Today the New York Times celebrates, deadpan, a fake relic of a historically influential example of pseudo-profound bullshit. Under the headline “This Is Not Arthur Laffer’s Famous Napkin,” The Times says: It is one of the iconic moments in modern economics: A young professor named Arthur Laffer sketched a curve on a bar napkin in […]
Tag: Smithsonian
A rather colorful insectivorist
Ryan P. Smith, writing in Smithsonian magazine, tells of the book that tells of “The Bizarre Tale of the Tunnels, Trysts and Taxa of a Smithsonian Entomologist“: A new book details the sensational exploits of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr., a scientist who had two wives and liked to dig tunnels Dyar instigated fiery feuds with […]
Too much in gear? (A tri-umph?)
Here’s a quiz for mechanical engineers, professional and budding: What’s the story on these gears? David Brooks (the one known to science writers as “The good David Brooks”) writes in his Granite Geek blog: If you’re going to draw gears, don’t draw 3 interlocking ones Smithsonian.com has launched a new blog called Department of Innovation to track […]