Briggs

Finitism, Physics, Cellular Automata: The Universe as Logic

In no way is this article meant to be complete. It is more in the way of musings---a crude introduction---so that we can see where to go. Is the universe…

Philosophy Statistics

Postmodernism and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Since I am, by nature, a compassionate individual, I had been thinking of how we might Sokal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). It is for their…

Statistics

Feigned Surprises of the Week: Journolist and Our New Tax

Said the main-stream journalist on Journolist, "If they of the right wing don't behave and treat our Golden Boy properly, we'll call them racists. It matters not whom we pick…

Fun Statistics

A Bust—I mean must—Read; Or, An Evolution in Bra Sizes

"Excuse me, miss. Would you care to participate in science?" Sometimes being a statistician is enviable. In a flash of scientific brilliance, Australian statisticians have just completed a massive study…

Fun Statistics

M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, and John Wayne

Part II of the Two-Envelope problem was not too friendly, so here's something that is. Via HotAir, I came across the site Marginal Revolution, in which was featured a graph…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part II

Read Part I first. We are in the peek first game here. The distribution of N When X is odd, and all X are discrete, we know we should always…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part I

Another probability "paradox", the two-envelope problem1, goes like this: Before you are two envelopes, A and B. One of them contains $X and the other $2X (which is equivalent to…

Culture Fun

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

Coming tomorrow: the infamous two-envelope problem, solved! More mathematical constructivism. But today, as it's Sunday, something light and airy...and non taxing. A "comedy rock" group which bills itself as the…

_Jim on Reader Poll: Shorter or Longer, Frequent or Rarer Posts?June 10, 2026
I echo Jean Lesperance's response ... overbooked to too many blogs these days!
Cary D Cotterman on Climate Change Increases Risk of Even Slower World Cup Games!June 10, 2026
82.5 degrees Fahrenheit isn't even "hot", let alone "extremely hot". American football is played in summer, by guys wearing thick…
Tars Tarkas on Climate Change Increases Risk of Even Slower World Cup Games!June 10, 2026
I seriously doubt 82.4 degrees hampers the action in any event. These are young male world class athletes in the…
spetzer86 on Climate Change Increases Risk of Even Slower World Cup Games!June 10, 2026
If they wanted temperatures below 82F in the American mid-West they should've scheduled for Nov-Feb. Imagine a Twin Cities game…
Tony Cooke on Climate Change Increases Risk of Even Slower World Cup Games!June 10, 2026
Maybe they should move all the games to the tropics. That would slow things down to the point of such…