William M. Briggs

Surprise! A Professional Organization Comes Out Against Euthanasia

https://twitter.com/mattstat/status/436146531503058946 In James Bradley's Flyboys he relates how the Japanese in Manchuria would line up Chinese citizens for the benefit of Japanese army recruits to bayonette. Most were squeamish at…

Statistics

Researchers Claim Gays Who Face Prejudice Live Shorter Lives

The Daily Mail reported it like this: "Gay people who face regular homophobic abuse have a shorter life expectancy than those who live in more tolerant communities." Homophobic abuse, they…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

Scientists: Moral Traits Considered Most Essential Part Of Identity

Answer me this. You're on the job and the fancy iH20 cooler (with remote iPhone app) blows and shoots a bolt through your skull. The doctors say removing the bolt…

Philosophy Statistics

What Statistics Really Is: Part Last

Read Part I, Part Paradox, Part II Recapitulation: we have Pr(p|qm) where p is a proposition of interest, q the evidence we have compiled in the form of observations and…

Philosophy Statistics

Probability Is Logic: Philosophy of Probability & Statistics Video Series

I'm starting---and even continuing, if there is interest---a new video series on the philosophy of probability and statistics. Look at those retro production values! I boast of them following Julia…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

On Intelligence & Religiosity

Take a pencil and paper---do this---and write down the most intelligent people who have ever lived. Most brilliant in any field of endeavor, now. Who were the best of us?…

Culture Statistics

Researchers Invent Exciting New Disease: Poverty Blindness

There must soon come a day at The Onion, the satirical newspaper, when the editors will gather in bewilderment and say to each other, "Fellas, there's no use. The real…

Statistics

Scientists Discover Men Enjoy Looking At Women’s Breasts.

Regular readers will recall there are two main kinds of bad statistics. First is when the technique has been done wrong or is misapplied. Errors of this kind comprise only…

Cary Cotterman on Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?September 3, 2026
More than seventy years of experience with dog ownership has made the fact clear to me that dogs squat pointing…
Uncle Mike on Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?September 3, 2026
The afterstory: three of the authors are now university presidents, and one is head of NSA.
shawn marshall on Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?September 3, 2026
for sure you have identified a scienterrific study full of dog poop
Brian (bulaoren) on Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?September 3, 2026
Well, a lot of current research product orients toward the left.
McChuck on Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?September 3, 2026
Perhaps the dogs prefer not to stare into the morning and evening sun? How does one measure the "calmness" of…

William M. Briggs

Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?

Lewontin’s Other Fallacy: Race & Intelligence

Fertility Fears Overblown: Tiny Shift in Childless Rate Saves The Species

A New Kind Of University: Your Comments Wanted

Bad Black Health Blamed On Slavery

Is Moral Certainty Possible?

We Passed Peak “Climate Change” (um) Research

Sweet Wee Ps Say Sugar Makes You Lose Your Mind

AI Is Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent

You Can’t Con An Honest Man & The Case of Jason Arday

Academics: Achieve Sustainability by Easing Population to 4 Billion by 2200

The Impossibility of Proposition Nations

Ugly Women Rulers Condemn Lookism

The Wee P Boogie: The Song That’s Sweeping the Nation!

Wolfgang Smith For Everyone

Death By Organ Donation

$7.11 at 7:11 PM on 7/11 at 7/11: What Are The Chances?

Caution Against The Precautionary Principle: Interview with Jaap Hanekamp

Believing In God Makes You Crave Potato Chips, Say Academics

Hume’s Guillotine, Euclid’s Catapult: Induction, Axioms, and Objective Ethics

University of California Prof Tries To Save System From DIEing