Many American history students learn of a concept called the Frontier Thesis, the idea that the American experience on the frontier shaped the American character. Pakistanis have their own common experiences, from mass migration to war. NPR wanted to know how those experiences affect the country, and posed the question to two Pakistani thinkers Najam Sethi, a leading newspaper editor, and Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani writer and development consultant.

Sethi tells NPR's Steve Inskeep his compatriots are both hospitable to visitors and suspicious of them.

Martha Stewart may sell the company that bears her name, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Stewart has long enjoyed a reputation as a canny businesswoman as well as a decorator, cook and TV personality.

After going to jail in 2004, she resuscitated her career. But her company has been losing money, and is looking for a path back to profitability — possibly by being sold.

In 2010, Martha Stewart sold almost $43 million worth of products. But when the year ended, her company had lost almost $10 million. In fact, it's lost money seven out of the last eight years.

On Monday, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) announced he had tweeted to the world a lewd photo of himself he had meant to send to one woman privately.

For many, the reaction to Weiner's lewd photo texts has been disgust and bewilderment. But the phenomenon is more common than you may think. Even the AARP has covered the trend, with the headline: "Sexting Not Just for Kids."

As sure as death and no new taxes, American sports fans are always convinced that the people who run sports here are dimwits. Well, yes, we have occasionally had some real nincompoops in charge of various professional American sports, and not even Pericles could successfully manage the NCAA, but in point of fact, our domestic sports are a paragon of efficiency and integrity compared with the way international athletic organizations are managed.

Today was the official start of E3 in Los Angeles. The biggest announcement of the day — and likely the week — was the new Nintendo console. The Japanese gaming company changed the way people play video games with its last console, the Wii. The Wii brought millions of casual gamers into an entertainment format many had never tried before. The company looks to bring serious gamers back with the new system.

Kentucky lawmakers want to know more about aviation needs, including aircraft owned and operated by the state.  The Department of Aviation has 35 employees and an annual budget of around $10 million. The department oversees three fixed-wing aircraft and one helicopter. Two other planes under the department's control were sold at auction last month.

There's a lot of hand waving in economics. People make big-picture arguments and throw around equations, but often there's not much good evidence to work with.

MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo want to change that. They study global poverty, and their goal isn't so much to make big, sweeping statements as to find clear answers to specific questions.

In other words, they're economists who actually do experiments in the real world.

Last Friday, the Iranian women's soccer team got some pretty disheartening news in their quest to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.

China has been steadily increasing its foreign investments outside of bonds in recent years. Between 2005 and 2010, it made more than $224 billion in overseas investments and also entered into engineering and construction contracts of more than $94 billion, according to data compiled by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. The group tracks China's foreign nonbond investments and contracts worth more than $100 million.

Rep. Dan Boren, the only Democrat in Oklahoma's congressional delegation, announced Tuesday that he intends to retire at the end of his term.

The announcement by the 37-year old conservative Democrat should make it easier for Republicans to turn the Oklahoma delegation entirely red.