Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Bad Ways Of Speaking About Truth
Easy It is true that all men are mortal. It is also true that 2 + 3 = 5. Yet it is not "true" that all men are mortal, nor…
Posted inFun
Dinner With Atheists: A Mini-Play In One Act
SCENE: The monthly meeting of the Madison Atheists Evangelization Society at the I-12 Marriot Courtyard's Badger Room, a rambunctious group sitting at a table, long side to the audience, like…
Posted inStatistics
Regression To The Mean (And Performance Curses) Simply Explained
I've just read about The Second Term Curse which supposedly besets (of course) second-term presidents. There is also the infamous Sports Illustrated Curse, which is said to befall athletes soon…
Posted inStatistics
Sam Harris Asks, “Can Science Answer Moral Questions?” No, Sam, It Cannot
I was having a back-and-forth on Twitter with Craig Mazin â€(@clmazin) about Sam Harris's claim that morality is a scientific and not a metaphysical question. As evidence, Mazin pointed me…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
The Unbelievers: The Movie. Richard Dawkins & Lawrence Krauss On Tour
A camera followed two village atheists on their wanderings, spliced together some of their less tedious talks, sprinkled in a few celebrity cameos, such as one by noted scientist Woody…
Posted inCulture Statistics
The Horrors And Hurt Feelings Of Profiling
"Ver are your papers!" "Um. Hang on. I'm sure I have them on me. Wait. Here," said the man, handing them over. The clerk examined them closely. He arched his…
Knife-Wielding Teens Invade High School
What you are about to read is a true story. The question is why none of this has been picked up in the media. In late March a "flash mob"…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Small Things
Have a bit of a bug, so only a few small things today. Red State A reliable, though not infallible, mark of a bad argument is the level of self-congratulation…
