Monthly Archives: December 2005

Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure

Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure, says a Cato paper of 1991. (No kidding?) This is the first time I’ve seen the data so thoroughly laid out. Here’s another survey. (Both cited by Radley Balko.)

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I tawt I taw a Caspian sturgeon

A spammer asks, “Can you imagine a Silvester without Caviar?” Well, no, I guess not. What’s a Silvester?

Posted in spam | 1 Comment

do they didn’t done it or don’t they?

There’s an old joke that “there are no guilty men in prison,” i.e. that practically all inmates claim to have been unjustly accused. I’ve also heard that in fact most convicts cheerfully admit to the charges. The latter seems more … Continue reading

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collect them all!

In a review of a biography of Lillian Hellman, The Economist used the phrase “at the height of the first cold war in 1952.” I’m always the last to know. Is this usage widespread? When was the height of the … Continue reading

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of bicycles and water-beds and cabbages and kings

Jerome K. Jerome – or his fictional counterpart “J.” – says in chapter 5 of Three Men on the Bummel:   I do not regard the conveyance of useful information as my forte. This belief was not inborn with me; … Continue reading

Posted in general | 2 Comments

fifty-two choose five

So I was writing a little allegorical paragraph which invited the reader to imagine a poker game in which a dispute arises over whether a flush beats a straight or not. “(The one holding the straight,” I explained, “is a … Continue reading

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first in a series of one

Choose your own joke! Pillow is fixed, and I’m still broke. variable. floating. (He’s hiding under my bed.)

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