My nephew Ari Pescovitz is a hardcore gamer into RPG, miniatures, boardgames, and cardgames. Growing up in Indianapolis, he spent most of his weekends in a local game store where the manager encouraged kids to play, organize tournaments, and just hang out (even when they didn't have any cash to spend). The bad (though predictable) news is that the store shut down years ago. The good news is that Ari, now in college, and his buddy Jerry Poore just opened their own game store in Indianapolis with 1,000 square feet of raw gaming space, no cover charge, and plenty of junk food. As part of the Games To Die For grand opening, Ari and Jerry are hosting a Star Wars Miniatures tournament this coming Saturday, November 11, and donating a portion of the day's sales to the Riley Childrens Hospital. On hand will be a dozen Stormtroopers in full regalia, the CEO of Riley (aka Ari's mom), and Darth Vader. It's sure to be a nerdtastic time. If you're in the area, please stop by!
Link

Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh has a fascinating article about the "off the books economy" in the Boston Globe. Ventakesh is the American urban poverty researcher whose work I first encountered in Freakonomics, and the article is adapted from his own new book, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor, which I've just ordered.

How big is the underground economy? The General Accounting Office and the Internal Revenue Service produce estimates every few years that differ widely, but one government study calculated that $500 billion in income fails to be reported each year. Another estimate, based on consumer behavior, suggests that 4 out of 5 Americans turn to the unregulated world for goods and serviceswhich would raise the $500 billion figure appreciably.

But the underground economy is more than just a set of cash transactions. Cash, as it turns out, isn't necessarily the preferred medium of exchange: on Chicago's South Side, barter is just as common. I interviewed the owner of an auto body shop who threw out his cash register because customers were paying their bills in kind. They offered him cellphones, microwaves, furniture, and IOUs. He, in turn, started selling these goods from the back of the store, and now auto repair constitutes only a fraction of his income.

Link (Thanks, Keith!)

A secret US wargame called "Desert Crossing" produced during the Clinton era showed that an invasion and post-war presence in Iraq would require around 400,000 troops -- about three times the number of troops stationed there now. Even with those resources, according to simulation output, the mission could result in chaos. Snip:

70 military, diplomatic and intelligence participants concluded the high troop levels would be needed to keep order, seal borders and take care of other security needs. The documents came to light Saturday through a Freedom of Information Act request by George Washington University's National Security Archive, an independent research institute and library.

"The conventional wisdom is the U.S. mistake in Iraq was not enough troops," said Thomas Blanton, the archive's director. "But the Desert Crossing war game in 1999 suggests we would have ended up with a failed state even with 400,000 troops on the ground."

There are about 144,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, down from a peak in January of about 160,000. A week after the invasion, in March 2003, the Pentagon said there were 250,000 U.S. ground force troops inside Iraq, along with 40,000 coalition force troops.

Link to AP report.

Link to "Post-Saddam Iraq: The War Game," released November 4, 2006 at George Washington University's National Security online document archives.

In related news, Saddam Hussein was today sentenced to death: reg-free Link to NYT article.

The Bush administration wants to prevent a detainee once held in a secret CIA prison from speaking to a civilian attorney. Justice Department officials argue the suspect could disclose closely-held details of US interrogation techniques there, some of which critics believe amount to torture. From an AP report:

Human rights groups have questioned the CIA's methods for questioning suspects, especially following the passage of a bill last month that authorized the use of harsh but undefined interrogation tactics.

In recently filed court documents, the Justice Department said those methods, along with the locations of the CIA's network of prisons, are among the nation's most sensitive secrets. Prisoners who spent time in those prisons should not be allowed to disclose that information, even to a lawyer, the government said.

Link (thanks, Gila Monster)