The Adventures of Shylock Holmes

I remember GS used to complain to me about Yank toilets, and how when you flushed them, often they would have such a violent flushing mechan...

There are few things more irritating than popular journalists who try to take on an academic orthodoxy by pretending to be soooo much smart...

To all my loyal readers, wishing you a most merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you for joining me this past year, you all make the ...

TSA Agent steals passenger's cupcake , claiming the icing was 'too gel-like'. In contravention of TSA policy, of course. A minor...

Fancy that, another 200-odd people drowned off the cost of Indonesia while trying to reach Australia. *Yawn*. What's on TV? And finall...

The problem with knowing something is that it makes it very hard to accurately put yourself in the shoes of someone who doesn't know it....

Apologies for the lack of updates - I've been hanging in Miami for a few days. And this got me thinking about the false consensus effec...

My guess? Age discrimination laws. Once upon a time, the de facto rule was 'we keep you employed as long as you're young, hot and fr...

If they bring you a spoon with your miso soup, it's probably not good. If they offer you a spoon, it's probably okay. If a spoon...

Hitler has a thing or two to say about the Republican nomination: Seems pretty accurate to me. Had this been real, it could have been ...

Apparently a gunman in Belgium named Nordine Amrani  shot and killed three people in Liege, Belgium, and wounded 75. Here's the BBC w...

Via SMH, apparently there are now betting odds on when the Woolly Mammoth will be cloned, and they are the following: 2014 or earlier: 8 ...

Listen to this choice quote  from the Senate Majority Leader: 'Millionaire job creators are like unicorns - they're impossible to f...

I'm always amazed by the number of jobs and services that are paid or charged by the hour. Charging by the hour makes the most sense fo...

I read this last night, and have found myself strangely moved and preoccupied with it ever since. Popular Mechanics has a transcription o...

Ace of Spades knocks it out of the park discussing the hilarious angsty email doing the rounds, from a guy who got rejected after one date ...

There's an article that has been getting a lot of press recently, written by a doctor called Ken Murray . The subject of the article is ...

GiftRocket has this interesting post examining what the average secondary resale value of a $100 gift card is. Apparently there's qui...

Apparently scientists have found well-preserved bone marrow from a woolly mammoth. Why is this a big deal? Because it means that they now ...

The good news : Vladimir Putin's ruling party suffered a big drop in support in a parliamentary election on Sunday and was not certain ...

This is not a post about why dumb people are getting worse at spelling. There's lots of obvious culprits - the spreading of teenage tex...

-San Francisco tries to ban Happy Meals at McDonalds. McDonalds lawyers easily circumvent ban . Meddling bureaucrats' tears ensue. -So...

Ace of Spades links to a study  that claims to show that people view atheists as being less trustworthy. This was also covered in the Nation...

Thought of the Day, from Thomas Sowell : "The more doctrinaire libertarians see the benefits of free international trade in goods, and...

Article 1 - British Police spring into action to arrest woman for saying nasty racist things on a train: A woman has been arrested after a...

To put it mildly. Robert Frank wrote an op-ed claiming that there was an arms race in thanksgiving store opening hours which, of course, ...

Marginal revolution links to this piece in the UK Daily Telegraph : But perhaps the biggest sin of the lot was effectively to render all c...

'Ulysses is Odysseus' In order: 1. Yes. 2. Wot?

Game Theory assumes (at least) two things: common knowledge of the structure of the game, and mutual best responses by all players. Decisi...

Apparently Hulkamania is running 70% less wild these days. Linda Bollea, 52, who divorced Hulk Hogan in 2009, received a little more than ...

The rule that both parties in legal disputes pay their own costs, regardless of the outcome. This leads to gold-digging lawsuits. It leads...

Dog bites man : A Transportation Security Administration employee is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Manassas. *Yawn* That happen...

When the premise of the movie begins as follows: "X is a (movie/book/etc.) writer who has enjoyed past critical success. But he  finds...

-An interesting theory about McDonald's McRib - that it only gets reintroduced when pork belly prices drop . (via Kottke ) -A wicked s...

Economists sometimes talk about about the idea of certain things being 'off the equilibrium path'. What this means is that you never...