The Cardinal Conundrum
An optimist believes that we live in the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist fears that this is true.

An article which came in today's edition of The Hindu. Actually, two articles.


Scary message - Singapore
All cigarette pacekts sold here will soon carry gruesome messages including images of a cancerous lung and a sliced brain oozing blood to scare smokers into quitting.
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Samples of the six mandatory pictures that will appear on a rotated basis on packets have been sent to tobacco companies with guidelines on how they must be printed and occupy atleast 50% of the surface area of the package.


The Laughter Equation - London
Scientists have developed what they claim is the mathematical formula for the perfect joke. The equation they have formulated:
x = (fl + no) / p takes into account the length of the joke's buld up, the comedic value of the punch-line and the groan inducing qualities of the puns.
The jokes are then awarded a rating on a scale from 0 to 200, the latter being the funniest.
The comedic value is determined by multiplying the funniness of the punch line (f) by the length of the build-up (l). This is added to the amount someone falls over (n) to the power of (o) - The Ouch factor of physical pain or social embarrasment. The total is then divided by the number of puns that redue laughter.
The perfect joke would therefore score 10 for the punch line and length and contain a high number of pratfalls or social embarrasment but no puns.
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A neuroscientist and a comedian have developed this formula as part of a coming event at the Science Museum in London that aims to prove the hypotheis that science can be funny.
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Jimmy Carr, winner of the Royal Society's Best Stand-up Comedian award 2003, called the formula "total and utter nonsense".
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So what do you people think?