This is no doubt quite old, but I just recently ran across it. Very funny and has this absolutely beautiful evisceration of sociology : For sheer lack of intelligibility, sociology is far and away the number one subject. I sat through hundreds of hours of sociology courses, and read gobs of s ... Read more

It’s getting to be that time of year again when people flock to the malls and start buying presents for their loved ones. Inevitably you’ll come to the conclusion, as you do every year, that you don’t know what to get people. Well that’s where gift cards come into play ... Read more

My earlier warnings about problems that the Making Work Pay tax credit will cause some folks are now official. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has issued a formal report on the matter that I  blogged about back in March. The credit seemed like such ... R ... Read more

I was talking with some folks at LSU who were working on a proposal to exempt textbooks from sales taxes in Baton Rouge, currently a whopping 9 percent. I’m all in favor of cutting sales taxes, which are generally not progressive; but textbooks are a luxury good because college education is dispro ... Read more

I respect Bill Belichick more today than I ever have. Last night he made a decision in the final minutes that led his team the New England Patriots to defeat. It will likely go down as one of the most criticized decisions any coach has ever made. With his team leading by six points and just over two ... Read more

Swiss banks are considering asking some foreign clients to sign a pledge declaring they aren't breaking tax laws at home. The chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association, Patrick Odier, told the Swiss weekly newspaper NZZ am Sonntag (hat tip to Taiwan News ) that the industry group is ... Read more

Construction-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar recently announced its willingness to settle a lawsuit in which it was accused of charging excessive fees in four of its employee 401(k) plans. Read the full article ... Read the full post ... Read more

Can you decipher this first grader's math assignment? BoingBoing's Mark Frauenfelder wants a second opinion . ... Read the full post ... Read more

A bit dated (see the reference to Hurrican Rita) but still relevant, especially in todays economic climate. Graduation is six or seven months ago or five or six months ahead but either way, recent grads and soon to be grads are thinking about or experiencing their first jobs and it is scary.  ... Read more

We all know that information is valuable, and that more information is generally better than less. But in the realm of pharmaceutical research (as in others, to be sure), there's a troubling paradox: while successes are widely publicized, and while the results of clinical trials are usually publish ... Read more