Statistics – Page 177 – William M. Briggs

More Reasons Not To Use The Precautionary Principle: Update

All probability is conditional and we are always interested in some proposition, call it X. We want to know "the probability of X". Well, there is none: not ever. There…

Statistics

Stream: Attack Of The Black Swans From Outer Space!

Today's post is at The Stream: "Attack Of The Black Swans From Outer Space: Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his co-authors fail to show their precautionary principle provides any guidance in…

Culture Statistics

Climate Change Alarmists Appear Immunized Against Reality at The Federalist

Today's post is at The Federalist: "Climate Change Alarmists Appear Immunized Against Reality". So Ars Technica sent a young man who bills himself as an "educator" and hydrologist to the…

Statistics

Idols With Wee P Values. Statistics As Ritual

Or, rather, wee p-values are idolized. And it isn't just me saying so. Reader Dan Hughes points us to Gerd Gigerenzer and Julian Marewski's peer-reviewed paper "Surrogate Science: The Idol…

Statistics

Cheating With Polls Down Under. Guest Post by Stephen Dawson

Today's post is from our friend Stephen Dawson, who writes at hifi-writer.com. I scheduled this in advance, knowing I'd be suffering jet lag. Professor Will Steffen from the Australian National…

Statistics

The Need To Believe In “The Solution” To Global Warming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgM1yhwj1mg Travel day, plus I wanted to have this on its own anyway. Speech given at the Tenth International Conference on Climate Change, June 12, 2015 in Washington, DC. The…

Fun Statistics

Corrigan Brothers’ Statistics Song. Finally Released!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k2j96hpEkM Ladies and Gentlemen, it has arrived. The world famous Corrigan Brothers have another hit! What they did for Barack Obama in their mega-smash There's No One As Irish As…

Culture Statistics

The Stream: The Scientific Pantheist Who Advises Pope Francis

Today's post is at The Stream, "The Scientific Pantheist Who Advises Pope Francis: The scientist who influenced Laudato Si, and who serves at the Vatican's science office, seems to believe…

spaceranger on Impossible LSAT Statistics QuestionFebruary 4, 2026
I usually go with "b." or "Asia" on those multiple choice ones.
Cary D Cotterman on Polar Bears Are Doing Fine: Activists, Not So WellFebruary 4, 2026
Polar bears have existed for at least half a million years, and possibly as long as a million. They have…
Brian (bulaoren) on Polar Bears Are Doing Fine: Activists, Not So WellFebruary 4, 2026
Dr. Briggs I was afraid I'd hijacked your subject today with my, rather dark, "Walter Lantz" cartoon. Returning to your…
Brian (bulaoren) on Polar Bears Are Doing Fine: Activists, Not So WellFebruary 4, 2026
While we're on the subject of "Ursus Maritimus"; In 1987, a group of amusement denied boys decided to make an…
hudbwu on Impossible LSAT Statistics QuestionFebruary 3, 2026
> But that’s because the setup is itself weird. It contains the implicit premise that more beliefs equals better survival,…