Why is a raven like a writing desk?

You've seen the adverts, perhaps. “We identified 15 fund managers who consistently outdid their peers over the last ten years”. What's the deal here? Do they believe their own hype, I wonder? I would be surprised if among 8000+ fund managers, they could not find 15 who fulfilled some level of performance. But that doesn't mean it's by ability – it would still be the case if fund management performance were driven by luck.

Still, relying on people not being able to accurately judge probability or understand statistics isn't a bad business plan I suppose.

After over 2 weeks of living in 2 rooms of the house, and sitting next to hard-working but ultimately not-very-effective AC units, we seem to finally be enjoying a cooler spell. Today's high is 80. The forecast says that the highs this week will be around 75. Yay!

Actually I was getting acclimated. But Mrs Elbeno was still suffering a bit.

Mrs Elbeno called me in a semi-panic this lunchtime to report that there were six bees in our kitchen. Two of them were trapped between window panels, “but that doesn't fully enclose them – if you are a bee you can get out! And the rest are free-range bees!”

Well I wasn't about to dash home to deal with a few bees, and Mrs Elbeno reported no evidence of a hive. She called the pest control agency who said “unless it's a hundred bees, don't worry.” Unwilling to deal with the bees herself, she took my advice and simply closed the kitchen door and presumably lived upstairs for the afternoon (next to the air-conditioner).

When I got home, I braved the kitchen only to find a small bee graveyard in the bottom of the window runner. I gave two of the ex-bees a burial in the bin and left the other five (there were apparently seven) where they were, preserved in the desert of the between-window space.

As found on BoingBoing.

1. This procedure works for the simpler puzzles only. It does not address intermediate and advanced solution steps.
2. I have never resorted to writing little numbers since I consider it cheating. The real way to solve sudoku is to figure it all in your head.

“Scientists question nature's fundamental laws”

Well, duh. They are scientists. It's their job.