Hon. William J. Elfving (Ret) Obituary 40%

By The Mercury News86%

7/24/2026, 7:05:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 8 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, In-Group Bias, and Self-Serving Bias, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 42.9% saturation with 120 hits. Analysis detected 332 faulty-reasoning hits from 280 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 44.9% and a BS Rank of 40% (13,280 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 60.70% of the article peer group.

Hon. 
William J. 
Elfving (Ret) passed away on July 7, 2026 at age 85 after a valiant fight against cancer. 
Bill was a respected Santa Clara County Superior Court judge who served the South Bay legal community for nearly six decades as a trial lawyer, jurist, and mediator. 
He sat on the Superior Court bench for 20 years following a 30 year career with Hoge Fenton Jones and Appel law firm. 
He earned his BA from Stanford (1962) and his JD from UCLA School of Law (1965). 
He served as a Captain in the United States Army from 1965-1967. 
Bill was a Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers and an Associate, American Board of Trial Advocates. 
After his retirement from the bench, he continued serving the legal community as an arbitrator and mediator with the JAMS Silicon Valley Resolution Center. 
Bill valued his relationships with his colleagues and he and his family are appreciative to all that had an important impact on his life. 
In addition to his love of the law, Bill had fond memories of his time playing on the Stanford Basketball team, he was an avid tennis player, a voracious reader, and he was well known in the neighborhood for his daily walks picking up litter with his trash bag in tow. 
Bill is survived by his wife, Barbara, and his sons and daughters-in-law: Mark and Amanda Elfving, Scott and Krista Elfving, Todd and Whitney McNair, and Jason McNair and Christina Lane. 
He is also survived by his 8 grandchildren, Parker, Riley, Jonah, Savannah, Calvin, Evelyn, James and Liam. 
In lieu of flowers, please donate to a charity of your choice. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 1.4%East Bay Times: 2.9%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.2%East Bay Times: 0.3%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 2.3%East Bay Times: 2.6%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.6%East Bay Times: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.7%East Bay Times: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.7%East Bay Times: 0.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.5%East Bay Times: 3.5%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.5%East Bay Times: 0.5%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.2%East Bay Times: 0.4%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.1%East Bay Times: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 6.1%The Mercury News: 4.9%East Bay Times: 2.0%Optimism Bias6.1%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 1.1%East Bay Times: 1.3%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 1.3%East Bay Times: 7.9%Negativity Bias0.0%This article: 8.6%The Mercury News: 0.7%East Bay Times: 1.3%Self-Serving Bias8.6%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.1%East Bay Times: 1.4%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 18.2%The Mercury News: 1.5%East Bay Times: 0.8%In-Group Bias18.2%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 28.2%The Mercury News: 38.9%East Bay Times: 7.7%Halo Effect28.2%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.5%East Bay Times: 0.8%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 1.2%East Bay Times: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.2%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 6.1%The Mercury News: 2.8%East Bay Times: 2.5%Appeal to Authority6.1%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 1.1%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 4.4%East Bay Times: 3.4%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.4%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.1%East Bay Times: 0.2%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 14.1%East Bay Times: 5.3%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.8%East Bay Times: 0.5%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 2.3%East Bay Times: 2.3%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.3%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.6%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 4.0%East Bay Times: 2.3%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 2.4%East Bay Times: 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.0%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.9%East Bay Times: 1.0%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.8%East Bay Times: 0.7%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 42.9%The Mercury News: 35.3%East Bay Times: 8.1%Biased Writer Voice42.9%This article: 4.3%The Mercury News: 2.3%East Bay Times: 2.8%Indoctrination4.3%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 1.0%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Mercury News: 0.0%East Bay Times: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 4.3%The Mercury News: 1.0%East Bay Times: 0.5%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…4.3%

280 words analyzed.

Speakers

No attributed speakers were identified in this analysis.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.