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Freakonomics

The FREAK-est Links

Match the drug to the warning label. (Hat tip: BoingBoing) Does Consumer Reports need a lesson in data analysis? (Earlier) Meet Harvard macroeconomist Robert Barro. Hotels grapple with going green.

9/12/07

The FREAK-est Links

Submit your entries for the new NASA slogan. Will humans evolve based on high carb diets? (Earlier) The latest in prediction markets: how good will a new product be? Vote for the future of Boston’s energy, design and healthcare.

9/11/07

The FREAK-est Links

British Airways faces class action for losing luggage. (HT: Consumerist) The $100 iPhone rebate analyzed. Housing slump spells bad news for real estate agents. (Earlier) Can graph theory match kidney donors? (HT: BoingBoing)

9/10/07

And Today Is…

September 7 is the day in 1979 when ESPN debuted on cable TV. It only took 28 years for the network to start covering the USA Rock Paper Scissors League championship.

9/7/07

The FREAK-est Links

Study results show rock stars die younger. (Earlier) BMA urges “ultimate fighting” ban, UFC officials object. Wal-Mart musical opens in New York to poor reviews. Fantasy football not your thing? Try new fantasy investing.

9/7/07

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September 6 is the day in 1927 when the Harlem Globetrotters were founded, with the team choosing to include Harlem in their name (even though the original members were from Chicago) because of its central role in African-American culture. By the late 1940’s, the Globetrotters were a big draw and a top-rate team, beating the (white) Minneapolis Lakers twice — . . .

9/6/07

The FREAK-est Links

Send in your nominees for the Blogging Scholarship Award. Venezuelan government considers regulating baby names. Sure, Michigan lost, but in revenue terms, they still won. (Earlier) Do teacher credentials affect students’ achievements? (Earlier)

9/6/07

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September 5 is the day in 1997 when Mother Teresa died at age 87. No word on what she’d have thought of our quorum on street charity.

9/5/07

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September 4 is the day in 2002 when Texas singer Kelly Clarkson was voted the first American Idol. Sadly, her vote-winning song of choice was not “Girl, Your Marginal Benefit Is Far Greater Than Your Marginal Cost.”

9/4/07

Freakonomics.com on Your Phone

The Freakonomics blog is now available on the New York Times‘s mobile site, which offers a full (yes, full) text feed of each day’s newspaper stories and blog posts in mobile-friendly format. (To read the comments, however, you still have to come to the site.) You can subscribe by going here on your BlackBerry, Treo, iPhone, or any cell phone . . .

8/31/07

The FREAK-est Links

Starbucks to take Russia by storm. Now in Travelodge rooms: the Bible and Alastair Campbell’s memoir. (Hat tip: MR.) Clothes beat computers in online sales. Medical Hypotheses journal trapped in the Dark Ages?

8/31/07

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August 31 is the day in 1897 when Thomas Edison patented the first movie projector, the Kinetoscope. Who knows whether High School Musical 2 was the future he envisioned.

8/31/07

The FREAK-est Links

See? Even bacteria cheat. (Earlier) Dissed by Oprah: one author’s tale. Global warming hits the fashion industry. (Earlier) Can railroad track layouts show the causal effects of segregation?

8/30/07

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August 30 is the day in 1963 when a direct phone line was established between Washington D.C. and the Kremlin, so that President Kennedy could communicate easily with the Soviet premier. Presumably it wasn’t to discuss chess collusion.

8/30/07

The FREAK-est Links

Ron Paul takes all? ABC’s Langer on online “poll” results. (Earlier) Get Botox today, but possible melanomas require a wait. Kasparov, despair: computers learn checkers, Scrabble, Sudoku. (Earlier) New N.A.R. sales release overly optimistic? (Earlier)

8/29/07

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August 29 is the day in 2000 when Pope John Paul II endorsed organ donation. No word on his endorsement of trading organs for shorter prison terms.

8/29/07

The FREAK-est Links

New book advocates following your gut. U.S. obesity rates keep on climbing. (Earlier) Ways to avoid hospital-transmitted infections. (Earlier) Red Lobster launches health-conscious Web site. (Earlier)

8/28/07

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August 28 is the day in 2005 when Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a full evacuation of New Orleans in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina. Little did he know that his order would temporarily drop the city’s crime rate to zero.

8/28/07

The FREAK-est Links

Home sales hit five-year low. (Earlier) Second Life’s future: “bigger than the Web“?(Earlier) Delta starts a blog. (Earlier) Risk analyst sets next year’s median of U.S. terrorism deaths at zero. (Earlier)

8/28/07

And Today Is…

August 27 is the day in 1900 when U.S. Army physician James Carroll allowed a mosquito infected with yellow fever to bite him, thereby enabling his colleague, Army pathologist Walter Reed, to prove that the insects transmitted the disease. While their research led to development of a vaccine, the disease is still rampant, and often fatal — as is the . . .

8/27/07

The FREAK-est Links

Thieves hack Monster.com, steal user info. (Earlier.) Study shows we’re poor predictors of our own emotions. (Earlier.) Advertisers to see your every detail on Facebook. Gambling to be monitored at U.S. Open. No word on doping. (Earlier.)

8/27/07

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August 24 is the day in 1989 when then-MLB commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti announced that Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling. His apologies are now available on eBay.

8/24/07

The FREAK-est Links

Are cows really the next energy source? U.S. Internet surfing time to surpass TV time. Good thing stars don’t care about privacy: Google Earth launches. (Earlier) Do Jim Cramer’s picks make money? (Earlier)

8/24/07

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August 23 the day in 2000 when the first season finale of CBS’ Survivor attracted 51 million viewers, a record audience at that time for a reality show. Only seven short years later, we’re willing to believe a reality show offering a kidney giveaway.

8/23/07

The FREAK-est Links

“So You Think You Can Be President?” (Related.) From nose to wallet: sellers embrace “scent marketing.” It’s just business: new mob rises in Italy. In MA, minority teacher applicants hurt by licensing test. (Related.)

8/22/07

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August 22 is the day in 2003 when Alabama chief justice Roy Moore was suspended from the bench for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from his courthouse. No word on whether he’d read Dawkins.

8/22/07

The FREAK-est Links

Play Warcraft, study pandemics. (Related.) “Bueller? Bueller? Retirement?” (HT: Consumerist.) Cell phones & driving not so dangerous after all? (HT: MR.) In Denver, feeding the meter feeds the homeless. (Related.)

8/22/07

And Today Is…

August 21 is the 21st anniversary of the Hubbard Glacier’s sudden and rapid shift, threatening the Alaskan town of Yakutat with an eco-disaster. Two decades later, the story would have been just one in the slew of climate change headlines.

8/21/07

And Today Is…

August 20 is the day in 1938 when Lou Gehrig hit his record 23rd career grand slam. At least that is one home run record that seems well out of reach of Barry Bonds (though hardly so for Manny Ramirez).

8/20/07

European Property Gets its Star Moment

Properazzi.com lists for-sale properties worldwide.

8/13/07

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