William M. Briggs

What Is A “Climate Change Skeptic”? Assist With Definition

As requested by Richard Drake and J Ferguson, who began a conversation on a similar topic last week, this new post asks what is the best "opinion poll-ready definition of…

Culture Statistics

New York’s Induced Terminations Of Pregnancy

New York City's Health Department (motto: It's for your own good!) released its annual birth and death statistics, and the internet is aflutter, particularly over the numbers on abortion. "Raw"…

Culture Statistics

Internet Porn Reduces Rape?

I want to be charitable. I really do. But as I reviewed the paper "Pornography, Rape, and the Internet" by Clemson professor Todd Kendall (author of "Celebrity Misbehavior in the…

Philosophy Statistics

Ivy League Climate Skeptics

I received this email from Rob Fishman at the Huffington Post. My answer follows. I'm the social media editor here at HuffPost (and a Cornell alum). I came across your…

Fun

Ecoheroes For the Climate Join Global Warming Superheroes!

Remember Global Warming Superheroes? A site where I---cough, cough---made villain of the day? While glancing through my logs, I was led to Timberati: Reasonably green thoughts. The folks there were…

Culture Fun Statistics

Predictions For 2011: Submit Yours Today!

Since everybody remembers what Yogi Berra said about this hoary subject, we can skip it. Still, we can't help but wonder with Calvin, where are all the rocket ships…

Fun

Nanodots, Kindles, And The Future Of E-Books

US News and World Report reprinted a press release from the National Science Foundation which announced that, "Nanodots Breakthrough May Lead to 'A Library on One Chip'." A researcher at…

Fun Statistics

Scientists Too Sure Of Themselves: Except, Of Course, Climatologists And Neuroscientists

Since most of us are ill inclined to labor until Monday next, I don't want to post anything of momentous importance until then---accepting, as we must, that all that appears…

McChuck on The MRS Degree — Guest Post by Johnathan EdwardsSeptember 17, 2026
"South Korea and Japan will no longer exist, perhaps in our lifetime, if they don’t start reproducing or bringing more…
McChuck on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 17, 2026
How many of the breast milk lab techs (doesn't that sound filthy out of context?) were wearing latex gloves, known…
JH on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
The alternative to preserved clay is, sooner rather than later, mouldy clay… Does this mean to create fear? There are…
Cary Cotterman on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
Growing up in the late 1950s, I played with modeling clay almost every day. Who knows, back then it was…
Phil R on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
I'm no expert but I think it's a little over the top comparing PFAS with Agent Orange. PFAS, for the…

William M. Briggs

Class 94: Quantifying The Unquantifiable

PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap Hanekamp

The MRS Degree — Guest Post by Johnathan Edwards

Politicians Demand “Right” To Be Protected Against AI

Class 93: P-values Challenge! List The “Good Uses” of P-value

Is the West Dying Out? The Demographic Crisis Explained: Jon Harris Podcast

Lindsay Clancy Strangled Her Kids Because Of “Climate Change”

Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?

Lewontin’s Other Fallacy: Race & Intelligence

Fertility Fears Overblown: Tiny Shift in Childless Rate Saves The Species

A New Kind Of University: Your Comments Wanted

Bad Black Health Blamed On Slavery

Is Moral Certainty Possible?

We Passed Peak “Climate Change” (um) Research

Sweet Wee Ps Say Sugar Makes You Lose Your Mind

AI Is Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent

You Can’t Con An Honest Man & The Case of Jason Arday

Academics: Achieve Sustainability by Easing Population to 4 Billion by 2200

The Impossibility of Proposition Nations

Ugly Women Rulers Condemn Lookism

The Wee P Boogie: The Song That’s Sweeping the Nation!