William M. Briggs

Apologies to all. I thought this was going to run on Thursday, so I'm a day behind. If you're one of the folks who asked about upcoming articles, these have…

My mailbag is filling up. Today two questions from readers, both about statistics. Feel free to send yours in on any subject. Tomorrow is a doozy. Question 1 From reader…

Great news! The press and activists are touting a study which claims to have discovered the genes that "make" somebody gay. So get your enwombed baby's DNA scanned and make…

The headline blared "Enjoy coffee or a gin and tonic? You could be a psychopath: People with dark personalities prefer bitter foods and drinks". And then the bullet points: *…

Bernd Felsche ?sends the breaking Vox news story "How many deaths did Volkswagen's pollution scandal cause? A back-of-the-envelope estimate." This article may represent the triumph of "explanatory" journalism. Volkswagen was…

Phrases like "100 year rainfalls" or floods or whatever for whatever period of time are awful. They convey an improper idea of uncertainty. The phrase "X year event" is based…