A man walks into a conversation with a statistic the way some people walk into a bar fight: not to learn anything, but to leave with a trophy. He doesn’t say “Hello.” He says, “Mississippi has higher GDP per capita than France and the UK.”
Pause for applause. Somewhere, a spreadsheet blushes.
The trouble is that GDP per capita is the kind of number that makes you feel informed while … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ There is a song called “The Boxer” by a once-famous duo (and deservedly so) in America known as Simon & Garfunkel. One line goes as follows: “… Still, a man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest.” Another valuable (for me) insight is provided by William Blake: “The eye, altering, alters all” — the beautiful language of which can be a bit confusing until … Read the rest
