This week I am reading and thinking about statistical power, as noted previously.

Today I have encountered a fun item:

"Louis Lasagna was director of one of the research laboratories at Strong Memorial Hospital in the early 1980s, and one of his quotes (or at least attributed to him) was widely copied there as 'Lasagna's law.'

At the commencement of a study the incidence of the condition under investigation will drop by one-half, and will not return to its former rate until the study is closed or the investigator retires, whichever comes first. "

Sounds about right.