Lawrence Kaplan has an interesting piece in The New Republic on how the Saudis lobby Dubya. A teaser: During his first months in office…W. defied expectations. Far from pressing the Israelis, the president enshrined in official policy his campaign pledge of unconditional support for Israel — a stance not particularly well received by Saudi Arabia’s potentates. As a result, Crown Prince Abdullah still has yet to accept a standing invitation

P.J. O’Rourke, from “Squishier Than Thou: Demonstrating against reality in London and Washington,” in December’s Atlantic Monthly: Another speaker came to the podium and said, ‘Let us bomb the world with housing.’ One of those McMansions with the lawyer foyer and the cathedral-ceilinged great room could do real damage. …”Bomb the world with housing”…uh-huh. This is the same kind of feckless bumper-sticker thinking that Wendy Malick (“Just Shoot Me,” “Dream

P.J. O’Rourke, from “Squishier Than Thou: Demonstrating against reality in London and Washington,” in December’s Atlantic Monthly: Another speaker came to the podium and said, ‘Let us bomb the world with housing.’ One of those McMansions with the lawyer foyer and the cathedral-ceilinged great room could do real damage. …”Bomb the world with housing”…uh-huh. This is the same kind of feckless bumper-sticker thinking that Wendy Malick (“Just Shoot Me,” “Dream

Dr. Sallie Baliunas’s Tech Central Station writes on the latest report from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises. The report asks for a study of cost-effective steps to, among other things, advance climate forecasting, improve the environmental quality of land, air and water, and minimize impacts of extreme climate events. The report urges low-cost steps that advance adaptation or reduce

From his New York Times column on Monday: n the dreams of Big Brother and his cousin, Big Marketing, nothing can compare to forcing every person in the United States

From his New York Times column on Monday: n the dreams of Big Brother and his cousin, Big Marketing, nothing can compare to forcing every person in the United States

The Economist is running an interesting article on the history of the seven day cycle. Predictably, we owe our structural base to Ur: The year, the day and (not quite so obviously) the month are natural divisions of time. The week is an oddity. The moon’s four phases are a near miss, but still a misfit, for weeks. You will be in trouble (like H.G. Wells’s ‘The Man Who Could

The Economist is running an interesting article on the history of the seven day cycle. Predictably, we owe our structural base to Ur: The year, the day and (not quite so obviously) the month are natural divisions of time. The week is an oddity. The moon’s four phases are a near miss, but still a misfit, for weeks. You will be in trouble (like H.G. Wells’s ‘The Man Who Could

A physician writing in the holiday issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal concludes that the Grinch suffers from a chronic hormonal deficiency called Addison’s disease. The symptoms: an abnormally small heart, irritability, and salt cravings… Related: At a Manhattan “holiday party” thrown by Gore Vidal, Katha Pollitt and Susan Sontag duke it out over “the last of the pretzels.”

A physician writing in the holiday issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal concludes that the Grinch suffers from a chronic hormonal deficiency called Addison’s disease. The symptoms: an abnormally small heart, irritability, and salt cravings… Related: At a Manhattan “holiday party” thrown by Gore Vidal, Katha Pollitt and Susan Sontag duke it out over “the last of the pretzels.”