Not Ready for a Fight

At Slate, Fred Kaplan tells us some bad news about the Army's newer recruits. For more about losses among the officer corps, read Andrew Tilghman's article for the Washington Monthly, "The Army's Other Crisis," here.

Surging Into the Morgue

You may have noticed a number of commentators and columnists talking about the success of the surge in Iraq. Don't be fooled; this is only a way for George W. Bush to buy time as he seeks a commitment that will tie the hands of his successor. Tom Engelhardt explains.

Update: Juan Cole has more.

Year Million

Australian polymath Damien Broderick has edited a new collection of essays, Year Million: Science at the Far Edge of Knowledge, to be published by Atlas Books in the summer of 2008. In collaboration with engineer Anne Corwin, I wrote one of the essays, "Do You Want To Live Forever?"

"The Unbearable Inanity of Tim Russert"

Matthew Yglesias takes on ol' Pumpkinhead here.

The Bionic Man...

...who won't be allowed to compete in the Olympics, because his prosthetics give him an unfair advantage. Read about him here.