Moonballs from Planet Earth

Mario Miranda's Goa Suppose people from a poor third world country were given the option of being citizens of a rich first world country...

In England, we drive on the left. So it would be natural to walk on the left, right? Wrong!  This sign, instructing pedestrians to walk ...

"Black Swan" is business-speak for a single observation that demolishes a previously plausible theory.  The phrase comes fro...

"Nobody ever did anything very foolish except from some strong principle".  I chanced upon this quote a couple of months ago,...

I generally review books after I have read them, but I'm posting about Red Plenty when its still in my Amazon shopping basket. I heard a...

There really are big-point players in tennis. Just found a couple of statistical references to support this claim. Watching this year’s Wimb...

Were we ever #1? This feels like a question worth asking after the whipping at South Africa’s hands in Nagpur. Maybe the ICC ratings don’t a...

The swine flu, that terrible, dangerous contagion, resulted in my trip to a “summit” in the US being called off. Hence, I could veg out in f...

Bikers on twisty mountain roads should carry mental images of stability and control. They should not carry mental images of spectacular cras...

"The Cherokee lands furnished herbs to treat every known illness – until the Europeans came". This claim is from a tourist brochu...

Read this book . Ben Goldacre is a doctor + blogger. This is his good-natured rant about the manipulative tricks of money grubbing charlata...

I am on vacation in India. One of my nephews and I are vegging out in front of the TV on a Monday afternoon at my in-laws place, while the r...

Great old story from the Economist about a very common statistical error. Cherry picking. Hospital admission data from Canada shows that Le...

Greg Mankiw thinks he has had 3,000,000 visitors to his blog. http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2007/10/3000000.html This was my comment on hi...

After the surrender at Lord's on Saturday, the hacks and cynics will be out in force. They will rant and rave about how India lack kille...