Cass Sunstein (Harvard): Nonsectarian Welfare Statements. From GeoCurrents, Asya Pereltsvaig on the geography of “book” and the spatial distribution of words. Linda Rodriguez McRobbie on the history and psychology of clowns being scary. Kevin Drum on why Obama's Syria muddle is so disappointing. Crossing the line: Steve Coll on Syria’s chemical weapons and memories of Iraq. Thomas Stackpole on how the world's most notorious micronation has the secret to protecting your data from the NSA: A decade ago, the Principality of Sealand tried to create a data haven and failed spectacularly — now it's trying again. Sean Roberts on uncovering spurious correlations between language and culture. Kevin Higgins on Hitchens through the looking glass: The late polemicist gets a taste of his own medicine. Mike Konczal on how conservatives don’t get that some problems are public, and it’s hurting them. From Improbable Research, a look at the universality of “Boys Will Be Boys” (and more). The war on Obamacare has officially reached its point of reductio ad absurdum: Two of the opposition's favored fevered conspiracy theories about the law have clashed, like two asteroids headed for the planet that smash into each other before they can do any damage below. Why are major media outlets ignoring bestselling writer Mark Levin? Mark Wilcox on 7 management myths that need to be busted.
