January 2009
Boys With Unpopular Names More Likely to Break Law →
Boys in the United States with common names like Michael and David are less likely to commit crimes than those named Ernest or Ivan.
Confidence Tricks →
The Grades
An A+ record is an organically conceived masterpiece that repays prolonged listening with new excitement and insight. It is unlikely to be marred by more than one merely ordinary cut.
An A is a great record both of whose sides offer enduring pleasure and surprise. You should own it.
An A- is a very good record. If one of its sides doesn’t provide intense and consistent...
“Men smell of cheese, and women of grapefruit or onion.”
– Christian Starkenmann
“He pretty much asked me if it was OK if he masturbated in front of me or...”
– Grant Haas
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Easy Homemade Granola
Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/3 cup whole almonds [Note: I used slivered almonds, and they worked fine.] 1/3 cup whole hazelnuts 1/3 cup golden raisins 1/3 cup dried cherries
Procedure
1. Preheat the...
“Dec. 9 to my family, to us, to me, is what Pearl Harbor Day was to the United...”
– Rod Blagojevich
“So relieved.”
– George W. Bush, on how he felt after Barak Obama’s inauguration
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“The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they...”
– Tunde Mohammed
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”
– TS Eliot
The Country's New Robots.txt File →
Here’s a small and nerdy measure of the huge change in the executive branch of the US government today. Yesterday’s was almost 2400 lines. Today’s? 2. … We’ll see how long it lasts.
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The 86 Rules of Boozing
If you owe someone money, always pay them back in a bar. Preferably during happy hour.
Always toast before doing a shot.
Whoever buys the shot gets the first chance to offer a toast.
Change your toast at least once a month.
Buying someone a drink is five times better than a handshake.
Buying a strange woman a...
“I am better.”
– Ilija Marinovic, upon waking from a three-year long coma
Hack Your Brain →
The first thing to know is that the mind isn’t a mirror, or even a passive observer of reality. Much of what we think of as being out there actually comes from in here, and is a byproduct of how the brain processes sensation. In recent years scientists have come up with a number of simple tricks that expose the artifice of our senses, so that we end up perceiving what we know isn’t...
“We are all living in a giant cosmic hologram.”
– Craig Hogan
Easy and Portable Breakfast Recipes
Weekend production; weekday consumption.
Zucchini Muffins - We like to pack our zucchini muffins with other textures and flavors, too: a handful of white raisins, some walnuts, a quarter cup of flax seeds or oat bran, maybe some extra grated carrots. We also really like this recipe from Simply Recipes, which uses oil or melted butter and doesn’t require...
Yorkshire Pudding Ingredients
Ingredients
1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 2 eggs, beaten* 2 Tbsp melted butter 2-4 Tbsp of roast drippings
* If you double the recipe, add an extra egg to the batter.
Procedure
1. Sift together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Form a well in the center. Add the milk, melted butter, and eggs and beat until the batter is completely smooth (no...
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