Wave Of Apoplexy About To Be Unleashed
Dear reader, it is your duty to memorize these signs of stroke. Use the helpful FAST mnemonic. F = Face: ask the victim to smile; does one side of her…
Posted inFun Philosophy
#ICanChangeThePast2, Or, Tweeting Time Travel
You're a time traveler stuck in July 2012. How depressing. You have time on your hands. Time to kill, that is. How to pass the time? Twitter, naturally. Great time…
Posted inCulture
On The College Bubble—Update
Must-reading from the Wall Street Journal. Richard Vedder: "The Real Reason College Costs So Much. The expert on the economics of higher education explains how subsidies fuel rising prices and…
Posted inFun Philosophy
Thomas Aquinas & Philosophical Realism
Dozens of big brains, and one fat head held aloft by Yours Truly, crammed into a small room yesterday to hear all there was to know, more or less, about…
Posted inCulture Statistics
HANDY Not So Dandy: NASA-Funded Mathematical Model Of Doom
Mathematically minded Remember back in the 1990s when otherwise intelligent people would look to the scientific literature and say, "Those guys must be right. They used a computer model." A…
Posted inCulture
Herd Immunity And Christianity
There on that hillock is a herd of cattle, all but one of which is inoculated against hoof-and-mouth disease. Chances are the one beast that escaped vaccination won't fall ill…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
The Closing Of The Scientific Mind
The title was swiped from Commentary Magazine's piece of the same name by David Gelernter, which all should read. Since today is a busy day at the Briggs Ranch, just…
Posted inCulture
Professor Confesses Why She Inflates Grades
I had a student come into my office (where I was a visiting mathematics professor) shaking with emotion. This was a day or two before the final exam. I couldn't…
