As America’s largest generation ages, most of its members are opting to continue working past the traditional retirement age of 65, according to a new Gallup poll. For Millennials and Gen Xers, this trend throws up yet another obstacle to landing a job or being promoted.

Between offers made by Israeli leaders and the hints—especially on Jerusalem—from Sharon’s thinking, it seems clear that there is an implicit Israeli bottom line for peace. The question for Secretary Kerry’s negotiations is this: is he trying to find a way to get the Palestinians to accept this old formula with a few minor modifications or is he trying to get the Israelis to put more on the table?

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new memoir provides an inside look at foreign policy in the Bush and Obama eras, but it is far more than a set of partisan talking points.

Silicon Valley has grown up. Is a “peasants’ revolt against the sovereigns of cyberspace” in the offing?

The business model for PhDs is functionally off. Graduate schools are minting far more PhDs than the market can absorb. The problem is that the post-World War 2 university system was built on the assumption of an ever expanding population of students needing more and more higher ed. Therefore there was a need for each generation to produce more professors than the last. This is not unlike what plagues other blue mode constructs such as Medicaid and the various defined-benefit pension schemes.

Christmas is important to Christians because from their point of view the baby Jesus is the meaning of Christmas, and the meaning of Christmas is the meaning of life.

Yesterday we looked at the countries, movements and people who, in a purely Machiavellian sense, had a good year in 2013. Whether what they did was right or wrong, good or evil, smart for the long term or not, the winners emerged from the arena at the end of 2013 with their power and their prestige significantly enhanced. Today we look at the flip side and ask who were the unlucky and unskillful players who lost the most ground in 2013. Once again this is not about moral beauty or enlightened self interest. This isn’t about whether your intentions were good or bad, or whether your impact on the world was for the better or the worse. It is about whether, at the end of 2013, you were in a weaker position than you were at the start of it.

As the Christmas season draws to a close and the return of regular blogging looms, I’m looking back over this short period of intense religion writing and thinking about how writing on religion is and is not like writing on other controversial topics.

Looking back at 2013, some actors on the international scene, both state and non-state, notched up significant achievements and advances. Others didn’t do as well. In developing our list of the world’s biggest winners and losers in 2013, AI didn’t make moral judgments. This is a realist calculation, looking at who gained power during the year and who lost.

To get any insight at all into what Jesus’ childhood and upbringing were like, you have to do something that sometimes makes Protestants uncomfortable: study Mary.