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
Universality of Religion
On the Effect Measure blog, there is post about "Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: Dawkins on evolution and religion", with the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czMU4-vNkiE
I am …
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A great observation
So [this post][] from Laura Wattenberg's "Baby Name Wizard" blog has a wonderful observation: > Here's a little pet peeve of mine: nothing rhymes with orange. You've > heard that before, right …
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Information
It all started with "information is beautiful", with this post about the 2012 non-issue, and then it went to this interesting figure which I am pondering...not sure if the …
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Autotune, Science, and Creativity
I was just introduced to a very creative project called the Symphony of Science. It uses a technology called Autotune, traditionally used to keep lousy pop singers in key. In …
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Yet another reason to leave Iraq...dowsing for bombs
So it seems as if the Iraqi police are dowsing for bombs and firearms, as covered in the New York Times and James Randi. They are doing this using a …
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Netflix prize
Fortune magazine had a recent article on the Netflix prize. A very interesting competition to increase their correct recommendation percentage by 10%. I was struck by a comment at the …
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Disturbing video misusing Einstein's name
I saw this video posted on facebook The link to one rebuttal, which links to the original, is here:
http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2009/10/08/does-god-exist-video-campaign-refuted/
I wrote as a …
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Recovery from Vision
The following article talks about recovery of vision from people who were blind from birth. A couple of things really jumped out at me.
1.
![7316DF11-C08C-474C-81E3-786ECED034AF.jpg][]
S.K. could …
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Probability Problems and Simulation
There are a number of classic probability problems that challenge the intuition, both for students and for teachers. I have found that one way to overcome this intuition block is …
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Frequentist thinking, or just bad math?
In Steven Pinker's excellent book "How the Mind Works", he describes how people are bad at probability assessments, but are much better at frequency assessments (pg 348). It almost comes …
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A nice series to look at
Bill Harris has a nice blog entry about Bayesian versus Classical stats. I'd like to go through the rest of these posts, because I think there is some great stuff …
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230 miles per gallon!
So this story today about the new GM Volt to come out that supposedly gets 230 mpg. My first thought when reading it is that they are touting it as …
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Free will
After a discussion with a friend about Nostradamus, I realized that the existence of prophets conflicts with the idea of free will: if the future is written in such a …
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neat way to introduce programming
Just came upon this post which describes a nice analogy between programming and Dr Seuss' Sneetch star-on and star-off machines. A modified version might be useful even for older students …
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Silly challenge to silly statement
There is a new Challenge to Global Warming Skeptics by the FiveThirtyEight statisticians, who did such a good job with the Obama-McCain forecasts. The challenge is summed up by:
"For …
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A quick comment on error
I read this article in the Week magazine, concerning the upcoming census. I plan to look at statistical sampling later, but I was struck by the following:
Because supporters and …
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Laplace and the Divine
In a previous post I used the word "God" in quotes, when referring to Laplace's view of determinism. This was done because Laplace himself did not believe in God, and …
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Misunderstanding Laplace
I finished Leonard Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives" this past week, and have a couple of thoughts related to it.
In Chapter 10 he quotes Laplace …
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Homeopathic "Medicine"
Homeopathic medicine "is a form of alternative medicine, first expounded by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, that treats patients with heavily diluted preparations which are thought to cause effects …
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"Erroneous" Probabilistic Reasoning
I've been reading Leonard Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives", and he describes a set of experiments which I had heard of before but never gave too …
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A Little Geometry
I've just finished the book "Euclid's Window" by Leonard Mlodinow, and really enjoyed it. The book describe the history of geometry from Euclid, Descartes, Gauss, and Einsten. During his coverage …
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