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Headlines from April 20, 2009

"It is easy for a young person to become a pirate." In Somalia, pirates are akin to ganglords who can overpower locals with money, force.
J.G. Ballard, author of Crash and Empire of the Sun, dies at age 78.
Today's long read: After seven years of Islamic conservatism--though not extremism--militant secularists in Turkey lose ground, game the system.
Not surprisingly, the Baghdadis' drug of choice is Valium, the colonel said. Vices return to Iraq.
Foreign Policy wonders what would happen if Texas seceded, thinks it's going to need a military first.
Chávez gifts Obama with a copy of Eduardo Galeano's attack on imperialism, Open Veins of Latin America.
The books, they write me. They decide, they decide everything. I am just their tool. Birnbaum chats with Galeano.
Dennis Mahoney chat with Penny, Chatterbot.
"Conversations I'll someday have with my daughter that will make little to no sense to her no matter how much I try to explain."
Examples of J. Peterman clothing stories gone right--or at least, gone different.
Sci-fi architecture proposed to halt desertification includes a 3D printer made of bacteria that maps new landscapes over millenia.
Want to be our summer intern? Apply by next Monday!
Human Rights Watch director says Obama gains diplomacy power by releasing the torture memos.
With jobs drying up in Japan, government offers money to immigrants to go home (providing they don't come back).
As Western shoppers desire less cashmere, Mongolian shepherds face herder loan defaults.
Map of the Fed's intervention in the crisis thus far.
Op: The U.S. postal service is in the business of delivering junk mail; how about we adopt the Swiss model instead?
Field guide to spotting bad conversions of former storefronts.
Lengthy essay on the utopian architecture of extremist Mormon factions.
Instapaper for the commute: Everything you need to know about neuroenhancers to build the new, more productive you.
Classifications of harassers and stalkers of the British Royal Family.
This week in science books: Some things are unmeasurable, sure, but let's be grateful for what we know.
Top 10 forgotten Pulitzer-winning novels, including Millhauser's 1997 Martin Dressler.
TMN's Choire Sicha launches new project to prevent you from being bored, The Awl.
Fascinating slideshow narrated by veteran climber Wayne Merry on El Capitan's initial assault.
You, too, can sing with vibrato like Susan Boyle, but don't try sounding like Mariah Carey.
There is one great margarita book in the world and this is it, and it's free on Google Books.
Hollywood is where the dreams of the world are organized and manufactured... including stupidity. Notes on Herzog.