William M. Briggs

Putting The Squeeze On Bob Newhart, Duck Dynasty

The culture war continues, with most of the battles still being won by the side which employs its devastatingly effective Shock Shrill Squad (the SSS). Two examples. Heard of Legatus?…

Philosophy Statistics

Causation And Correlation

Our friend Christopher Monckton of Brenchley wrote a piece over at Anthony Watt's place in which he said (Reader KA Rodgers asked me to have a look): CO2 concentration continues…

Culture Philosophy

Belgian “Doctors” To Kill Kids They Think They Can’t Cure

Belgium has just made it legal for "doctors" to kill children. Not those who haven't yet escaped the womb---those kids have been fair game for any quack with a sharp…

Culture Philosophy

Entry For The Most Pompous Statement Of Scientism

Our friend John Cook came (via The Renaissance Mathematicus) across what is easily one of the most pompous declarations by a scientist we have ever seen. The words came from…

Culture

Professor Confesses Why She Inflates Grades

I had a student come into my office (where I was a visiting mathematics professor) shaking with emotion. This was a day or two before the final exam. I couldn't…

Statistics

Exposure to Fast Food Impedes Happiness, Researchers

That don't call it the unhappy meal for nothing. Or, wait... What we have here is yet another instance of scientists claiming to have done something they did not do.…

Statistics

Global Warming Creating Anxious Fish

Fish the world over are rubbing their fins together and fretting over news of climate change. One day they are told earnestly that the world's oceans are going to boil…

Culture Statistics

Lord, Save Us From Impact Factors

Randy Schekman, a Big Cheese in the sciences, is right: people use "place of publication as a proxy for quality of science". Where a paper is often counts more than…

NLR on The HR Trilemma: Which Door Decides Your Fate?May 12, 2026
You go into door B. There is a 50% chance that door B was the one with two male Boomers,…
The True Nolan on Richard Dawkins, The Big Muscles Fallacy & AI PachinkoMay 11, 2026
If Dawkins were more honest or perhaps more insightful he would say that "Claudia responds AS IF she were conscious."…
RW Pearson on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
In liberal California, I luckily live in Orange County, where our good Sheriff is issuing CCW permits and they are…
Cary D Cotterman on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
For murderers and certain other committers of heinous crimes, I am for trials and death sentences on Fridays, the weekend…
Chad Jessup on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
How about three strikes, and you're dead, which of course would only be for the very violent criminals. Why warehouse…

William M. Briggs

The HR Trilemma: Which Door Decides Your Fate?

Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death Penalty

How Experts Use “Calamities” to Find Official Victims & Gain Power

Richard Dawkins, The Big Muscles Fallacy & AI Pachinko

Class 88: The Most Neglected Concept: Skill

The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising Answer

UFO Reports About To Blast Off!

Class 87: Calibration & Conformal Prediction: Examples

Noticing Differences Between Races Does Not Pay

What Are The Chances Of All These Scientists Dying, Killed, Or Going Missing?

Class 86: Calibration & Conformal Prediction: Theory

How A Miracle Turns Mundane

Contest Winner Announced!

Trump’s Last Stand: Mea Culpa, Redux — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

Class 85: Proper Scores of Model Goodness

Proof!

Justice Ketanji Roars

Iran Has Caught Covid: A Reason For The War

Class 84: Most Important Measure of Model Goodness

There Is No Solution To Crashing Fertility: Good Times Made Soft Men

Did The Pope Really Say Health Is A “Right”?