April 24, 2010 – William M. Briggs

The Pournelle vs. Nolan Chart: Political Throwdown

Before Jerry Pournelle began writing science fiction; before, that is, he teamed with Larry Niven to write the classic Lucifer's Hammer1, he was a political scientist. Pournelle was dissatisfied with…

Williis Eschenbach on Why Study Probability?November 16, 2025
John, I asked a THEORETICAL question. Pointing out that there are real-world options is MEANINGLESS to my question. How about…
John Pate on Why Study Probability?November 16, 2025
Eschenbach, card counting was arrived at by an empirically derived process. That's not the same as having bogus statistical theories…
hudbwu on Academics Debate Which Term Best Describes Those Who Love (in that way) Their PillowsNovember 16, 2025
I like how it's implied nuking from orbit is a lesser strike than defunding. :)
Williis Eschenbach on Why Study Probability?November 16, 2025
John, you say: "Try a different Aunt Sally, Eschenbach: an actual physical dice is an object that can be examined…
John Pate on The Dysgenics Of IVFNovember 15, 2025
The technocrats are unconcerned: they claim they can fix it all via gene editing, or maybe embryo selection, but anyway…