Maybe we don't have to worry that Americans are too dumb to read the Economist after all.

A teenage rap duo in Chicago has recorded a track, aptly called "The Economist," that extols the British publication's breadth and brevity and samples podcast commentary by correspondents Edward Lucas and Anthony Gottlieb.

"The style in which they write is simple and concise, how do they get their sentences so precise?" the rappers wonder. [UPDATE: Matt Yglesias quips, "The answer, of course, is 'heavy-handed editing' facilitated by lack of bylines."]

And the chorus is a gem, too: "He reads the Economist so he can get the gist, its solid competence gives him confidence that his intelligence is correct."

The rappers also weigh in on accusations that the Economist pushes a particular line: "Yes, they have a bias; it's pro-democratic. And pro-free trade; they are very emphatic."

Jay-Z it is not. But it is funny stuff.

(Hat tip: Gawker, Guardian)

Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images

OK, not really:

Iraqi students of the University of Technology, Baghdad, pretend to drink alcohol as they drink soft drinks during a celebration of their university day on May 4, 2008 in Baghdad, Iraq.

Earlier this month, the documentary version of FP Editor in Chief Moisés Naím's bestselling book Illicit aired on the TV channel PBS in the United States. The film and book documents how -- as the book's subtitle says -- "smugglers, traffickers, and copycats are hijacking the global economy."

Those copycats who profit off pirated DVDs had better be careful, though. The doggy duo of Lucky and Flo are out to get them. The black Labs are the first canines to have been trained to sniff out the polycarbonates found in DVDs and CDs. Although they can't differentiate between legit and pirated discs, their noses lead human investigators to discs that are hidden in cargo that has been declared as having other items, such as clothing. Lucky and Flo have been so successful that they've even received death threats from crime syndicates.

Check out a video of the furry crime fighters here:

Where In the World Is Osama bin Laden?, a documentary by Morgan Spurlock -- the man who ate McDonald's cuisine for 30 days straight for Super Size Me -- took on the task of finding al Qaeda's leader. As Spurlock explained in a Seven Questions interview with FP last week, sometimes a comedic film can get an audience to pay attention to a serious topic.

This week, Harold and Kumar -- those two guys from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle -- take on the subject of Guantánamo Bay, though their purpose doesn't seem to have anything to do with prompting serious discussion about the controversial prison. In Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, debuting this Friday, the pair board a flight to Amsterdam with a bong. That gets them sent to Gitmo. The duo make a wild escape, of course. Politically incorrect humor is abundant.

Some reviews say the movie falls short of White Castle's charm, but it currently has a 78 percent on the tomatometer. So, if you need something to do this weekend, you have two choices: Gain a bit of enlightenment with Spurlock, or lose a few IQ points with Harold and Kumar.

Language purists in France are fuming. The country's entry in the Eurovision music contest has English lyrics! (OK, two lines are in French.) Of the 43 countries participating, more than half -- 25 -- submitted songs in English. It sounds like there's a new linga franca.

If you have three minutes of your life to spare, check out France's entry, "Divine," by Sébastien Tellier, here.

Marcelo Singer/AFP/Getty Images

Uruguay and its 3.4 million people entered the big leagues of culinary feats Sunday by organizing the world's largest barbecue. Snatching the title away from Mexico, Uruguay has triumphed -- at least for now -- in a global cookout war that has been raging for years.

Namibia tried but failed in 2006 to beat Australia for the world's largest sausage. The Philippines set up the world's longest barbecue in 2003, though I believe Uruguay just showed them up by about half a kilometer.

The small South American country pulled off the stunt to highlight its beef exports (at least $800 million worth in 2007). To give you an idea of the size and scope of the operation, army personnel set up the grills, firefighters lit 6 tons of charcoal, 1,250 people cooked up a storm, and roughly 20,000 people watched as 13.2 tons of beef were prepared.

When all was said and done, Uruguay had beaten Mexico's record by 4 tons. One of the grillers told Reuters: "I'm very proud to be Uruguayan. We have the best beef and now we have the world's biggest barbecue." National pride can be tied together by many things -- even apron strings.

This week’s Tuesday map comes to us from a billboard controversy south of the border.

Created by advertising agency Teran/TBWA and launched a few weeks ago in Mexico, the Absolut billboard ad depicted pre-1848 North America -– before the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo turned Mexican territories into what is now the American South West.

The campaign was obviously intended for a Mexican audience, as Favio Ucedo, creative director of a top Latino advertising firm, explained:

Many (Americans) aren’t going to understand it. Americans in the East and the North or in the center of the county -- I don’t know if they know much about the history… Probably Americans in Texas and California understand perfectly, and I don’t know how they’d take it.”

But Absolut quickly learned just how some Americans would take it: not well.  Although the ad never appeared in the U.S., it was picked up by American media outlets, causing a flurry of complaint from U.S. citizens (some more creative than others).

As of Friday, Absolut’s maker Vin & Spirits had decided to withdraw the apparently offensive advertisement even though it "was based upon historical perspectives and was created with a Mexican sensibility... [and was] in no way was meant to offend or disparage, nor...advocate an altering of borders..."

In a speaking engagement today at my alma mater Skidmore College, former Attorney General John Ashcroft confused Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden while talking about the importance of the Patriot Act. The former attorney general then waited patiently as students booed and jeered:

Beware folks, Skidmarks--as the locals in mostly conservative Saratoga County call Skidmore students--are a tough crowd.

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

U.S. Secret Service agents perform a security sweep on Ukrainian cultural performers before Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko and U.S. President George W. Bush arrive at St. Sophia's Cathedral in Kiev, April 1, 2008. 

(Hat tip: On Deadline)

U.S. President George W. Bush (L) pauses to embrace a person dressed as the Easter Bunny during the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House. The annual event was started by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.

David Paterson is a funny guy. Check out this hilarious exchange between one smark-aleck reporter and New York's governor-to-be today:

Just so we don't have to go through this whole resignation thing again," one ballsy reporter asked, "Have you ever patronized a prostitute?"

Paterson thought for a minute. "Only the lobbyists," he said.

Mohammed Abbas of Reuters reports on the ever-expanding influence of Chuck Norris:

Norris' appeal is not restricted to U.S. troops either. At an Iraqi police graduation ceremony in Falluja, graduates called out for their "Chuck Norris" to pose with them for photos.

"Truthfully, I didn't know who he was. I asked the Americans, and they said he was a great fighter, and that's why they named me after him. They showed me a video, and it's true, he's a great fighter" said police trainer Mohammed Rasheed. With his handle-bar moustache, Rasheed has a vague resemblance to Norris.

Another police trainer said Chuck Norris was a role model for the police in Falluja, which until 2007 was an al Qaeda stronghold and the scene of fierce battles with security forces. "I've seen his videos, he's a hero. He saves the city, he protects women and children and he fights crime wherever it is. We should all be like Chuck Norris," Khaled Hussein said.

Former British prime minister wait-listed, encouraged to reapply next year:

Yale University is pleased to announce the appointment of Prime Minister Tony Blair as the Howland Distinguished Fellow for the next academic year. Mr. Blair will lead a seminar at Yale and participate in a number of events around the campus. The course in which he will participate with Yale faculty will examine issues of faith and globalization."

UPDATE: On a serious note, check out Passport contributor James Forsyth's comments on why giving Blair a sinecure at a U.S. university would be bad for America.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may think they have their hands full with NAFTA, but just wait until it's time to renegotiate DSFTA, the Deep Space Free Trade Agreement. In the latest issue of Astropolitics, political scientist John Hickman thinks where no social scientist has thunk before in his new article, "Problems of Interplanetary and Interstellar Trade."

Hickman believes that interplanetary trade could be one of the primary economic drivers for space exploration in the future. The potential problems are by no means minor, however. First of all, the vast distances between solar systems would probably prohibit the transportation of tangible goods. (Though, as Hickman points out, transatlantic trade probably seemed just as fanciful to traders in renaissance Europe.) There may however be potential for trade in non-tangible goods such digital entertainment, or scientific information with newly discovered alien species. But even this is not without dilemmas that would give Austan Goolsbee a migraine.

How will we enforce contracts or copyright laws on a civilization 20 light-years away? How will we set up a banking system or transferable currency without any tangible goods to trade? How will we protect ourselves from strange new ideas and ideologies that may destroy the fabric of our society? Worst of all, how will we trade with a species that may not even have a concept of trade?

Economic exchange itself might be "alien" to the aliens. Members of an alien species may not experience the same intense sense of self that is exhibited in rationally self-interested economic exchange among humans. Instead, a collective identity could be dominant. Money might not exist and without it neither would complex markets or banking. If they do engage in economic exchange it might take a form akin to potlatch, the competitive gift-giving for status solely among members of the same tribe traditional among societies in Melanesia and the Pacific Northwest. Moreover an alien species might not live in separate societies and could thus have no conception of trade between different societies with different cultures.

Can we maintain our free-market values and still trade with these hippie space communists? Hickman proposes establishing a "solar system monetary union" or publicly administered "planetary clearinghouse" under which interplanetary merchants could operate. The good news is, even after discovering alien life, we would still need to decode their language and acquire a basic cultural understanding before we can even think about initiating trade. This should give us enough time to bone up on all 285 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.

Travis Daub contributed to this post.

UPDATE: Tyler Cowen weighs in --

[R]eciprocal, tit-for-tat exchange would work just fine, provided that a) relativity did not slow down the exchange of information too much, and b) not too many Ohio voters watched that movie where the aliens send us their genetic information, embedded in an apparently innocuous transmission, and trick us into downloading those instructions and then cloning them en masse...  In other words, we probably cannot trade with aliens.

I'll bet you thought Nepal's glory days as a hippie destination were over:

PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images

A Sadhu (Hindu holy man) smokes ganja (marijuana) in a chillum (traditional clay pipe) as a holy offering from lord Shiva, Hindu god of creation and destruction during celebrations of the Maha Shivaratri festival at the Pashupatinath temple area in Kathmandu, on March 4, 2008. Thousands of sages and holy men visit Nepal's biggest hindu temple Pashupatinath during the Maha Shivaratri festival each year.

There's a long tradition of news organizations borrowing titles of popular films for use as headlines. Just recently, Newsweek used There Will Be Blood for its cover story about John McCain's troubles with the Republican base. But we can expect more such wordplay as the year progresses. Here's a sneak preview of how editors will be using and abusing movie titles in the weeks and months ahead:

There Will Be Blood

Stories about infighting among Hillary Clinton's advisors, the Democratic and Republican conventions, various controversial bills before Congress, Zimbabwe's elections, the fight to publish Bush's memoirs, etc.

No Country for Old Men

Stories about John McCain's age (oops, too late), demographic and social trends in various countries around the world, various sports teams, etc.

Superbad

Stories about Dmitry Medvedev's impending crackdown on dissent and Hillary Clinton's campaign strategy.

Iron Man

Stories about John McCain's astonishing stamina on the campaign trail.

The Golden Compass

Stories about Barack Obama's political antennae or those of his advisors.

The Dark Knight

Stories about advisors to the Democratic and Republican nominees or various corrupt oligarchs around the world.

Horton Hears a Who

Various egregious puns involving The Wharton School, Hu Jintao, and/or the writings of Edith Wharton.

Remember the Japanese town named Obama? It looks like candidate Barack sent its mayor a belated thank-you note for last year's gift of a DVD and chopsticks:

Town officials said they believed the letter was genuine, although they had not verified it. They said they were concerned that it would be impolite to ask the candidate's office.

Launched as a cheap, safe alternative to illicit home brews, a beer nicknamed "Obama" (real name Senator Keg Lager) has proven popular in Kenya, the country where U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama's father came from.

Meanwhile, when asked by Us Weekly about whether he wears boxers or briefs—the same question asked of Bill Clinton when he was a candidate in 1992—Obama decided to keep his undies a secret, responding:

I don't answer those humiliating questions. But whichever one it is, I look good in 'em!

While Americans watched their embassy burn last Thursday, Serbs in Belgrade watched as other Serbs ransacked more than 90 storefronts along the capital city's main drag.

During the chaos, one Belgrade resident caught a pair of women on camera snatching clothes and shoes from broken store windows (watch the video here). At one point, the cameraman asks a woman, her arms full of pilfered shoes, if she had found her size. Later, when a different thief refuses to tell the cameraman her name, he calls after her sarcastically, "Hero of the protest!"

The video, posted on Youtube as "Kosovo for sneakers," has been a huge hit among Serbian speakers. With more than a million views before it was taken down and resubmitted, it has drawn thousands of comments from Serbs angry at the behavior demonstrated in downtown Belgrade that night.

The video has also spurred on a series of mock Kosovo/Nike ads such as this one that is making the e-mail rounds:

The top reads "Kosovo is Serbia" and the sneakered man to the left of Condi is Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica -- a fierce advocate for keeping Kosovo in Serbia.

Serbs may have a rocky future ahead of them, but at least they haven't lost their sense of humor.

The world's best-selling board game is finally going global. Hasbro, the makers of Monopoly, are creating a version wherein instead of snatching up the deeds to Atlantic Avenue or Park Place, players can build up property in global cities such as Moscow or Tokyo.

The company is letting people vote online through Feb. 28 on what cities to include. Originally, the cities listed on the game's Web site included the countries where they are located -- "Dublin, Ireland," for example.

An early version of the site listed "Jerusalem, Israel" as a potential place on the board. But then pro-Palestinians wrote in to complain, because Jerusalem, they hope, will be the capital of a future Palestinian state. So, a mid-level employee dropped the word "Israel" from Jerusalem's place name. Then pro-Israelis complained because of the inconsistency, since other country names were still there.

In a truly Solomonic feat, Hasbro decided to drop all country names (though the company claims they were only there in the first place "as a geographic reference to help with city selection"). And now capitalism is free to run amok without any borders. At least in Monopoly.