Statistics – Page 241 – William M. Briggs

End Of The World Approaches—This Time Via A “State Shift”

"Humans," the species nobody asked for, "now dominate Earth," the brutes, "changing it in ways that threaten its ability to sustain us and other species," for it is our duty…

Statistics

Statistics Of Drinking, Emailing, Pupil Size

Today, three studies from loyal readers. Drinking Creatively First up, the New York Post's Kyle Smith with an anecdote: Father O'Brien was driving home after lunch when a policeman pulled…

Culture Statistics

Bias Against Conservatives In Academia: Shocking New Study

Gander at this picture: This shows self-reported political affiliation of a group of academic social and personality psychologists (this included some graduate students and post docs). The graph is difficult…

Statistics

A Peculiar Prevalence Of P Values Just Below .05

Today's title is lifted directly from the paper of E. J. Masicampo & Daniel R. Lalande, published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. The paper is here, and is…

Statistics

Stressed Men Prefer Chubby Chicks

Here's a title for you, "BMI Not WHR Modulates BOLD fMRI Responses in a Sub-Cortical Reward Network When Participants Judge the Attractiveness of Human Female Bodies." How about that? I…

Culture Statistics

USA Homicide Rates: 1950-2010; By Race And Sex

How has the homicide rate changed through time? The Bureau of Justice Statistics of our great government compiles statistics on just this kind of thing. This data arises from the…

Statistics

Question About Non-Normal Distributions

Thanks to everybody who sent in links, story tips, and suggestions. Because of my recent travel and pressures of work, I'm (again) way behind in answering these. I do appreciate…

Culture Statistics

More Proof Music Is Growing Worse

New proof (which wasn't really need) that popular music is, as has long been claimed, been growing worse has arrived thanks to the diligent work of Joan Serrà and his…

Neil Jordan on Class 79: Time Series ExampleFebruary 20, 2026
Does the passage of time cause ice, or does ice cause the passage of time? Mystical statistical court of appeals…
Johnno on The Importance Of Not Making DecisionsFebruary 19, 2026
But Briggs... we pay people to make decisions on our behalf... Government exists, and it MUST do SOMETHING!!! What are…
Johnno on AI Is Driving Many Crazy: Our Latest PanicFebruary 19, 2026
BRIGGS YOU FOOL OF ARTIFICIALITY! Aye Eye exists for one reason and ONE REASON ONLY! To INCREASE Shareholder Value! If…
JH on The Importance Of Not Making DecisionsFebruary 19, 2026
Maybe you mean “knowledge” instead of “belief.” When my daughter was in ninth grade, I asked her about evidence for…
gareth on AI Is Driving Many Crazy: Our Latest PanicFebruary 19, 2026
Yes "AI" is just computer models. Better - in the sense of more competent in tasks than before. This does…