Geckos are to blame

Ever wonder were fat tails come from? Look no further. William Safire traces the source of the "fat tail" craze. Looks like we can blame the financial mess and much of our worries about climate change on geckos.

And I thought black swans were scary.

At least greed is still good, semantically speaking:

Newly risk-averse tycoons can rest assured that no semantic connection exists between the cheerful fat-tailed day gecko on our TV screens and the gimlet-eyed, greed-is-good financial villain named Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone’s 1987 film, “Wall Street.”