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The Dangers of Being a Creature of Habit 27 Aug 2013 | 07:02 pm
(Photo: geishaboy500) Blane Nordahl is very good at stealing high-end silver from old homes all over the U.S. He is also, however, a creature of habit. His methodology is so constant, and so distinct...
Trader Joe’s vs. Pirate Joe’s 26 Aug 2013 | 09:02 pm
Vancouver is one of the world’s most lovely and livable cities. It sits on a glittering Pacific inlet at the base of dramatic mountains, has a temperate, mild climate, and a diverse and affluent popu...
What You Should and Shouldn’t Do When You’re Pregnant: Submit Your Questions for Emily Oster 26 Aug 2013 | 07:24 pm
If you’ve ever been pregnant, or been close to someone who is pregnant, you know how many prohibitions there are. You can’t smoke or drink. Shellfish are to be avoided. In my house, conveniently (f...
Paying Less … Without Health Insurance 23 Aug 2013 | 07:02 pm
(Photo: Zdenko Zivkovic) Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Singer describes a patient who came in for a “simple outpatient surgical procedure” and discovered it was cheaper to just ignore ...
FREAK-est Links 22 Aug 2013 | 07:24 pm
Do calls to prison cost too much? History of the world — in one 1931 map. The boomerang generation: “Some 21.6m Americans aged 18 to 31—36% of the total—still languish in the parental home.” (HT: Ch...
Do Recessions Increase Productivity? 21 Aug 2013 | 07:01 pm
During recent recessions, worker productivity has actually risen — but economists have been unsure if the result is driven by a changing workforce composition (i.e. more productive workers retaining t...
Defending the Indefensible: Your Thoughts on the Benefits of Fuel Subsidies 20 Aug 2013 | 09:01 pm
(Photo: Tony Martin) Last post, I wrote about how many nations in the developing world, such as Egypt, subsidize gasoline and diesel fuel to keep the price at the pump artificially low. There are man...
What Kind of Beer Is Most Likely to Land You in the E.R.? 20 Aug 2013 | 06:36 pm
(Photo: Tim Pearce) A new study (gated) published in Substance Abuse & Misuse and summarized by Anahad O’Connor in The New York Times identifies the brands of beer most often drunk by people who end ...
Rent at Public Markets 19 Aug 2013 | 08:32 pm
(Photo: Alpha) At the Queen Victoria Market, an immense city-run collection of stalls and shops in Melbourne, Australia, a fishmonger at a prime corner is paying $5,500 per month to the City to opera...
Why Don’t More Professional Drivers Use Traffic-Enabled GPS? 19 Aug 2013 | 06:57 pm
(Photo: Michael Sheehan) A couple years ago, when I first noticed the ability to overlay a traffic report on Google Maps on my iPhone, I assumed that the world of drivers — especially people who driv...
