2012 – Page 15 – William M. Briggs

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…

Culture

Chick-fil-A And Bigotry: One Aspect Of What Marriage Is

"Chick-Fil-A Shattered Sales Records On 'Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day'" so reads the headline at Business Insider. Many are not so happy about this. In a unintentionally hilarious video (especially when he…

Statistics

Question About Non-Normal Distributions

Thanks to everybody who sent in links, story tips, and suggestions. Because of my recent travel and pressures of work, I'm (again) way behind in answering these. I do appreciate…

Culture Statistics

More Proof Music Is Growing Worse

New proof (which wasn't really need) that popular music is, as has long been claimed, been growing worse has arrived thanks to the diligent work of Joan Serrà and his…

Statistics

Müller lite: Why Every Scientist Needs a Classical Training—Christopher Monckton of Brenchley

His Lordship sent this around to all the usual suspects asking that it be given a wide audience. I'm traveling today. About 18 months ago, as soon as I heard…

Statistics

Richard Muller’s Political Move—BEST is Best? Sophisticated Statistics!

Our Berkeley Earth approach used sophisticated statistical methods developed largely by our lead scientist, Robert Rohde, which allowed us to determine earth land temperature much further back in time. Ah,…

Statistics

Doctors For Disaster Preparedness Talk

Here's the PDF of my talk DDP 30th Annual Meeting. "Statistical Follies and Epidemiology." They picked the title. Have fun!

Fun

Google’s Eric Schmidt & Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel Blaze Path Of Ugliness

This is a picture of Google's Eric Schmidt & Chicago's Rahm "Crisis" Emanuel from today's Wall Street Journal story Google Move Buoys Chicago Tech Hub. Chicago! The city of the…

Briggs on On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble ReviewedDecember 17, 2025
Rhetocrates, Quite right.
Rhetocrates on On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble ReviewedDecember 16, 2025
I haven't finished the whole thing, but I'd like to flag one thing that may cause confusion to readers, though…
John Pate on On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble ReviewedDecember 16, 2025
Referring to my previous comment, it's nature via nurture. In any complex system transferring the plans to the finished item…
NLR on On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble ReviewedDecember 16, 2025
It sounds like Noble has some good points. People are increasingly recognizing problems with reductionism. For instance, saying that things…
Bobby Dress on How To Tell How Much Of “IQ” Is Inherited & How Much Is EnvironmentDecember 15, 2025
I’m fairly certain that obtaining my degree from Cornell had the unintended consequence of lowering whatever theoretical IQ I might…