Briggs

Postmodernism and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Since I am, by nature, a compassionate individual, I had been thinking of how we might Sokal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). It is for their…

Statistics

Feigned Surprises of the Week: Journolist and Our New Tax

Said the main-stream journalist on Journolist, "If they of the right wing don't behave and treat our Golden Boy properly, we'll call them racists. It matters not whom we pick…

Fun Statistics

A Bust—I mean must—Read; Or, An Evolution in Bra Sizes

"Excuse me, miss. Would you care to participate in science?" Sometimes being a statistician is enviable. In a flash of scientific brilliance, Australian statisticians have just completed a massive study…

Fun Statistics

M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, and John Wayne

Part II of the Two-Envelope problem was not too friendly, so here's something that is. Via HotAir, I came across the site Marginal Revolution, in which was featured a graph…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part II

Read Part I first. We are in the peek first game here. The distribution of N When X is odd, and all X are discrete, we know we should always…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part I

Another probability "paradox", the two-envelope problem1, goes like this: Before you are two envelopes, A and B. One of them contains $X and the other $2X (which is equivalent to…

Culture Fun

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

Coming tomorrow: the infamous two-envelope problem, solved! More mathematical constructivism. But today, as it's Sunday, something light and airy...and non taxing. A "comedy rock" group which bills itself as the…

Statistics

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

David Blackwell, who died two weeks ago, was one of the first mainstream statisticians to "go Bayesian." And for that and his unique skill in clearly explaining difficult ideas, we…

Cary Cotterman on Chinese Scientists Pull Off Hilarious “Climate Change” Troll?September 16, 2025
Me too, Uncle Mike.
Uncle Mike on Chinese Scientists Pull Off Hilarious “Climate Change” Troll?September 16, 2025
It's not funny anymore. I'm really sick of the Left. They're a satanic death cult. They murder children and other…
Stan on Chinese Scientists Pull Off Hilarious “Climate Change” Troll?September 16, 2025
I think the article is a put-on. Not the first. A number of years ago, a Chinese guy gave $350M…
tired citizen on The Various Solutions To Black Crime AnalyzedSeptember 16, 2025
Other than complete separation - which Mr. Briggs astutely points out will never happen, there is no solution. They are…
NLR on On The Myths Of ScientismSeptember 15, 2025
That was a good article by Grothendieck. I'm glad he mentioned so-called progress as one of the problems of scientism.…