As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.

But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount.

Online, R U Really Reading?

In full automatic mode, the 2009 Nissan GT-R shifts as if it had been programmed by Ed Begley Jr.

The Arrival of the Fittest

Welcome to the new Korean craze of "well-dying". In a country infatuated with "well-being" - living and eating healthily, even to the point where tobacco-makers offer vitamin-enriched "well-being cigarettes" - training companies are now offering courses on dying a good death.

From the archive:

In the 21st century, we "shy away from death," and we tend to think of a good death as a sudden one.

Not so in the 19th century.

Dying well meant having time to assess your spiritual state and say goodbye -- which is difficult to do if you're killed in battle.

To be sure, time marches on.

Yet for many Californians, the looming demise of the "time lady," as she's come to be known, marks the end of a more genteel era, when we all had time to share.

See also:

Kronomy is the place where the collective global memory lives. It allows you to create events and memories on a life path that can be easily explored and linked with others.

Unlike standard social networking websites, which offer only static profiles that focus on the present, Kronomy's simple navigation tools and advanced graphic interface let you travel effortlessly along entire life paths and explore events in depth.

Now you can travel through time, reviewing your own and others' lives, crossing paths with people who share identical or similar experiences and discovering interesting people who are ready to share their life events.

We know that your past experiences are as important to you as what's happening now, which is why we created this dynamic collective memory for everyone to participate in, use and enjoy.

The more life paths that are added and linked, the more powerful and complete the world's memory becomes - a fascinating and invaluable resource for all time.

When death is a reminder to live

Jack: (changing the subject) Is it erotic?

Jane: Not at all, really. In fact, most of the time it's anti-erotic. It's about the things you were thinking about when you should have been paying attention. Personally, I would think that at least one of these couples might be portrayed as actually communicating and enjoying themselves. But that's not the point he's making.

Jack: How can you call it Intercourse if it's not erotic?

Jane: I suppose he means that other sort of intercourse: conversation.

Jack: (losing interest) Oh.

From the archive, a selection:

The perceived lack of time becomes real: We are not stressed because we have no time, but rather, we have no time because we are stressed.

In the 1920's and 30's, before the age of air-conditioning, my father once told me that New Yorkers used to leave their apartments to sleep in the park on summer nights. Was America any safer then, or did people take more care of one another during those days?

Lisa: Uh, are you sure that's safe?
Kearny: Well it ain't gettin' any safer.

On Friday, a deeply divided House rebuffed President Bush's demand for retroactive immunity, then defiantly left Washington for a two-week spring break.

Republicans said the secret session proved to be deflating, not because of the quality of the evidence, but because of Democrats' unwillingness to listen.

This book earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Intercourse: Stories by Robert Olen Butler

Not sure how to explain the internet to your young ones? Presenting a series of nursery rhymes to teach children how to comport themselves on the online.

Baby’s First Internet

What's interesting about Tomorrowland's newest future is its focus on what doesn't change. This Dream Home future at 360 Tomorrowland Way in Disney's original California park is intentionally reassuring. The cast evokes a multigenerational intact nuclear family, the Eliases, which includes one daughter ("Princess") and two sons and two vigorous grandparents who live so close as to routinely drop by. This future has the sound of crickets outside the front door, and a light breeze forever blowing through its flowering vines. This future, in Dad's room, has Lionel trains.

The Future Is So Yesterday

From McSweeney's:

Quantum mechanics is the girl you meet at the poetry reading. Everyone thinks she's really interesting and people you don't know are obsessed about her. You go out. It turns out that she's pretty complicated and has some issues. Later, after you've broken up, you wonder if her aura of mystery is actually just confusion.

Physical Theories as Women

As the nation's unprecedented jump in gas prices takes a toll across the region, many teenagers say they, too, are feeling the pinch. Some have a harder time wresting car keys from their parents. Others are looking for second part-time jobs to help foot the bill. Some are using Metro more often or getting around in other gas-saving ways.

This reality check comes at a time in their lives when many think of driving as exciting: a symbol of age and hard-won freedom, a rite of passage, an escape. But the price of gas has tempered the thrill for many teens, especially those who use their own money to fill up.

They talk of fewer evenings out. Less cruising around. More riding together and pitching in to buy a few gallons.

See also, from San Diego, average decreases in vehicle counts, based on freeway sensor data.

Young Drivers Getting A Lesson in Economics

A high-speed drive through the streets of Paris.

C'était un Rendez-Vous

On behalf of the President and the Director of National Intelligence, I am pleased to present this second Annual Report to the Congress on the Information Sharing Environment (ISE). We believe it demonstrates a solid record of accomplishment by the Office of the Program Manager, the many agencies represented on the Information Sharing Council, and our partners in State, local, and tribal (SLT) governments. In the past year we have made significant progress in a number of important areas of information sharing. Issuance of a new framework for marking and handling Controlled Unclassified Information, establishment of the Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group at the National Counterterrorism Center, completion of a functional standard for terrorism-related suspicious activity reporting, and publication of the first version of an enterprise architecture framework for the ISE are only a few of the important achievements.

Notwithstanding these achievements, there is still much more to be done. In particular, Information Sharing Council (ISC) member agencies must work to fully implement the ISE; assure full participation by our SLT partners; and help secure and make safe our communities and nation by effectively sharing information. So, in addition to describing 2007-08 accomplishments, the Report outlines the status, outcomes and activities that are needed to continue to improve information sharing.

Annual Report to the Congress on the Information Sharing Environment