Blog

If the World Cup final had been played between the nations with the best soccer writers, England would have faced Brazil. I haven’t been reading the Brazilian press, but I assume the scribes from Rio are as entertaining as their players and fans. There’s no doubt about the quality ...  (Read more)

I occasionally practice Bikram yoga, which is done in a studio heated to 100 degrees. Yes, it sounds insane, but it’s not, as long as you don’t mind the heat. Yoga studios strive to be peaceful places, with everyone pretending to be kind and gentle, and saying, at the end of class, “Namaste,” ...  (Read more)

War between the two rivals was avoided when Gen. Musharraf promised to stop, permanently, the infiltration of Pakistani-sponsored guerrillas into Kashmir. As The Washington Post explains, Musharraf made his vow in a June 6 meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage:

A veteran diplomat ...  (Read more)

It was nearly 4:00 a.m. and the English soccer fan standing next to me at the Coffee Shop in Union Square knew the final score, even though ten minutes or so remained in the World Cup match between Brazil and England, which Brazil was leading 2-1. “England always break your heart,” she ...  (Read more)

A fantastic soccer match is underway between South Korea and Italy. The score is tied 1-1, the second half of overtime is about to begin; Italy just lost a player to a red card on a horrible call by the referee. World Cup at its best. Watch it if you can.

UPDATE: South Korea wins 2-1. Amazing.

Modafinil is a little-known drug that staves off sleep without the side effects of amphetamines; it may join Prozac and Viagra in the lineup of pharmacological adjustments to the modern life. As The Washington Post ...  (Read more)

Kamran Khan, who is the Washington Post‘s correspondent in Karachi, was in the U.S. consulate when a car bomb exploded outside it yesterday, killing 10 Pakistanis. His first-person story in today’s ...  (Read more)

Flashy events grab our attention, or at least the media’s attention; terrorist bombs, nuclear threats, elections, political scandals, etc. Yet the events of greatest import, in terms of the change they cause, often have no flash and hardly draw our notice. What was the most significant event ...  (Read more)

The collapse of communist East Germany began, informally speaking, when thousands of East Germans sought asylum at the West German embassies in Budapest and Prague in 1989. That was the East German regime’s emperor-has-no-clothes moment, and five months later the Berlin Wall was opened. Is the ...  (Read more)

Two ironic novels, related to America and Eastern Europe, that I hope to read one day soon:

Everything Is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, by Gary Shteyngart.