The first commercial cargo ship to visit the space station is attached to the orbiting laboratory by a robotic arm.

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Station grabs SpaceX Dragon ship

“My college education,” wrote Robert Benchley in 1927, “was no haphazard affair. My courses were all selected with a very definite aim in view, with a serious purpose in mind — no classes before eleven in the morning or after two-thirty in the afternoon, and nothing on Saturday at all. That was my slogan. On that rock was my education built. As what is known as the Classical Course involved practically no afternoon laboratory work, whereas in the Scientific Course a man’s time was never his own until four p.m. anyway, I went in for the classic. But only such classics as allowed for a good sleep in the morning. There is such a thing as being a studying fool.” Read full article > >

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Alexandra Petri: College is too difficult

RICHMOND — Guns, gays and organized labor. Three outspoken champions of these hot-button issues in Virginia were on the list of people the General Assembly planned to appoint as judges this week. The gun-rights guy, a former Republican state delegate who has pushed for lifting restrictions on concealed weapons in public buildings, got his judgeship. So did the pro-union Democrat, another former delegate, whose grandfather organized coal miners in Southwest Virginia. Read full article > >

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Virginia General Assembly rejects openly gay prosecutor for Richmond judgeship

As we’ve discussed before , the number of Americans in the labor force — that is, the people who either have jobs or are actively looking for work — has been dwindling in recent years. Some of that’s been due to ordinary demographics: America’s getting older and more people are retiring. Some of it’s been due to the grim economy, which has dissuaded many people from even bothering to look for jobs. Read full article > >

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Will America’s labor-force dropouts ever come back?

A scientist at the prestigious Cern laboratory is jailed for five years in France for plotting terrorist attacks.

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France jails physicist for terror

The United States economy had another month of mediocre job growth, and the unemployment rate fell partly because workers dropped out of the labor force.

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U.S. Added Only 115,000 Jobs in April; Rate Is 8.1%

Pond skater males have evolved elaborate antennae due to sexual struggles with females, say researchers.

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Pond bugs hooked in sex struggle

Pond skater males have evolved elaborate antennae due to sexual struggles with females, say researchers.

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Pond bugs hooked in sex struggle

When Robert A. Caro published “ Master of the Senate ” (2002), the third volume of his voluminous multi-part life of Lyndon B. Johnson, he said he would finish his labors with just one more installment. But clearly he wasn’t being realistic. Read full article > >

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Book review: Robert A. Caro’s ‘The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson’

COMBAT OUTPOST SAYED ABAD, AFGHANISTAN — In a big war, Army Spec. Cherry Maurice believed that one small gesture could make a difference. Temperatures at her mountain base plunged to 20 degrees below zero in January, and snow covered the ground. Maurice noticed that the eight Afghan workers on the outpost were coming to work in rubber flip-flops. The 35-year-old soldier labored with the men in the outpost’s kitchen, which is not much bigger than a walk-in closet. She dug into her personal savings and spent $135 to buy them eight pairs of boots. Read full article > >

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U.S. soldier’s gift to Afghan workers at her base underscores divide

A grandson of JRR Tolkien and a descendant of Charles Dickens are to collaborate on two new fantasy books for children.

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Tolkien and Dickens join for book

Last month, the AFL-CIO endorsed Obama, quieting all the talk about any rift or lingering differences between the President and organized labor. Many Dems hope enthusiastic union support will help Obama limit losses among blue collar whites in the swing states — something that could prove decisive in the 2012 election. Read full article > >

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Greg Sargent: AFL-CIO’s Trumka rips Obama: What about the 99 percent?

Amina el-Filali, a moon-faced Moroccan peasant girl, seemed destined for an obscure life in this dreary little farming village 50 miles south of Tangiers. But that was before she was lured into sexual relations at age 15 by a 23-year-old unemployed laborer who took her into a shed next to the eucalyptus grove behind her house. That was before she was ushered into an early wedding, with the man who took her virginity, by a traditional Muslim family eager to salvage its honor. And that was before she swallowed rat poison to commit suicide rather than endure what she told her mother was an unbearable marriage. Read full article > >

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New Arab order: In Morocco, uproar over marriage law tests Islamist government

The intensity of the initial skirmishes in the campaign between President Obama and Mitt Romney underscores a new reality about presidential politics. What happens in the months before Labor Day and the candidates’ debates in the fall will shape the race and, if history is a guide, determine who wins in November. Read full article > >

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Lead-up to Labor Day may determine winner of presidential race

If demography is destiny, the U.S. economy may be in the midst of a decades-long slowdown. The U.S. labor force is growing at about half the rate it was 20 years ago; according to recent projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it will continue to expand at a slightly lower pace through 2020. Read full article > >

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Growth of U.S. labor force is slowing, reports show