Posted inStatistics
Alcohol More Harmful Than Heroin Or Cocaine?
Belly up to the bar, boys. Have a snort! Reach into that pile of needles and raise them high. I'd like to propose a toast to Professors David Nutt [sic],…
Posted inCulture Statistics
How Much Math Do We Really Need?
That title was lifted from a Washington Post essay by G.V. Ramanathan, a professor emeritus of mathematics, statistics and computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For my…
Posted inStatistics
Being Against Climate Change Legislation Is Just Like Being For Slavery
Or so implies Andrew J. Hoffman, current sitter in the cushy Holcim chair at the University of Michigan, and writer of the peer-reviewed (I'm guessing) article "Climate change as a…
Posted inStatistics
Influential Forecasts
If I tell you that the price of a stock is going to increase and you believe me enough to rush out and buy that stock, the price of that…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Are We In The Midst Of A Global Extinction Event?
"All Life Ends! Amphibians, Cartilaginous Fishes Hardest Hit." That was the headline yesterday in newspapers all over the country as editors reacted to a press release from Science magazine which…
Posted inCulture Statistics
Statistics Exam #2
Here as promised, word for word1, is the second exam I gave my introductory statistics students. A prerequisite for the class was at least "Pre calculus". I emphasize---in italics!---that I…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
I’m Happy To Help, Judith Curry: Overconfidence In IPCC’s Detection And Attribution
Thanks to reader Roger Cohen for brining this to my attention. Atmospheric scientist Judith Curry recently ran a series of blog posts entitled, "Overconfidence in IPCC’s detection and attribution." In…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Utilitarianism, Halloween, and Phantasm
Jeremy Benthem The Tall Man Halloween is coming, and that means it's time to consider frightening things. And what over the past two centuries has been more horrific than the…