Statistics – Page 233 – William M. Briggs

Tobacco Ads Could Lead To Cancer Cure

Today's headline is true. True means that which is certain, without the possibility of error; that which is not false; that which accords with reality. It means that which is…

Statistics

Unsignificant Statistics: Or Die P-Value, Die Die Die

Must...resist...quoting... from Stephen Ziliak's gorgeous invective "Unsignificant Statistics" (where I stole today's title) in the Financial Post. Well, just a little (all emphasis mine and joyfully placed): Statistical significance is…

Philosophy Statistics

Scientists Discover Way To Increase Publication Count

Anybody who has spent any time in a university library amidst the papers of his specialty knows that the absolute last thing which is needed is more of them. Journals…

Statistics

Krauthammer’s Wrong: NSA Spying Not Equivalent To Policing

Charles Krauthammer ought to be taken seriously. He said yesterday from his daily perch that he wasn't concerned about NSA spying on Americans because there hasn't been any or many…

Culture Statistics

You Do Too Have Something To Hide

"Let them look at my phone records. I have nothing to hide. They can read all my emails. There's nothing there worth reading." We hear this primarily from the young,…

Statistics

Data Mining, PRISM, NSA & False Positives: Update

Remember how---this is a really brief history lesson--remember how the NSA, CIA, FBI, and many other of those lettered agencies with their ever-increasing budgets, super-sophisticated computers, genius brain mathematicians, statisticians,…

Philosophy Statistics

What Should Philosophers Of Statistics Do?

A while back, far longer than it should have been, D.G. Mayo asked me to stop by her place and comment on a couple of posts. But laziness and excessive…

Philosophy Statistics

Never Say “Caused By Chance”

One of the services of this blog is grammatical guidance. In that spirit, here are phrases which should be forbidden, and will be once I am in charge (all highlights…

N.S. Palmer on You Can’t Con An Honest Man & The Case of Jason ArdayAugust 10, 2026
The Academic Fallacy is what I called "the Existentialist Fallacy:" "Certain errors creep into most debates about social policy and…
Cary Cotterman on You Can’t Con An Honest Man & The Case of Jason ArdayAugust 10, 2026
I never heard of this Arday buffoon until a couple of weeks ago. As I read through the account of…
Brian (bulaoren) on You Can’t Con An Honest Man & The Case of Jason ArdayAugust 10, 2026
@ Uncle Mike Your comment reminds me that I really miss William F Buckley. He was often accused of dredging…
Uncle Mike on You Can’t Con An Honest Man & The Case of Jason ArdayAugust 10, 2026
Five stars for the use of "rhodomontade"! I suspect nobody on the faculty at Cambridge knows the word, because they…
Brian (bulaoren) on You Can’t Con An Honest Man & The Case of Jason ArdayAugust 10, 2026
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