Fun Stuff

Empty Slides and Empty Swingsets

Striking photos of playgrounds -- sans children -- from around the globe.

MAY 3, 2013

What a Piece of Junk!

Imperial investigators report weaknesses in Death Star management, performance.

BY MICHAEL PECK | MAY 3, 2013

Yemen's Power Wedding

When the sons of Yemen's most powerful tribal leaders tie the knot, it's not only a marriage -- it's a chance for a show of strength that nobody in Sanaa can ignore. 

BY ADAM BARON | MAY 2, 2013

The Outsider

Meet Sayed Kashua, Israel's most popular writer, comedian, critic -- and Arab.

BY DEBRA KAMIN | APRIL 12, 2013

Why Bart Simpson Drives the Venezuelan Authorities Nuts

Venezuela's leaders give new meaning to the phrase “¡Ay, Caramba!”

BY THOR HALVORSSEN , GARRY KASPAROV | APRIL 12, 2013

Woe to the Imperialists!

How I briefly defended North Korea from American aggression.

BY MICHAEL PECK | APRIL 8, 2013

Why Dictators Don’t Like Jokes

Pro-democracy activists around the world are discovering that humor is one of the most powerful weapons in the fight against authoritarianism.

BY SRDJA POPOVIC, MLADEN JOKSIC | APRIL 5, 2013

Sim Paulo

How I used SimCity to solve the world's worst traffic jam.

BY MIKE ROSE | APRIL 1, 2013

March Madness

The top sports cinderella stories vs. the best from world history.

BY DAVID ROTHKOPF | MARCH 29, 2013

Cowboys vs. Kippot

The awesome sci-fi novel about U.S. relations with Israel -- in an alternate acid-trip universe.

BY MICHAEL PECK | MARCH 22, 2013

The Beatified Game

How the new pope has blessed the long suffering soccer fans of Argentina’s Club Atlético San Lorenzo.

BY HALEY COHEN | MARCH 15, 2013

The Geopolitics of 'Girls'

How Lena Dunham explains the world.

BY DANIEL W. DREZNER | MARCH 13, 2013

Pulp Non-Fiction

How to explain Washington dysfunction in 10 pulp-fiction posters.

BY MICHAEL PECK | MARCH 11, 2013

You Don't Know Chuck

Who said it: Sen. Hagel or the Shin Bet?

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

28 games for your President's Day weekend.

BY MICHAEL PECK | FEBRUARY 15, 2013

What Young North Koreans Dream Of

The copyright infringing video game destruction of America, apparently.

BY MICHAEL PECK | FEBRUARY 8, 2013

What Richard III Can Teach Us Today

The world is grown so bad that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch. Can Shakespeare’s fallen tyrant help us set it to rights?

BY JOHN WATKINS | FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Vive L'Empereur!

Five wargames in which the French fight.

BY MICHAEL PECK | FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Sometimes They Come Back

How this zombie game explains our failure in Afghanistan.

BY MICHAEL PECK | JANUARY 28, 2013

Turing Test

Can you beat the father of artificial intelligence at Monopoly?

BY MICHAEL PECK | JANUARY 18, 2013

Obama's First Inaugural -- Revised

What if America's new president had told us what would really happen in his first four years?

BY DANIEL W. DREZNER | JANUARY 18, 2013

What I Learned from Gérard Depardieu

The French actor's case is the exception that proves the rule: Citizenship still matters.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | JANUARY 16, 2013

Enterprise vs. Enterprise

Which is better, the starship or the aircraft carrier?

BY MICHAEL PECK | DECEMBER 24, 2012

The World War on Christmas

Five places where Santa really does have to watch his back.

BY ELIZABETH F. RALPH | DECEMBER 24, 2012

Alien War Brings Mideast Peace

And other benefits of an extraterrestrial invasion.

BY MICHAEL PECK | DECEMBER 7, 2012

Paris on the Yangtze

A look at the Western villages and monuments that are popping up all over China.

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Why Do We Keep Digging Up Dead World Leaders?

Exhuming the remains of the powerful rarely changes what we know about their deaths.

BY URI FRIEDMAN | NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Launch Your Own Gaza War

Help us field-test 'A Reign of Missiles.'

BY MICHAEL PECK | NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Homeland Insecurity

The new Red Dawn movie is really just a throwback to the ‘80s ... the 1880s.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | NOVEMBER 23, 2012

Turkey for the Troops

Sixty years of Thanksgivings for American soldiers abroad.

BY KEVIN BARON, J. DANA STUSTER | NOVEMBER 21, 2012