William M. Briggs

The Twinkie Defense Defended: Soda Pop And Violence In Teens

In 1979, Dan White1 was tried for the assassinations of San Francisco city district Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. His lawyers argued that he had diminished capacity and…

Fun Statistics

Counterfactuals And Woodchuck Probability Distributions

I have, with mechanical aid, again winged my way across the globe in search of treasure. I landed disoriented and would not trust myself to calculate even the integral of…

Fun

A Final Solution To The Financial Crisis: Guest Post by Uncle Mike

Welcome to our WISE Uncle Mike, who provides for our review a unique idea to solve the world's financial mess. Greek residents will want to pay particular attention. Your Host…

Fun Philosophy Statistics

Best Statistics Question Ever

Several readers have sent this one in1. One Raymond Johnson (or was it Ryan Grover?) said he found the following picture on this blackboard (I pulled my copy from Flowing…

Culture

Banzhaf’s Assault Against Logic: Muslims Are Not Suing Catholic University

Lawyer John Banzhaf is thrilled and chagrined about the publicity he has received over the complaint he filed with the Washington DC Office of Human Rights. It has been widely…

Statistics

BEST’s Worst Work; What Is Significant?

You will have already seen this comparison graph from the Daily Mail. That paper points out correctly that the version of the plot provided by BEST is presented in such…

Statistics

A Case Of Failed Peer Review: Dust And Death

The distance between what civilians think peer review is and what it actually is suffers from the same failing as that evinced by Han Solo---rare pop culture reference!---when he boasted…

Culture

Muslims Sue To Remove Crosses At Catholic University?

The story that's circulating is that "Muslims at a Catholic University are offended the university doesn't allow them to take down or cover crosses before they pray and claim their…

McChuck on What Science Says About Making Medication MandatoryJanuary 26, 2026
Media and government (but I repeat myself) talking heads are not categorically different from Zardoz.
Cookie on What A WinterJanuary 23, 2026
Energy bills will be up with this cold. I wonder what inflation will look like when winter is done? At…
Hagfish Bagpipe on What A WinterJanuary 22, 2026
Briggs, that sounds just dandy. You have important and challenging work to do. Work that rewards creative solutions and physical…
Briggs on What A WinterJanuary 21, 2026
McChuck, That lieutenant must be at least a congressman by now.
McChuck on What A WinterJanuary 21, 2026
I remember the multiple blizzards of the 1970's. I had to be outside on guard patrol all night in -40…

William M. Briggs

What Science Says About Making Medication Mandatory

What A Winter

FDA Goes Bayes: It Should Have Gone Probability

Class 76: That’s Not Noise. That’s Signal!

AI: The Earth Is Spinning Faster & Slower (Because “Climate Change”)

Confirmation Bias In The Minneapolis Shooting

Sports Betting Is An Excellent Way To Lose Money

Class 75: A Gentle Introduction To Time Series

The Consent Fallacy

On Laws Banning Hacking Women’s Genitals & Imposing Beliefs

Register Your Predictions For 2026!

Happy New Year!

How Did We Do In Our 2025 Predictions?

Why The Drake Equation Fails

Canada Invents New Euphemism For Doctor Killings

Merry Christmas!

Complete List Of All Moral & Ethical Questions Answered By Science

Why British & EU Rulers Are Juicing War With Russia

Climate Models

Is Powerball A “Fair Game”?

No Class: But Here’s Some Homework