I-MAG STS Corporation
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Some years ago an American boy aged 11 was on the verge of being expelled from school. Although he seemed
to be very smart, he was having great difficulty learning and would frequently throw himself on the floor
kicking and screaming. His parents found out that we had written special software designed to run on a
hand-held computer. The intent was to have any nearby adult record meals, sleep, behavior, medications and so
on in a digital diary. Like ancient astrologers, we had boldly asserted that the Universe was orderly and events
in the past caused actions in the present. The software was not thoroughly tested (barely in beta) and there
were problems with the batteries that powered the computers. The school and the teachers preferred to remove
the boy immediately, and both sides had brought lawyers to the meeting. Ultimately, after we quoted Saint
Luke chapter 18 verse 16 ("Suffer the little children to come unto Me ..."), a two week extension was agreed to.
We analyzed the first week's data and sent a note to the parents that, although we were not biochemists, our
statistical software showed a high correlation between eating chocolate-covered raisins and what were called
seizures. We suggested reducing the snack. No data was sent the next week and, ominously, there were no
messages. With some trepidation, we drove over to the family's home.
It turned out things were great - the snack had been changed to organic raisins and the so-called seizures
plummeted from 40 a month to 2. The boy graduated high school one year late, but with a B+ average, some
friends and a date to the prom. He is in college majoring in biotechnology. We never did find out if the problem
was the chocolate, the "inorganic" raisins or something else. To see the famous "twin peaks" graph
to be very smart, he was having great difficulty learning and would frequently throw himself on the floor
kicking and screaming. His parents found out that we had written special software designed to run on a
hand-held computer. The intent was to have any nearby adult record meals, sleep, behavior, medications and so
on in a digital diary. Like ancient astrologers, we had boldly asserted that the Universe was orderly and events
in the past caused actions in the present. The software was not thoroughly tested (barely in beta) and there
were problems with the batteries that powered the computers. The school and the teachers preferred to remove
the boy immediately, and both sides had brought lawyers to the meeting. Ultimately, after we quoted Saint
Luke chapter 18 verse 16 ("Suffer the little children to come unto Me ..."), a two week extension was agreed to.
We analyzed the first week's data and sent a note to the parents that, although we were not biochemists, our
statistical software showed a high correlation between eating chocolate-covered raisins and what were called
seizures. We suggested reducing the snack. No data was sent the next week and, ominously, there were no
messages. With some trepidation, we drove over to the family's home.
It turned out things were great - the snack had been changed to organic raisins and the so-called seizures
plummeted from 40 a month to 2. The boy graduated high school one year late, but with a B+ average, some
friends and a date to the prom. He is in college majoring in biotechnology. We never did find out if the problem
was the chocolate, the "inorganic" raisins or something else. To see the famous "twin peaks" graph