Here’s a couple lessons from statistics that we would all do well to remember:
1) Anything that can happen, will happen, if given enough opportunity.
2) Most systems will, on average, converge to their “true” values if given long enough.
So, for instance, let’s think about climate change.

There is an extremely interesting (albeit long) article in the upcoming New York Times Magazine (they post their lead articles online a few days before the magazine itself comes out) about noted scientist and global warming skeptic, Freemon Dyson. The article makes note of the fact that Dyson is widely considered to be one [...]

The EPA has just proposed a rule that would require medium and large companies in a variety of industries to report their emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. This would allow the EPA to better track who is polluting and where. It’s a fabulous idea. It’s such a wonderful, not to [...]

Energy policy is one of those tough topics to talk about intelligently. The problem is that everybody knows what the problems are (fossil fuels are bad for the environment and have a finite supply), everybody agrees what the ultimate solution has to be (we need to find new sources of cheap, plentiful energy), and [...]

Humility. Temperance. Stewardship. Modesty. These are all good Christian values. They are good conservative values as well. Jesus taught them (as have most of the world’s great religious leaders of all faiths). In most cases, our parents and grandparents taught them as well. Christians, and I think [...]

Clinton had a Stephen Colbert moment yesterday. It doesn’t suit her. Here’s the transcript from This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

I’m generally for treating animals with respect and kindness. But laws like those the Swiss are implementing are ridiculous! It may sound noble to make sure that guinea pigs are never kept alone in their cages, but it misses an important point. Humans are different from and more important than the animals they keep. When [...]

I was pretty critical of McCain’s support for a “gas-tax holiday”, and I’m pretty disappointed in Clinton’s support of the idea. As I said before, the gas-tax holiday just doesn’t make any sense if you think about it. It’s an extremely small amount of money ($0.18 on the gallon translates to about $10 [...]

I read McCain’s Foreign Affairs essay the other day, which is really quite good. There are certainly things in it I disagree with, but when compared with the nonsensical mess that Giuliani wrote, it does make you appreciate that McCain has some grasp of the issues at hand. On the issue of nuclear [...]

There is bias in the media. Now, I watch and read quite a bit of news, and so I can say with some confidence that usually the bias is subtle, and most of the time I think its unconscious. For instance, a reporter will ask basically the same question of two different candidates, [...]