Max J. Rosenthal

The military picked up plenty of slang and phrases over the course of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and pretty much all of it is unprintable or unknown to people who didn’t serve. Here are a few choice terms that you can put to use.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un finally made another public appearance on Monday, or so the country’s state media claims. But no matter what, his disappearance — and reemergence — didn’t seem to have much of an effect in North Korea itself.

For one community, Columbus Day is a marker of genocide and shame. For another, it’s a celebration of history and heritage. Now some cities like Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis are siding with the former, rebranding the holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day.

When Damien Chazelle wrote a film based on his experiences as a young jazz drummer, he got plenty of encouraging comments — and no funding. So he shot an intense, violent scene from the surprisingly bloody movie to showcase his project, and Whiplash is now highly sought after following a big win at Sundance.

Ronald Reagan couldn’t have become president without Southern votes, and many of those votes simply wouldn’t have been there without the invention of air conditioning. Such innovations and their unforeseen consequences on history are the subject of a new book from Steven Johnson.