William M. Briggs

Richard Dawkins Is A Dangerous Man: Update

I'll tell you how. He makes people feel smarter than they are. And in our world of self-esteem substituting for accomplishment and ability, his villainous power is especially poisonous. For…

Statistics

Climategate 3.0—Update: Hacker A Coder?

Whoever it was that snatched the cache of emails from prominent climatologists and created Climategate 1.0, then 2.0 has come forward, in a sort of way, to begin Climategate 3.0.…

Fun Statistics

How Long Do Popes Serve? Update

Update 14 March 2013. The Guardian has released the data on the popes. Its list and mine differ trivially, except that they were able to include the popes' ages (starting…

Culture Statistics

Paddy Power’s Pope Predictions—Update

Update See below for main update. The odds of Father Dougal Maguire (Craggy Island) being the next Pope are 1,000 to 1. You may say this is small, but it's…

Culture Statistics

Feds Spend $1.5 Million to Study Why Lesbians Are Fat?

The title was taken from the CNS News story of the same name, which made ripples in the news yesterday (Drudge linked to it). The National Institutes of Health (NIH)…

Statistics

Doomed Planet: Changing Sun, Changing Climate

Today's post is at Quadrant. Have you been there before? If not, you have a treat in store. The editors supplied this quotation: "Today's debate about global warming is essentially…

Statistics

How Effective Was This Year’s Flu Vaccine?

A reader asks, was this year's flu shot effective? Short answer: Looks to be, but there is no definitive way to know. In order to know definitively for any one…

Culture Philosophy

Give Children The Vote?

"After soccer practice, I'm going to bring you to the polls." "Ah, mom! Do we have to go?" "Everybody has to vote, Johnny. If you don't, you're disenfranchised." "I want…

C-Marie on After The Elections, The BookNovember 4, 2026
My 83rd birthday is today, November 4, 1943.
Cary Cotterman on The Solution To EvolutionNovember 4, 2026
The older I get and the more I read and think, the less I seem to know. I used to…
-Alan Hopewell on Worst Science Fiction of All TimeNovember 4, 2026
I was not able to finish this literary cinderblock, even after three attempts. Having said that, I still believe that…
Holiday Math Puzzles and Activities for Christmas, Winter Break – Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math on The Mathematics Of Santa Claus’ Present Delivery SystemNovember 4, 2026
[…] Every year, physics-literalists have fun analyzing Santa’s magical journey: The science behind Santa Claus A Scientific Disproof of the…
Brian (bulaoren) on After The Elections, The BookNovember 4, 2026
When will you auction the movie rights?

William M. Briggs

Class 100: Watch The Skies! But Only During Nuclear Tests?

After The Elections, The Book

The Solution To Evolution

Class 99: Entropy Part I

Book Update: Launch Date

Reading Bryan Johnson’s The Immortalism Manifesto

Class 98: Limitations of Genetic Associations With Personality

I’m Thinking Of A Number Between 1 and 5 (that you can’t guess)

Against Numerology: Some Basic Calculations

Class 97: The Goal Of Models

Book Update

Sexual Assault Galore At Cornell

Class 96: Can Bayesianism Quantify True Belief?

Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save Us

Viewer Asks: Why Do I Bother?

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

Irrational Rationalists: Effective Altruists & The Planet of the Ants

Class 95: Answering P-Value Good Uses Challenges

Whoring For Climate Change

Lady Academics Tire Of Being Judged By Peer Review

Class 94: Quantifying The Unquantifiable

Class 100: Watch The Skies! But Only During Nuclear Tests?

After The Elections, The Book

Richard Dawkins Is A Dangerous Man: Update

Climategate 3.0—Update: Hacker A Coder?

How Long Do Popes Serve? Update

Paddy Power’s Pope Predictions—Update

Feds Spend $1.5 Million to Study Why Lesbians Are Fat?

Doomed Planet: Changing Sun, Changing Climate

How Effective Was This Year’s Flu Vaccine?

Give Children The Vote?

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