Statistics – Page 185 – William M. Briggs

William M. Briggs Sez: Keep That Impressive Middle Initial

You can take it from William M. Briggs, and also from the Today show: sporting a middle initial is a mark of sophistication, intelligence, and rugged manliness---or womanliness, as the…

Statistics

Researchers: Calling Girls Fat Makes Them Fat

Whatever you do, don't call somebody a "researcher". It could condemn them to a nasty, brutish, and short-tempered life. The kind where most of their time is spent scrambling for…

Statistics

Time Series And Causality: Global Warming Example

Temperature causes Here is an atmospheric monthly average temperature series: T = (61, 69, 69, 70, 72, 65, 63) (all F). What caused the temperature to take the value T1…

Statistics

Time Series Aren’t Easy: Tornado Deaths Example

Time series are the most abused statistics in the physical sciences. (It's an endless, raucous, peer-reviewed contest for the worst in the "soft sciences.") The Mann problem (is that a…

Philosophy Statistics

Physical Probability Doesn’t Exist

There have been many attempts to tie probability to physical chance. Here, briefly and for discussion, is why I think all of them fail. Ontology does not recapitulate epistemology Let…

Culture Statistics

A New Possible Solution Of Fermi’s Paradox

What is the probability the following proposition is true? ``There are rational beings other than humans in the universe." Well, given the evidence of angels, who are rational non-human beings,…

Philosophy Statistics

Correlation Implies Causation

A version of this post originally appeared on 20 October 2012. But after a Twitter conversation with our friend @Neuro_Skeptic, it's time for an addition. Comes a Salon article entitled…

Culture Statistics

Sexual Immorality, Low Birth Rates, And Religion

Pew Research released a survey on the Global Views on Morality, asking adults in each of several countries whether the following activities were morally unacceptable: Extramarital Affairs, Homosexuality, Abortion, Premarital…

Neil Upton on Don’t Lose Sleep Over Research On “Climate Change” & Sleep ApneaJuly 10, 2025
some time ago it was said that to ensure a research grant the proposal should make reference to global boiling.…
Uncle Mike on Don’t Lose Sleep Over Research On “Climate Change” & Sleep ApneaJuly 9, 2025
The Climate Catastrophe paradigm is dead. RIP. The old adherents are howling at the moon, but Science has moved on.…
Cloudbuster on Don’t Lose Sleep Over Research On “Climate Change” & Sleep ApneaJuly 9, 2025
"New York and Ohio, which are cool" Please explain to my sweat glands how Ohio is cool so I shouldn't…
Cary Cotterman on What’s Wrong With The Golf Course Parkinson’s StudyJuly 8, 2025
There is a significant correlation between golf and the wearing of ugly pants.
Rudolph Harrier on What’s Wrong With The Golf Course Parkinson’s StudyJuly 8, 2025
Yeah, the second I heard "Olmstead County" my mind went to the Mayo Clinic too. Both the Mayo Clinic proper…