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1 " The more social science we learn, the more we realize that people, while treasuring their independence, are in fact drawn to herd behavior in almost every aspect of daily life. "
― Steven D. Levitt , When to Rob a Bank
2 " Most people are terrible at risk assessment. They tend to overstate the risk of dramatic and unlikely events at the expense of more common and boring (if equally devastating) events. "
3 " I don’t expect perfection, I expect excellence.” I expect 100 percent effort in all you do. "
4 " Don’t Burn the Food (SDL) In a sample of thirteen African countries between 1999 and 2004, 52 percent of women surveyed say they think that wife-beating is justified if she neglects the children; around 45 percent think it’s justified if she goes out without telling the husband or argues with him; 36 percent if she refuses sex, and 30 percent if she burns the food. And this is what the women think. We live in a strange world. "
5 " Most of us have a lot more experience being consumers than producers, so we tend to view things through the lens of demand rather than supply. "
6 " The way economists see it, the chances of an individual’s vote influencing an election outcome is vanishingly small, so unless it is fun to vote, it doesn’t make much sense to do so. "
7 " Anyway, this is just the latest example of why I never trust statistics I get from people in the field of medicine, ever. "
8 " As the Inuits say, “Gifts make slaves, as whips make dogs. "
9 " Morning robberies yield far more than afternoon robberies . . .' - When to Rob a Bank: A Rouge Economist's Guide to the World by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner "
10 " Just Like Canada, with Better Bacon. "
11 " Enviros "
12 " What does tenure do? It distorts people’s effort so that they face strong incentives early in their career (and presumably work very hard early on as a consequence) and very weak incentives forever after (and presumably work much less hard on average as a consequence). "
13 " (Honorable mention in the Six-Feet-Under category to the reader who writes: “In my hometown [Amarillo, TX], there is a funeral director called Boxwell Brothers. This one can’t be beat.”) "
14 " Vegans are still considered as sort of “out there,” a fringe group of animal rights activists with pasty skin and protein issues. However, "
15 " If almost all letters have stamps, then the benefit of checking each one with 100 percent accuracy is infinitesimal, so it makes sense to let some unstamped letters through. "
16 " So in the tradition of Poland Spring, Evian, and other hydro-geniuses, we’ve decided to bottle something that was freely available and charge you money for it. "
17 " One of the best things about having a blog is that you’ve got a place to run your craziest ideas up the flagpole and see just how quickly they get shot down. "
18 " Superman and the Bible are plainly cut from the same template: baby Superman and baby Moses are both rescued from certain death, sent off by their desperate parents in a rocket ship/wicker basket, and are then raised by an alien family but always remember the ways of their people and spend their lives fighting for justice.) "
19 " The history of modern doping began with the cycling craze of the 1890s and the six-day races that lasted from Monday morning to Saturday night. Extra caffeine, peppermint, cocaine and strychnine were added to the riders’ black coffee. Brandy was added to tea. Cyclists were given nitroglycerine to ease breathing after sprints. This was a dangerous business, since these substances were doled out without medical supervision. "
20 " Overall, a portfolio of the “good to great” companies looks like it would have underperformed the S&P 500. "