William M. Briggs

TSA Full-Body Scans Would Not Pass Hospital IRB Reviews

Zzzzaapp! Some angry photons have just been blasted off toward your body, scouting for "contraband." In the process of the search, these energetic massless particles will kick the crap out…

Culture Statistics

College Students More Loquacious Than Erudite: Vocabulary Test Results

The results of the Great Vocabulary Test of 2010 are in. Two weeks ago, in this thread, after announcing my surprise that no student in any of my classes knew…

Statistics

TSA Cops A Feel: More Bad Statistics

As far as I can discover, Janet "There's Nothing To See Here" Napolitano's newly created policy of feeling up and peeking under the skirts of random airline passengers has not…

Culture Statistics

Texting Leads To Sexting…Leads To Bad Television

Researchers Find What they find is a way to publish yet another study documenting what everybody already knew. According to this article, sent in by reader Jack Mosevich, researchers have…

Statistics

Mandatory National Standards For Salt Content Coming To A Government Near You

What's better: (A) voluntarily reducing your salt intake, or (B) having the government mandate that you do so? Naturally, if you don't opt for A, you get B, which we…

Fun

Happy Anniversary: Clip Show

It's been one year to the day when I decided to offer a daily column. Below are the ones that did not turn out too badly. Funny Fun Wolf Blitzer…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

Eliminating Randomness Reduces Need For God And Increases Belief In Evolution

Caution! The experiment I'm about to explain might increase your belief in God. It should only be attempted by academics who are immune to such deleterious effects. Got a pair…

Culture

Too Many Kids Go To College: A Fourth Conversation With Myself

Links to the first, second, and third conversation with myself about teaching. William Glum again, eh? What happened this time? Matt In my Algebra Sans Algebra class, I asked a…

Johnno on More On Monkeys Typing Shakespeare & Why Chance Isn’t EnoughJanuary 16, 2025
What if instead of real monkeys, scientists did the most sciency thing possible, where they opt to run an artificial…
Uncle Mike on More On Monkeys Typing Shakespeare & Why Chance Isn’t EnoughJanuary 15, 2025
What's the probability of Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, aka RuBisCo, arising by chance from the Primordial Goo? RuBisCo is the enzyme that…
Jim Fedako on More On Monkeys Typing Shakespeare & Why Chance Isn’t EnoughJanuary 15, 2025
Sorry, Briggs. I’ve watched enough new TV shows and movies, plus read enough social media posts, to know there are…
Johnno on More On Monkeys Typing Shakespeare & Why Chance Isn’t EnoughJanuary 15, 2025
But a finite number of monkeys voting an infinite amount of times will eventually produce utopia, right?
Robert Sides on Register Your Predictions For 2025!January 15, 2025
1. After more State fascism, a European nation will face a largely populist overthrow after a Solidarity (Polish) sized upheaval.…

William M. Briggs

More On Monkeys Typing Shakespeare & Why Chance Isn’t Enough

Surgeon General Demands Label War Against Wine

Class 34: The Excesses & Errors Of Epidemiology III

England’s Rulers Insist Natives Must Assimilate To “Migrants”

Experts: Please Begin Panicking Over Bird Flu. Us: No. Experts: (Sob)

Environmental Experts To Rip Out Trees, Build Solar Electric Plant In Snow Belt To “Save The Environment”

Class 33: The Excesses & Errors Of Epidemiology II

Register Your Predictions For 2025!

Happy New Year!

How Did We Do In Our 2024 Predictions?

Hot New The Science: Kids Are Having Climate Emotions

Merry Christmas!

The Lesson Scientists Never Learn

House Cramnibus Funds New Follow-The-Science Panics

Probability Puzzle Paradox: Which Boxes To Take?

As Woke Falls, What Rises?

Class 32: The Excesses & Errors Of Epidemiology I (All Should Read)

Who’s Better at Playing Doctor, Boys Or Girls?

How The Enlightenment Led To Contraception (And Other Forms of Anti-Natal Behavior)

Science Model Told To Say Masks Work Discovers Masks Work

In Which Feynman Makes A Mistake: Negative Probabilities (Used In AI, QM, Finance)