August 2012 – Page 2 – William M. Briggs

The Tyranny of Artistic Modernism: Ugly Buildings, Ugly Paintings, Ugly Words, Ugly Life

Title before the colon taken from by Mark Anthony Signorelli and Nikos A. Salingaros's piece at New English Review. No real post today, just quotes from an article which is…

Statistics

A Peculiar Prevalence Of P Values Just Below .05

Today's title is lifted directly from the paper of E. J. Masicampo & Daniel R. Lalande, published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. The paper is here, and is…

Book review Philosophy

Reasoning To Belief: Feser’s The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism — Interlude: Empiricism Is False

Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part Interlude, Part IV, Part V, Part VI. Part Last. In going through Feser's book, many in the comments profess to be confused…

Book review Philosophy

Reasoning To Belief: Feser’s The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism — Part III

First Things First Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part Interlude, Part IV, Part V, Part VI. Part Last. There is only one truth, and everybody must operate by…

Statistics

Stressed Men Prefer Chubby Chicks

Here's a title for you, "BMI Not WHR Modulates BOLD fMRI Responses in a Sub-Cortical Reward Network When Participants Judge the Attractiveness of Human Female Bodies." How about that? I…

Fun

Psychic Cleaners, Emails, & Dialogue

This is a somewhat famous sign on the royal road in Mountain View, California. To economize, the sign is shared by a gypsy and a dry cleaners. I passed by…

Book review Philosophy

Reasoning To Belief: Feserâ€™s The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism — Part II

Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part Interlude, Part IV, Part V, Part VI. Part Last. Act and Potential TLS is not a complete work of theology or philosophy,…

Culture Statistics

USA Homicide Rates: 1950-2010; By Race And Sex

How has the homicide rate changed through time? The Bureau of Justice Statistics of our great government compiles statistics on just this kind of thing. This data arises from the…

Cary D Cotterman on Creating Microbial Monsters To Terrorize OurselvesMay 18, 2026
I just read an article based on "studies" that attempted to panic me about the potential deadliness of down-filled pillows…
Brian (bulaoren) on Creating Microbial Monsters To Terrorize OurselvesMay 18, 2026
Threat avoidance seems pretty instinctual. Threat awareness, on the other hand, depends upon the scope of information before us. Sadly,…
Tars Tarkas on Creating Microbial Monsters To Terrorize OurselvesMay 18, 2026
"What are these airy indefinite words? Propaganda, that’s what." Propaganda is the default setting for the English language press. Most…
Tony Cooke on Creating Microbial Monsters To Terrorize OurselvesMay 18, 2026
The description of the possible transfer of the Hanta virus reminded me of the woman who sang "I danced with…
The Errors of Mr. Coffin on the PP signature and Apostolic Blessings – Roma Locuta Est on Munus, Ministerium & Pope Emeritus Benedict — Guest Post by Fr John RickertMay 16, 2026
[…] However, for the record I will note that myself and others (e.g., Ryan Grant, and Fr. John Rickert, HERE…