* Ezra Klein on the history of presidential rhetoric, and whether all those efforts at persuasion work. * Field guide to the middle-class American family. * Using heart monitors and data analysis, scientists hope to solve the Cundiff Conundrum, or, choking under pressure. * Confessions of a small fish in the big pond
Last year, our correspondent entered a March Madness pool with brackets filled out by his mother, who knows nothing about NCAA men’s basketball. He won. Now it’s time for lightning to strike twice.
* Militants in Afghanistan attack delegation visiting the site where a U.S. soldier killed 16 civilians. * Headline not seen: "Afghans have displayed tremendous restraint in the wake of repeated and abhorrent killings of civilians." * Brief history of African stereotypes. * Classic: How to write about Africa. * Britain backs call
* Iran War Clock at 10 minutes to midnight—48% chance that Israel or the U.S. will strike Iran in the next year. * Tracking art for Sothebys depends "on both a high tolerance for monotony and a willingness to flirt." * Dating site for married couples aims to reduce
The other day, a Beirut river ran red. Stunned officials said it might be blood. Or a deadly chemical. People could be hurt. The color certainly wasn’t part of some celebration. Everyone was stumped—even scientists at the university—and then, suddenly, the river ran clear. At the same
* Up to 47 men, women, children found tortured and killed in Homs. * In the past year at least 26 Tibetans, mostly young Buddhist monks, have set fire to themselves. * The West Wing now appreciated as totem by young people working in Washington. * The original Walter Kirn GQ essay on business
{image-1} Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. This week, conventional wisdom was being shot on sight. From an evidence-based takedown of America’s “moral decline” to a bank of elevators becoming
* Chess players in Europe forbidden from showing too much cleavage or wearing skirts too short. * China's party newspaper publishes "Beautiful female journalists at two sessions" to highlight women's role. * Olivia Wang on Chinese artists' current (and historical) obsession with rocks. * Tutorial and commentary
I had an unhealthy relationship with poetry as a teenager, and Poe is to blame. Right about the time I was learning there was such a thing as poetry, The Simpsons aired the first of its “Treehouse of Horror” Halloween episodes, the third act of which was a dramatic reading
* Europe grateful that Greece pushed through the largest restructuring of government debt in history. * Win or lose, Mr Sach's bid to run the World Bank "marks the end of the Live Aid era." * GOP to nominate Netanyahu as U.S. presidential candidate, says the Jerusalem Roast.
