Book nerds now have another reason to celebrate thanks to the recent launch of Borders’ online bookstore. The competitor of Barnes and Nobles and former partner of Amazon.com hopes its rewards and perks programs helps it compete with the plethora of other online booksellers.

A recent Newsweek article offers a cursory discussion of the difference between ignorance and stupidity. Sparked by yet another book on Gen-Y’s apparent inability to remember the facts their grandparents had burned into their brains, Newsweek wonders if intelligence is better measured by the ability to remember facts or the ability to think critically. If only the folks who develop high school proficiency exams were inclined to have the same discussion, we might not be a nation seemingly flooded with anti-intellectuals.

Some folks in Sweden are worried that a new ad campaign showing kids drinking from gas pumps–ads intended to suggest that the company’s biofuels are practically safe enough to drink–may actually encourage kids to drink from gas pumps. No word yet on whether the new Indiana Jones movie will encourage kids to buy whips and search for crystal skulls. (Two Indy references in three days. Yes!)

As we come ever closer to naming a Democratic nominee, I’m often reminded by various news articles that Barack Obama is the first ‘viable’ African-American candidate. Yet, I’m curious what makes a candidate viable (Is that shorthand for “Do they really think they have a chance”?) and wonder if Dick Gregory, Alan Keyes, Jesse Jackson, Cynthia McKinney, and the others I’ve not mentioned consider(ed) themselves impractical candidates.

Former US anti-terror czar Richard Clarke, who resigned in the first term of President George W. Bush’s administration, today said “the best thing that we could do to hit Al-Qaeda’s attractiveness to the Muslim world” is to “get out of Iraq“.

Viacom Inc. estimates the fourth Indiana Jones movie pulled in an estimated $311 million in global sales through the Memorial Day weekend. In other news, I found a nickel in the cushions of my couch. Take that, Short Round.

“[I]f you’re rooting for a certain outcome, it kinda shows. And I just want a good show. I just want a good story that’s fun to talk about … “

“[Barack Obama's] speech — delivered to a cross-section of the supportive, the skeptical and the plain curious — broke the pattern of condescension that has defined so many of these events in the past.”

Has political pandering to Cuban Americans become so commonplace that engaged discourse is actually astounding?