Tonight on Extension 720: Thomas Carlyle once wrote “I don’t pretend to understand the Universe—it’s a great deal bigger than I am . . . people ought to be modester.” Extension 720, however, has not given up its quest to understand the origins of space and time. Tonight, we once again turn our eyes to the stars and ponder not only the cosmos, but also the origins and future of the universe itself. MICHIO KAKU, Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, joins our program tonight to discuss his new book Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimension, and the Future of the Cosmos.

More information on this and other programs is available at our monthly program guide. You can listen to the show from 9 to 11 p.m. central time here.

Milt's File will return on Monday.

Tonight on Extension 720: The question of religious belief has always been a contentious one, from as far back as the Roman Empire to today. But what are the intellectual bases of religious belief? And what are the philosophical underpinnings of atheism? We will be answering these questions and more tonight with two experts representing the opposing perspectives—WILLIAM SCHWEIKER, professor of theological ethics at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, and JEROME STONE, professor emeritus in philosophy at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.

More information on this and other programs is available at our monthly program guide. You can listen to the show from 9 to 11 p.m. central time here.

FOCUS ON THE COURTS, THE FAMILY AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION...says Tom Sowell to George Bush and suggests that he would thereby make a distinctive and lasting presidential record. This exhortation was published recently in the Wall Street Journal.

BUILDING DEMOCRATIC CAPITALISM WITH ISLAMIC CHARACTERISTICS: That is what our real goal is--or should be--in Iraq and, by their example, in the rest of the Middle East. So says James Na in this op-ed from the Seattle Times.

ANNE APPLEBAUM ON TORTURE: Quite apart from the moral issue says this member of the Washington Post Editorial Board, it simply doesn't work: If you torture them, they lie--and they take revenge on our captured military.

AN ULTIMATE COUNTER-FACTUAL: What if Israel had never come into existence? Would the Middle East be a more friendly place for the Western powers? Not on your life, says Josef Joffe in this arresting article from the current issue of Foreign Policy.

WHAT DO THE CHINESE REALLY WANT...and expect...and plan? This close study of China in geopolitical terms bears close scrutiny. It comes from an independent (and impressive!) strategic analysis group, The Power and Interest News Report.

WHADAHELL IS GOING ON IN WASHINGTON STATE? The folks who got so exercised over Ohio might well turn their attention to the question of how the Rossi gubernatorial "defeat" was managed. This story from the Seattle Times suggests (to us) that if ever a re-vote was required, this is the operative case.

WHAT TO MAKE OF THE REPORT ON CBS? Dorothy Rabinowitz has read it closely and ponders what it says and what it left out. She cannot escape the sense that the investigators avoided the obvious political intent (defeat Bush!) of Mapes (and Rather?) And neither can we.

THE REAL MEANING OF THE CBS "SCANDAL" IS...the death of the American Mainstream Media Party. So says Howard Fineman in this, we think, exactly accurate commentary. Surprising though, to find it at MSNBC!

WHAT DOES SHE SEE WHEN SHE "LOOKS THROUGH YOU?" At issue, are the powers of the "girl with the x-ray eyes" which were put to the test in a study reported here by the Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health.

TWO CHEERS FOR INTUITION...seems to be the import of Michael Shermer's review of a recent book on the subject. We tend to take his judgment seriously--but not on an intuitive basis. He has been a frequent, and always enlightening, guest on our radio program.

CHRISTIANITY BEFORE IT SETTLED DOWN...had many versions and some were irreconcilable with others. In this recent interview, Bart Ehrman, author of Lost Christianities focuses on the Ebionites and the Marcions.

AN EXERCISE IN COMPARTIVE NECROLOGY...was offered up the other day by somebody at the Los Angeles Times who heroically examined ALL of the obituaries (well, almost all) of both Sontag and Derrida.

SHOSTAKOVICH'S FOURTH SYMPHONY...went unperformed for many years...probably because it wasn't tuneful enough for Stalin. A great work, here it is performed "live" in St. Petersburg in 1998.

Tonight on Extension 720: Are you afraid of shopping online because of possible identity theft or fraud? Have you ever been conned by a pyramid scheme? Has a shady contractor or repairman taken you for all your worth? Well, be taken in no more. Tonight on Extension 720, we welcome PATRICK HURLEY of Consumer Protection Division of the Illinois Attorney General's office, JOSEPH HUDSON of the Cook County State's Attorney's office, and STEVE BERNAS, vice president of operations for the Better Business Bureau of Chicago, who will offer their expert advice on how to avoid being a victim of consumer fraud.

More information on this and other programs is available at our monthly program guide. You can listen to the show from 9 to 11 p.m. central time here.

Milt's File will return tomorrow.

Tonight on Extension 720: In the late 12th and early 13th century, the great Mongol warrior Genghis Khan united all the nomadic tribes of Mongolia and set about conquering much of Asia, from the Adriatic Sea to the Pacific Coast of modern day China. He not only founded the great Mongolian empire, but also became a mythic figure in the annals of warfare, joining the likes of Alexander the Great. The end of his life and his final resting place, however, are shrouded in mystery. Tonight, Chicago lawyer and explorer MAURY KRAVITZ and JOHN WOODS, professor of history at the University of Chicago, will discuss his life and their quest to find his tomb.

More information on this and other programs is available at our monthly program guide. You can listen to the show from 9 to 11 p.m. central time here.

DOES THE PALESTINIAN ELECTION ADVANCE THE "PEACE PROCESS?" Not at all necessarily says Leon Wieseltier in this essay from yesterday's New York Times magazine. Nor is "democracy" the pre-condition for peace. Perhaps, he suggests, exhaustion and a revival of bravery might get things moving.

SO ABBAS HAS WON...and it "was a mighty victory, said Tweedledum to Tweedledee." But what problems are on his immediate agenda? This article from yesterday's New York Times is a fair roster of the crises he must now address and, if possible, resolve.

WHAT DOES MAHMOUD ABBAS HAVE TO DO...to satisfy Charles Krauthammer? Simply give up his accustomed endorsements of acts of murder against Israelis. And C.K. doubts, in this column published last Friday, that the new President of the Palestinian Authority is likely to change his spots.

THE IMAM'S SERMON LAST FRIDAY IN RAMALLAH: Here's what was going out on official Palestinian TV as the West Bank and Gaza prepared for yesterday's election.

A NEO-CONSERVATIVE HAWK'S CRITIQUE OF RUMSFELD: That's the best way to describe this strongly spoken evaluation (indictment?) of the Secretary of Defense just written for the Weekly Standard by Frederick Kagan.

WHAT SHOULD AMERICA NOW DO IN THE WORLD...AND HOW? This major essay advising on foreign policy during the second Bush term has just been published in Foreign Affairs. The author, John Lewis Gaddis of Yale University, ranks very high among and with his peers in the academic foreign policy establishment.

THE END OF WAR AS WE KNEW IT? That has already happened in the view of John Mueller, author of the new book The Remnants of War. Here is an earlier paper in which he lays out his basic analysis and predictions. Our recent discussion with Mueller and John Mearshimer can be heard here.

THE TRIPOS AT CAMBRIDGE...were (and still are) a great rite de passage for those who go on to eminence in "mathematical physics." We are eager, after reading this review from American Scientist, to get our hands on this recently published book that apparently documents how a curriculum pushed science into fast forward.

THE LATEST FROM THE "GLOOMY GENIUS:" That's V.S. Naipaul, whose new novel is a continuation of his quasi-autobiographical one of three years ago, Half A Life. The new one, Magic Seeds, is reviewed here for the London Review of Books, in a manner that combines fascinated mild disgust with awed admiration.

AN OLD BUDDY (PETE HAMILL) IS PARTLY COMPREHENDED...by a young editor who makes much of the fact that the guy who wrote this new, great book about New York is "grizzled." Whatever! We are contacting Pete's publisher today to see if we can get him into our studio soonest.

DE MORTUI NIL NISSI MALLUM...seems to be the adage guiding this essay prompted by the departure from this world of Susan Sontag. We don't know who Kevin Meyers, writing for the U.K. Telegraph, actually is...but he is surely not susceptible to the wiles or charms of "public intellectuals."

TWO CONFUSED "EXISTENTIALISTS" IN SEARCH OF "AUTHENTICITY"...would be a fair designation of Sartre and Camus in the various stages of their friendship and enmity. Algis Valiunas, in this fine review/essay from the current issue of Commentary gets to the basic issues that divided them...the favors of Simone de Beauvoir not being one of them.

THE PSYCHIC YEAR 2004: How well did they do with their "infallible" predictions? Skeptical Inquirer magazine keeps a yearly tally...and here is their latest report.

GOODBYE TO ALL THAT...said Robert Graves; and now Dave Barry is saying the same as he writes his last column. Being funny may, indeed, have become ever more difficult in these latter days when most readers are cynical enough to no longer need a daily shot of irony and disillusion disguised as laughter.

A CHAMBER PERFORMANCE FROM THE ARGERICH FESTIVAL IN LUGANO: Recorded in live performance we hear a violin sonata by Schumann, followed by works of Brahms, Prokofiev and Franck.