Herman Cain ‘Reassessing’ Campaign

(New material based on NPR reporting added to the top of this post at 12:30 p.m. ET.) Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is reassessing his campaign’s financial viability but still plans to move ahead at this time, his Iowa campaign director tells The Associated Press and NPR. That Iowa campaign aide, Steve Grubbs, reports Cain [...]

‘Pride And Prejudice’ Meets ‘Clue’ At ‘Pemberley’

During the 50-plus years that Agatha Christie actively reigned as “The Queen of Crime,” it became something of a tradition in England to give one of her novels as a holiday present; in fact, she and her publishers popularized the slogan “A Christie for Christmas.” Dame Agatha died in 1976, but the association of murder [...]

‘Physics Of The Future’: How We’ll Live In 2100?

Imagine being able to access the Internet through the contact lenses on your eyeballs. Blink, and you’d be online. Meet someone, and you’d have the ability to immediately search their identity. And if your friend happens to be speaking a different language, an instantaneous translation could appear directly in front of you. That might sound [...]

After U.S. Troops Leave, What Happens To Iraq?

In October, President Obama announced that most U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, after negotiations with Iraqi leaders failed to extend the troops’ presence. Only Marine embassy guards and liaison troops will stay behind in the country, where more than a million troops, in total, have served over the [...]

Democrats Paint Romney As Warring With Himself In ‘Mitt vs Mitt’ Ad

It’s certainly not a new charge against Mitt Romney; indeed, it’s one of the most enduring — that he changes positions on issues nearly as frequently as Lady Gaga changes her appearance. That this perception of Romney has come to harden in voters’ minds because of how long it’s been extant and Romney’s penchant for [...]

Judy Blume: Banned Often, But Widely Beloved

Judy Blume has been channeling the anxieties, dreams and secret thoughts of young readers for more than four decades. With her honest treatment of topics from bullying to puberty, she has won legions of fans around the world. But she’s also drawn the ire of critics, who want her frank books banned. School libraries around [...]

Bob Costas Is Terribly Disappointed In Sports, Culture, And You

During Sunday night’s NBC broadcast of the Steelers-Chiefs game, Bob Costas took a moment to share some thoughts, which started like this: “For those of you too busy keeping up with the Kardashians to notice, we live in a culture that in many ways grows more stupid and graceless by the moment.” In other words, [...]

What I Still Hear: Sounds That Have Disappeared

I tell stories on a show called Radiolab with a guy who is several decades younger than me. Jad Abumrad is brilliant at it. Nobody turns complex subjects into soundscapes that work their way into the heart (and head) like he does. But — because he was born in the ’70s, he’s got blank spots. [...]

Home Prices ‘Drifted Lower’ In Recent Months

Home prices across the U.S. are still only “back to their first quarter of 2003 levels” and “drifted lower in September and the third quarter,” according to the widely watched S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which were just released. As The Associated Press says, the news is “the latest evidence that the troubled housing market won’t [...]

Consumer Confidence Bounces Higher

Though “overall readings remain historically weak,” consumer confidence went up sharply this month, the private research group known as The Conference Board just reported. Its consumer confidence index rose to 56.0 from 40.9 in October. “Consumers appear to be entering the holiday season in better spirits,” said Lynn Franco, director of the board’s Consumer Research [...]