On The New Republic’s The Plank, a how-to guide on how to survive a Colbert interview.  To put Colbert on the defensive, Thomas Schaller writes, make some of your answers less than a sentence to throw him off.  Colbert has to ad-lib the transition from one question to the next.  The more you say, the greater the potential folly.

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It’s a great time to be a kid says the nonprofit Foundation for Child Development: mortality rates among kids are down, we feel safer at school, parents are reading to their children more, television is being restricted and obesity is up.  By all means, draw your own conclusions if you must.