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
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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The Economics of Religion: More good than harm?
There are some that argue that religion should be eliminated because of all of the harm it does, such as the suicide bombings, honor killings, the Inquisition, etc... This includes …
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Rounds in Australian Open
In a previous post, I included predictions for Round 1 of the Australian Open. I am posting the next Rounds' predictions here.
Round 2
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Round 3 - Given …
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Predictions for the Australian Open
I am not really into sports, but a student of mine is doing a project on developing an automated system for predicting professional tennis matches. We are posting his system's …
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Religion, Science, and Humility
I've been listening to the "Beyond Belief" workshop, where many very bright people discuss the role of science and religion in society. I need to go back and re-listen to …
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Francis Collins, Science and Religion: How Religion Halts Science
In reading Francis Collins' book, "The Language of God", I was struck by the way in which the religious claims enter into the scientific discussion. There were three main arguments …
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A Moral Argument for God
I recently listened to an interview with Francis Collins on Point of Inquiry, concerning his book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Francis Collins is an …
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Are Science and Religion Incompatible?
I've recently found pointofinquiry.org, which has a lot of very interesting talks about science and religion, so it got me thinking again. Some of the more interesting talks are …
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Is -x^2 positive or negative?
So, is -x^2^ a positive, negative, or undefined quantity for real-valued x? Ask any physicist or mathematician and they will say that it is a negative number for real …
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Glenn Beck on Science
The following audio from a Glenn Beck show is illustrative of many things. Although he demonstrates incredible ignonance of evolution in this clip, he makes some good points...they just …
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A walk down memory lane
I just found a page on "How to Find a Formula for a Set of Numbers". It's a cool little procedure for taking a series, like:
2, 8, 9, 11 …
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Power UnBalance
I love watching infomercials, but always wonder how much the sellers are exaggerating. Take this infomercial for the "Power Balance" bracelet, which is claimed to increase balance and coordination:
[http …
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