Of Interest On January 17th, 2011

For what it’s worth, I’m with Ricky Gervais on deflating the self-important bloat that is Hollywood and organized religion. It would do us Americans a world of good to include the phrase “take the piss out of” in our vocabulary and engage in it from time to time. And not get offended ourselves while preaching the evils of political correctness, whatever that is today.
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day! The Washington Post reports that a Republican school board in North Carolina backed by Tea Party abolishes integration policy.
The (not-U2-guitarist) Edge’s question of 2011: What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit? I’m still wading through pages upon pages of well-written and thought-provoking answers from really smart people.