawn*

*yawn*

No, it's just a coincidence.

Re:Surprising how many people take them seriously! (Score:3, Funny)

by cyphercell ( 843398 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @12:53AM (#18850355) Homepage Journal

In addition to operating R2-D2 (one of only a handful of official operators), Grant ...

R2-D2, Official Operator? This guy has more nerd creds than everyone in this thread put together!

That charlatan.... (Score:3, Funny)

by zippthorne ( 748122 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @01:45AM (#18850697) Journal

Unfortunately, he BSs about a vast number of other kinds of E, in a manor that is less entertaining and more, assholish, often insulting other cast members or the audience.

Re:Precision? (Score:5, Funny)

by dgatwood ( 11270 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @02:16AM (#18850945) Homepage Journal

Heck, I yawned when I read the summary.

Uh... wait a second... this is Slashdot. Why are you reading the article!?! :-)

Re:Submitter gets an F on this one (Score:5, Funny)

by hmallett ( 531047 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @05:36AM (#18852119) Homepage

(like 1.54 when going between inches and centimeters)

1.54? Are you sure? Do you work for NASA?

Statistics (Score:4, Funny)

by argStyopa ( 232550 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @08:54AM (#18853471) Journal

The only scientifically relevant statistic for Mythbusters is that a high percentage of the audience (most of the men, and probably a significant fraction of the women) want to see them do more experiments with Kari in a body suit (ala the butt-moulding exercise).

Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)

by AGMW ( 594303 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @09:06AM (#18853643) Homepage

What I can't work out is whether I'm yawning because I'm reading about yawning, or yawning because I'm reading about statistical analysis.

Re:TV is entertainment, not science (Score:3, Funny)

by lostboy2 ( 194153 ) writes: on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @12:18PM (#18856577)

Wow, you are right! [esolutionsdata.com]

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Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment 397

Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment More Login

Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment

Looks like it really was contagious! (Score:1, Funny)

Conversation slayer (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Precision? (Score:1, Funny)

Re:well... truthfully... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:yawn (Score:2, Funny)

Re:yawn...here you go (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Mythbusters is not scientific (Score:2, Funny)

it's already been done (Score:3, Funny)

Re:well... truthfully... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Well... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Looks like it really was contagious! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Surprising how many people take them seriously! (Score:3, Funny)

That charlatan.... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Precision? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Submitter gets an F on this one (Score:5, Funny)

Statistics (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:TV is entertainment, not science (Score:3, Funny)

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