2011 – Page 3 – William M. Briggs

CARB Misinterprets Statistics, Calls For Elimination Of Dust

The California Air Resources Board, or CARB, has issued a press release that shows how easy it is to misunderstand statistics. That most do---fail to comprehend what statistical results are…

Fun Statistics

Are Moneylines Useful In Predicting NFL Games?

Today's post is over at Edgehogs. I wanted to know how good moneylines were at predicting wins and loses. Since Las Vegas is still in business, it was a good…

Fun

Count Zappula, Horror Host Par Excellence

Gaylord, Michigan, 1979, population 3000. It was 11:30pm, I was 15, in bed watching television with the house dark, parents asleep, a small B&W portable set perched on the blanket,…

Fun

Open Thread: What To Chat About Next?

It is once again Travel Day---or was: I'm writing this in state of advanced jet lag. So, in lieu of thought I've written this little introduction to nothing, hoping you…

Statistics

Increasing Replication Of Un-Reproducibility In Science

Best science picture of the year, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal (and thanks to reader Dan Hughes): In just the last decade---ten mere years---the number of "peer-reviewed" journal articles…

Culture

Make Colleges Co-Signers Of Student Loans?

As often has been said, if everybody is a genius, then nobody is. The wisdom in this apothegm is little changed by the modification: if everybody has a certification of…

Culture Philosophy

Science Explains Belief In God Through Genetics

Let's look at "Life's Extremes: Atheists vs. Believers", a piece on Live Science (the home of unexpurgated university press releases; hat tip to HotAir). The article is itself slight---it begins…

Statistics

Geo-engineering The Climate: Durban Global Warming Conference

A group of scientists, funded generously by Big Green, which includes the Environmental Defense Fund, have released a report to coincide with the efforts of the Durban Global Warming Conference,…

Dana on Sports Betting Is An Excellent Way To Lose MoneyJanuary 12, 2026
I was cured of buying lotto tickets about 40 years ago when a Brisbane newspaper published an article about gambling,…
John M on Register Your Predictions For 2026!January 12, 2026
1. Substack stops copying social media on their homepage and when they realize Substack is for people who want to…
Brian (bulaoren) on Sports Betting Is An Excellent Way To Lose MoneyJanuary 12, 2026
It's even worse; "Handicap" is now a forbidden term.
hudbwu on Sports Betting Is An Excellent Way To Lose MoneyJanuary 12, 2026
Next time, Twitch livestream writing a computer program to make that bell-shaped graph. I'm sure there's a few people that…
NLR on Sports Betting Is An Excellent Way To Lose MoneyJanuary 12, 2026
The sports betting companies encourage people to risk money. It's fun, "everybody" is doing it, it's legal, you might be…