17 February 2009: Morning

Pakistan agrees to Swat valley ceasefire, a condition of which is the enforcement of Islamic law, and which effectively creates a Taliban sanctuary.

Hoping to quell solidarity turning into terrorism, Saudi Arabia, U.S. try to tranquilize al Qaeda's online presence.

Author of South American constitutions, populist shopping lists moves revolution from street to page.

Recession forces schools to cut back, shutter libraries--AP courses, art classes, summer school also threatened.

Nonsense. Recessions don't make us better people; they make us worse. Don't believe the myth of the "good" recession.

Video: East Timor's first female dictator hailed as step forward for women.

Trick brain with diet soda, crave calories, gain weight anyway.

Mastering renewable energy necessitates great value-shift, may decrease desire for biodiversity, nature.

Then, one day, James took his father's prized axe from the mantelpiece and reduced the tree to a sorry pile of mulch. More apocryphal stories of the presidents.

TMN's Paul Ford relaunches the Harper's Index as a searchable vault of statistical ephemera.

Statistics magician Nate Silver predicts Oscar winners.

See also: Josh's creepily prescient Oscar picks.

Records (along with a phonograph) unearthed from a 100-year time capsule in the Paris Opera reveal...nothing surprising.