Headlines from August 17, 2009
- White House hints it's willing to compromise on the "public option" in its health plan.
- "I'll be voting Taliban." The first part in a video series on this week's Afghanistan elections.
- Strict gender segregation (and debatably, adversity) may have a hand in improving Islamic girls' test scores.
- Caitlin Flanagan on Helen Gurley Brown, Elizabeth Edwards, and the state of the modern wife.
- A British study confirms that role-playing situations with aliens can reduce homophobia.
- When babies "play" with a toy, they're analyzing it; once they've solved it, they're ready to move on.
- "Not a lot of fathers can say that about their son, can they?" Ian Frazier meets the Naked Cowboy's dad.
- A plea to save jazz, now almost officially a dying art.
- How Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, released 50 years ago today, forever altered the jazz landscape.
- Also released today: Kind of Bloop, the Andy Baio-organized eight-bit tribute to Kind of Blue.
- Rich: The early '60s of "Mad Men" seems more contemporary than the late '60s of Woodstock.
- While walking in the rain two blocks from where Springsteen wrote Born to Run, Dylan is picked up by N.J. police.
- "It's people growing up in the '80s and remembering A-ha for something other than cheekbones." A-ha takes on introspection.
- Publishers to follow the Financial Times in charging for news to offset waves in advertising.
- Obama: The most frightening thing about health care reform is doing nothing.
- I like horses and I like Obama. Nothin' wrong with that. Going country with Channing Tatum.
- Details of financial fissures under the Tarantino scrimshaw at the Weinstein Company.
- Sedaris: Success means nothing without family to confirm it.
- Analysis of Dan Brown's staying power by self-loathing Da Vinci Code fan.
- Britain's biggest jewelry heist carried off by robbers wearing prosthetic faces.
- Las Vegas is on sale, and its economic defeat is beginning to look like a military loss.
- The war and domination of the smartphones is only just beginning.
- Long profile of New York's Mayor Bloomberg, wondering how long he'll desire to rule.
- Newsweek abortion reporter witnesses her first abortion.
- Wonderful comic-book-style account of eating dinner at El Bulli.
- Notes on what music works best to keep people on hold.
- Affinity stems from deep parallel currents in two outwardly disparate societies. How Amish culture has pervaded Japan.
- A perfect U.K. pet would be a 49% dog, 35% cat, 9% horse, 7% rabbit named "Rooney."
- To temper a fear a flying, try a more cognizant love of airplanes.