William M. Briggs

Academics Call For The Killing Of Babies In “After-Birth” Abortions

Update This is back in the news. This (lightly edited) post originally appeared 28 February 2012. Academic philosophers Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva---shockingly working in Australia1, a land where commonsense…

Statistics

EPA’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan

The EPA has asked for my advice.1 They will not listen to, or harken, or act on this advice, but asking for it gives them a sense that they have…

Culture

7-Year-Old Suspended For Carrying Unlicensed Pop Tart: Update

Did you feel it? The latest lurch towards insanity happened in Baltimore, where seven-year-old Josh Welch was suspended from school for eating a Pop Tart. Turns out he bit off…

Culture Fun

What Day Most Changed History?

Such was the title of The Atlantic's "The Big Question" column of March, 2013. This is the sort of piece one finds uppermost in the toilet's magazine rack. So now…

Fun Statistics

On Dowsing—Guest Post by Ray Kidd

I dug a one-meter square test pit outside an 18th century ruined cottage. A "dowser" invited to test his powers stood beside the pit dangling a bob on a string.…

Statistics

Science Can Tell If You’re A Racist Just By Looking At You

George Carlin used to advise those who wanted to avoid jury duty to tell the judge, "Don't worry about me, your honor. I can tell guilty people---<snap!>---just like that!" We…

Statistics

The Second & Third Most Depressing Graphs: The Encroachment Of Government

Update This stays top for today because we're still waiting for some regulars to chime in and because I'm busy. Here is federal government spending as a fraction of the…

Culture Statistics

The Most Depressing Graph: Per Capita Federal Spending Rises Alarmingly: Update

There is no more saddening picture of the progress of government than this one (the second & third most depressing graphs are here): This is the amount of money the…

C-Marie on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 17, 2026
For how long was the covid vaccine tested before being released, , AND FOR HOW LONG IS A VACCINE SUPPOSED…
Rudolph Harrier on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
During the COVID pandemic the Minnesota shut down directives were based on a computer model that said that tens of…
R W Pearson on On Not ReadingMarch 16, 2026
Good to hear you are an avid reader, Professor Briggs. The word processor gave us the boat anchor novel, and…
James on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
Why is a BRITISH journal (The Lancet) complaining about the US medical establishment? And given the current political establishment in…
bruce g charlton on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
As I have been saying for a couple of decades; science is dead (as a social institution) - but *medical*…

William M. Briggs

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

Lancet Discovers Public Health Is Politics

Class 82: Be More Uncertain (About Models)

On Not Reading

The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AI

A Synchronicity Or Coincidence? What Is Behind Curious Events?

Class 81: The Second Biggest Error In Time Series

The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In Kind

Researcher Imagines Weather With No Human Influence: Concludes Climate Change Hurts Incomes

Faith Deposited: Why Godless Science Fails

Class 80: Granger Causality; Per Se & Accidental Time Series; Stationarity

Scientists Seeking To Escape Criticism Run To The Warmth & Comfort Of Bluesky

The Loss of Ephemera — Guest Post by The Blonde Bombshell

Class 79: Time Series Example

The Importance Of Not Making Decisions

Don’t Take The ‘Long-Covid’ Alzheimer’s Study Seriously

AI Is Driving Many Crazy: Our Latest Panic

Class 78: The Attempt To Turn Correlation Lead Into Causation Gold In Time Series

Desperate Need For Equality: AP Exam Performance

Some Sanity: Experts Sued For Creating Gender Delusions

Why The Recent Claims Of AGI Fail: Plus, A New Test For AGI

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

Lancet Discovers Public Health Is Politics

Academics Call For The Killing Of Babies In “After-Birth” Abortions

EPA’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan

7-Year-Old Suspended For Carrying Unlicensed Pop Tart: Update

What Day Most Changed History?

On Dowsing—Guest Post by Ray Kidd

Science Can Tell If You’re A Racist Just By Looking At You

The Second & Third Most Depressing Graphs: The Encroachment Of Government

The Most Depressing Graph: Per Capita Federal Spending Rises Alarmingly: Update

There Is No Culture Without Inequality: Stove 1

Impose Your Beliefs Before They Impose Theirs

Telekinesis: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification

The Physics Of Blessings: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification