Headlines from July 3, 2009
- Fascinating profile of one governor's election as a study of drugs in Mexican politics.
- Iraq war video game incites fury, raises ethical questions, gets pulled from production.
- Instapaper for Saturday morning: Why groups do things that group members would never do on their own.
- Another good July 4th read: Brief history of the pyrotechnic spark of life.
- In the gas vs. charcoal grilling debate, the eco-friendly argument goes for the former, mainly.
- Photos of eating in Gaza, where war has made access to fish, chicken, and livestock scarce.
- Ecuadorean radio and television council deems The Simpsons too racy for primetime.
- Michael Chabon on the difficulties of teaching his children to be adventurers.
- David Foster Wallace's editor at Little, Brown shares some of Wallace's editing notes with the Infinite Summer crowd. There's still time to read and join!
- Blog dedicated to very bad library books.
- Digital ramble through the aesthetics of summer blockbusters; TMN readers and staff on much the same.
- Study of "the gulf between literature's abstract power and the trivia that always attends its creation."
- Ten steps to producing the worst possible author photo.
- Musicians' "coolness" determined by how often their songs are deleted or marked "guilty pleasure."
- "We never thought we would do it again." California readies more than $53 million in IOUs, mainly for residents awaiting tax refunds.
- Krugman: The turmoil of states' budgets and yesterday's jobs report mean we need a bigger stimulus, now.
- Rising unemployment rates beget tightened immigration standards.
- Obama administration eschews Bush-era warehouse raids for immigration infractions, warns American Apparel of fines.
- Indicating the thaw may be over, Syrian president invites Obama to visit Damascus for talks.
- "A game of chance has developed in the post-Soviet space: Who can swindle the Kremlin in the coolest way?"
- Reconciling theories of recovery from alcoholism, and coming to terms with the fact that no single one may work.
- Paleontologists visit Creation Museum, become irked by inventive interpretation of fossil records.
- Proof of climate change exists in Scotland's shrinking sheep.
- When hydrogen sulfide is encountered, it usually kills one person, then their rescuer, then another rescuer.
- Because it's 2009 and you keep asking: Why you will never have a flying car.
- Gastric rupture and other stomach-turning injuries competitive eaters face.
- Tamiflu has now overtaken Viagra as the subject of the most junk emails.