Tim Worstall

From the brother in law, Nipper Young:

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Snigger.

Academics in Denmark have accused Ikea, the furniture chain, of "Swedish imperialism" for naming its cheaper products after Danish towns.
The researchers claim to have discovered a pattern where more expensive items, such as beds and chairs, have been named after Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian towns whereas doormats, draught excluders and runners are named after Danish […]

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Anyone know whether this delightful story is true or not?
I would classify it in the too good to be true slot myself, but I really would love to know.

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Two siblings being born on the same day in different years was unlikely enough. But when Kim MacKriell had a third child delivered on the same day, she beat odds of more than 130,000 to one.
Ruby MacKriell was born last month on January 29. Her brother, Robin, was born on January 29, 1994, and her […]

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I know, I’m an extremely bad man, but I really couldn’t help giggling here:

A Monk was killed when he was run over by his own sit-on lawnmower as he trimmed the grass at a convent, an inquest heard.
Moments before, the 50-year-old was seen running after the driverless machine as it set off in the 12-acre […]

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Two stories, one after the other, on the Telegraph web page:

The new first lady of France, the former model and singer Carla Bruni, said that her first meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy was love at first sight and she expects the marriage to last a lifetime.

And

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has called for the world […]

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A free colonic.
No, really….

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Fascinating:

Another recently deceased New Yorker didn’t even shift a millimetre across the city’s map in nearly 80 years but still embodied the American dream.
Jack Brod, who died earlier this month at 98, chose to go up rather than across to define his success. The last original tenant of the Empire State Building, Mr Brod spent […]

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Mongrels are cleverer than pedigree dogs, according to research.

Hybrid vigour isn’t it called?
It’s one of those things that has always amused me about those who worry about "racial purity" in humans. The more the merrier for the pool your genes come from rather than being limited to a sub-group.
 

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Kate Silverton, the BBC newsreader, is threatening to sue a leading Harley Street doctor after routine laser surgery left her face so badly marked she was unable to work.
Miss Silverton, 37, was forced to take a fortnight off after the laser skin-rejuvenation procedure, which should have removed acne scars and improved her skin tone, left […]

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I was paid to promote this elsewhere…..I’m not being paid to do so here.
I’ve come across a company offering prescription glasses for $8 a pair. Less than the cost of a packet of fags. Here.
Amazing or what?

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Hmmm.

It’s nearly tautological that colors come and go with fashion. But it’s empirically interesting to ask which colors and why? For starters, is Pantone actually the leader it’s posing to be, or does the designation of blue iris reflect the net leanings of fashion’s myriad of tastes and designs?

From memory (as ever, rather fallible) there’s […]

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I love this:

Canada’s post office and police are trying to track down a "rogue elf" who wrote obscene letters to children on behalf of Santa Claus, a newspaper reported on Friday.
The Ottawa Citizen said at least 10 nasty letters had been delivered to little girls and boys in Ottawa who wrote to Santa this year […]

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There’s a couple of cottages down at the end of our road. A couple of kilometres outside Messines (walk in 10 minutes) which is itself a town of about 5,000. There village here is maybe 100 souls. Little pub etc.
The cottages aren’t all that great. 10 and 25 metres from the main road.
1) A ruin, […]

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So, a model called Sara Welch falls through a catwalk at a fashion show. 1,5 million people have watched this so far on You Tube.

I dunno: sure Sara Welch is good looking and all, but I’m not so sure what’s so funny about her falling over.
I’ve seen from one news report that the […]

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Don’t you think?

I write as a woman whose brother wears socks with the name of the day woven into the sole. Sometimes, he wears them on the wrong day, which I think is a sign of his renegade spirit.

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