Headlines from July 2, 2009
- The new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan begins today, as thousands of Marines fan out to villages, many on foot.
- Traveling in California and New York the last couple of weeks, Timothy Egan notices something different: American flags.
- "A majority of society, of which I personally am a member, do not accept the legitimacy of this government." Mousavi and the opposition hit back.
- Declassified interviews with a captured Saddam Hussein reveal he wanted Iran, not the U.S., to believe he had WMDs.
- Op: The difference between Berlin in 1989 and Tehran in 2009, and identifying the revolutionary tipping point.
- With Mann and Depp's Public Enemies on the horizon, a look at John Dillinger's long, overlooked history in film.
- An author yearns for light verse, the tender form of prose lost in modern writing.
- A 200-year-old coded message, buried in Thomas Jefferson's personal correspondence, is finally cracked.
- Op: To interpret the Riddle of Putin, Obama should pack Dostoyevsky for his trip to Russia next week.
- He could have just said this: Listen up. I have a freaking great story to tell you. Kevin Guilfoile on the first 10 pages of Infinite Jest.
- The history of "Behind the Mask," a song Michael Jackson covered but never released, and that was re-recorded by many others.
- "Star Trek Made Me an Atheist": One man's treatise on how the sci-fi show defined his religious beliefs.
- New findings indicate black holes now come in three sizes: supermass, stellar mass, and intermediate-mass.
- Charting better and worse governance over the last decade.
- Fantastic: Boyfriend of Berlusconi's alleged teenaged mistress says his relationship was staged.
- India decriminalizes homosexuality; five countries still punish it by death.
- Europe lifts ban on oddly shaped fruits.
- Building evolutionary trees with perfect math takes forever; shakier math makes trees grow faster.
- "How clean coal works, how dangerous nuclear waste really is, and whether the root of the problem is money."
- Presentation trumps content in the powers of persuasion--and all too easily sways rational thought.
- Lonely scenes from New England truck stops; ten last pictures taken.
- Instapaper for the commute: The Holocaust needs a reassessment with less emphasis on Auschwitz.
- Alain de Botton to Times critic: "I will hate you until I die."
- Knife-wielding intruder meets elderly former boxer.
- Pornography for ceiling fans.