On chinese IQ tests and neurogastroenterology...

Learned a new phrase from a friend. Warning: this is technically unPC, so I'll say up front that I don't intend a slight to any culture, especially the chinese culture which I esteem. The phrase is "Chinese IQ test". As my friend tells it, the chinese grad students that she worked with in the physics department would ask if something was a Chinese IQ test if it was something whose solution seemed obvious, but could be screwed up in some dumb way or if the solution was actually more subtle. Apparently, her chinese collegues said their IQ tests had questions that were ambiguous, insanely hard, unclear, or appeared to be obvious and turned out to be impossible for some subtle reason. Hence, the phrase. My friend gave an example of it in use: "one time a bunch (literally four) of us were trying to open a cole slaw container at a surface science seminar lunch without actually breaking it. When the fourth person tried and failed, someone asked about if it was Chinese IQ test." I love this phrase! It captures that "am I missing something obvious?" feeling.
Speaking of brains, today I read about the brain in our gut and about the neurogastroenterologists (guys that study it). Very cool stuff! I don't remember learning in school that we have a brain in our gut, and that it has over one hundred million neurons. This boggles my mind. The brain in my head has about 100 billion brain cells - which means my gut is 0.1% as smart as my head. Put that way, it might not seem like much, that is a pretty impressive amount of brain power. Super cool. Our two brains communicate via the vagus nerve. There is interesting internet reading on the topic - see http://www.hosppract.com/issues/1999/07/gershon.htm for the web page of a researcher whose passion in the gut-brain, or http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web2/partner2.html for a simpler summary.
Energy, enthusiasm, etc all excellent today. Didn't exercise or otherwise participate in gainful activity other than work and a sauna. Pleasant day!