My gods. I can't tell Tina Fey from Sarah Palin anymore.

Another fascinating article on rumors, why they happen, how they're useful, and how to stop themA few ideas from the article: rumors help build social networks, and are also used to help find facts in the face of uncertainty. Saying "no comment" or ignoring the rumor is actually the worst way to deal with it, as it just preserves the vacuum in ( Read more... )

Another illuminating take on the mortgage mess, and helps explain why so many people in the banking industry failed to see this coming; it boils down to the Usual Error - the idea that people assume that others work the same way they do, and have access to the same knowledge. What is a good idea from an economist's point of view is terrible for an ( Read more... )

This post makes me happy.

Skirr! Apodiectic! Griseous!

This (or audio version here) is a brilliant, comprehensible explanation of why exactly the economy is exploding. I've been reading about it for the past month and this is the first thing I've seen that actually makes it make sense.

Linked from Cecily.

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Two of the unlikeliest words to ever occur together:

Hasidic. Reggae.

*blinks*

Click to view

No time to develop my thoughts on this, but I ran across an interesting quote and wanted to preserve it here ( Read more... )

Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the Earth yet?

(oh, and view source on that page. so funny.)

I cut Aiden's hair for the first time today (just a trim to get it out of his eyes; his beautiful curls are still there, never fear). I also showed him how to pick blackberries, an activity to which he took with great gusto. And I discovered a tree in our backyard is bearing fruit - pears!

And Andrei just discovered that my dad is on Wikipedia. ( Read more... )