Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Proving What You Want To Believe
You can always find a way to believe anything. That "always" is strict---the magic of belief, like a card trick with a gaffed deck, can always be worked. But just…
Posted inStatistics
The Myth Of Killer Mercury: Guest Post By Willie Soon & Paul Driessen
Willie Soon has graciously allowed us to reprint his and Paul Driessen's editorial that ran in the 25 May 2011 Wall Street Journal. Dr Soon received double our normal rate…
Posted inCulture Statistics
India Aborting Girls At Full Speed: Sex Selection And Demographics
Science is great. It---"it" is always an it, an invisible entity, a guiding sapience, an intelligence that can be looked to for guidance---can now us tell the sex of a…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
The Trolley Problem And Experimental Philosophy
The Trolley Problem, as given by Eric Schwitzgebel (as part of a larger survey): You are standing by the railroad tracks when you notice an empty boxcar rolling out of…
Posted inCulture Statistics
Wishcasting The End Of The World: Update
Wishcasting is when a forecast or prediction is shaded in the direction the forecaster or predictor wants the event to happen. For example, if you forecast this weekend's weather, you…
Posted inStatistics
Can Telomeres Predict How Long You Will Live?
No, they can't. Not exactly, and perhaps not with sufficient precision to be useful to you. But there is a new company called Life Length who will sell you, for…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Belief In God “Rooted” In Human Nature Say Academics
New research has shown---and by "research" I mean a fact long known to citizens is revealed to academics who attach a p-value to it and publish it---"that suggests that religion…
Posted inCulture Statistics
Food Deserts: Millions Of Californians Starving Themselves Into Obesity
The blubber is flowing in California. So says that State's venerable University, Los Angeles division. It's an epidemic! Both excessive fatness "increased significantly in just six years". This isn't the…