William M. Briggs

The Showman’s Courtship: Guest Post By Artemus Ward

Artemus Ward, who wrote this piece circa 1858, was a showman and writer who toured these great United States with his artistic exhibition, which consisted of "three moral Bares, a…

Statistics

Italian Scientists On Trial For Manslaughter After Failing To Predict Earthquake

Seven Italian geologists have been hauled before an Italian judge---whether in chains or no, we are not informed---and charged with the heinous crime of manslaughter. Specifically, these men are being…

Philosophy Statistics

Proving What You Want To Believe

You can always find a way to believe anything. That "always" is strict---the magic of belief, like a card trick with a gaffed deck, can always be worked. But just…

Statistics

The Myth Of Killer Mercury: Guest Post By Willie Soon & Paul Driessen

Willie Soon has graciously allowed us to reprint his and Paul Driessen's editorial that ran in the 25 May 2011 Wall Street Journal. Dr Soon received double our normal rate…

Culture Statistics

India Aborting Girls At Full Speed: Sex Selection And Demographics

Science is great. It---"it" is always an it, an invisible entity, a guiding sapience, an intelligence that can be looked to for guidance---can now us tell the sex of a…

Culture Fun

Parents Raising Child As ‘It’

When I first saw that the website with the story of parents raising "gender free" kids ended in ".ca", I thought for sure it came from California. But---Holy Saskatchewan---it's Canada!…

Philosophy Statistics

The Trolley Problem And Experimental Philosophy

The Trolley Problem, as given by Eric Schwitzgebel (as part of a larger survey): You are standing by the railroad tracks when you notice an empty boxcar rolling out of…

Culture Statistics

Wishcasting The End Of The World: Update

Wishcasting is when a forecast or prediction is shaded in the direction the forecaster or predictor wants the event to happen. For example, if you forecast this weekend's weather, you…

Steve on Death By Organ DonationJuly 27, 2026
"The prospect of cutting out a juicy heart has blurred their vision..." I commend you. A less restrained man might…
Brian (bulaoren) on Death By Organ DonationJuly 27, 2026
Thank you, Dr. Kevorkian PS. Soylent green is people!
hudbwu on Believing In God Makes You Crave Potato Chips, Say AcademicsJuly 26, 2026
And to think that 20 years ago, when I was much younger, I would have fallen for these things.
Eric Kay Sci Fi on $7.11 at 7:11 PM on 7/11 at 7/11: What Are The Chances?July 24, 2026
Thanks for the write-up. Thinking about things in the way of a probability distribution has always helped me, but also…
Philip Rogan on $7.11 at 7:11 PM on 7/11 at 7/11: What Are The Chances?July 24, 2026
Brian, good comment. A coincidence is only a coincidence to the person to which the coincidence occurred.

William M. Briggs

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

The Equality Paradox

My Horrible Interaction With AI

SOON

The Court’s Slow Theft Of The Constitution — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

Happy Birthday to US

Never Use Or Trust P-values (Pagan-Values)

Musk Doges Deaths: Researchers Say USAID Absence Kills Kills Kills!

The Intellectual Capacity Of Women by David Stove

Marbles!

Class 92: Simple Optimal Decisions: PSA & Cancer Example

Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady Academic

Truly Random Numbers Found?

Class 91: Try Not To Use the ROC Curve & AUC

Climate Change Increases Risk of Even Slower World Cup Games!

The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of Answers