5 November 2009: Afternoon

Evidence for why lowering the global fertility rate is improving the world.

Iraqi government relies on useless divining rods to detect bombs.

Romania makes up for lost culinary time with dishes like "pork bone + beans + pickles."

Bush visits Japan to dispense baseball advice; chances are he regrets the Sosa trade more than the war in Iraq.

Whitehead: As the secretary of postracial affairs, it's time to revise the culture.

Photos of ventriloquists and their dummies.

Instapaper for the commute: The (morally unacceptable) state of America's prisons.

Panel of crime-fiction critics on the state of the procedural, the thriller, the cozy.

For thriller writers, Glenn Beck is the new Oprah.

The end of the astronaut may be brought about soon by unmanned probes.

High-tech gear thrown through walls; favorite comic-book clichés.

Video: Home movie reconstructions.

Mickey Mouse's character is slowly being rebuilt; prepare for "cantankerous and cunning."

Philadelphia Sudoku tournament sullied by brazen cheater.

Human evolution is actually accelerating, speeding up to 100 times historical levels after agriculture spread. Ten mysteries of human evolution.