Worse Mistake – Jarred Diamond opines that agriculture was a lousy deal for most of the population, but good for the elites. I think “Diamond” is a great example of a high signal value name.

Top Ten Lists – Is there anything more elite? … “The publication of multiple ten-best lists is probably a well-intentioned effort to embrace the principle of pluralism…”

Conservatives – A nice description of what a conservative is. I’d note though that this is not the same as what the right wing in American politics is, or at least it’s not what the VoteView model calculates it to be. “Say” and “Do” are often different like that.

Social Network Visualization – Spiffy! via Overstated.