Posted inFun Statistics
A Time To Celebrate!
I am, once more, reliving my Air Force days. I am strapped into a seat designed for a midget, jetting across the Wild Blue towards the shores of Lake Michigan,…
Posted inPhilosophy
The Tolerance Paradox
First, our official definition of a paradox: A puzzle concocted with premises we know are false but which lead to a conclusion we wish were true. Thus, because the conclusion…
Posted inCulture
California Judge Reverses Prop 8: A Right To Marriage?
A judge in California has, as we have all heard, struck down the publicly created law which bans two-person, same-sex marriage. This was no surprise, as most expected that this…
Posted inStatistics
Newcomb’s Paradox And Probability
This article was suggested by reader JH who saw it discussed at Massimo Pigliucci's site. When he was at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, William Newcomb devised the following puzzle, which…
Posted inStatistics
Iowahawk Does Statistics—-Properly!
Thanks to the many readers who sent in this tip. The Iowahawk, a.k.a. David Burge, the beloved assassin of pomposity and pretension has taken the often hysterical Paul "Global Warming…
Posted inPhilosophy
The impossibility of there being no truth.
One of the premises frequently used for the argument that "all cultures are equal" (multiculturalism), or for the argument that you should not be judgmental, is relativism, which is the…
Posted inPhilosophy
Variant on a theme
We, dear readers, have earlier dealt with the nonsensical argument, of which an Enlightened few are excessively fond, "There is no truth." This is an argument often employed by those…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Michael Crichton and SETI
Michael Crichton, as you will have heard by now, is dead. Unfortunately. The Wall Street Journal today reprinted an excerpt of a speech Crichton gave called "Aliens Cause Global Warming."…
