So what seems like an eccentric if tragic joke about Harry becomes a way to spread ethnic hatred.

Nathan Myhrvold talks about a few of his latest fascinations animal photography, archeology, BBQ and generally being an eccentric genius multimillionaire. Listen for wild stories from the edge of the animal world.

In the aftermath of the collapse of communism, Chávez s mix of anti Americanism and state activism seemed merely eccentric. There could be no alternative to free markets and the neoliberal Washington Consensus or so it appeared.

But many Indians are firm believers, as the increasingly eccentric spellings of film titles and movie stars names confirm. One of India s finest actors, Irfan Khan, suddenly re baptized himself Irrfan, a change that many swear prefigured the transformation of his career.

This assumption is not so far fetched. Murdering more than 60 innocent young people at a summer camp with an assault rifle, after bombing a chunk of central Oslo, is, to put it mildly, morally eccentric something most sane people would never dream of doing.