Statistics – Page 2 – William M. Briggs

A Coincidence: Coyne Zinged Me Before I Him — Or, The Coyne Fallacy Redux

After posting yesterday's article, Jerry Coyne Doesn't Have Free Will (poor fellow), I immediately saw hits coming to my place from Coyne's. It turned out that, unbeknownst to me, the…

Culture Fun Statistics

Predictions For 2017—Register Yours Today!

Once more unto the breach! We did well last year, but we had the advantage of a neat unambiguous set of predictions all could make, i.e. the United States primaries…

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Statistician to the Stars For Hire!

Herein our semi-annual reminder that the purpose of this blog is mercenary. Filthy lucre is both impetus and goal of its daily readings. Moola, the spondulicks, the government's glory, the…

Book review Fun Statistics

The Full Briggs?

Our friend Joseph Moore at Yard Sale of the Mind, a site surely on everybody's list already, whose photograph appears atop this post, wrote It doesn't get much more civilized…

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Masters Predictions & (Some) Statistics — Podcast Bonus

PODCAST BONUS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNsyJf2MX2w See last Master's year's predictions here. Since not much has changed, I'm doing a lot of copying and pasting. The Podcast bonus is because of the screwed…

Culture Fun Statistics

Second Annual WMBriggs.com Bad Science Award!

Announcement In the proud and rarely abused tradition of Honoring Important People, we present the Second Annual WMBriggs.com Bad Science Award! Please help us pass on the news of this…

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Predictions For 2016—Register Yours Today!

It's that time of year again. Time to put your reputation on the line and show us your pudding, if that is the metaphor I want. Even if it isn't,…

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How’d We Do On Our 2015 Predictions?

The answer to the post title's question is: I'm not so sure. Because why? Because the predictions everybody registered were lost when I was hacked last January. Why was I…

JH on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
The alternative to preserved clay is, sooner rather than later, mouldy clay… Does this mean to create fear? There are…
Cary Cotterman on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
Growing up in the late 1950s, I played with modeling clay almost every day. Who knows, back then it was…
Phil R on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
I'm no expert but I think it's a little over the top comparing PFAS with Agent Orange. PFAS, for the…
Tars Tarkas on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
None of this should change the fact that chemical companies like 3M actively covered up the PFAS problem in the…
Ray on Politicians Demand “Right” To Be Protected Against AISeptember 16, 2026
As far as I can tell, AI is nothing but a computer with a big data base and some fancy…