This is going to be one of those links-only posts. Here are some articles available online that you may find worth reading:

-- Helena Echlin's engrossing account of graduate study at Yale: How Yale Strangles English.

-- Thought Reform 101, a deeply disturbing article by Alan Kors on the Orwellian practices of today's college administrators.

-- Norman Geras explores sexual etiquette.

-- According to Virginia Postrel, the reason we are so fat has something to do with economic progress. Artilces like this are the reason I feel I missed my calling in economics.

-- Daniel Drezner on why concerns about economic inequality are misplaced.

-- An interesting profile of Hugh Hefner in the Washington Post.

-- An interesting profile of John Ashcroft in the Manchester Guardian.

-- Advice on how to beat your wife in the London Telegraph.

-- An ESP experiment by University of Wisconsin physics professor Cliff Pickover.

-- Princeton math professor Jordan Ellenberg on Congress' growing polarization.

-- I've always had a soft spot for Darth Vader. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one.

-- An article on prejudices in small Louisiana towns in the context of the Blanco-Jindal gubernatorial election.

-- It just goes to show you, looks just aren't that important.