Skip to main content
facts & arguments

Robin Thicke performs on NBC's Today show on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 in New York.Charles Sykes/The Associated Press

Welcome to Talking Points, a daily roundup of digital miscellany

CONTROVERSY SELLS

13,332

Number of copies of Rolling Stone magazine featuring the controversial cover of Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev that have sold at retail stores since the issue was released on July 19, nearly double the magazine's weekly average. As the Los Angeles Times noted, "So much for a boycott."

HE ROBBED WHAT?

A 12-year-old boy in Pennsylvania used a BB gun to rob a lemonade stand, police say. The little robber approached the stand and told the 10-year-old boy who was operating it to hand over the money or he would shoot him. "They got into a wrestling match over the money box," a police officer from Johnstown, approximately 100 kilometres east of Pittsburgh, told the Tribune-Democrat, a local newspaper. The accused allegedly trashed the lemonade stand before he took off with $30. A group of kids ages 8, 10 and 13 who saw the incident chased the boy home. Police were called to the home and confirmed the boy had been carrying a BB gun, not a handgun. Police would not identify the boy because he will be charged in juvenile court, where cases are usually kept confidential, the Associated Press reports.

SURVIVAL OF THE CO-OPERATORS

Does evolution favour those who only look out for No. 1? A study published last year claimed just that, but new research from Michigan State University claims that co-operation is the key to survival. "We found that evolution will punish you if you're selfish and mean," lead author Christoph Adami, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, said in a statement. "For a short time and against a specific set of opponents, some selfish organisms may come out ahead. But selfishness isn't evolutionarily sustainable." Researchers used high-powered computing to run hundreds of thousands of "games" involving selfish and unselfish strategies and found that players that co-operate to achieve shared goals come out on top. Selfishness only worked when such a player knew another player planned on co-operating, and thus that "weakness" could be exploited. But even if all non-selfish players were eventually weeded out, the selfish ones would have to learn to co-operate.

QUOTED

"If you listen to the lyrics, it says, 'That man is not your maker.' It's actually a feminist movement within itself. It's saying that women and men are equals as animals and as power. It doesn't matter if you're a good girl or a bad girl, you can still have a good time."

Robin Thicke

The singer appeared on the Today Show this week where he defended his controversial song Blurred Lines, which has been called misogynistic and even "rapey."

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe