Briggs

Are We Special? New Thoughts about the Anthropic Principle — Guest Post by Bob Kurland

Editor's note This post first appeared at Kurland's home site. My criticisms follow. "Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth - the universe looks suspiciously like a fix.…

Fun

Teaching: No Post, No Podcast, But One Book

Tried to do it, but ran out of time. Not only is there the teaching, and the radio shows, and the eating, and the talking too much, but there is…

Philosophy Statistics

The I-Have-Big-Muscles Fallacy

Harvard graduate walks down the street where a 50-lb sack of cement blocks his way. He reaches down to shift it but discovers that despite all his might the bulk…

Culture

Orlando Shooting — Open Thread

Today is the first day of class; I originally had another post scheduled, but since I thought readers would like to discuss recent events, and I haven't had time to…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: Chance Is Not A Cause

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. Be careful!…

Culture

Melody May Be A Learned Response?

Received this email from reader Don Siegel: Greetings. Vis a vis how music is getting worse---I'm a prof at Syr. Univ (Earth Sciences) but also lately, a solo jazz guitarist…

Statistics

Fermi’s Paradox & Gaian Bottlenecks

Democracy (the system) is enough to account for the seeming alien life-form which is Hillary and for whatever that thing is on Trump's head. But as queer as Democracy is…

Podcast

Trust Me. I’m A Scientist — WMBriggs Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dzAsvJpC10 Download MP3. You'll have to listen in. This is the busiest time of year for me, so I haven't the time to write out a transcript of the show.…

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…