Eric Scheske

From the Notebooks Nassim Taleb writes at the beginning of his first book, Fooled by Randomness: "We are still very close to our ancestors who roamed the savannah. The formation of our beliefs is fraught with superstitions--even today (I might say, especially today). Just as one day some

The son of Hugh Hefner has been arrested on a charge of domestic violence. When he heard this, Hugh Hefner said, "Son, there's a right way and a wrong way to disrespect women." Conan On Valentine's Day, Americans spend $367 million on their pets.

Received in an Email The Bavarian Beer Purity Law [http://itotd.com/articles/519/the-bavarian-purity-law/]. Great stuff for the drinking historian. Excerpt: The short version of this law, which was enacted on April 23, 1516 by Bavarian Duke Wilhelm IV (a.k.a. William IV), is that

Letters to Children You should also read C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia and the fiction of George MacDonald. MacDonald, however, is difficult to read. If you can only bear to read one thing, please read his story “The Golden Key.” It is a bizarre little story that

The big news this week? Flannery O'Connor. Not really, of course, but Dappled Things ran a great essay about O'Connor's influence on Bruce Springsteen [http://dappledthings.org/1148/naming-sin-flannery-oconnors-mark-on-bruce-springsteen/] . Excerpt: > Springsteen began reading O'Connor&

A mother in China gave birth to a 15-pound baby. Chinese officials say it's so big, it can do the work of two babies. A new product that's coming out lets you consume caffeine by inhaling it. The product brings Starbucks one step closer to