Alternative map of the American West – as sustainable water regions

From Mapping the Nation: A beautiful–and extremely controversial–map made by John Wesley Powell…best known for his insistence the west must be understood as an arid region, one that demanded irrigation and management rather than a reliance on rainfall. In the late 1880s, Powell undertook a large-scale survey of the far west to demonstrate that the …

Paintballing with Hezbollah – they cheat, take hostages, and bring their own grenades

We figured they’d cheat; they were Hezbollah, after all. But none of us—a team of four Western journalists—thought we’d be dodging military-grade flash bangs when we initiated this “friendly” paintball match. As my eyesight returns and readjusts to the dim arena light, I poke out from my position behind a low cinder-block wall. Two large …

U.S. adds more Predator drones to search for drugs in the Caribbean

After quietly testing Predator drones over the Bahamas for more than 18 months, the Department of Homeland Security plans to expand the unmanned surveillance flights into the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico to fight drug smuggling, according to U.S. officials. The move would dramatically increase U.S. drone flights in the Western Hemisphere, more than doubling the number of square miles …