William M. Briggs

The Twinkie Defense Defended: Soda Pop And Violence In Teens

In 1979, Dan White1 was tried for the assassinations of San Francisco city district Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. His lawyers argued that he had diminished capacity and…

Fun Statistics

Counterfactuals And Woodchuck Probability Distributions

I have, with mechanical aid, again winged my way across the globe in search of treasure. I landed disoriented and would not trust myself to calculate even the integral of…

Fun

A Final Solution To The Financial Crisis: Guest Post by Uncle Mike

Welcome to our WISE Uncle Mike, who provides for our review a unique idea to solve the world's financial mess. Greek residents will want to pay particular attention. Your Host…

Fun Philosophy Statistics

Best Statistics Question Ever

Several readers have sent this one in1. One Raymond Johnson (or was it Ryan Grover?) said he found the following picture on this blackboard (I pulled my copy from Flowing…

Culture

Banzhaf’s Assault Against Logic: Muslims Are Not Suing Catholic University

Lawyer John Banzhaf is thrilled and chagrined about the publicity he has received over the complaint he filed with the Washington DC Office of Human Rights. It has been widely…

Statistics

BEST’s Worst Work; What Is Significant?

You will have already seen this comparison graph from the Daily Mail. That paper points out correctly that the version of the plot provided by BEST is presented in such…

Statistics

A Case Of Failed Peer Review: Dust And Death

The distance between what civilians think peer review is and what it actually is suffers from the same failing as that evinced by Han Solo---rare pop culture reference!---when he boasted…

Culture

Muslims Sue To Remove Crosses At Catholic University?

The story that's circulating is that "Muslims at a Catholic University are offended the university doesn't allow them to take down or cover crosses before they pray and claim their…

Media Lament State Dept Cuts, Ignore Job Wreckage From Past Democratic Admins on The Myth Of Killer Mercury: Guest Post By Willie Soon & Paul DriessenJuly 21, 2025
[…] generating plants with equal zeal, using questionable-to-bogus claims about climate change, mercury, and fine particulates to justify its actions. One…
Layoffs at – Versus Because of – Federal Agencies - The Post & Email on The Myth Of Killer Mercury: Guest Post By Willie Soon & Paul DriessenJuly 20, 2025
[…] generating plants with equal zeal, using questionable to bogus claims about climate change, mercury and fine particulates to justify…
Kevin McMillen on The Hierarchy Of Intelligences & IQ: We’re Not As Smart As We ThinkJuly 19, 2025
Is this article proof that you didn’t score very well on a recent IQ test?
Briggs on Jung’s Synchronicity & CoincidenceJuly 17, 2025
Scott, One of my hobbies is mentalism, mental magic---I even performed a trick on a Vegas stage! I have lots…
James on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 16, 2025
The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis might be worthy of exploring for bad science: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis

William M. Briggs

A Week’s Vacation

Class 58: Hypothesis Testing Is All Wrong

Vegetarians Crave Power And Success More Than Meat Eaters Do, Study Finds

Jung’s Synchronicity & Coincidence

Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?

Class 57: The Second Best Model

Don’t Lose Sleep Over Research On “Climate Change” & Sleep Apnea

What’s Wrong With The Golf Course Parkinson’s Study

The Unseen Bias In All Science

The Sad End Of Radio

Let’s Play A Game Of Let’s Suppose!

Test Your IQ With These Puzzles! (Not So Easy!)

How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?

Class 56: The Best Model!

Sabine Hossenfelder’s Free Will Folly & The Deadly Sin Of Reification

England’s Mandatory Suicide & Women

On The Probability Of God

Class 55: Models Vs Reality

AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded Output

The Hubris Of Experts: NIH Edition

The Mathematics Of Conspiracy Theories. Part 1: Black Eye Club Example