Statistics – Page 259 – William M. Briggs

Wishcasting The End Of The World: Update

Wishcasting is when a forecast or prediction is shaded in the direction the forecaster or predictor wants the event to happen. For example, if you forecast this weekend's weather, you…

Statistics

Can Telomeres Predict How Long You Will Live?

No, they can't. Not exactly, and perhaps not with sufficient precision to be useful to you. But there is a new company called Life Length who will sell you, for…

Philosophy Statistics

Belief In God “Rooted” In Human Nature Say Academics

New research has shown---and by "research" I mean a fact long known to citizens is revealed to academics who attach a p-value to it and publish it---"that suggests that religion…

Culture Statistics

Food Deserts: Millions Of Californians Starving Themselves Into Obesity

The blubber is flowing in California. So says that State's venerable University, Los Angeles division. It's an epidemic! Both excessive fatness "increased significantly in just six years". This isn't the…

Philosophy Statistics

“I Can See The Future!”

The future begins tomorrow. This being so, it doesn't seem especially difficult to say what will happen in that uncertain land. Weathermen, and their noble sisters the weatherwomen, daily dispatch…

Philosophy Statistics

Do Americans Still Dislike Atheists?

The answer is: Americans hate atheists just as much as they hate theists. Residents of these grand United States had always disliked prigs of any stripe and are not shy…

Statistics

The Non-Candidacy Of Donald Trump

2020 Update Thanks for DAV for reminding me of this. This post below shows how far you can go wrong, how idiotic you can be, when you, like I, follow…

Culture Statistics

Government outlays: The Canadian Experience — Guest Post by David Ipperciel

In the post "Taxing the Rich Always Fails Eventually," Briggs states that, "It is rational to believe that these years [of decreasing deficits] will continue to be infrequent." I believe…

Hagfish Bagpipe on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 15, 2025
The earth is a spinning ball orbiting the sun in a limitless vacuum. Maybe. But maybe not. After seeing how…
hudbwu on Jung’s Synchronicity & CoincidenceJuly 15, 2025
> you have posited that nothing has become a cause, and it is impossible the absence of anything can become…
Phil R on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 15, 2025
My earlier post was longish and probably wasn't that clear. I think two of the problems are a lack of…
Polybius on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 15, 2025
Now that I have thought more about this I think one of our biggest problems in all fields from climate…
C. P. Benischek on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 15, 2025
Evolution. As Stephen Jay Gould once sort of said, the lack of a single example in the fossil record of…