Increasing happiness market share

Yann linked me to this TED talk by Rory Sutherland, but it's worth reposting here. Brilliant.

Best Halloween Costume Ever

Ridiculously cool animatronic / puppet / I-don't-know-what-all dinosaurs on some random German TV show. Wow.



(Seen on Zooillogix.)

Ig Nobels 2009

The Ig Nobel prizes for 2009 have been announced!

Lots of highlights, although I have to give the top honor to the winners of the Peace Prize: Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for:

"determining — by experiment — whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle."

REFERENCE: "Are Full or Empty Beer Bottles Sturdier and Does Their Fracture-Threshold Suffice to Break the Human Skull?" Stephan A. Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael J. Thali and Beat P. Kneubuehl, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 16, no. 3, April 2009, pp. 138-42. DOI:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.07.013.

I want to read their grant application!