Briggs

Stream: Under Ash Carter, the Military is Now Looking for a Few Good Men, Women or Whatever

Today's post is at the Stream: Under Ash Carter, the Military is Now Looking for a Few Good Men, Women or Whatever. The first, and natural, reaction to the news…

Culture

Can A Scientist Believe In Miracles? — Guest Post by Bob Kurland

Visit Kurland's site for more. "Miracles always relate to the faith. That is why a belief in miracles is not a vacation from reason, a little holiday from the tedious…

Statistics

Another Drake Equation Paper Shows Why Drake Always Fails

We've seen the Drake equation in many forms, none of them very impressive. They all share the same failing, as we'll see. Two fellows, Frank and Sullivan, have another go.…

Podcast

You—Yes, You—Are Doing Probability & Statistics Wrong — Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rNCoSp8w9I Download MP3 Fellow users of probability, statistics, and computer "learning" algorithms, physics and social science modelers, big data wranglers, philosophers of science, epistemologists; other respected citizens. We're doing it…

Statistics

The Gambler’s Fallacy Proves Classical Statistics (Frequentist & Bayes) Fails

Everybody who's anybody---which makes, as we'll see, a lot of nobodies---knows the gambler's fallacy. Gambler watches the roulette wheel come up red six times running and says to himself, "Black…

Culture

Pride In Objectively Disordered Sexual Desires?

https://twitter.com/NYPD34Pct/status/747135422459940864 Yesterday was "Pride" day. Pride. Pride? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart. No, surely not that kind of pride. Pride goeth before destruction, and an…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: Good And Evil Aren’t Wholly Opposites

See the first post in this series for an explanation and guide of our tour of Summa Contra Gentiles. All posts are under the category SAMT. Previous post. We're deep…

Culture

Brexit: A Decision By A Democracy

Picture from here (somehow the Twitter embedding didn't work). So, Brexit. A democracy has spoken. The will of the people being sovereign, or so says the theory which all love…

Cookie on What A WinterJanuary 23, 2026
Energy bills will be up with this cold. I wonder what inflation will look like when winter is done? At…
Hagfish Bagpipe on What A WinterJanuary 22, 2026
Briggs, that sounds just dandy. You have important and challenging work to do. Work that rewards creative solutions and physical…
Briggs on What A WinterJanuary 21, 2026
McChuck, That lieutenant must be at least a congressman by now.
McChuck on What A WinterJanuary 21, 2026
I remember the multiple blizzards of the 1970's. I had to be outside on guard patrol all night in -40…
Cary D Cotterman on What A WinterJanuary 20, 2026
There's always something busting on a house or a car, and mean weather doesn't help. The joy of home and…