Statistics – Page 187 – William M. Briggs

Bad Science Of The Year Nominee: Global Warming To Cause Bad Music

Strike the title. It's probably wrong. But, if so, it was an understandable mistake. After all, it was based on the news article "Music: Will climate change give us the…

Statistics

Grandmaster: Men Better At Chess. Or, Data And The Underdetermination Of Theory

Update Note the New & Improved title! Chess Grandmaster Nigel Short caused a stink, reaching oooo-weee! but not quite burn-him! levels, when he said that men and women are different…

Statistics

The Logic Puzzle That Is “Stumping The Internet.” Update: Now With Solution

The Washington Post thinks the puzzle above is hideously difficult and says that it has become an "obsession". The writer there certainly finds it sweat-inducing: "As the problem spread far…

Philosophy Statistics

Space’s 10 Mistakes People Make When Arguing Science

Reader Ken pointed us to Space.com's click-me-click-me! article "The 10 Mistakes People Make When Arguing Science". Since everybody loves numbered lists, I'll duplicate their efforts here, using their mistakes. Isn't…

Fun Statistics

Masters Statistics & (Some) Predictions

Here's a view of the winning scores from par since the inception of the tournament. The early years saw little variability, but since the 60s there were a lot more…

Statistics

P-Value Hacking Is Finally Being Noticed

Since I'm on the road, all typos today are free of charge. Some reasonably good news to report. A peer-reviewed paper: "The fickle P value generates irreproducible results" by Lewis…

Statistics

What Evidence Would Persuade You That Man-Made Climate Change Is Real?

Somebody named Ronald Bailey (he isn't anybody I know) at the inaptly named Reason asked the good question which heads this post. Second thought: the question is awful. No scientist…

Culture Statistics

Global Warming Hypocrisy: Or, Science Is Politics

Lefties take money, too In an interview with far-left New York Times, activist and part-time scientist Michael Oppenheimer says "nothing follows" from his taking moola from the EDF (Environmental Defense…

McChuck on The Shocking Conclusion of the HR Trilemma!May 13, 2026
There is a simpler, less math-intensive solution that gives the same answer. Knowing that it doesn't take two men to…
R W Pearson on The HR Trilemma: Which Door Decides Your Fate?May 12, 2026
This is easy, go in the door he came out. Worse case only one young scold to give you a…
Mocheirge on The HR Trilemma: Which Door Decides Your Fate?May 12, 2026
I asked an AI, and it had the same answer as me but with silly Bayes equations. Then out of…
Johnno on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 12, 2026
We should make it a law that whenever a criminal is sentened to death, that the only method to delay…
Mocheirge on The HR Trilemma: Which Door Decides Your Fate?May 12, 2026
Definitely pick the door that the Boomer just left. There are three Boomers, so the probability that the one you…