Headlines from January 10, 2012
- Violence escalates in Syria; Al-Assad blames foreign powers, Arab critics, and “60 televisions stations.”
- Remember to do your part to continue propping up empire for the sake of a few hundred billionaires, while the Earth dies. Wonkette on our new “Consumer Chief.”
- Switzerland’s Libyan nightmare is over; Hannibal Gadhafi, terrorizer of hotels, is believed to be in Algeria.
- Krugman reconsiders Japan—responding to our own crisis, we’re doing worse.
- Playing “count the volunteers” at Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich headquarters in New Hampshire.
- I am as excited as a fly flying through a frog-filled swamp. Red State’s “In Conclusion” memo for New Hampshire.
- Art shows to see this week in Houston, Lisbon, Chicago, New York City.
- London remapped with song titles for street names.
- New letters from Joseph Roth show him to be bad with money, annoying, aggravating, and a genius.
- New Downton Abbey recapped with commentary and notable quotes.
- Man confused about Downton Abbey. #toptweets
- Illustrated review of War Horse.
- YouTube has grown up fast, but it still can’t get people to spend more than 15 minutes a day on the site. #longreads
- See also: Brothers provide DVD commentary for their old home movie. #video
- What happens in bookstores at night. #video
- What also happens: Perverts masturbate in Barnes & Noble.
- Summarizing the field of happiness science, and why married, healthy, rich church-goers are best off.
- Chart: 92 countries ranked by misery.
- Data behind the headline, “Want a Job? Go to College, and Don’t Major in Architecture.”
- We take a lot of pride in putting our family name on a product that will eventually become the body and blood of Jesus. Communion wafer advertising. via
- Western sanctions are ravaging Iran’s currency and economy, though the next step—limiting oil exports—may backfire.
- Ahmadinejad’s Latin American excursion appears fruitless—few allies remain, Chávez’s usefulness has waned.
- Ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, Rio tries to wrangle control of the city’s slums from criminal militias.
- Historians worry what will become of Tranquillity Base when the next generation of lunar visitors arrives.
- Scientists investigate how rhinos distribute such massive weight on their relatively tiny feet.
- But the guards arrived too late to catch a thief. Picasso, Mondrian paintings stolen from National Art Gallery in Athens.
- What does my internet provider see when I’m downloading torrents?
- Nicotine gum, patches help smokers quit in clinical trials, but when used outside the lab later, do little to prevent relapse.
- Demoted upwards to Chief Happiness Officer, Ronald has roughly the same job duties as First Lady Michelle Obama. McDonald’s tries to rebrand its iconic mascot.
- Bill Gifford investigates what Livestrong does, concludes it doesn’t do much. #longreads
- Gaming theories behind the dungeon layout in The Legend of Zelda are still relevant today.
- Elvis proved an underwhelming prom date.
- Linguist muses over whether “yearning” is an inherently Germanic concept.