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When it comes to waging war on Afghanistan, we might as well turn around and go home. The British occupied that country from 1839 to 1842, and ended up going home with their tails between their legs, and it looks like we will too.

In the August 16th issue of the New York Review of Books, Rory Stewart writes: "The British ‘Army of the Indus’ swaggered into Kabul from India in 1839 (with) the general’s personal baggage loaded onto 260 camels." Besides soldiers in scarlet cloaks, he brought along a pack of hounds, in case he wanted to hunt foxes. The Afghans "were soon watching ice skating and giving advice to British women on their geraniums."
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The Curiosity lander has successfully reached the surface of Mars and appears to be intact. Images began appearing at 10:40 PM PDT. Curiosity is the most complex automated space mission every attempted by mankind.

The craft’s descent-stage retrorockets fired as it descended, slowing its approach to the surface. In the most difficult part of the landing, nylon cords lowered the rover to the ground in the "sky crane" maneuver. When the spacecraft sensed touchdown, the connecting cords were severed, and the descent stage flew out of the way. The landing took place at about three o’clock in the afternoon Mars time at the landing site, and 10:31 PM PDT at JPL mission control.
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