We shall now find out if Messy Matters readers are smarter than Mechanical Turkers. For each of the questions below, provide a numerical range that you are 90% sure contains the correct answer. In particular, if you have “no idea” then give a very wide range; and if you happen to be... »
In the 2008 Summer Olympics Usain Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.69 seconds, earning the gold medal and garnering the international attention that comes with being the "fastest man in the world." While Bolt became a household name, his competitors didn't fare nearly as well: far fewer people... »
As a poser economist (as Jeff Ely calls me), I love to complain about the social inefficiency of gift giving. It's a terrible idea, guys! We waste 13 billion dollars a year on it! But I do appreciate that I have a tendency to pooh-pooh social conventions far too... »
Statistical wisdom is sometimes found in unusual places. Take, for example, the following exchange in, “Whip It,” a story of roller-derby loving misfits: Team: (chanting, after a game) We're number two! We're number two! Coach: You guys came in second out of two teams. Team: Woo! So what’s the moral? Well, there's been a fair amount... »
Tomorrow, after-work or after-school activities that require daylight come to an abrupt end for most of us in the US and Canada. (Remember to "fall back" tonight!) There seems to be a lot of misdirected vitriol surrounding daylight saving time (DST). First, let's get this out of way: no one (worth arguing with) thinks daylight... »
Grammatical prescriptivism annoys me to no end. (No ending sentences with prepositions? Ridiculous! Don’t split infinitives? Poppycock!) Well, except when I do it… There are exactly two valid uses of quotation marks: when you mean something literally, and when you mean something nonliterally. It ought to be hard to mess that up. But the following are not valid uses: I... »
