Briggs

World Cup Statistics and Predictions for the Final

A prediction (made on Monday, 28 June) verified: Although---and this has nothing to do with the issue at hand---Argentina's goaltender Sergio Romero stinks, and that's putting it nicely. Every shot…

Statistics

FBI Homicide Statistics: What Are You Most Likely To Be Killed With?

It's the start of a long weekend and the time for a diversion. It's the fourth of July weekend and our lesson is: if you older than 50, beware strangers…

Statistics

Siena Presidential Scholar President Rankings: Are They Biased?

The Siena Research Institute asked 238 presidential scholars to rank each president from 1 (best) to worst (43) in nineteen different categories, plus one overall ranking. A complete list of…

Culture

In Defense of World Cup Enjoyment: A Response to Dalrymple

The much loved, and surely respected, Theodore Dalrymple does not like soccer. He says of soccer fans, "Try as I might to expunge the thought from my mind that this…

Philosophy Statistics

In Defense of Dogmatism

In so far as I have a coherent philosophy of statistics, I hope it is "robust" enough to cope in principle with the whole of statistics, and sufficiently undogmatic not…

Philosophy Statistics

Tricky Probability Problem: Chance of Two Sons, One Born on Tuesday?

Thanks to reader Matt Lewis who sent me this link. Martin Gardner, may he rest in peace, gave us a delicious probability problem: Suppose that Mrs Smith has two children,…

Culture Fun

No Replay In Soccer: Sepp Blatter, Hold Strong!

Hold the line, Sepp. Don't buckle under the pressure, which now is intense and hot, but soon will be slack and not even tepid. We do not need to let…

Philosophy Statistics

Statistics as Beauty; Global Warming Miscellany; SATs Biased?; More

Statistics is Beautiful? From reader Yeah, Yeah comes a link to a Wired article which assures us we should "Learn the Language of Data." It's not a pretty language, but…

Cary D Cotterman on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 17, 2026
Lunatics like this Kather are well-paid and get great benefits for putting out hooey like that. People pay a lot…
Brian (bulaoren) on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 17, 2026
Back in the early 1990s, a talking Barbie doll offended a lot of feminists by saying "math class is hard".…
Uncle Mike on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 17, 2026
Hahahaha! Well done. Especially the YT video wherein you can't stop laughing. Me either. It's tragicomic. Old karens, childless, worn…
NLR on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 17, 2026
The real issue with this is that it is an attempted justification for the studies departments to take over other…
Another “Curate’s Egg?” Comments on Magnifica Humanitas – The American Catholic on Laudato Si: “The Curate’s Egg.” The Not So Excellent Parts. Guest Post by Bob KurlandJune 15, 2026
[…] If ever one wanted an analogy to show that a flawed work had good parts, it would be the…