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
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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Battlestar Galactica, Lost, and Babylon 5: To Plan or not to Plan
I'll get back to more academic things shortly, but I wanted to get this one off my chest. I just finished watching the entire series of Battlestar Galactica, which I …
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Lord of the Rings
I have a backlog of blog posts that I wanted to get caught up on. This blog has been pretty academic lately, so I figured a change of pace would …
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Nice talk about science and vaccination
The site http://www.ted.com/ is a really great site to find talks on lots of different topics. The one I recently listened to is http://www.ted.com …
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The Not-so-Hidden Flaw in this Climate Argument
There are sometimes people think that I am a global warming denier (I'm not), but I am not entirely convinced that the dire predictions from the global warming camp are …
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A bit of must-read economics
In the face of Obama's new healthcare initiative, which includes provisions to cap the increases in insurance costs, you can [read here a nice description of the problems of fixing …
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Coin flips and names (Evil problems in probability continued)
In my post about the girl-named-Florida problem, there is a factor in the analysis looking at the probability of having a girl named Florida given that you have two girls …
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Magnetic therapy getting under my skin
Introduction
Every year my family goes to the flower show in Providence. It's a nice time, seeing flowers in the middle of February, snacking on the pretzel and dip samples …
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Economics
In a post about Ten Principles of Economics, Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw writes a little acrostic device about economics. In addition to things like "Everything has a cost. There …
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Faith and Science
I was listening to a very nice talk by Ken Miller, from Brown University. He's the Biology professor who testified in the Dover Evolution Trial. The reason that he is …
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A couple of interesting videos
With the advent of computer technology, it can be challenging to distinguish fact from fiction. Both of the videos below are, in my opinion, strikingly real but are both fake …
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Creativity, Science, and the Brain
In my post about Bruce Hood's interview I said there wasn't anything I disagreed with. After re-listening to it, I find my position is a bit more nuanced. I'd still …
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