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Just because two things are correlated, does necessarily mean that one caused the other. Post hoc ergo propter hoc. “After this, therefore because of this.”

For example, you might find that shark attacks are highly correlated with ice cream sales. Does the sale of ice cream cause the sharks to attack? Maybe, but not likely. It just happens that ice cream sales are up with warmer weather when people like to swim in the shark’s dining room.

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David Todd McCarty
David Todd McCarty

Written by David Todd McCarty

A cranky romantic searching for hope and humor. I tell stories. Most of them are true. I’m not at all interested in your outrage, but I do feel your pain.

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