Would you like to play get the economist? Reading Chicago economics prof Casey Mulligan trying to make sense of job losses in the recession is fun for everyone.

It's this kind of fun: "Payroll spending now exceeds what it was when the recession began, yet employment remains millions lower. Apparently, payroll spending is not enough to bring those jobs back." Hmm, if only I could find a model that accounts for that! Is there any conceivable reason that there would be fewer people making, all told, more money in America today?

This is what happens when people start working with pure numbers: real-world motivations stop making [...]

Here's state assemblyman Felix Ortiz chugging Four Loko, with a doctor on hand. (Wuss.) Sad to say, this riveting report ends too soon: "At this point we have to stop filming as Ortiz begins vomiting." In any event, the fun and games are over: Four Loko has removed caffeine from its magical recipe. Now we have to drink coffee between sips of our malt beverages. WHEN WILL THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA AND OBAMA'S OVERZEALOUS BIG GOVERNMENT REGULATION STOP?

"Bugs are high in protein, low in fat and efficient to cultivate—10 kilograms (22 pounds) of feed yields six to eight kilograms of insect meat compared to one kilogram of beef, states the university's research. Insects are abundant, produce less greenhouse gas and manure, and do not transfer any diseases, when eaten, that can mutate into a dangerous human form, say the researchers." —I ate a grasshopper (or, as Marian Peters, secretary of the Dutch insect breeders association, Venik, would call it, "the caviar of insects") at a sushi restaurant once. It was fried crispy and drenched in soy sauce. It didn't taste bad, but about halfway through chewing, [...]