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Here's a quote from the author's blog on the website devoted to the book wherein he comments on what he was thinking right before he went on to do a reading from the book:

“I intended to begin by describing my injury and how it set me on the path of thinking about irrational behavior more generally.”

Perhaps he was injured because he himself did something irrational and that is what got him to think about why most persons act irrationally.

Ha, ha! Wonderful picture!

It's the little speech Dr. Evil makes when he visits the family therapist with Scott.

... Or PMS'ing like hell? ...

Are you saying that it's a reasonable assumption that women who have PMS might snap at any moment and stab people? Wow.

Thanks for the link!

... the Lancet's study was peer reviewed and quite valid.

Um, it is laughable to suggest that peer review guarantees validity. Especially in the two Lancet published studies when the publicized comments of the one reviewer included statements to the effect that the lack of details in the report could be obscuring significant over-estimation of deaths.

The latest study was shockingly weak. Once again, they did exactly zero primary investigation (i.e., actually looking for, examining, and determining cause of death of individuals). All the study teams did was survey individuals about deaths in their households. There was no independent confirmation of any sort. The interviewers were eight Iraqis. There were exactly zero independent observers.

The team claimed to have seen death certificates representing over 90% of the deaths they personally tracked. If they really had surveyed representative households, that would imply (to support the 650,000 dead number) that over 550,000 death certificates had been issued. Yet the Ministry of Health (and Baghdad morgue) has issued only about 50,000 certificates.

Further, the investigative team have destroyed at least some of the records of how they conducted their survey (it's not clear how much), preventing any evaluation of their methods by independent researchers. They also have refused to release all of their raw data for independent review.

The capabilities of Open Office are already beyond what most users need. Unfortunately, all of the corporate types I have to interact with insist on Microsoft Office formats and Open Office's compatibility (though improving) still lags. Argh!

This gives me pause for thought:

The extension's ability to bookmark shell commands can come in even more handy, since it allows you to create bookmarks that send commands to external applications.

One of the biggest problems I saw in the corporate world with Windows users was the absent-minded way people would load and execute random software on their machines. Will the increasing integration and capability with Open Office cause similar problems?

It's a logical conclusion to draw from the failure of the kids to cooperate.

Hmm, is that the same as saying “If they're innocent, why do they need a lawyer?”

No, no, no, they weren't murdered, they pooped themselves to death. Viz.,

“In dinosaur feces, we found nematodes, trematodes and even protozoa that could have caused dysentery and other abdominal disturbances. The infective stages of these intestinal parasites are carried by filth-visiting insects.”

Since you obviously didn't read what I posted on the previous thread ...

I read your post to me. In fact, I quoted it entirely in my response with my comments.

If you want to quote me, quote me.

I did.

If you want to grossly exaggerate something that I have posted, expect me to point out your imbecility.

Happy New Year, jerk.

I am overwhelmed by the intellectual force of your writings.

Obviously another case of a totally misguided person who should have minded their own business. He should have just called the police.

/sarc

Easy for you to say, friend...

No, it's not easy for me to say. It's unfortunate that you were inconvenienced by someone trying to keep from being ripped off, but that's what can happen when criminals think they can get away with crimes.

... you weren’t the one run over and nearly killed ...

If you think you were wronged by the shoplifter who knocked you down or the employee who ran over you, do something about it aside from bellyaching about people who are tired of being ripped off by shoplifters.

... over someone who’d stolen a bottle of white out.

It's not about one particular bottle of white out, it's about being a target for everyone who thinks they can hit you whenever they want because there are no consequences.

I’d say something else to your ridiculous response, but it’s not worth it.

Go right ahead, I don't mind, if it would make you feel better.

Retail workers are not trained in the proper apprehension of suspected shoplifters--that's the job of the store's assets protection, not the fishmongers, not the salesfloor associates.

In this specific case, the lowly fishmonger was ordered to help by the manager who was actively pursuing the shoplifter.

Think about what you're suggesting.

I did.

You weren't there, were you? The lowly fishmonger made a decision based on the circumstances and the instructions he had been given by his manager and decided that restraining the shoplifter was the proper course of action.

The police who investigated the incident had no complaint. Why do you?

I wouldn't expect a salesfloor associate to know how to do a police officer's job any more than I would expect a police officer to know how to process inventory for the health and beauty department.

Let's all stand around and get robbed and do nothing about it ourselves. That's what the police are for, isn't is?

Probably shouldn't chase rapists or murderers either. Someone might get hurt!

... and stay away from the knuckleheads.

That's great advice even if one is not in the Army.

Thanks for the info! (I tried Google before posting but got zero hits because I thought the “!” on the end was an “I”. Oops!)

“How extravagant you are, throwing away women like that. Someday they may be scarce.”

OK, educate me. What's “IYAAYASI”? My imagination can come up with some pretty inventive phrases, but I'd like to know the truth. (Yes, I can handle the truth! ;-)

Let’s just be glad that he’s turned his heart toward Christ, all right, and not get into the “my church is better than your church” game.

So are you saying that when Blair was a member of Church of England, his heart wasn't turned toward Christ?

It’s not a “conversion” to move from one church to another. It’s a “conversion” when you move from one lord to another Lord.

Jews, Christians, Muslims all worship the same Lord, so it's not a conversion to move among these faiths?

... assault with an assault weapon by proxy ...

Very interesting. It seems that the law is getting so convoluted that it's hard to figure out just why something is illegal when you know it ought to be. ;-)