This is an econ paper worth reading...

Or maybe, at any rate. Slate covers a paper on the economics of the movie industry. To quote Slate: It's a meta-paper that surveys the current scholarly research and points out the questions, such as the economic value of Angelina Jolie's physique, that require further serious study. Very close and prolonged study for some lucky researcher.

Hilarious Episode III Spoof Script

The Editing Room does it again. I'm especially fond of their Matrix script, too.

One of my favorite non-spoiler bits:

SAMUEL L. MOTHERFUCKING JACKSON enters IAN MCDIARMID'S CHAMBER.

SAMUEL L. MOTHERFUCKING JACKSON
Ian, you're under arrest for being
a manipulative motherfucker.

IAN MCDIARMID
I got a threshold, Jedi. I got a
threshold for the abuse I'll take.
And right now I'm a race car and you
got me in the red. I'm just saying
that it's fuckin' dangerous to have
a racecar in the fuckin' red. It
could blow.

SAMUEL L. MOTHERFUCKING JACKSON
Oh, you're gettin' ready to blow?

IAN MCDIARMID
I could blow.

SAMUEL L. MOTHERFUCKING JACKSON
Well I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin'
motherfucker, motherfucker! Every
time my fingers touch my lightsaber
I'm Superfly TNT. I'm the Guns of
Navarone.

Scientists hypothesize: Some diseases linked to increased intelligence

An interesting hypothesis has been advanced on the role of evolution and intelligence:

[Dr. Henry Harpending, an anthropologist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences] and two colleagues at the University of Utah, Gregory Cochran and Jason Hardy, see the pattern of genetic disease among the Ashkenazi Jewish population as reminiscent of blood disorders like sickle cell anemia that occur in populations exposed to malaria, a disease that is only 5,000 years old.

In both cases, the Utah researchers argue, evolution has had to counter a sudden threat by favoring any mutation that protected against it, whatever the side effects. Ashkenazic diseases like Tay-Sachs, they say, are a side effect of genes that promote intelligence.

The explanation that the Ashkenazic disease genes must have some hidden value has long been accepted by other researchers, but no one could find a convincing infectious disease or other threat to which the Ashkenazic genetic ailments might confer protection.

Another interesting line later in the article:

As to how the disease mutations might affect intelligence, the Utah researchers cite evidence that the sphingolipid disorders promote the growth and interconnection of brain cells. Mutations in the DNA repair genes, involved in second cluster of Ashkenazic diseases, may also unleash growth of neurons.

They also make a testable prediction:

The Utah researchers describe their proposal as a hypothesis. Unlike many speculations, it makes a testable prediction: that people who carry one of the sphingolipid or other Ashkenazic disease mutations should do better than average on I.Q. tests.

I'm always fascinated by the physiology of intelligence and evolution. One of the things that bugged me about the national/international Mensa organization is that they aren't.

15 minutes of giggling burns 50 calories

According to new research presented in Athens by Nashville researchers, laughter burns a significant number of calories. The researchers measured oxygen consumption versus carbon dioxide expulsion in order to determine calories burned. The laughter was prompted, in part, by The Cosby Show (sans laughtrack).

"Then we calculated what would happen if somebody laughed for 10 or 15 minutes a day, and we found that it was up to 50 calories, depending on your body size and the intensity of the laughter."
That means that if you laugh for 10-15 minutes a day, you'd burn enough calories to lose 4.4 pounds (two kilograms) in a year, Buchowski said.

Now we need nitrous bars where people can congregate and giggle themselves thin.