Headlines from January 21, 2013
- Fifty percent of Americans are happy to see Obama sworn in, down from nearly 7 out of 10 in 2009.
- The first and scariest inaugural address, John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” speech, was actually about encouraging charity.
- Yankee Doodle keep it up etc. Brief history of inaugural poems.
- Ezra Stoller’s architectural photographs of post-war America at work. #tmn
- A one-percent fall in economic output increases infant mortality by 7.4 deaths per 1,000 girls against 1.5 for boys.
- Twenty-first century doping includes microdoses of enhancers, magnetic fields, and bioengineering.
- The deeper you dive, the more you get paid. Nathaniel Rich on the very dangerous business of commercial diving.
- In our fragmented pop-culture universe, it’s getting more difficult to catch the references.
- Bill Cosby, speed reader, offers three strategies for reading faster: preview, skim, and cluster.
- He’s still bright on the inside—even polished—thanks to the years of oiling by fingertips and palms. Ode to a dying laptop.
- See also: “With typewriters you’re creating something that, however terrible, lives in the world.”
- Vote for your favorite 2012 fiction among our finalists in the 2013 Tournament of Books Zombie Poll. #tmn
- Related: TMN seeks a new intern.
- World’s largest natural sound archive now available to hear online.
- More than one old person ordered me, “Do not get old.” They did not appear to be kidding.
- Obama to take the oath of office this morning for the second time—an honor granted only to 16 men before him.
- Actually, Obama took the oath yesterday and didn’t screw it up.
- Fox News to shut down for routine maintenance at 11:30 a.m. and will broadcast “a continuous photomontage of white people.”
- Round-up of nine things Obama can do in his second term to improve the environment.
- Long account of how Lincoln avoided assassination on the eve of his first inauguration.
- China and Japan sliding toward war over five islets in the East China Sea.
- China snaps at Clinton for misunderstanding events, when she says the U.S. opposes “any unilateral actions” by China.
- Last conflict in which two uniformed militaries fought each other: Russia and Georgia, 2008.
- Google chairman’s daughter blogs about their trip to North Korea, where it’s very, very cold and very, very strange.
- See also: “North Korea Won’t Be Liberated in a Day.” #tmn
- Notes on the current trade in smuggling and selling Mongolian dinosaur bones. #longreads
- By 1980, four of every five American beers were manufactured by just six companies. History of the collapse and resurgence of American beer.
- To brighten up your Monday: art made from fruits and vegetables.
- Sitting is our era’s smoking—writer encourages making more of your meetings “walking meetings.”
- We’ve been beaten down since we were kids that you’re never too injured to play. NFL players discuss pain and injury.
- Fewer players in the NBA these days post big shooting numbers because of the defensive technique called “flooding ball-side box.”