William M. Briggs

Amazon remotely deletes legitimately purchased books from Kindles

Ari Schwartz sends along this link, from Gizmodo. Amazon [was] bending to the wishes of a publisher and deleting every single legitimately-purchased copy of 1984 and Animal Farm from all…

Culture

The sad decline of music: Cole Porter vs. The Beatles

Paul McCartney has once again crept upon our shores. He was, of course, vanguard in the original "British Invasion", which occurred in early 1964. Now, an invasion is something to…

Philosophy

The strange insignificance of statistical significance

Who is more likely to support the death penalty: college undergraduates from a "nationally-ranked Midwestern university with an enrollment of slightly more than 20,000" majoring in social work, or those…

Statistics

Hannah Arendt on global warming theory

...there are, indeed, few things that are more frightening than the steadily increasing prestige of scientifically minded brain trusters in the councils of government during the last decades. The trouble…

Fun

A Return to Seriousness: 7 Best Songs About Beer; Or, God Bless the Pope

Update: the embeddings have been shifted to links, because the embeddings were eating up too much memory on some people's browsers. 7 John Lee Hooker/George Thorogood, One Bourbon, One Scotch,…

Philosophy

Randomness isn’t in charge of anything: the “hot hand” in basketball

The Wall Street Journal is helping Leonard Mlodinow tout his book The Drunkardâ€™s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. Among other things, Mlodinow, like academics Tversky, Kahneman, and Gilovich before…

Fun

Internet Advertising Company to Fund Itself With Advertising

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Internet Advertising Company to Fund Itself With Advertising New York - July 4, 2009 - Word leader in being a new company engaged in ways of bringing…

Book review

Public Enemies — by Bryan Burrough

I am re-posting this book review because the movie came out today, and it might be of interest. Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI,…

brad.tittle on Class 70: Most Claims Of “Controlled For” Are Wrong: The Right WayOctober 23, 2025
I pull together a bunch of components from primary arms. I put a sight on top. I go to the…
Uncle Mike on The Triumph Of The FeminineOctober 22, 2025
I've always been appalled by the Lesbians for Abortion lobby. These "gals" don't produce babies (biological truth, Ketanji). So none…
Milton Hathaway on The Triumph Of The FeminineOctober 22, 2025
I felt an intense stab of searing phantom pain at first sight of the cover photo. I've heard that women…
Cary Cotterman on The Triumph Of The FeminineOctober 22, 2025
I think there should be extra credit for dotting I's with tiny circles, flowers, or hearts. Not knowing when you…
CorkyAgain on The Triumph Of The FeminineOctober 22, 2025
I've been trying to find a way to work in a reference to Ringo's "I've Got Blisters on My Fingers"…

William M. Briggs

Class 70: Most Claims Of “Controlled For” Are Wrong: The Right Way

The Triumph Of The Feminine

At What Point Does Transsexualism Become A Conservative Value?

The Superpower You Didn’t Know You Had

Class 69: Why Parameters Don’t Exist

Putin, Xi Who Must Obeyed, Occult Rituals & Living Forever

Nobody Believes Anything Based On “No Evidence”

Good Vs Bad Science (Models) & How You Can Tell The Difference: Think Twice Science

Class 68: The Philosophy Of Models (Regression): The WRONG Way

The Lancet’s New Push To Ban Meat

‘Termination Shock’: Newest Entry In Science Doom Naming Contest

Changing Clocks In Fall Will Stroke You Out, Fatty: Research

Class 67: The Philosophy Of Models (Regression): The Right Way

Big Things Are Happening With Celebrities, The Pope & “Climate Change”!

The Main Barrier To Reproduction Is Ideas

How You Helped Academics Justify Sex With Children

Class 66: The Difference Between Uncertainty and Decision

Autism & Tylenol

The Charlie Kirk Killing Theories: The (Non)-Mathematics Of Conspiracy Theories 2

In Which I Shockingly Agree With Sabine That Most Science Is Of Little Or No Value

Class 65: A Last Plea Never To Use Or Trust Statistical Evidence Like This