Statistics – Page 238 – William M. Briggs

In Defense Of Peter Kreeft: A Response To Brafford

Peter Kreeft, a philosopher whose surname does not sound like it is spelled, placed in Touchstone the article "Clashing Symbols: The Loss of Aristotelian Logic & the Social, Moral, &…

Statistics

Do Heat Waves Cause Birth Defects?

What would you name a paper which purports to discover that heat waves stress pregnant women and thus cause birth defects but which never once measures the actual exposure of…

Culture Statistics

No Religion Is Third-Largest World Group: Or, How Inaccurate Are Surveys On Religious Belief?

The actual headline at Reuters was "No religion" is the third-largest world group after Christians, Muslim, but my expurgated version is close enough. It's also similar to many of the…

Philosophy Statistics

The Data Is The Data, Not The Model: With Climatology Time Series Example

How not to plot The following plot was sent to me yesterday for comment. I cannot disclose the sender, nor the nature of the data, but neither of these are…

Statistics

On-Line Statistics Course: Ideas And Your Opinions

We talked about this a couple of months ago, but now the time is nigh to build and create an on-line statistics course, or courses. There are several problems: content,…

Culture Statistics

Were Medications Responsible For The Connecticut Lanza Murders?

Some are speculating that the evil, and thank God dead, Adam Lanza was on SSRIs, which are medications designed to mess with your mind (in the pleasantest of ways), and…

Statistics

Politico’s Biased Reporting Of Its Own Poll

Today's post is over at Legal Insurrection. The headline, helpfully supplied by William Jacobson, is "Politico poll showing 'plurality support' for gay marriage also shows majority opposition." Headline writing is…

Culture Statistics

What Can We Learn From A Crude Model Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases?

It's Statistical Modeling Day, so let's look at one dealing with sexually transmitted diseases. Why this subject? Well, according to New York's CBS 2, "Study Shows Soaring STD Rates In…

C-Marie on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
FOR CERTAIN, JOHNNO, JESUS IS LORD, AND NO OTHER!!! GOD BLESS, C-MARIE
Johnno 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." We can at…
Johnno on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
"What does it mean to say that “a religion is true”? IF? does this imply there are fake religions?" Yes.…
Johnno on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 17, 2026
Doctors also eat at McDonald's. I have seen them. I have evidence! I dare say, some even hold stock options…
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.