Posted inStatistics
Stats On Extra-Terrestrial Life
From the mailbag comes this question. Dear Professor Briggs, Thanks for your astutely iconoclastic posts. I'm very interested on your opinion as regards the "there's an infinite number of planets…
Posted inStatistics
Spanking Good For Future Education, Income: Researchers
Spanked as a child? A new peer-reviewed paper in the journal Pediatrics shows that girls are luckier than boys in avoiding spankings, that those who were spanked as children went…
Posted inCulture
July 4th: It’s Summer And It’s Hot
[To be sung to the obvious tune] I have a sad story to tell you It might upset you a bit Last night I walked on the sidewalk And it…
Posted inCulture
Would Finding E.T. Destroy Religion? Experts
Leave it to Live Science to ask Would Finding Aliens Shatter Religious Beliefs? Answer hint: maybe yes, maybe no. Experts say so. The discovery of life beyond Earth would shake…
Posted inStatistics
People Who Believe In Heaven Commit More Crimes
This picture decreases rape rates Some people who really ought to know better---but don't---reported on the peer-reviewed paper "Divergent Effects of Beliefs in Heaven and Hell on National Crime Rates"…
Posted inCulture
The Great Roberts Ruse—Or Ruin?
The best take on that fateful Thursday came from Ed Morrissey, who quipped: https://twitter.com/EdMorrissey/status/218347286915325954 Now here is the truth: either Roberts is canny or he is a coward. Either he…
Posted inStatistics
Why Do Statisticians Answer Silly Questions That No One Ever Asks?
Julian Champkin, editor of Significance magazine somehow came across the percipient insights of yours truly and asked me to write l'article controversé. Which I did. And with gusto. Champkin, a…