Unfortunately, that no longer seems likely. Instead, the SAT essay has turned out to be a completely artificial exercise that appears to reward students for writing badly.

Write Long, Badly and Prosper

Swarming occurs when several military units conduct a convergent attack on a target from multiple axes. The author derives a simple theory that explains the phenomenology of swarming. He considers command and control, communications, home field advantage, surprise, fratricide, and training and identifies the primary variables most important to successful swarming.

Swarming and the Future of Warfare

"Madagascar" arouses no sense of wonder, except insofar as you wonder, as you watch it, how so much talent, technical skill and money could add up to so little.

Do I recommend this movie? No, but I do recommend this review.

'Madagascar': Escaping New York for a Real Jungle

] "I work for a newspaper[;] that is where my paycheck
] comes from. But I believe that all online newspapers
] should be free, and on principle I refuse to pay for an
] online subscription to the Wall Street Journal. I have
] not read the paper copy of the New York Times regularly
] for two years. I read it only online."
]
] - Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat, Page 102

Will the New York Times columnist read himself?

Many in the industry are starting to ask whether the slump is just part of a cyclical swing driven mostly by a crop of weak movies or whether it reflects a much bigger change in the way Americans look to be entertained - a change that will pose serious new challenges to Hollywood.

This article is kind of hacky, but you may be interested in the data.

With Popcorn, DVD's and TiVo, Moviegoers Are Staying Home

Somehow, in the three-and-a-half years that the United States has been here, it has not figured out how to avoid this trap. This incapacity for institutional learning is perhaps the most surprising failing on the part of the Army that I have witnessed.

With a Little Help From Our Friends

The CIA is conducting a secretive war game, dubbed "Silent Horizon," this week to practice defending against an electronic assault on the same scale as the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks.

There's really nothing to this article, but it's a data point. Perhaps more detailed reports will emerge in the near future.

Dorothing Denning Declines Invitation to CIA Cyberwargame

Asked what carrots the Europeans had offered as incentives, a European negotiator replied, "There were no carrots."

Hmm ... none? Surely there's at least one, I think.

Flaming Carrot is a very calculatedly surreal character. I'm kind of curious when you got into surrealism and some of its many offshoots.

Flaming Carrot

Asked what carrots the Europeans had offered as incentives, a European negotiator replied, "There were no carrots."

No Carrots ?!?

Perhaps Mr. Charlier would have better luck gaining access to nuclear facilities if he offered the officials a Flaming Carrot or two.

Freeze Extended Despite Blatant Lack of Carrots

FRONTLINE/World and BBC reporter Paul Kenyon travels deep into Iran to investigate charges that Iran is secretly developing a nuclear bomb. With exclusive access to a U.N. inspection team, Kenyon visits Iran's most sensitive nuclear sites and reports on the escalating diplomatic tensions surrounding the discovery of the facilities.

Frontline shows what great reporting can be. If only there were more of it on television (and in the media, generally) today. Unfortunately, the commercial networks suffer from different motivations.

Iran, Going Nuclear | PBS Frontline/World