Headlines from February 13, 2013

Interactive graphic of every State of the Union speech shows the language is getting dumber.
Research suggests cold weather makes us better decision makers in Alaska than in Florida.
Few, if any, hospitals know the cost of a new hip, and there appears to be no set market price.
List of human body parts named after people.
Pope accepts senior analyst position at Catholic think tank.
The spreadsheets that people create with Excel are incredibly fragile. The business world’s software backbone could fail at any moment.
Radiolab visits the world of high-speed stock trading. #audio
Why the French love horsemeat but the British do not: It’s taboo, and we shouldn’t talk about it.
As I became relatively more prosperous in my 40s, I began to buy Snickers by the box. #money
Drawn in by her Mennonite heritage, Rachel Yoder discovers the saccharine, wholesome, aspirational world of Amish romance novels. #books
If Joseph Gordon-Levitt came to my engagement party, I would totally leave my fiancé. Sarah Hepola’s Valentine’s Day story for the romantic and/or foolish at heart. #tmn
Illustrations from the self-help guide within Ben Schrank’s Love Is a Canoe.
The perfect Valentine’s gift: Prearrange her funeral. #love
Related: Why you should get her a wolverine for Valentine’s Day. #tmn
Filmmaker attaches sensors to audience’s heads to give them a movie that reacts to their emotions.
Zach Galifianakis makes Oscar contenders uncomfortable. #video
Beijing views North Korea’s third nuclear test, held during a major Chinese holiday, as an insult.
The Chinese web reaction to the nuclear test: jokes about Kim Jong Un’s posterior. #comedy
The size of the blast is one thing, but the exact nature of the device exploded is quite another. This matters.
The article about the SEAL who killed bin Laden may have fudged veteran benefits—though not by much.
Offering loopholes and incentives, states hope to exploit California’s ailing economy, poach jobs and businesses.
Scientists marvel at the sea slug’s detachable, re-growable penis. #nature
I think I am getting better at my job with age. Profiles of people who never want to retire.
Neil deGrasse Tyson determines the weight of Thor’s hammer: 300 billion elephants.
The Black Keys drummer duels with Beliebers on Twitter.
Garfunkel says that by dropping Simon from Catch-22, Mike Nichols contributed to the duo’s 1970 split. #music
Already successful in Europe, dinner kits—measured, prepped, and ready-to-cook ingredients—reach U.S. doorsteps. #food
There is still no more influential piece of music in the 20th century. Separating myth from fact about Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.