Statistics – Page 258 – William M. Briggs

Personality Predicted By Pedal Extremity Wrappings?

Fats Waller knew which end was up. The mark of mate-ability, he infallibly sang, was to be had by looking down. Shakespeare agreed: he wrote, "Farewell Love and all thy…

Statistics

Drug Companies Tweaking Results To Produce Publishable P-values?

A person who Nature is calling a "whistle blower" has written a brief confessional in the British Medical Journal admitting to what might be termed statistical fiddling at a "major"…

Philosophy Statistics

2012 UEFA European Football Championship And What Probability Is

A pair of statisticians have calculated that, as of 10 June, the probability that Germany takes the 2012 Euro Cup is 26.8%. Russia, they say, comes in with the next…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

We Are All Eugenicists Now: New Test Identifies 3,500 Genetic “Faults” In Fetuses — Update

See the crucial update below. I was assured, several times, that my second son was to be my first daughter. The doctors who told me this had performed certain tests,…

Fun Statistics

Worst Invention Of All Time?

Your help is urgently needed to decide what is the worst invention of all time. Any man-made item, and only man-made items, are eligible. Rocks, for instance, no matter to…

Statistics

How Paranormal Research Differs From Normal Research

Cornell's Daryl Bem case is instructive. He's an academic who has published several notable peer-reviewed articles which claim that (several different versions of) ESP is real. Trouble is, despite the…

Statistics

The Science In The Mercury Report By Florida’s DEP — Guest Post By Willie Soon

Our friend Willie Soon wrote this editorial in response to this letter from the Florida DEP. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is here. As a scientist who has spent…

Statistics

The Difference Between Technical And Plain English Correlation

Since the subject has come up so often, today a note on the words correlated and correlation. They have technical definitions and plain English meanings. The two definitions overlap but…

Brian (bulaoren) on Academics Call For The Killing Of Babies In “After-Birth” AbortionsSeptember 30, 2026
That fatalistic sense of humor will come in handy today.
Brian (bulaoren) on Academics Call For The Killing Of Babies In “After-Birth” AbortionsSeptember 30, 2026
My old friend Nat Plotkin, had a joke about the Jewish position on abortion; "The fetus becomes a human being…
Philip Rogan on Irrational Rationalists: Effective Altruists & The Planet of the AntsSeptember 29, 2026
Effective Altruism is something else I've never hard of but apparently has been infecting academic circles for decades. I took…
John M on Irrational Rationalists: Effective Altruists & The Planet of the AntsSeptember 29, 2026
Thanks for reminding me of that classic Klingon joke!
Rob Potter on Irrational Rationalists: Effective Altruists & The Planet of the AntsSeptember 29, 2026
Asimov's robot stories are the best example that an artificial intelligence is not intelligence. They were a fabulous way for…