Newmark's Door

The ten supposedly most intelligent and ten least intelligent breeds of dogs.

Another school year has begun. Something all college students should read is this oldie-but-goodie by Glen Whitman: "The (in)Significance of Significance".

Duke Star Trek geek sets the student newspaper straight about the "invisibility cloak". (Via Fark.)

The New Yorker on the economics of spam

Bill Gates infamously predicted in 2004 that the problem of spam would be solved "in about two years".

Not one of Mr. Gates's better predictions.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the New Yorker's depressing take on the economics of spam, "Damn Spam".

"2000 Unofficial Uses for WD-40". (I love "unofficial".)

UPDATE: longtime reader John Palmer helpfully points out that at the WD-40 page, this list is described as "official". But when you download the list, the first paragraph reads as follows:

The uses of WD-40 described on this website were provided to WD-40 Company by end-users of the product, and do not constitute recommendations or suggestions for use of WD-40 by WD-40 Company. These uses have not been tested by WD-40 Company. Consumers should exercise common sense whenever using WD-40. Always follow the instructions and take heed of any warnings printed on the WD-40 packaging.

So, apparently the list is an "Official Unofficial" list. Thanks to John and the company for clearing that up. :-)

Review of a book about a public high school that's three times as hard to get into as Harvard: NYC's Stuyvesant.

Sumatra: a simple, small, fast .pdf viewer.

Summary of Nordhaus study on global warming

Ronald Bailey briefly discusses the new study on global warming by noted economist William Nordhaus.

There's a lot of potentially useful information here: Popular Mechanics's updated "Survive Anything: Your Ultimate Guide to Disaster".

Sowell on infrastructure

Thomas Sowell on the what the real cause of our infrastructure problem is.