Final Guest-Blog From Seth Roberts
…here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, here, here, and here for his earlier blog…
…here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, here, here, and here for his earlier blog…
The pizza-and-gaming emporium prides itself on affordability, which means its arcade games are really cheap to play. Does that lead to kids hogging the best games — and parents starting…
I have long been a fan of the folks at www.tradesports.com and www.intrade.com. They brought a whole new approach to sports gambling. Instead of acting as a bookie and charging…
It used to be at the center of our conversations about politics and society. Scott Hershovitz (author of Nasty, Brutish, and Short) argues that philosophy still has a lot to…
It used to be at the center of our conversations about politics and society. Scott Hershovitz is the author of Nasty, Brutish, and Short, in which he argues that philosophy…
Youth baseball — long a widely accessible American pastime — has become overrun by $10,000-per-year for-profit travel leagues. Zachary Crockett peers inside the dugout….
Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with cancer at 22. She made her illness the subject of a New York Times column and a memoir, Between Two Kingdoms. She and Steve talk…
Justin Trudeau, facing record-low approval numbers, is doubling down on his progressive agenda. But he is so upbeat (and Canada-polite) that it’s easy to miss just how radical his vision…
…linguist has become a very public intellectual. But the self-declared “polite Canadian” has managed to enrage people on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Steve Levitt tries to understand why….
Zappos C.E.O. Tony Hsieh has a wild vision and the dollars to try to make it real. But it still might be the biggest gamble in town.
Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, EatWith, and other companies in the “sharing economy” are practically daring government regulators to shut them down. The regulators are happy to comply.
…happened. Each day in that week, I understood more. By the end of the week, I understood all the class discussions. By the end of the course, I could hold…
…come with tie-in purchases, this is a voluntary tie-in: you don’t have to purchase anything. Since nearby internet shops charge for usage, this seems like a very good deal if…
…a check : REMIT 95. Trump who wrote “The Best Is Yet to Come” : IVANA 84. Bear vis-à-vis the woods, e.g. : DENIZEN 85. Fails miserably : CRATERS 79….
Also: Does knowing your family history affect your identity?…
…more errors. Comparing a change in ‘Expected Fielding Independent Pitching’ (tracks a pitchers’ performance) to a change in Earned Run Average (tracks the number of runs scored) Comparing a…
…Yet one enormous consumer segment remains largely oblivious to the financial crisis: animals. For a few seafood companies, pets and other critters now count among their most reliable customers. The…
In just a few weeks, the novel coronavirus has undone a century’s worth of our economic and social habits. What consequences will this have on our future — and is…
Artist Wendy MacNaughton knows the difficulty of sitting in silence and the power of having fun. She explains to Steve the lessons she’s gleaned from drawing hospice residents, working in…
…months, Michael has committed himself to understanding both the responsibilities and challenges of philanthropy. There was some interest in his progress among Freakonomics readers, so I thought it might be…
Should you shout your sins from the rooftops? How many skeletons are in the average person’s closet? And what has Angela been hiding?…
…in extending the life of humans come and in which field is it going to happen: genetics, robotics, computer science, etc? – Ryan A. I don’t know! Examining the track…
…under a Creative Commons NonCommercial ShareAlike license—the same license used by MIT’s OpenCourseWare. Roughly speaking, the license gives everyone permission to share verbatim or modified copies non-commercially. Meanwhile, MIT Press…
It used to be a global capital of innovation, invention, and exploration. Now it’s best known for its messy European divorce. We visit London to see if the British spirit…
The San Francisco 49ers, one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world, also used to be one of the best. But they’ve been losing lately — a lot…
Victoria Groce is the best trivia contestant on earth. The winner of the 2024 World Quizzing Championship explains the structure of a good question, why she knits during competitions, and…
The gist: the Nobel selection process is famously secretive (and conducted in Swedish!) but we pry the lid off, at least a little bit.
Verbal tic or strategic rejoinder? Whatever the case: it’s rare to come across an interview these days where at least one question isn’t a “great” one.
What is the purpose of negative emotions? Why do we engage with things we know will upset us? And how does Angie deal with rejection?
John Ray is an emergency C.E.O., a bankruptcy expert who takes over companies that have succumbed to failure or fraud. He’s currently cleaning up the mess left by alleged crypto…
