GLENN DERENE LOOKS AT the new Amazon Kindle e-reader. You can get InstaPundit on it, I’m told.

Photos here. Comparison with the Sony Reader here, along with this observation: “One of the Kindle’s biggest competitors may actually be a device that isn’t even in the same category: the iPhone. The iPhone isn’t particularly adept at dealing with ebooks yet, but it probably will be very soon. It might have a smaller screen, but it does everything else the Kindle can do in terms of hardware (albeit with a slower connection). And if Apple or someone else comes up a way to buy and download ebooks as easily as the Kindle store, these two identically-priced uber-devices might be in a fight that neither company anticipated.”

Some thoughts on aesthetics, here.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS IN SLATE, on the good news from Iraq.

Plus, Bob Krumm: “Remember the ‘Flypaper Theory’? Every day, that goal comes closer to being realized.”

NOT EXACTLY POSITIVE COVERAGE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Democrats in Congress failed once again Friday to shift President Bush’s war strategy in Iraq, but insisted that they would not let up. Their explanation for their latest foiled effort seemed to boil down to a simple question: “What else are we supposed to do?”

How about admit things are going much better, and try to help?

A LOOK AT the sleep-industrial complex. I like this advice: “‘After a poor night of sleep we’re asking people to forget about it and go about their business as usual,’ he says. ‘Because if you wake up and think, Wow, what a terrible night of sleep, I’m going to have a lousy day, you’re setting yourself up for failure.’”

IN THE MAIL: Sally Bedell Smith’s new book, For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years. The nineties are back with a vengeance!

IF YOU LIKE BALLET, you may like this blog.

QUESTIONS ABOUT RUSSIAN NANOTECHNOLOGY WEAPONS: More answers, please.

A STAR TREK MODELED home theater.

A TRAINER AT MY GYM WENT TO SEE BEOWULF THIS WEEKEND, and she and her boyfriend were not impressed. She said they were hoping for something like 300, but what they got was “Shrek, only gruesome and not funny.”

LOOKING FOR A HOUSE? “We have just the place. Good school district, only two owners in 90 years. A steal at $133K. Warning: that’s the annual property taxes.”

A REPORT FROM THE L.A. Auto Show.

LOOKING AT the numbers in Iraq.

VIDEO: Bob Owens and Roger Simon interview Fred Thompson on the war on terror. Very interesting, and I think it’s one of Thompson’s best appearances to date.

WHAT WOULD AL GORE DO? “The former vice president, Oscar winner and Nobel laureate hasn’t made any noises about getting back into politics … yet. Nevertheless, the idea of having Gore as the country’s science czar is a good way to spark a discussion over mixing science and politics.”

“HAVE SOME TURKEY, YOU FASCIST:” Advice on dealing with holiday hell.