William M. Briggs

From time to time people come across what seems like paradoxes which invalidate probability (as logic). These are excellent devices to sharpen thought, but they all suffer from one of…

Two ladies, both involved in legal academia, have written an astonishing paper in the Journal of Criminology. They insist lawyers for the defense should be called "guilt deniers", and that…

The true test will be a television commercial that contains, and only contains, a happy white family. Say a family with a (seeming) husband and wife finding pleasure, humorous or…

From a recent issue of NEJM, "The Pediatrician’s Lament", with Abstract, "With U.S. politics threatening to erase the gains of science, reduce access to vaccines, and undermine their vast public…

Some libertarian on Twitter said that my arguments against immigration were bad. I hadn't by that time made any, except to point out his utilitarian argument that measles rates had…

Here my friends is the whole of probability and uncertainty, in highlight form. A quick overview of where we have been, what we're doing, and where we're going. All can…

Way back in 2010, I did the Infinite Monkeys theorem, which says an infinite number of monkeys unintelligently whacking away at typewriters would eventually reproduce Shakespeare. But there aren't an…

Warning! Do not hit thumb with hammer. Warning! Do not drink this bottle of cement-cleaning acid. Warning! The hot coffee is hot. Warning! Everything you see, touch, taste, small, or…