Dead man working: Given that the bidding on Erdos number 5 is up to $354.00 at the time of writing, this seems to be a good moment to note a little-known fact about Paul Erdos- his publication rate has only increased after his death.

Erdos died in '96. According to my count on MathSciNet, he published roughly 80 papers from '97-now. Pretty impressive, given that he is dead.

What probably happenned is that everyone who discussed a mathematical problem with Erdos at some point has written a manuscript and put Erdos' name on it -- and who in the world would have to effrontery to reject a paper by Erdos in this day and age?

So if you want to increase your publication rate, consider dying.