Here are some interesting and thought-provoking stories for today. They're presented in ascending order of length and importance. Funny how that works.

SCIENCE // They claim there ought to be things in our universe that pre-date the Big Bang.

POLITICS // Paul Krugman, on what passes for adult conversation in Washington, D.C. It makes me wonder what it would take to elect people who would take their responsibilities seriously.

MOVIES // An interesting look at making the movie “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter”. The book was quite fun.

SPORTS (and also politics) // Why an NFL-less season would be good for America

FRIENDSHIP // “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” A long and important treatise on the modern state of Friendship in the age of Facebook. Give yourself some time to read and digest it. I would love to discuss this with people, because while I agree with much of it, there several ideas I find disagreeable.

Finding time to read is a challenge. Even when I make it a priority I find it difficult to carve out enough time. If you feel the same way, I can't overemphasize the usefulness of Instapaper, for reading web-based materials either online or on mobile devices.