THEY'VE GOT THE BEAT Superchunk hits the streets in August with a two-CD rarities compilation to appease fans who just can't stand to wait until 2004 for a new release from the North Carolina quartet.

Veteran independent rock quartet Superchunk will unveil a two-CD rarities compilation, "Cup of Sand" Aug. 19 through its own Merge Records label. The set boasts four previously unreleased tracks, plus covers of David Bowie's "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" and Adam & the Ants' "Beat My Guest" and long out-of-print B-sides.

"It became clear that Superchunk wasn't going to begin writing songs for the next album at least until the fall of this year, so it seemed like a good time to compile all the B-sides, comp tracks, and singles in one place," frontman Mac McCaughan tells Billboard.com. "We'd been planning it for awhile; we waited so long that it had to be a double-CD." The set marks the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based group's third rarities collection and first since 1995's "Incidental Music 1991- 1995."

THE ANDROIDS HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING Radiohead's Thom Yorke lightens up and yammers about the band's newest release with the Toronto Star, revealing exactly what happens when a band actually attempts to relax and go with the flow.

"What we were doing a lot the last time was assembling things from editing and jamming and programming," he says. "If there was any programming or if there were electronics this time around, it had to happen in the room with everything else. So there was this element of performance to it.

"Because we're all playing in the same room together, on the surface it has a sort of coherence to it. But actually, there's quite a lot of chaos going on.... We were rehearsing how loose we could be and how we could get away with it, really."

WHAT DO THEY REALY THINK? A new research group in Iraq has conducted a survey of Baghdad residents, and the numbers are as mixed as recent headlines might suggest.

About 73 percent of Baghdad residents say U.S. troops have failed to bring security to their troubled city.

However, only 17 percent of respondents said U.S.-led forces should leave Iraq immediately.

About 51 percent wanted them to stay until a permanent government can be elected.

The survey, conducted by the independent Iraqi Institute of Strategic Studies, polled 1,100 people June 8-10 - two months after U.S.-led invaders toppled President Saddam Hussein.

PEOPLE, NOT POLICY In the July issue of the Atlantic, Robert Kaplan presents a cogent view of America's place in the world, and how to manage it well. In this interview, Kaplan delves into his list of "Rules for Managing the World":

1. Produce More Joppolos
2. Stay on the Move
3. Emulate Second-Century Rome
4. Use the Military to Promote Democracy
5. Be Light and Lethal
6. Bring Back the Old Rules
7. Remember the Philippines
8. The Mission is Everything
9. Fight on Every Front
10. Speak Victorian, Think Pagan

In essence, these rules are an articulation of power on a global scale. Have the best men possible on the ground; be everywhere; use American citizens—foreign and native born; use the military to further democracy; do a lot with a little; covert means and dabbling in moral ambiguity are sometimes necessary; a country united under one name may need more than one policy; the mission cannot be forgotten or compromised; sell the product; be idealistic, but know that realism wins the day.

TRUTH, THE FIRST CASUALTY This must-read by The New Republic's John Judis and Spencer Ackerman delves into the case for war as made by the Bush administration, and how well that case stands up to what we know about the intelligence on Iraq. What matters, as they strongly note, is not wat is or isn't found in Iraq, but "whether the administration gave Americans an honest and accurate account of what it knew."

TAKING A PRESIDENTIAL STAND John Kerry was at a crossroads -- he could have ducked the issue of his support for the war in Iraq, he could have backpedaled, he could have taken some cheap shots. Instead, he dove straight into the issue, declaring that President Bush "misled every one of us" when he asked Congress to support war against Iraq. Here's how The New Republic spins it:

But Kerry--the frontrunner, remember--is putting the manipulated intelligence at the center of his candidacy, calling Bush's war lies "one reason I'm running to be president of the United States." That's breathtakingly brave. And it coheres with Kerry's "new patriotism" theme. Kerry framed the issue yesterday in terms of "America's credibility"--which, as Tony Blair is rapidly learning, is seriously diminishing with every passing WMD-less day. Furthermore, Kerry passed on an easy opportunity to pander to his dovish New Hampshire primary audience, telling them "I don't have the answer. I want the answer and the American people deserve the answer." If all Kerry wanted was to exploit the issue for an advantage in the primaries, he could easily have gone further in his accusations, pointing out all the evidence that indeed suggests an intelligence exaggeration.

TUNING IN TO WGOR-TV Al Gore is dipping his toe into the world of Big Media. Actually, he's dipping it into the small media section of the Big Media pool.

Since deciding not to make another race for the White House in 2004, former Vice President Al Gore has been devoting considerable time to another dream, one he shares with many Democrats these days — creating a media enterprise that could challenge the dominance of conservative voices in cable television and talk radio. Numerous sources in Hollywood and Washington tell TIME that Gore has been quietly sounding out potential financial backers for a cable television network. Separately, Gore has helped arrange meetings between key Hollywood figures and a wealthy Chicago couple who have publicly announced plans to invest $10 million in a liberal radio network.

READ MY LIPS Slate is running a series on what the Democratic candidates for President are saying, what they really mean, and why they can't really say what they want to say. Here's the latest from Howard Dean:

Example: "I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" (standard stump speech).

Origin: Allegedly coined by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn.

What it means: I'm not afraid to say I'm liberal.

What it hides: I'm using this as code for liberal.

Subtext: Any candidate to my right is a sellout.

THE OHM OF STRESS New research shows what old hands already know: yoga helps reduce stress.

U.S. researchers discovered that after a single session of yoga, levels of the stress hormone cortisol dropped, even in people who were trying yoga for the first time.

During the study, Dr. George Brainard of the Center of Integrative Medicine of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and colleagues measured levels of cortisol in the blood of 16 healthy yoga novices before and after a 50-minute period of rest.

HURRY UP AND WAIT The go-slow approach to transition within Iraq is dangerous to the United States, and dangerous to the Iraqi people. As a result, it's also very dangerous to the stability of the Middle East. As David Ignatius notes, the cautious management style of Paul Bremer has seen too many half-open doors shut in recent weeks. Contrary to what may seem to be common sense, expediting change in Iraq is the best way to create stability. Instead, Bremer and the coalition seem intent on tightly managing change, which has served to fuel opposition on the ground.

GUILTY UNTIL WE SAY OTHERWISE The NYTimes takes a closer look at conditions at the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where some 700 nationals have been in detention -- many since the conflict in Afghanistan 18 months ago.

DON'T BREAK ALL OF THE CHINA David Ignatius reports on a recent speech given in Europe by Richard Perle, one of the neo-conservative architects of the Bush foreign policy. In effect, Perle was delivering his reverse Mark Anthony speech, coming not to bury Europe, but to praise it.

The Prince of Darkness looked oddly like a cafe intellectual: baggy blue suit, deep circles under his eyes, a mop of curly white hair combed over his bald spot. That's an irony of Europe's demonization of Perle -- he is that rare Washington policymaker who actually owns a country house in Provence.

Perle truly is a contrarian, and what was surprising about his appearance here was that his tone was relatively restrained: Rather than pushing to open new fault lines with the Europeans, he seemed to be seeking ways to put things back together -- on American terms, to be sure. Perle was speaking at a gathering sponsored by Deutsche Bank on the theme "Desperately Seeking Europe." That dire message was printed on the wrappings of chocolates handed out to conference participants. Perle observed that Europe itself was like the confections: It was beautifully packaged and enticing, but it would make you fat and prove unsafe in the long run.

It was lines such as that one that led a European leftist to call Perle's remarks "possibly the most dangerous speech I have ever heard." But I'm not sure she got his message.

HAMAS' STRUGGLE Canada's National Post sat down with one of Hamas' top leaders recently. Ismail Abu Shanab is not very apologetic about his organization's continued reliance on terror to combat Israel, which shouldn't be very reassuring to anyone who is looking for the violence in Palestine to taper off soon.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT Dana Priest (and company) make good with this lengthy and extensive recap of the Private Jessica Lynch drama, which the Washington Post helped to create through the wonderful combination of anonymous sourcing for stories and the military's need at the time to create a hero(ine). The story of Lynch's capture and rescue loses none of its drama as a result of a more truthful retelling, in fact it makes more sense. But don't expect it to be what you see on CBS' made-for-TV movie.