This is it. I knew the day would finally come: the Internet brings about the death of reading! Americans spend too much time online and not enough time curled up with a book! The end is near. At least, this is what the National Endowment for the Arts survey, reported on in The New York Times today, seems to suggest. The studies seem to miss out on reading done online, as the article mentions. It would have been interesting for the article to put the current statistics in context with any that were available from the 1950s and '60s when television first became a distraction from pleasure reading.

The Boston Globe takes a look at traffic patterns today with an article on the under-use of the new--and very expensive--U-turn ramp on the Mass Pike. The article gives the numbers of vehicles who have used it, abused it, or decided it wasn't worth their time. It describes the range of situations faced by confused truck drivers and taxi cab drivers and also explains the confusion surrounding its use that has prompted changes in signage. One question I still have, although it is not necessary to understanding the article, is how The Globe learned this information. Did they just investigate after someone at the paper noticed what seemed to be a lack of activity, or was the situation brought to their attention in some way by public officials?

A Washington Post story today seems to be reporting on its inability to report, and it's left me just as confused as its author appears to be. The article anticipates an upcoming international conference at the Naval Academy on the subject of the creation of a Palestinian state. It opens by noting that little has been planned, and despite the diplomatic complexities surrounding the issuance of invitations, not all participants have been invited yet. I am unclear, though, why the State Department appears to be so unprepared. Or are they prepared, but just not sharing the information yet? I have no idea, and it seems to me that the paper would have done better to hold the story until there was actually something to tell.