Briggs

Is Experimental Economics Irrational?

Everybody knows there's no such thing as money. So how come everybody acts like it's real? In particular, why do economists and other similar creatures find the lack of "rationality"…

Statistics

My Answers to Willis Eschenbach’s 14 + 2 Questions

Repost Mr Eschenbach had not had the chance to respond to this article before the two weeks wherein comments are automatically closed have elapsed. This re-post will allow him, and…

Culture

Pajamas Media: The VAT Man Cometh: It Will Happen. How Bad Is It?

Today's post is at Pajamas Media: "The VAT Man Cometh: It Will Happen. How Bad Is It?" I have a ghost of an old song---big band days---hiding in the back…

Statistics

What Can Volcanic Dust Models Tell Us About Cap & Trade?

Say Eyjafjallajokull three times fast. I wish I could say it once. I've heard it in so many different forms since it blew its stack that I can't be sure…

Culture

Harvard Classes: Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball

Yesterday, we pointed out that Cornell has some odd courses on its books, subjects which are not consonant with typical expectations of a classical education. So, in the interest of…

Culture

Cornell University to Offer Degree in News Anchor Hairdo Studies

Ezra Cornell, a generous man concerned deeply about his country and its culture, when he created his eponymous university in 1868 said, "I would found an institution where any person…

Statistics

The Pournelle vs. Nolan Chart: Political Throwdown

Before Jerry Pournelle began writing science fiction; before, that is, he teamed with Larry Niven to write the classic Lucifer's Hammer1, he was a political scientist. Pournelle was dissatisfied with…

Statistics

Russia Subtracted Most People; India Added Most.

It's Friday and time for something light. In 2006, Russia lost 732,000 people. Don't bother searching for them, because most of them were never born. Its neighbor Ukraine also misplaced…

John M on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
"How many souls make it to Heaven" is an attribute that can't be expressed with variable data.
Brian (bulaoren) on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
As it happens, Stephen Pinker and I were at the same university, around the same time. No, I don't recall…
bob sykes on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
Humanism might be a better guide, if you are a high-IQ Greek philospher like Aristotle, or even Nietzsche. But for…
Uncle Mike on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
"...the only metric that matters is how many souls make it to Heaven..." This metric is tough to measure. There's…
JH on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
What Pinker missed was that if a religion is true, then living by its tenets is best. What does it…