Headlines from April 30, 2012
- Dozens wounded after suicide attacks in northwestern Syria.
- One World Trade Center to become New York’s tallest building at some point soon.
- People will forgive a short man with a beautiful wife if he seems sufficiently surprised. France likely to replace Sarkozy with a milky citizen king.
- Report from the rust belt of France.
- In India, solar energy is well on its way to competing with traditional fuel sources.
- Cell phones may eliminate the need to carry cash and credit cards—who needs a wallet when we have the internet?
- Brief history of the Mason jar.
- It could have been Paul Newman. Facts about the nude Burt Reynolds Cosmo centerfold.
- Long profile of Osama bin Laden as an overrated villain, “mode-locked to success by a series of random events.”
- According to science, Florence Colgate is the most beautiful woman in England.
- Tribute to the 1950s, a high point in American culture killed by highbrows. #opinions
- The New Yorker almost got rid of its umlaut, but the style editor died before he could send out the memo.
- How to make a very small knife. via
- After a dramatic week of political history, the Dutch cobble together austerity measures.
- Rodrik: National interests are slaves to economists’ ideas and their influence on policymakers.
- Billionaire says Titanic II should be ready to sail in 2016.
- When you look at America, you have to concede that we have failed… When the majority of citizens are not better off, the economic system is not working.
- White House Correspondents dinner shows Obama’s wit; Romney “could never do a night like this.”
- When you get lost, you’ll stay lost. Tour of London by the charming A.A. Gill.
- Corrections to stories from the Middle East—e.g., “farewell sex”—that were too good last week to fact-check.
- Report from inside a Pantone summit, figuring out which hues will dominate upcoming culture.
- History of how the U.S. Army chooses the precise colors of its tanks and boots. #longreads #tmn
- Profile of George Hotz, hacker who cracked the iPhone and Sony Playstation. #longreads
- Study finds empirical evidence that homophobia can result, at least in part, from the suppression of same-sex desire.
- Behind the scenes of a sex doll factory, with pictures of owners.
- Photographs of actors’ apartments—Garbo, Brando, Bancroft—in New York City.
- View from a bathroom constructed on top of a 15-story elevator shaft.
- Monday poem: “In Colorado My Father Scoured and Stacked Dishes.”