Newley Purnell

Soccer news: following a strong World Cup showing, the US men’s national team has been ranked ninth in the world. This marks the first time the American team has cracked the top ten.

Here’s a visual demonstration of how an attack on Iraq might go down. With description in Spanish.

NY Times (free registration required): “Across Africa, juju men…do a brisk business in the soccer season trying to influence the action on the field.”

BBC News: “Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov has announced his intention to officially rename all 12 months of the year in commemoration of the country’s heroes and most potent national symbols.”

There’s only one David Brooks. In “Patio Man and the Sprawl People,” he examines the fast-growing suburbs he calls “Sprinkler Cities.”

“My So-Called Lungs,” (New York Times; free registration required) an audio diary created by Laura Rothenberg, a woman suffering from cystic fibrosis, ran yesterday on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” It’s quite moving; it’s available here.

A classic McSweeney’s yarn: “I Am Michiko Kakutani.” A contemporary McSweeney’s yarn: “This Office is Different.”

According to James B. Twitchell, luxury has been democratized.

Japanese McDonald’s are slashing burger prices, and the Bangkok Skytrain is drowning in debt (they owe 35 billion baht, to be exact).

Dontlink.com is an amusing compilation of stupid linking policies.

“Dale Peck’s scathing review of Rick Moody and a dozen other writers of ‘postmodern drivel’ has the literary world buzzing about what makes for good — and bad — criticism.”