From Vanity Fair, how broken is Washington? A day in the life of the president reveals that Barack Obama’s job would be almost unrecognizable to most of his predecessors — thanks to the enormous bureaucracy, congressional paralysis, systemic corruption (with lobbyists spending $3.5 billion last year), and disintegrating media. What if Hollywood really was one big high school? Five scientists spent a week hiking to understand how heavy use of technology changes how we think and behave. From The New Inquiry, kids must be trained to view the Web as a site for immaterial labor and for anxious self-production — they have not yet become aware of themselves as a brand. From Politico, a look at how the GOP is taking a harsher stance toward Islam. Estimates of religious populations require a bit of faith: No one knows for sure how many Muslims, or Jews, or Christians, live in New York or anywhere else in the US — the Census Bureau doesn't ask Americans to disclose their faith (and more). A raid and then a 3-year wait: After authorities raided Marc Hauser’s laboratory, Harvard researchers waited for the other shoe to drop. Why did humans evolve the capacity to imagine alternatives to reality? Timothy Williamson investigates. Time could use a boost as much as literature, and it’s hard to fault the magazine; in fact, its choice of Franzen provides an opportunity to look back at Time’s long history as literary arbiter and evangelist.
