| Daily Comment Biden’s Chaotic Withdrawal from Afghanistan Is Complete The U.S. has extricated its military from a two-decade-long conflict, but the country, and tens of thousands of Afghan allies, have been abandoned to the Taliban. By David Rohde | | | Elements In an Increasingly Noisy Arctic, Will Narwhals Fall Silent? The marine mammals have been observed to stop vocalizing, hunting, and feeding after hearing underwater blasts. By Marguerite Holloway | | | Daily Comment Hurricane Ida Proves That We Need to Step Up the Political Fight on Climate Change It’s past time to take the planet’s limits seriously. By Bill McKibben | | | Daily Comment After Hurricane Ida, How Much Longer Can New Orleans’s New Levees Hold? The city may be better protected today than it was before Katrina, but with every day that passes the protection is waning. By Elizabeth Kolbert | | | | | | Novellas “Muscle” “It’s time to turn up the heat a little bit more. My boys are getting bored, and that’s not good for their appetite or their temper.” By Daniyal Mueenuddin | | | | This Week in Fiction Daniyal Mueenuddin on Wealth, Power, and Corruption The author discusses his new novella, “Muscle.” By Cressida Leyshon | | | Readings What’s the Point of Food in Fiction? From 2007: In modern literature, the way we cook provides a recipe for representing the way we think. By Adam Gopnik | | | Checking In Same Old, Same Old: Pandemic Déjà Vu Remember last summer, when we all wore masks and everyone was adopting a pet? Wait! That’s this summer, too. By Zach Helfand | | | | | | Name Drop Today’s Quiz The fewer clues you need, the more points you receive. By Liz Maynes-Aminzade | | | Daily Shouts Creative Alternatives to First-Date Greetings Start a slow clap, throw a bar snack in my mouth, and other ideas. By Sara K. Runnels | | | Daily Cartoon Tuesday, August 31st By Sarah Kempa | | | | | | |