William M. Briggs

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

Coming tomorrow: the infamous two-envelope problem, solved! More mathematical constructivism. But today, as it's Sunday, something light and airy...and non taxing. A "comedy rock" group which bills itself as the…

Statistics

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

David Blackwell, who died two weeks ago, was one of the first mainstream statisticians to "go Bayesian." And for that and his unique skill in clearly explaining difficult ideas, we…

Statistics

How to Fool Yourself—And Others—With Statistics

See the news box to the left. I wrote this long ago and never used it. I do not love it. But since I am so busy, I haven't the…

Statistics

US Military Fatality Statistics: Have Suicides Increased?

All statistics were gathered from this DOD site. 2010 numbers were current as of 5 June this year; they were not part of the plots below. In 1983, the year…

Culture Philosophy

‘The Most Dangerous Philosopher in the West’

Extremely busy day, today. I have time for only the merest sketch of a post. The title is not mine, but a label given to Slavoj Zizek, the rock-star communist…

Culture

Paper or Plastic? Environmentalism as Public Religion

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of…

Fun Statistics

World Cup Predictions Verified

All that was missing was the water for the players to plunge into. Still, referee Howard Webb must be a fan of the aquatic and artistic sport of diving, and…

Culture

Global Warming Set To Song: Withering in the Heat

Little Aitan Grossman, just age 13, and cute as hell, has taken Honorable Mention in the 2010 Action For Nature International Young Eco-Hero Awards! A hero---an eco hero---and only 13!…

Ray on Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampMay 13, 2025
"All substances are toxic; only the dose determines whether a substance is not toxic. Even oxygen is toxic." We neeed…
Briggs on Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampMay 13, 2025
Hagfish, I still remember my grandpa putting a tiny saccharin tablet into his coffee.
spetzer86 on Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampMay 13, 2025
I ultimate end-point is that we all die. Some sooner, some later. You can be healthy as a horse one…
Hagfish Bagpipe on Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampMay 13, 2025
Reminds me of the cyclamate and saccharin scares of the 60s-70s. Media hyping bladder tumors in lab rats supposedly caused…
dumbest.ox on Academics Call Pregnancy A DiseaseMay 12, 2025
President Carter had the federal rules changed to reclassify normal pregnancy / birth, as illness / disease, in order to…

William M. Briggs

Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap Hanekamp

Academics Call Pregnancy A Disease

Class 49: Relevance & Importance Of Evidence In Models

Miracle Or Coincidence? What Are The Chances?

Reproducibility Crises Will Be Forever With Us Until We Abandon Classical Statistics

AI Cannot Hallucinate Nor Lie

Class 48: What Is A Model?

I’m Going To Sue Scientists Who Gave Me Apoplexy Over Claims Of Climate Liability

Researchers Tell Models To Say People Will Die Without Your Money

The Sun Made To Set On The British Empire – Via Science!

Class 47: Billions Of Models!

A New Physics Arises: Irreducible by Federico Faggin Reviewed

Let Go Your Wee P! — Reader Help Requested

Class 46: Explanation & Abductive Weakness

The Educational Empire Strikes Back

Can Jinn & The Evil Eye Cause Disease?

Science: The Bigger The Hole In The Head, The More Politically Active

Class 45: The False Hope Of Falsification

New Paper Says Flu Vax Increases Chance Of Flu: Let’s Look

A Simple Argument Proving You Must Not Trust Standard Scientific Evidence

Power Restored, Posts To Resume

Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap Hanekamp

Academics Call Pregnancy A Disease

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

How to Fool Yourself—And Others—With Statistics

US Military Fatality Statistics: Have Suicides Increased?

‘The Most Dangerous Philosopher in the West’

Paper or Plastic? Environmentalism as Public Religion

World Cup Predictions Verified

Global Warming Set To Song: Withering in the Heat

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