William M. Briggs

2011 Per Capita Budget Highest Ever

President Obama submitted the 2011 fiscal year budget. If Congress passes it---and history shows that the approximate amount requested is usually granted---then this will be the highest the USA has…

Statistics

Why Global Warming Won’t Go Away: Inertia

Rajendra Pachauri---chairman of the IPCC, railway engineer, and the man who penned these words, "Sanjay saw a shapely dark-skinned girl lying on Vinay's bed. He was overcome by a lust…

Culture Philosophy

Tim Tebow’s Super Bowl Ad and the Washington Post Editorial

Very delicate ground, here. I want to be as precise as I know how in discussing the language used in today's Washington Post editorial about the upcoming Tim Tebow ad,…

Culture Statistics

Welcome-to-Saturday Links

My heart soared like a hawk this week after several readers sent in fascinating stories. Here are a few of them. Reader Sara C sent in a wonderful example of…

Statistics

R Lecture 4: Help & Plotting

This is the fourth in a series of lectures on R. 10 minutes is a shockingly short period of time! Today, we learn the R way to create comments: start…

Statistics

R Lecture 3: Our First Program!

This is the third in a series of lectures on R. (DAV, I kept the intro for one last time.) Open the myRcode.R file we saved in our myR folder.…

Culture

Two-and-a-Half Millennia Don’t Change Much

Herodotus begins his history by telling us that some Phoenician traders came to Argos, Greece and, on a whim, abducted the king's daughter Io and took her to Egypt. Later,…

Statistics

Create Tax Refunds That Must Be Donated To Political Parties?

In the State of the Union address, President Obama thought it would be pleasant to slam the Supreme Court, shaming them for their recent Citizens United v. FEC decision. Our…

Neil Jordan on Class 94: Quantifying The UnquantifiableSeptember 17, 2026
At last, an opportunity to join you in the "Quagmire of Marginal Statistics." This and later quote are from memory…
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…

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!

Class 94: Quantifying The Unquantifiable

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

2011 Per Capita Budget Highest Ever

Why Global Warming Won’t Go Away: Inertia

Tim Tebow’s Super Bowl Ad and the Washington Post Editorial

Welcome-to-Saturday Links

R Lecture 4: Help & Plotting

R Lecture 3: Our First Program!

Two-and-a-Half Millennia Don’t Change Much

Create Tax Refunds That Must Be Donated To Political Parties?

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