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Meet Bill Gates

Dubner recently posted about criminal names in England. The American parallel to that list is one maintained by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The Texas list has information about…




More on the Google AdWords Controversy

…found that online searches for people with distinctively black names was 25% more likely to produce an ad suggesting the person had an arrest record – regardless of whether that…



The FREAK-est Links

Divorce is bad for the environment. Survey shows that doctors fail to report each others’ errors. (Earlier) A complete compilation of science fiction baby names. (Earlier) Researchers study zebra social…




The FREAK-est Links

The baby names debate continues. (Earlier) Head of new NYC Office of Financial Empowerment answers questions. (Earlier) Is public peer review necessary in security? (Earlier) Dirty, dirty biofuel…



This Identity Theft I Can Live With

…Wizard and type them in for yourself — and then be prepared to spend the next several hours typing in other names in this wonderful and wildly addictive little app….




Correcting Krugman

…“Although Rajan is careful not to name names and attributes the blame to generic ‘politicians,’ it is clear that Democrats are largely to blame in his worldview.” Yet if he…



Please Welcome …

…may recall that Annika made the list of Freakonomics-approved first names — i.e., high-end but mainly obscure names that, if our theory holds true, will increase in popularity in the…




The FREAKest Links: “4real Wayne Smith” Edition

…that numerals aren’t permitted in first names. (Hat tip: Ryan Hayhurst.) And, in non-name news: the International Symposium on Forecasting begins this Sunday, gathering economists, financial analysts, and scientists to…



Mike Brown Vs. Mike Brown

…favorite topics: elections and first names. It’s called “A Tale of Two Mike Browns in Lake County Politics”: Did Mike Brown, the candidate for recorder, intentionally run on the name…





Carrots or Sticks? Handicapped Parking Edition

…they would one year publish names of the fastest referees, and even give a prize to fast referees who provided excellent reports. I suggested that they instead publish the names




The Rise of the Black Book Club

…work, of course, if blacks and whites had very different preferences — which, as we’ve seen with TV viewing habits and baby names (to name a few), they plainly do….



The FREAK-est Links

New York’s most popular baby names in 2006. (Earlier) The science of four-letter words. Can immigration levels affect gas prices? College pharmacies jack up birth control prices, fewer women fill…



Discriminating Software

…as proxies for race, as discussed in our “How Much Does Your Name Matter?” podcast, in which the Harvard computer scientist Latanya Sweeney found that distinctively black names are more…



Fun With WolframAlpha

…of feathers? No answers yet for: Chocolate or vanilla? Who’s on first? Who made me? I also recommend entering the names of your loved ones. For example, when I enter…



Diversity in Research

…period the proportion of US-based authors with English and European names fell while the proportion of US-based authors with names from China and other developing countries increased. The evidence shows…





Name That Baby!

We’ve heard reports here and there of expectant parents plucking a name or two from the various lists of first names in Freakonomics, but these folks are taking it pretty…



Experimenting with milkshakes?

…On my menu it was called something like “Coffee mocha milkshake” and on my wife’s menu it was “Chocolate Kona milkshake swirl.” The names were better than that, but one…



Editorials Don’t Kill People

…includes a link to a public-records database that lists names and addresses of all members of a certain population. Now, try to imagine which of the following databases might provoke…



In Praise of Ancient Technologies, and Aptonyms

…I love when people’s names are aptonyms — names that correlate with their professions. It seems to happen an awful lot with bird people. There’s John Flicker, president of the…



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Episode 49

Mathematician Sarah Hart on Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears

Playing notes on her piano, she demonstrates for Steve why whole numbers sound pleasing, why octaves are mathematically imperfect, and how math underlies musical composition. Sarah, a professor at the…

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Episode 55

Direct-to-Consumer Mattresses

Online companies promised to bring transparency to the mattress-buying experience. Did that work out? Zachary Crockett takes a look under the sheets….