LRB review of new book on the Velvet Underground. I has three chords.

Chickenhawks. Know your enemy.

Which microlender makes best use of my $20?

What's so funny? Laughter, a topic that stymied philosophers for 2,000 years, is finally yielding to science. Researchers have scanned brains and tickled babies, chimpanzees and rats. They’ve traced the evolution of laughter back to what looks like the primal joke — or, to be precise, the first stand-up routine to kill with an audience of primates. more inside

Planet of slums. Review of a couple of Mike Davis's recent books. From the review: "There are more than 20 megacities in the developing world. Two of these – Mexico City and Seoul – were ‘hypercities’ (with 20 million inhabitants) at the time he published this book. Since then São Paulo and Mumbai must also have hit the 20 million mark, with Delhi fast approaching it...‘In many cases,’ Davis observes, ‘rural people no longer have to migrate to the city: it migrates to them.’" Here is an interview with Davis.

Britain’s youth worst-behaved in Europe. more inside

The world's billionaires, 2007. Brought to you by Forbes: "The billionaires' combined net worth climbed by $900 billion to $3.5 trillion. That equates to $3.6 billion apiece."

'Lebensborn' sue Norway. A group of Norwegians who were fathered by German soldiers in World War II are suing the Norwegian authorities at the European Court of Human Rights. More on the lebensborn.

An American Muslim. "Over the last 30 years of American Islamic life, Hathout and his anti-hierarchical sentiments have butted heads with a renewed conservatism that took hold of the world’s Muslims during the financial rise of the oil monarchy in Saudi Arabia and its ultratraditional Wahhabi math-hab (school) of Islam...Hathout is trying to counter foreign interference into Islam in the U.S. by emphasizing its American side, and by stressing that Saudi Wahhabists are no more qualified than American Muslims to speak on Islamic issues."

The age of the mega-skyscrapers. "Five years after September 11, well into what was expected to be the post-skyscraper era, a boom of increas­ingly improbable proportions is underway and it shows no signs of abating. Like a bar graph mea­suring increased faith in the future, the towers keep getting taller—after lingering for decades around 1,400 feet, the height now needed to achieve a jaw-dropping wow-factor is approaching 2,000 feet."

Mexicans cross 'the border' – at a theme park. And another look.

37 fads that swept the U.S. From break dancing and bermuda shorts to hula hoops and "have a nice day".

How depressed is your country? "Picture the countries battling the highest rates of depression, and you probably think of those that are developing or poor. Think again."

CONSERVATIVES GET EDGY IN FOX’S FAKE NEWS SHOW. And a YouTube clip: Coulter & Limbaugh Introduce 1/2 Hour News Hour.

Many presidential "firsts" possible in 2008. The 2008 presidential field presents a veritable cornucopia of potential firsts – a woman, an African-American, a Hispanic, a Mormon, and, representing the attribute perhaps most sensitive for discussion, a top contender who would be the oldest person ever to assume the American presidency.

Death by lethal injection -- is it cruel and unusual punishment?

Using Second Life to treat agoraphobia. "Meet Roberto, quite an eye-catching avatar who is one of the more interesting characters that can be found frequenting random areas of the Second Life world...Roberto Salvatierra...is a medical student from San Jose, Costa Rica, who suffers from the fear of open places and being out in public that is known as agoraphobia...his main reason for making his avatar resemble his real-life image as closely as possible was to help him in curing his affliction."

The Truth About Beauty. "Beauty is not just a social construct, and not every girl is beautiful just the way she is."

2006 Village Voice Pazz & Jop music critics poll. more inside

It could be humanity's oldest story of doomed love. Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as their teeth were found intact.