From Slate, Jody Rosen on the DORF Matrix: A theory of NPR's taste in black music. There is no such thing as "black music": Why should we speak in historical terms when discussing modern music? Listener as Operator: The "compositional improvising" of jazz, from big band to free to AACM, is, in its shared precarity, "tellingly inarticulate". Genre is still king: Bob Wills should be a jazz legend, but superficial criteria like instrumentation and audience have relegated him to the "country" ghetto. A review of The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and Gunther Huesmann. A review of Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music by David Suisman. The Beatles were a triumph of capitalism — and it was all down to Brian Epstein. Bob Dylan’s band camp: An excerpt from We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives by Paul Shaffer (and a review). Is it really only the lonely who play?: For decades, the wisdom of 1980s songs has led and guided us — but are their claims true? Alligator lizards in the air: When it comes to identifying truly awful lyrics that are the result of neither idiocy nor ambition, it’s best to consider the soft and mushy center between those two poles. Stairway to Heaven: Can you be saved by rock ’n’ roll? From PopMatters, deconstructing the clap: Rock music is the only art form that invites amateurs to perform along with the professionals and with predictable results; and the (indie) music industry is all right: The media is too preoccupied with the funeral arrangements of the mainstream music industry to celebrate the life that is happening elsewhere.

From Slate, a special section on the American way of dentistry — a look at the coming crisis; and 80 over 80: The most powerful octogenarians in America. PopMatters celebrates its 10th birthday with essays picking apart just about every aspect of popular culture and how it fits in and reflects with our modern-day society. Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2009 report is now out. How sofas changed the world: A review of The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual — and the Modern Home Began by Joan DeJean. Behavioural economics has been the toast of both politicians and publishers in recent years, but the emperor’s new clothes are starting to look threadbare (and more on Superfreakonomics). From Obit, a review of Mortal Coil: A Short History of Living Longer by David Boyd Haycock; and is aging an inevitability or is it a disease? Self-portrait without cigarette: Who on earth wants to know what a columnist looks like? From New Scientist, probably guilty: Bad mathematics means rough justice. Here's the first Good 100, a collection of the most important, exciting, and innovative people, ideas, and projects making our world better. Erin McKean on the case for Dictionary Day. Brevity editor Dinty W. Moore is pleased to have published what he believes to be the shortest essay ever. Point, click, kill: Popular Science goes inside the Air Force's frantic unmanned reinvention, the struggle to train thousands of drone pilots virtually overnight. From Chronicles, Thomas Fleming on the “sin” of humility. From TNR, your babysitter's family is stranded on the roof of a flooded building in the Philippines — what do you do?

From New Scientist, a look at six diseases you never knew you could catch. Does the vaccine matter? To prevent a devastating flu pandemic, the government is relying heavily on vaccines and antivirals — some experts say that both are quite possibly useless. From Wired, an epidemic of fear: How panicked parents skipping shots endangers us all. From Wired, placebos are getting more effective; drugmakers are desperate to know why; and a new assault by a leading psychologist on Prozac-style antidepressants claims they are worse than useless — try telling that to the many people who believe they are life-saving. Drug Deals: Prescription drug commercials have proven incredibly effective — how is that possible? A review of Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon. What doctors are missing: A review of Carrying the Heart: Exploring the Worlds Within Us by F. Gonzalez-Crussi and The Deadly Dinner Party and Other Medical Detective Stories by Jonathan Edlow. The fat and short of it: Should making Americans taller be one of the goals of health care reform? If Stan Brock can deliver health care to the furthest corners of the developing world (and large swaths of the US) why can’t Congress? America’s blind spot: Daniel Callahan on health care and the common good. A look at how drug-industry lobbyists won on health-care. This land is your land: Henry George and his 19th-century manifesto have a renewed relevance during the current health care debate. Nothing is certain but the current fight at the heart of health-care reform isn't the public option — it's the excise tax.

From The New York Times Magazine, a cover story on Stanley McChrystal’s Long War: Is it just too late for the general to win in Afghanistan? The Front: Peter Bergen on the Taliban-Al Qaeda merger. An excerpt from Combating Jihadism: American Hegemony and Interstate Cooperation in the War on Terrorism by Barak Mendelsohn. An interview with Michael Ledeen, author of Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West (and an excerpt). From NYRB, a review of books on Hamas. The truth about Christian Zionists: Why pro-Israel Christians really support the Jewish state, push for sanctions on Iran, and want the US to stop pressuring Jerusalem. Will today's U.S.-armed ally be tomorrow's enemy? The Obama Administration finally has an official Darfur policy — but where’s Obama, and is it any good? From Doublethink, a series on trying to come to terms with Obama’s foreign policy (and part 2 and part 3 and part 4). The unwise men and the decline of a caste: What have been the truly creative moments in American foreign policy during the last three quarters of a century? From The Weekly Standard, Jean Kaufman on Reagan and Obama: Is America a city on a hill or a country in decline?; and decline is a choice: Charles Krauthammer on the new liberalism and the end of American ascendancy. Take me back to Constantinople: Edward Luttwak on how Byzantium, not Rome, can help preserve Pax Americana. A review of Why America Fights: Patriotism and War Propaganda from the Philippines to Iraq by Susan Brewer. A panel on The Science of War: Defense Budgeting, Military Technology, Logistics, and Combat Outcomes by Michael O'Hanlon.