LIKE MOST SUCCESSFUL CULTS, IT LETS PEOPLE ACT LIKE DEMONS WHILE FEELING LIKE ANGELS: Virginia Postrel On The Glamour of the Islamic State.

Confronting Islamic State requires an exercise largely unfamiliar to the American military’s hardheaded pragmatists: thinking carefully about the elusive, seductive magic of glamour. Making that task all the more difficult, it also demands recognizing the allure of ideas and images that baffle, offend or horrify most Westerners. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, glamour is in the mind of the audience.

Glamour is undermined by mockery. People steeped in multicultural respect will find that mockery difficult. The other thing that undermines glamour is crushing defeat. The Axis had glamour of its own, until Dresden and Hiroshima.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: You Can Now Shop The Web For A Feminist Boyfriend.

NYC’S CAMPAIGN AGAINST “MANSPREADING” — all about penis envy?

LIFE IN OBAMA’S AMERICA: ‘Race War’ Senator’s Tweet Foreshadows Stormy Session for Missouri Legislature.

CHEAP TRANSPORTATION: $75 Pickup Got Minnesota Man Back and Forth to Work—for 38 Years.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Small molecule nanorobot walks through a protein nanopore.

AT AMAZON, fresh deals on bestselling products, updated every hour.

Also, coupons galore in Grocery & Gourmet Food.

Plus, Kindle Daily Deals.

And, Today’s Featured Digital Deal.

BLOCKBUSTER STORY, SPIKED: Why Is The Press Ignoring Al-Sisi’s Speech On Islam?

Well, they ignored this, too.

WILL A CHEAP ENGAGEMENT RING AND WEDDING SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE? Helen didn’t want an engagement ring, since we were already paying for our (cheap) wedding ourselves. I finally got her a nice one on our 15th anniversary.

SHOTS BEAT PILLS for arthritis relief. “The most effective treatment for the pain of knee osteoarthritis may be an injection of hyaluronic acid or corticosteroids, and the least effective may be Tylenol or Celebrex pills, a review of studies concludes.”

THE NOTION OF DIFFERENT “LEARNING STYLES:” A DANGEROUS MYTH? Sometimes I think that the constant efforts to move away from old-fashioned teaching methods have more to do with boredom by teachers, and a desire for less rigor, than with any actual science.

AT AMAZON, deals galore in Home & Kitchen Furnishings.

Also, optimize your laundry!

Plus, deals on juicers.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR: Speaker Keeps Gavel: Boehner Gets By with a Little Help from Missing Dems.

UPDATE: Boehner Survives the Coup That Never Was.

AREN’T MOST STARTUPS BEER-POWERED? A Beer-Powered Startup Scene Grows in Portland, Maine.

CALL ME BACK WHEN THEY CAN HAVE LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES: Bid in New York to Extend Legal Rights to Chimps Fails, Again.

BUT A “RANDOM WALK” THEORY OF CANCER PROVIDES INSUFFICIENT OPPORTUNITY FOR LIFESTYLE SHAMING AND CONTROL: Cancer’s Random Assault. “Random mutations may account for two-thirds of the risk of getting many types of cancer, leaving the usual suspects — heredity and environmental factors — to account for only one-third.”

THAT’S NOT AN ECO BOOST: 2015 Ford Mustang EcoBoost loses big power on 87 octane.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: With so much fresh blood, why does the GOP need Jeb?

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 607.

SCHADENFREUDE: Whining Harvard Professors Discover Obamacare.

“Deplorable, deeply regressive, a sign of the corporatization of the university.” That’s what Harvard Classics professor Richard F. Thomas calls the changes in Harvard’s health plan, which have a large number of the faculty up in arms.

Are Harvard professors being forced onto Medicaid? Has their employer denied coverage for cancer treatment? Do they need to sign a corporate loyalty oath in order to access health insurance? Not exactly. But copayments are being raised and deductibles altered, making their plan … well, actually, their plan is still extraordinarily generous by any standard.

Certainly more generous than mine, which was “Cadillac” 20 years ago, but now more like Kia. Plus:

The deepest irony is, of course, that Harvard professors helped to design Obamacare. And Obamacare is the reason that these changes are probably necessary.

Indeed.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL: Seven-Year-Old Girl Who Walked Away From Plane Crash Had Survival Training.

AT AMAZON, 58% off Quantum Leap: The Complete Series on DVD. Plus, more deals on Classic TV.

Also, take 20% off Boots. For men, women & kids.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: With so much fresh blood, why does the GOP need Jeb?

ED DRISCOLL: It’s All A Matter Of Perspective.