Newley Purnell

NaNoHuh?
Although the world surely doesn’t need any more mediocre novels, I’ve always admired the spirit–the camaraderie, the forced creative production–of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. So maybe National Novel Editing Month is a good idea. Too bad the latter (in March) doesn’t immediately follow the former (in November).

“The Balloon Goes Up”
The Economist reports on “Plan Colombia”–the US’s attempts to curb coca cultivation in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. “But the ‘drug war’ has imposed its own costs. One is known as the ‘balloon effect’: local squeezes simply move the industry elsewhere, spreading violence and corruption with it.”

“Russian Fat Cat Creams the Rest”
Here’s one big feline.