William M. Briggs

Vicar Of Vintage Vinyl Vanquished: Danny Stiles Dead At 87

It finally happened, though we thought, we hoped, he would go on forever. Danny Stiles, radio personality in the New York metro area for over 60 years, died on Friday,…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

Obama’s Faulty Pay Gap Statistics, Philosophy Of Abortion; Plus, The End Of The World

Deadline: 21 May 2011 Family Radio Worldwide has hit the road (in a bunch of mobile homes) to preach that the end shall come just over two months from now.…

Culture

Earthquake Ghouls, Colleges As High Schools, The Robinson DeFazio Controversy, More

J-school Ghouls On the radio, a female American reporter in Tokyo, unnecessarily breathless and somewhat disappointed. "I can only imagine if it were here, it would have been much worse…

Philosophy

The Sorites Paradox Isn’t

Clearly, a guy with no hair on his head is bald. But so is a guy with just one---if and only if we define bald as "a man with little…

Philosophy Statistics

Group Differences: An Exceedingly Brief Introduction To Bayesian Predictive Inference

Read the first entry in this series. All of what follows will appear ridiculously obvious to those who have had no statistical training. Those who have must struggle. In a…

Statistics

Iowahawk Does Statistics—-Properly!

Thanks to the many readers who sent in this tip. The Iowahawk, a.k.a. David Burge, the beloved assassin of pomposity and pretension has taken the often hysterical Paul "Global Warming…

Philosophy Statistics

Global Average Temperature: An Exceedingly Brief Introduction To Bayesian Predictive Inference

Update This post is mandatory reading for those discussing global average temperature. I mean it: exceedingly brief and given only with respect to a univariate time series, such as operationally…

Statistics

Global Average Temperature: What It Isn’t

Update See also: Global Average Temperature: An Exceedingly Brief Introduction To Bayesian Predictive Inference Word is going round that Richard Muller is leading a group of physicists, statisticians, and climatologists…

spaceranger on Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”May 22, 2026
Two things I can never figure out are UFO pictures and police body cam videos.
James on Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”May 22, 2026
The same logic applies to the phenomenon of "ball lightning". It sounds credible, but there are no photos of it…
Uncle Mike on Blessed Memorial Day; No Class; See You WednesdayMay 21, 2026
Please enjoy your well-earned respite. Warmth is indeed a boon and blessing -- it's in the eighties here today and…
Cary D Cotterman on Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”May 20, 2026
There are clear photographs of just about any phenomenon imaginable, regardless of how fast, distant, small, or ephemeral it may…
Steve on Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”May 20, 2026
Briggs, you fool! You should know by now that extraterrestrials have image blurring technology. And before you ask, yes, they…

William M. Briggs

Blessed Memorial Day; No Class; See You Wednesday

Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”

Creating Microbial Monsters To Terrorize Ourselves

Class 89: The Measure Most Modelers Forget: Skill Examples

The Shocking Conclusion of the HR Trilemma!

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!