Finally, someone explains the incomparable atmosphere and ethos of the U.S. Open:

“This is not the cathedral of tennis like Wimbledon is,” said the broadcaster Jim Courier, a four-time Grand Slam tournament champion. “This is a stadium filled with New York’s corporate elite, who are not necessarily hardcore tennis fans but are here more for the spectacle.”

The Serbian player Jelena Jankovic explains how it feels from the player’s point of view:

“We love it in New York. Here, it’s crazy, like you are performing on Broadway and you know you are part of the show.”

No wonder her countryman Novak Djokovic, a ham if there ever was one,

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is doing so well here. He just beat David Ferrer and is headed for the final tomorrow. Woohoo!

Daniel Benjamin examines the number of converts to Islam who have been involved in terrorist activities and asks what one thing has to do with the other. Here’s one of his conclusions:

Radical Islamism seems to have become the magnet for some of the world’s angriest people who feel the universe is out of joint and must be changed. For these converts, it is an ideology of revolt that is more attractive because of its crystalline hatred of the status quo than its theology.

It’s sure beginning to look as if Islamism is the new nihilist political revolution, attracting converts from everywhere. Oh joy.

Joe Nocera’s Treo died. If you had Times Select, you could read his lament.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a secret. I don’t pretend it’s a solution to the smartphone problem, but it works for me: it’s a phone, it’s an e-mail and (mobile) Web device; it’s a camera, and it’s an MP3 player. (I use it as a phone, and as an e-mail device, rarely.)

The best part? The data plan, from Verizon Wireless, is $5/month. Yep—five bucks.

Allow me to present the LG VX9800, aka “the V,” which I’ve had since July 2006. There may be newer models. They too, like Nocera’s Treo, might be not so good. Mine works fine.