Et tu, Nate?

Nate? How could you do this? How could you say this about us? You were one of us.

Here's what Nate Silver said about the University of Chicago - heck, about us - in a recent posting on his blog:

Having attended the University of Chicago, where there are plenty of booksmart people that you wouldn't consider particularly bright, I can tell you that the correlation between intelligence and educational attainment is considerably less than one-to-one.

Huh? Not bright? Obviously Nate hasn't spent much time on campus lately. The folks here are so bright I have to wear shades. I mean, this past weekend a U of Cer created a hydraulic device that can shoot hot dogs into a crowd! No wonder we have so many Nobel prizes.

Nate take your dagger and go home. We are impervious to your attacks.

Yea Emma!

It's official. We have a new champ! Emma is the most popular baby name this year. Displacing that soggy old has-been, Emily. See ya Emily! Don't let the screen door slam on your way out.

We told Jonah that Emma was the most popular name in the country. He said: "Yeah, cause Emma is so crazy." Being from the U of C, I thought about the historical significance of this, and I think we can safely say the Red Scare is over. Welcome back Emma!

Message to Emmas everywhere: Don't get too confident. Eliana is coming up fast behind you. Eliana has jumped 100 places in the past 3 years. That's momentum. That's unstoppable.

Shhhh! Santa is sleeping.

You know what I love about Santa? He gives and gives and gives. Yeah, I know, he can be horribly judgmental. This whole naughty or nice thing? No way should one old guy be able to make that determination on his own, without a full consideration of the context and all the facts. But still, I think he means well. His toy supply has to be finite. He has to make good choices about who gets them. Why waste perfectly good toys on spoiled little brats? Sure the elves slave away day after day after day making toys. But they have to rest sometime. They can't make en endless supply of toys. Hey! I wonder if they have a union? A health plan? Paid vacation? If you think about it, the North Pole is a sweatshop operation. Except it's cold, so there may not be much sweating. But still. Geez. I bet it's like any other off-shore production facility, designed to avoid OSHA rules and EPA oversight. Scratch what I said. Turns out Santa is a greedy creep.

But not Aash. Here's a guy who really does give and give. He is one-hundred and ten percent Scav. He stays up all night preparing lime green Chinese lanterns. Dozes. Wakes up. Checks his email to see if anyone has found a dog he can put a swimsuit on. Gets to work rewiring his cell phone so it emits an aroma when someone calls.