<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK then, the more you know, the more you know.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Coupla years ago we (or I) gave our buddy BillW a bunch of baloney over reading… the Cod Book.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You recall the circumstances: he and I were given 20 to life for ripping a tag off of one of his pillows, him for doing it, me for encouraging it. He ran afoul of the local prison gang and his punishment, given that they knew he was an eager reader, was to check out all the books in the prison library except… the Cod Book.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Turns out… this week’s Nova is on the topic. And I find out that cod really are cool. Who knew? Well, BillW did, but nobody else with us in Alcatraz had any idea. We thought it was the most boring book ever written. But in a way, that would make it interesting, for answering the question: what is the most boring topic in all of human history? It isn’t cod (thanks Nova) and it isn’t the Laffer curve, in spite of that scene in Ferris Bueller.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>