Guest Thinkers — August 16, 2010

Religulous Edges Expelled in Opening Weekend

With $3.5 million earned in its weekend box office debut, Bill Maher’s Borat-inspired mockumentary about religion managed to just edge the opening weekend for Ben Stein’s Expelled.

Religulous, which opened in half as many theaters as Expelled, outgrossed Stein’s weekend take by roughly $600K. Religulous benefited in part from a massive free media campaign, with Maher appearing on shows ranging from The View and Conan OBrien to NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Still, given major studio backing for the film, the producers are likely to be somewhat disappointed with the returns. Expect the run to expand beyond 500 theaters for next weekend, which will be the make or break test for the mockumentary.

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Neuropsych

25 years since Columbine: We’re closer to decoding mass-shooter psychology

Public mass shooters almost always have worldviews shaped by the "3 Rs": rage, resentment, and revenge.

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Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: “Is there anything wrong with trauma dumping?”

When does "oversharing" become an issue?

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Leadership

Adam Grant on how to identify and develop high-potential leaders

The ability to toggle between abstract and concrete thinking is a key differentiator of high-potential leaders.

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Business

Want true success? Be more philosophical about “good” and “bad” failure.

Bob Dylan gave us the paradoxical gem "there's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all." He had a point.

Starts With A Bang

The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong

Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?

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