Stuart Jeffries, in the Guardian, teaches us some economics about the Joy Of Giving. deadweight loss: losses to one person that are not offset by the gains to someone else. Waldfogel estimates the global deadweight loss of Christmas 2006 to … Continue reading →

It’s an awful song. I mean, it starts off well enough. Happy birthday to you. It gets straight to the point and you know what the song is going to be about right there in the first couple of words. … Continue reading →

The Sirens:[Singing, soothing] Sleep, brave Ulysses! Sleep! Let us soothe your sinews with our sensuous songs of slumber! Scylla: [LOUD!] *LOUD CLICK* I WHOOSH YOU INTO WAKEFULNESS! NO SLEEP FOR YOU! MY INFERNAL NOISE BRINGS FIRE FROM THE VERY DEPTHS … Continue reading →

Fuller’s Extra Special Bitter is the second best beer in the world. Continue reading →

So I had my first guitar lesson last night. Just like shopping for a guitar when you know nothing about guitars, choosing a teacher is tough. Likes the Blues? Check! Pink Floyd? Led Zep? Check? Little bit of theory? Check! … Continue reading →

Nicholas Kristoff felt obliged to apologize for comparing The Best Health Care System in the World to Slovenia’s. In several columns, I’ve noted indignantly that we have worse health statistics than Slovenia. For example, I noted that an American child … Continue reading →

John Derbyshire’s cuts to the chase in his commentary on D’Souza’s new book. To judge from the extracts — and of course, if this is the kind of thing that interests you, you should read the whole book — D’Souza seems to … Continue reading →

A long time ago, there was a King of England called King James I. Continue reading →

Olivia Judson explains that science is not a succession of facts, facts facts and why Rosalind Franklin did not discover the structure of DNA. She had the data. Why didn’t she reach the solution? There are several answers to this; … Continue reading →

Why I enjoy reading Conor Friedersdorf: That’s why I am sympathetic to the “conservative dissidents,” despite my many policy differences with them. Unlike the base, I don’t think politicians who are squishy on substance did in Republicans. I think what … Continue reading →