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
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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About
I am a professor of Science and Technology at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI, and a research professor in the Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, Brown University. My research …
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Multiple Model Comparisons Revisited
Introduction
In a previous post, I hinted at how to do multiple hypotheses testing, using the ψ-measure. It turns out to be much clearer just using the posterior probabilities. The …
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God and Hawking
From the book “The Grand Design” By
STEPHEN HAWKING And LEONARD MLODINOW
....
Newton believed that our strangely
habitable solar system did not "arise out of chaos by the mere laws …
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Why pseudoscientists like the chi-square test (and why it shouldn't be taught)
In a prior post I outlined how orthodox statistics can lead to the either-or logical fallacies common in pseudoscience, like astrology and ufo-ology.
In this post I focus on the …
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Orthodox Statistics Conducive to Pseudo-Science
I have just realized that the thought process used in orthodox statistics is conducive to pseudo-science. It adds, in my opinion, to the long list of reasons why Bayesian inference …
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The Non-Psychic Octopus
Introduction
I saw in the newspaper an article about a supposedly psychic octopus, which predicts world cup matches by making a choice between two different foods labeled by the team …
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A new and content-free model
In his article "A New and Effective Climate Model", Stephen Wilde (guest posting on Anthony Watts' blog) states his dissatisfaction with current climate models, and proposes another "model" for climate …
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Pascal's Global Warming
I was just alerted to the following video supporting strong action for climate change:
The argument is a little dated, actually, most famously presented in the 1600's well …
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Religion and Scientists
A friend of mine posted this Slashdot brief on Facebook, which also links to this summary. The articles both imply a much stronger religiosity among scientists than is traditionally assumed …
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One last TV post, about Battlestar Galactica
No TV posts for a while after this one...just trying to clear my desk.
There are a number of things that bother me about BSG. This list is here …
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