Books
Books that I have written.
Media Appearances
Podcasts and Videos in which I have appeared or which I have created.
pyndamics3
Dynamical systems simulation in Python. Includes both continuous and stochastic simulation.
Stats for Everyone
An introductory stats book from a Bayesian perspective, including Python software.
I am a Scientist, Skeptic, and Professor at Bryant University. My goal is to make technical subject matters widely accessible and to use my analytical and computational skills to assist anyone with their science-related problems.
Blog
Faster than light...a likely solution
A solution to the "faster-than-light" neutrinos is likely to have been found. In the words of the article,
If it stands up, this episode will be laden with irony. Far …
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Faster than light...why the lawyer is wrong
In a post well outside of his expertise, lawyer Michael D. Cicchini weighs in on the recent observation that some neutrinos have been observed traveling faster than the speed of …
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Mystery, Knowledge, Science and Television
J J Abrams, the creator of the television show “Lost”, gives a Ted talk where he suggests that sometimes mystery is more important than knowledge. His “mystery box” represents infinite …
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Climate and the Moon
In a prior post I criticize an article on climate which states that current climate models ignore the effect of conduction (i.e. direct contact) and convection, and focus exclusively …
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Knowledge and Belief
I was just directed to this announcement concerning an NSF survey on science literacy. The bottom line is that the NSF is deciding to change the wording of two questions …
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Science and Attitudes Toward Criticism
So this morning I got a strong criticism of my post, “The Not-so-Hidden Flaw in this Climate Argument”, which itself is a criticism of someone else’s criticism of a …
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Reaping the benefits of science while hostile to science
So I read with some interest an article by Adam Frank espousing the idea of removing the benefits of science from those who deny science. He starts with examples like …
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"Frivolous" research in science
My blog has been languishing for a bit, so I hope to bring it back and be a bit more active.
Someone recently made a comment that they thought that …
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Energy Bracelet Experience
I’ve spoken before about the energy balance bracelets and how they don’t work. I just had an experience at a local flower show where I ran into a …
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Religion, Scripture, and the Source of Morality
It is a common argument now from the so-called new atheists that we don’t get our morality from scripture. I am not sure that many religious people, even biblical …
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Wonders in Science
This is one of the Hubble deep field images:
It is important to note that every little bright smudge on this image is a galaxy with billions of stars. This …
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A Reasonable Perspective on Global Warming
I’ve read a lot about global warming, taught issues about climate in my classes, and have a decent (but not expert) understanding of the physics involved. Among my colleagues …
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Does Watson Think?
There has been a lot in the news about Watson. One article on CNN says “Watson doesn't really ‘think’ anything, and it struggles with simple questions that most humans can …
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Creationism and Strawmen
I can’t tell you how much I cringe when I hear people say, “I just can’t imagine how we developed our complexity through random chance” and similar things …
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Wonders in Science
There is a tendency for scientists to be killjoys, raining on everyone parade, poo-pooing cherished beliefs and activities from acupuncture, religion, ufo’s, and homeopathy. Where is the wonder, the …
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20 Years of Being an Atheist Ends Today
It was 20 years ago when I made the conscious decision to be an atheist. I had been agnostic before, and then made a decision that it was no longer …
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The Role of Humanity into the Future
Yet again, IBM is creating AI to best humans in a task that has been, perhaps, a symbol of uniquely human activity: Jeopardy! The system, Watson, is doing quite well …
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Bill O'Reilly, Tides, and the God of the Gaps
The following link is a Bill O’Reilly interview with David Silverman, President of American Atheists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XEgkViLbTk&t=1m40s
I love the look of …
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Why I Can't Support the Darwin Day Resolution
So I received a tweet asking for support for the Darwin Day Resolution.
The full text of the resolution is here:
Expressing support for designation of February 12, 2011, as …
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The world is flat!
So, I was listening to a Cosmos episode when Carl Sagan described the method that Eratosthenes used to calculate the circumference of the Earth. He stated that, on a flat …
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A modest proposal about uncertainty
Joan Roughgarden in Beyond Belief made a very astute observation of a problem, and then proposed a lousy solution to it. The problem she was addressing had to do with …
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