My friend Robert Messenger has written a brilliant piece about “The German Way of War.” Here’s a short excerpt:

The history of the Prussian and German state through 1945 is one in which war is the main outcome of national policy. It was the country’s principal export over two centuries. War was more than just “politics by other means”; it was, as the Comte de Mirabeau noted in 1788, “the national industry of Prussia.” Though he formulated it most neatly with his quip that: “Where some states possess an army, the Prussian army possesses a state.”

The operational excellence of the German and Prussian general staffs is the stuff of hundreds of excellent military histories. But this brilliant style of war, shaped by geographic and historical circumstance, masked an unhealthy strategic shortcoming: an inability to see national war as the last resort, sometimes even an unnecessary one.

But as wonderful as Robert’s piece is, I think he overlooks one crucial factor in Germany’s attraction to war: their early access to half-price barracks improvements. Its an advantage that practically begs for militarism.

Noting my obsession with interest in the iPhone, Galley Friend R.S. sends us this exceedingly interesting link to a serious designer’s thoughts on how the iPhone uses screen space. It’s terribly interesting, particularly, the short video presentation embedded in the page.

(Okay, by “terribly interesting,” I mean that if you have an iPhone, this will border on porn. If you don’t, you should probably skip it, unless you are really keen on interface design.)

A clip of modest genius from Galley Friend M.E.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ewr4BSTr8Q&rel=1]

Yep, that’s Gen. David Petraeus taking time out of crushing the insurgency to play the Wii.

(The article doesn’t say it’s a Wii–they just say it’s a “computer-simulated” game–but if you look closely in the accompanying photo, you’ll see it pretty clearly.)

“Safe sex or no sex?… Teens find out the hard way.”

–Heidi Collins of CNN, introducing a segment this morning on sex education in middle schools (and in an apparently unintentional homage to Rodney Dangerfield)

Watch your mailbox: This week you’ll be getting a brand-new David Grann piece in the New Yorker plus the latest issue of First Things featuring Andy Ferguson AND Jody Bottum AND Ramesh Ponnuru. (Not to mention RJN.)

Five of the best working writers, all at once. It’s like Christmas in February.

In case the (probable) coming demise of HD DVD has you contemplating a Blu-Ray player, CNet gives several good reasons not to get one just yet:

1. Nearly all current Blu-ray players are obsolete: The Blu-ray standard is still evolving. Most models currently available use the original Profile 1.0 standard, while some newer models use Profile 1.1 (which adds the ability to show picture-in-picture commentaries). Later this year, the first Profile 2.0 players–which add the ability to deliver online special features (BD Live)–will become available. Ironically, both of these are designed to bring the Blu-ray standard in line with HD DVD players, which have long been able to deliver these features.

A couple of the most recent Blu-ray players (the combo players from Samsung and LG) can be updated from Profile 1.0 to 1.1 with a downloadable firmware update. But the PlayStation 3 is, supposedly, the only existing Blu-ray player that will be fully upgradeable to Profile 2.0. So if you don’t want your Blu-ray player to be obsolete, the PS3 is your only choice until 2.0 models–such as the Panasonic DMP-BD50–hit later this year. . . .

Because I’m a lousy friend and colleague, I missed Matus’s outstanding WSJ piece on the fight over foie gras when it originally ran. In case you did too, here’s a taste, with Anthony Bourdain going after Wolfgang Puck for taking foie gras off of his menus:

“I think he should stop worrying about cruelty to animals and start worrying about all the customers he’s flopping his crap on at airports,” says chef Anthony Bourdain, the author of “Kitchen Confidential” and the star of the TV series “No Reservations.” Mr. Bourdain elaborates: “He does a lot of business in California. He got squeezed and pressured and phone-called from all angles, and like a good German shopkeeper he folded and sold out the people hiding in the cellar next door. I got no respect.”

So hot.