In a perfect world, no working American would get sick with the H1N1 virus. Alas, perfection eludes us. In a slightly less perfect world, workers in America who got the flu would not infect friends, colleagues and total strangers, because their bosses would recognize there's a benefit to their businesses and the employees still standing when highly contagious workers are allowed to recover at home... Read more.

NEW YORK — A goliath of gray, huge beyond human proportions, the USS New York sits in the Hudson River, here to be commissioned (Nov. 7) in the city that gave it its name. This is a warship — or, more prosaically, an "amphibious transport dock" — with 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center in its bow. Judging from its islandlike size, 7.5 tons is the steel equivalent... Read more.

Bill O'Reilly supports a public option in the health care debate, given that it will provide cheaper insurance to those who can't afford it and isn't intended to replace insurance providers as the status quo for the majority; Tommy Thompson, W.'s secretary for Health and Human Services and a former four-term governor of Wisconsin, has praised the Senate's proposed reforms. Dr. Bill Frist, the former... Read more.

What's with all the zombies lately? That could be a question about one of the hippest retro fads that pop culture has going these days. Inspired by horror genres of past, zombies have lurched back to pre-eminence in books like "World War Z," video games like "Left 4 Dead" and blockbuster films like "Zombieland." Even the highbrow producers at National Public Radio recently... Read more.