The Adventures of Shylock Holmes

Specifically, the obituaries. The 'it' here is The Economist. Their obituary section, on the last page of the magazine, is far an...

"Libya". So, we want to topple a nasty secular dictator we know, who is locked in a struggle with Al Qaeda-linked terrorist ...

When historians of the future are writing the epitaph for the west, I imagine that one of the characteristics that will strike them about th...

A sad but sweet comic from SMBC . Brave Zack Weiner! That was drawing! Good alike at grave and gay!

Without drinking it, obviously. This is continuing in the 'news you can use' category, among the trivialities that have been occup...

If confronted with an exam question of the following form: "Two friends are having a discussion. Simon say that [ABC]. Sally, on the ...

I have been rather tardy with this particular web diary of late. As usual, a lack of posts either means that my life has gotten a lot less f...

As far as I can hotel, there are only two possible prices for services at a hotel: a) 5 times market price, or b) Free. And that's...

How strange it is to be in the twilight of one's youth! To gaze around and reflect on the set of choices you made (whether deliberatel...

The age old question, as most readers of this august diary will know, is the following: Do you know what it takes to sell real estate? ...

" Because they enjoy it. Why does anyone do anything? "

Singapore is often held up as a kind of model reactionary state among the nations in existence today. It has incredibly low crime rates, low...

So much has been said on the Trayvon Martin case already. It feels a little bit like World War I – when you try to explain that France is fi...

If you look across the countries of the world, it is a reliable trend that any country featuring the word ‘Democratic’ in its name is both ...

-One of the classic experiments in psychology to indicate overconfidence is to ask people to self-rate their driving ability. Nearly everybo...

As a tribute to the dying hours of the National Holiday over here, everyone who hasn't yet read it should read the great Thomas Hutchins...

So the Military in Egypt decided they'd had enough of the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood government and removed them in a co...

In Egypt, a Dutch female reporter who was reporting on demonstrations in Tahrir Square  was savagely raped . Apparently she was an intern co...

Let's take a moment to celebrate the uncommon genius of   Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov . What did Professor Ivanov do, you well may ask? He...

-First and foremost, read the damn decision . Otherwise you'll be one of those absolutely insufferable people who view every court decis...

The problem with getting distracted and waiting several days to write about a story is that by the time you get around to it, the narrative ...

The great Robert Fogel, sadly recently departed , noted in his discussion about slavery that the system was, for the most part, very effici...

And some fact to round it out:

Bumper stickers that announce 'My Child is an Honor Student at [XYZ] Elementary School'. To me, this just seems to be the height o...

1. Pride or Pride ? 2. Superman  or  Superman , as well as (to loosen the definitions a bit)  Superman or Superman ? 3. Somebody that ...

‘The Best-run businesses run SAP’ Let’s heroically assume that this statement is true. It’s a long way from this statement to the ...

The statue of Holger Danske sits in Kronborg castle in Helsingør, Denmark. According to the legend, as told by the guide at Helsingør,...

Not if you are their client. Not if they're underwriting an IPO you're purchasing. And certainly  not if they're just trading on...