advice

“A pint of example is worth a gallon of advice.”

But who can resist dispensing advice? Advice, after all, is a currency that you can distribute without losing anything. On Research, Richard Hamming has already said much that is worthwhile here. On Life, everyone has many things to say, some worthwhile, some worthless. I have three pieces to offer, on life, research, everything:

Make Voyages! Attempt them! There’s nothing else. – Tennessee Williams

Correlation does not imply Causation.

You would be surprised at the number of places where you can apply this, whether in research or in other contexts. The next time you analyze a research paper; the next time you argue with a friend; the next time you dispute with a stranger; the next time you hear, read, write, or talk; try to check: does the argument boil down to “correlation is implying causation”, and is that justified?

Source: xkcd.com/552

This Wikipedia page has a nice explanation on this fallacy (and others, well worth considering).

little drops of water make the Mighty Ocean.

Small actions, performed regularly, can lead to amazing results.