Headlines: April 2004 - The Morning News

Headlines for Friday, April 30, 2004

That tea is sweetest whose herbs have dried longest/A child knows his parents before the parents know their child. Create your own Thomas Friedman column.

TV people say Kerry is awful on TV.

Politicians from Ghana visit Albany, find New York’s budget opaque and bleak, learn about lobbyists.

Fiction: ‘Trilobites’ by Breece D’J Pancake.

U.N. having trouble raising troops to police Haiti.

When they have a $300 minimum, it’s our job to make them spend that. Rules of New York clubs with bottles on tables.

NPR makes up for reassigning Bob Edwards with mini tribute-site.

Friday reading: The history of the umlaut in heavy metal.

Headlines for Thursday, April 29, 2004

New York’s currently: lunch for breakfast

U.S. begins air attack on sections of Fallujah, with a full-scale assault ready to go.

A city where even Saddam Hussein ventured cautiously. Tribal codes in Fallujah mean battles could be never-ending.

Bush, Cheney face private session, attitude discussion with Sept. 11 commission today, though there are many stipulations.

Pentagon intelligence report claims former members of Hussein’s secret service are behind the bombings and guerilla attacks in Iraq.

Still secrecy after North Korea train blast, though state media claims many women ran into burning buildings to save portraits of Kim Jong Il.

‘I’m glad that over the course of their experience they haven’t developed any integrity,’ Columbia students disdain substitute teachers.

Photos implicate U.S. soldiers in Iraq in abusing prisoners.

Defense Department official investigated for altering a contract to benefit mobile-phone group.

Emotionally troubled boy fights bear in Alaskan wilderness, survives.

A handy overview of Futurist manifestoes.

Hatchery-bred salmon to now count as ‘wildlife,’ changing its status under the Endangered Species Act.

Peel Session details from basically forever. [via thingy]

The current political race requires negotiating optimism with winning elections.

Play around for a while: An international audio pronunciation guide.

Testing company recycles questions for third-grade reading exam, 4,000 kids must re-take the test to score accurate results.

Tooth analysis drives wedge in human-Neanderthal relationship.

The ‘Fish from Hell’ are back.

Headlines for Wednesday, April 28, 2004

New York’s currently: overwhelmed by news stories

U.S. to raise estimate of nuclear weapons in North Korea from two to eight.

Sketchy details from battles in Fallujah.

Specter beats Toomey by narrow margin in closely-watched Republican primary, measurement taken for party’s temperature. (See Gourevitch’s backgrounder.)

National first: Germans drank more water than beer in 2003.

107 militants killed by Thai police, Islamic separatists blamed.

Torrid finds gold where other retailers stumble by selling sexy to big girls, avoiding bold prints and sheer fabrics.

American restaurant named best in the world, British restaurant takes second place.

Since Sanneh profiled Lil’ Flip and ‘lean,’ we guess even Luc Sante wants to know: How to make syrup.

California Senate bans production and sale of foie gras.

If you’re really having a run of bad luck, Diane Sawyer walks with you in a field. One-liners from recent Mort Sahl show.

Video: U.K. bungalows occupied by old people. (See highlights from March, February.)

How to build Chinatowns in the suburbs.

For good luck: President rubs bald man. Related: Wesley Clark on Kerry’s sterling military record, also, a great profile of Kerry’s man Friday.

American pro sports translated abroad, including strangulations, and shoving things in holes with brooms.

Named best article in Esquire’s history: ‘Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,’ by Gay Talese.

Excellent, thrilling Jon Lee Anderson on Sadr’s influence, hatred in Fallujah, dynamite fishing.

Photos: Colors of New York, by Jake Dobkin.

Headlines for Tuesday, April 27, 2004

New York’s currently: gymnastically challenged

U.S. forces attack mosque in Fallujah, destroy 150-foot-tall minaret. Related: Marines apprehensive about forthcoming joint patrols with Iraqis.

New Iraqi flags gets harsh public disapproval.

China rejects Hong Kong elections.

Bush, Clear Skies, Healthy Forests, and anything but.

Emotional student lives in N.Y.U. library, blogs into housing for the rest of the semester.

How to evaluate modern buildings.

New documentary End of the Century delves into the dysfunctional inner workings of the Ramones —though you may never get to see it.

With more than 900 U.S. troops wounded in Iraq in April, combat surgeons learn new methods, witness new horror.

In-frame subjects complete magazine photos.

And many would follow: the Ortners, the first Park Slope gentrifiers.

A writer browses body armor.

Counterfeiters ahoy! Your interactive guide to the new $50 bills.

Coffin cams let the living see the dead, and the dead to go on living, figuratively speaking.

As was his custom, he had bestowed a nickname on him: Woodpecker. Woodward heads back to the White House.

Putting designs on your coffee, with LatteArt.

Scottish teenagers break into tomb, steal skull, use it as a ‘glove puppet.’

Video: Grape-stomping, then humor, then injury. [via wdik]

Headlines for Monday, April 26, 2004

New York’s currently: stealing oxygen from the rest

U.S. swaps attack on Fallujah, for now, with Marines and Iraqi security forces patrolling the city.

Calls for jihad and Islamic rule find receptive audiences in fragmented Europe.

Hundreds of thousands march in D.C. for abortion rights.

U.K. journalists dying to say Kevin Spacey prefers cats.

NASA muzzled from commenting on global warming disaster film, fearing Bush will be blamed.

Scientists build da Vinci’s self-propelled cart.

A balanced budget may be good for the economy but won’t increase life chances in Loup County. Republicans deliver what their constituency wants, e.g., in Sugar Land.

Wake-up call for New York’s groundbreaking but gradually irrelevant Greenmarkets. Related: America’s Slow Food director sounds call for U.S. food terroirs.

Definition of ‘genocide’ updated at the Times.

TMN’s Choire Sicha and Paul Ford to be paneled next week with other bloggers.

Name-change dept: How P. Diddy became Walter Lee for Broadway.

For balance, he needs a running mate with a little less hair. Pleas around the country for Kerry’s V.P.

U.S. to have tough time selling ‘mega-resolution’ on Iraq to the U.N.

North Carolina parents surprised by daughter accused of hiring assassins to kill them.

Fiction: ‘Old Boys, Old Girls,’ by Edward P. Jones.

Gallery from Worldwide Pinhole Photograhy Day.

Headlines for Friday, April 23, 2004

New York’s currently: been working for this weekend

North Korean train crash: Outcome unclear as various sources place between 50 and 3,000 dead in the massive explosion. Following news blackout that may or may not have been government-imposed, North Korea asks U.N. for help.

Appeals court decision clears way for Zacarias Moussaoui to be tried in criminal court, allows death penalty.

White House says limited sovereignty for Iraq.

Freedom of Information Act forces Pentagon to release images of soldiers’ coffins.;/p>

The government…announced it would bill the former hostages $6,000 for air fare. Returning Japanese captives meet cold disapproval at home.

A look back at 50 years of Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop.

National Columnists Day was this week, and nobody cared.

Gene sequencer game brings out the lab tech/Missile Command lover in you. [iva things]

When Saudis support jihad in Iraq, but not in their own country.

‘He doesn’t give me a message. I know he’s going to say, ‘I really like you,’ but I don’t think he really does.’ Mayor Bloomberg’s ratings up, though still no real connection to the public.

NYC tourism reborn: Scottis, Australian travelers watch as teen and transgendered lover have sex-play in Central Park tree.

Women [must be] willing to submit a head-to-toe photograph, to prevent unattractive women from making the cut. New York social club goes all-out with exclusion laws.

Swimming, evolution, liquor join forces in an ad.

Because you love it: Shirley Jackson’s classic short story, ‘The Lottery.’

Photos of why bicycle lanes in Brighton, U.K., are sometimes untrustworthy and outright dangerous.

Gallery of the stunning storytelling art of Robyn O’Neil, whose macabre Everything that stands will be at odds with its neighbor, and everything that falls will perish without grace can be seen in the current Whitney Biennial.

Headlines for Thursday, April 22, 2004

New York’s currently: ready for testing

Suicide bomber kills four, wounds 148 yesterday in Riyadh; Attack claimed by group linked to al Qaeda.

Fascinating: Patriot Act based on fraudulent Air Force claim in 1953, establishing government’s ‘state secrets’ privilege.

U.S. to rehire former Baath Party officials, senior military officers; U.S. generals to be pleased.

Police find 110 illegal immigrants imprisoned in small Los Angeles house.

Logs from Saddam Hussein interrogations.

Archive of Fitzgerald’s screenplays—showing he worked perhaps more than he drank but with less success—added to U.S.C’s collection.

U.N. Security Council to investigate U.S. Treasury’s claim: $10 billion was made off the back of the oil-for-food program.

Excerpts from Kerry’s military records.

‘You break it, you own it’ rule does not exist, Pottery Barn officials explain.

Bloomberg picks Ed Koch to coax liberals into welcoming Republicans to New York.

Know your Mafia: Junior Persico, The Pajama King, Wing Yeung Chan.

Eventually people will wonder what all the fuss is about. They will say ‘Of course these [computers] are conscious. They’re good company.’ Profile of Daniel Dennett, philosopher with an instinct for the jugular.

Less than 10 percent of BBC viewers find arts or religious programs to have particular value for society.

American novelist admits loving comics as child.

Overview of New York’s thriving restaurant scene. Related: Overview of political shifts in South Korea and Japan.

Encounters with burglars and whores.

Headlines for Wednesday, April 21, 2004

New York’s currently: not exactly a drought

Four coordinated bomb attacks in Basra and nearby kill dozens of Iraqis, wound over 70.

Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Guantánamo Bay detainees. Audio available here.

U.S. generals say ban on former Baath Party members from government jobs is hurting the occuptation.

Human error to blame in Penn Station Amtrak crash.

Meet your Planetary Protection Officer, John D. Rummel.

Eerie: Before-and-after photos of 1970s house removals. [via things]

Columbine, five years on.

Finding an antidote to urban life and a sense of accomplishment —in a Netflix queue.

Research shows system passwords not as valuable as chocolate.

Shaking beef and broasting chicken. Also: Screw-top wine gains acceptance, unscrewers.

Keeping a blind eye to North Korea, despite warning signs.

Five dollars gets you advice from a stranger.

Ding ding! A symphony of sounds in Windows.

Captured: dog on wheels on board.

A catalog of vintage, mouth-watering transportation in this collection of train dining menus.

He pampers his tiny pet parakeet with his huge hands. It takes a tiny village to raise possibly the world’s tallest man.

Short comics that show children how to do things: HowToons.

Send an email, ‘Songs to Wear Pants To’ may record a song about it.

‘Because we live in a post-literate world, where images matter more than words, Truman Capote is now being remembered more for a party he gave than for what he wrote.’ Reviving the Black and White Ball.

Headlines for Tuesday, April 20, 2004

New York’s currently: flowering

Bush appoints ambassador to Iraq after June 30, John D. Negroponte, allegedly blind to death squads.

White House plays down Jordan’s refusal to meet with Bush in light of recent support of Israel.

American and Iraqi leaders find agreements in Fallujah, U.S. now waits for surrender of heavy weapons.

White House denies diverting money meant for preventing terrorism in 2002 to prepare for invading Iraq.

Kakutani flays Alice Walker’s new novel.

Train crash at Penn Station yesterday, injuring 127, possibly caused by Amtrak driver rolling through warning signal.

Cuba is not sovereign at Guantánamo Bay, and recognizing as much may force recognition of detainees’ rights.

Kwame Jackson fired by Trump for what he learned at Goldman Sachs: keep a low profile.

Options for India to avoid ‘following Africa into an AIDS inferno.’

Making the viewers squirm keeps them from going out and buying stuff, which is the point of television. Questions for Sopranos writer Terry Winter.

Special Ops: The U.N. may win where we can’t in Iraq; the U.N. may dilute the power of the Governing Council.

Profile of ‘Boondocks’ author Aaron McGruder, sick of doing comic strips.

The mathematics of big numbers suggests that Wal-Mart’s growth must slow. Amazingly, the opposite appears to be happening.

Exactly why April is the cruelest month.

Old but still white-hot critique of Judith Butler by the almighty Martha Nussbaum.

Do all your maids smoke? How do I get Letterman? Helpful phrases in multiple languages.

Headlines for Monday, April 19, 2004

New York’s currently: winning a baby show

In Iraq, 10 U.S. troops killed, Spanish P.M. Zapatero orders home his forces. In Spain: Questioning, supporting Zapatero’s decision.

The parts you really want to read from Bob Woodward’s new book on the murky decisions for war with Iraq. And: George Tenet’s hair, ablaze.

Shooting in Kosovo jail by Jordanian policemen leaves two Americans dead, 10 wounded.

With eye on Spain, Rice warns of pre-election U.S. terror attack.

Espionage charges and pornography convictions against Muslim chaplain dropped.

Breezy summary of the week in Israel.

‘The martyr Amar Hamoud was nicknamed ‘The Sword of All Martyrs?’ —true or false?’ Propaganda or entertainment? Hezbollah game show The Mission quizzes contestants on Palestinian, Islamic history.

Nation-building vs. tent-building: Republicans, Fashion Week each put stake on Bryant Park for the same day.

Hillary Rodham Clinton on health care, the issue that has only become more complex.

Jewel thief still feels the urge to swipe, chooses instead for cheesy photo op, book with Random House.

Turning vandalism into art at the San Francisco Public Library.

Video: Jason Alexander keeps the hot side hot and the cool side cool with his McD.L.T.

Choire Sicha eats Plum Sykes alive.

‘Let’s face it —this is not a New York restaurant.’ New York chefs discuss the second season of The Restaurant.

A gallery of 2,246 bottles of beer from all over the world.

Carson Ellis, others showing in Nuggets show at the East Village’s Big Cat Gallery.

Headlines for Friday, April 16, 2004

New York’s currently: really really nice out

Behind-the-scenes account of Bush-Sharon negotiations.

With offensive operations suspended, marines wait outside Fallujah fighting off lassitude, attacks.

Reenlistment rate falling as demand for soldiers increases.

Massachusetts governor hopes to delay samesex marriages—to begin May 17—but faces sure rejection from senate president.

Gallery of Japanese tattoos that don’t mean what wearers think they do.

Still the only game in town, ANC wins huge share of South African votes, except in KwaZulu-Natal.

Bad air breathed by most New Yorkers, all Jerseyians and Connecticuties.

Hey: Last day to participate in TMN reader survey and enter to win luxe iPod case or wallet!

40 foreign nationals kidnapped in Iraq this week; Iranian diplomat killed in Baghdad, Japanese hostages freed, Italian hostage killed.

Motion for dismissal rejected in Jayson Williams driverslaughter trial.

An ideal way to ‘lock in’ homosexual disposition is probably to spend time as a gynecologist in a slum district of London. Hitchens on Maugham, gayness, and splendid exile.

FDA prevents its own top expert from testifying that antidepressants cause children to become suicidal.

Dine in Brooklyn for $18.98, no attitude on the side.

‘I want to be shallow’ by Piano Teacher author Elfriede Jelinek.

Video: Wok boarding.

CEOs who made the biggest bucks this year.

Paintings by Amy Cutler: here and there.

Headlines for Thursday, April 15, 2004

New York’s currently: skies, cloudy, gray, lyrical

Bush backs Sharon plan for Gaza withdrawal, keeping some key areas in the West Bank, and refusal of right-of-return —Palestinian negotiator invites them to cancel Ramadan too.

‘I can’t sit with Tony Blair and give Texas to China.’ Palestinians outraged over Bush endorsement of Gaza plan.

Will Bush’s Israel maneuver garner support from Jewish voters?

Iraq: About 20,000 troops scheduled to return home this month will have tours extended ‘at least’ three months, as last week’s deadly combat sends the fallen home, for funerals.

Sept. 11 panel cites C.I.A. for not acting upon August 2001 briefing, ‘Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly,’ Agency concedes mistakes.

The first character addition to the Morse code in 60 years: @.

Attention all who love surveys: Fill out the one about you and TMN.

Voice claimed to be Bin Laden on audio tape offers truce to Europe if it ‘stops attacking Muslims.’

Beijing Evening News plagiarizes the Onion, portraying farce as fact.

Briefings, President-ing difficult on vacation, possibly catastrophic when almost all of August 2001 was spent in Crawford.

Things not listen to while driving: Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries,’ the Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter.’

Devote yourself to radical D.I.Y. and craftwork with SuperNaturale

‘Do you want me to finish?’ Someone said, ‘Not really.’ Writers, readings, and the joys of being published.

Coast vs. coast? California boasts more New Yorker subscribers than New York.

A lesson in twisting your shirt around, making it all ninja-like.

Even at a packed Wrigley Field, nobody will sit in Bartman’s seat.

Putting safety belts on school buses: Not as simple as you might think.

Do like the best of rock and support Jackie Farry.

Terrify yourself with Real Fears: a catalog of our phobias.

Headlines for Wednesday, April 14, 2004

New York’s currently: Ja Rul’d

2,500 troops gathered around Najaf to confront cleric Sadr, who hints he may be ready to deal.

Pakistani nuke salesman/scientist says he saw three nuclear weapons in North Korea.

Profile of successful Iraqi army unit fighting insurgents, prepared to quit on June 30 if power isn’t transferred.

Former G.E. CEO Jack Welch says to Bush, Good leaders change deadlines.

Starbucks coffee has twice as much caffeine as Folgers.

President and Vice President do very well by their tax cut.

No one can understand, much less predict, the behavior of the CIA who does not understand that the agency works for the president. Thomas Powers on the crisis in intelligence.

How to bribe your way to a great table in most of New York’s great restaurants.

U.S. needs China’s help with talking down North Korea, China wants U.S. to stop arming Taiwan.

Secret Service worker accused of stealing cars listed as ‘crushed’ from ground zero.

Reith lectures—this year, by Wole Soyinka—available as MP3s.

Fiction: ‘A Rich Man’ by Edward Jones.

Soul magazine Funky 16 Corners, with features on Diamond Joe and Warren Lee.

Milosevic wants 1,631 witnesses for his defense, including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

Celebrity look-alikes available in the U.K., e.g., many Halle Berrys.

Speech analysis: Bush was long on determination, short on plan, map, or course details.

How Elizabeth Bishop became the most highly esteemed American poet of the mid-twentieth century.

Headlines for Tuesday, April 13, 2004

New York’s currently: sty-ve-son

Troops struggle to keep supply lines open in Iraq, as eight Russian contractors are taken hostage, released and nine Americans still missing.

U.S. regains control of major roads around Iraq, and a delegation of Shiite clerics meet with Sadr to negotiate end of uprising.

Bush considers revamp of U.S. intelligence services. And: Bloomberg wants overhaul of NY’s dusty 911 system, citing the circuitous path between you and help.

Baby Jeremy poses for many, many photos with celebrities.

Despite protests, the world’s largest seal hunt is on, in Canada.

Pitchaya Sudbanthad reading tonight at Barbes in Brooklyn.

U.S. marshal erases reporters’ tapes, Justice Scalia apologizes.

Greenpoint bank keeps name, neighborhood happy.

The Legacy Project follows major events through creative expression.

An illustrated history: The first 20 years of 4AD Records.

Bird-watching with the blind.

‘Simon & Schuster got it wrong, but I’m very fond of them as publishers.’ 1960 profile of P.G. Wodehouse.

The Eccentric Genius builds antiques from a parallel universe. [via MUG]

The Secret Machines ‘starting to hum,’ spotting the dumb one from Friends, and watching movie premieres.

Video: Nickelback pelted with rocks, depart the stage during second song.

Artwork in every direction and of vast imagination from kozyndan.

It is in the nature of a teenager to want to destroy. Michael Chabon on letting teenagers hole themselves up in their fortresses, writing on the ugliness adults cannot.

Headlines for Monday, April 12, 2004

New York’s currently: cold and wet

Shaky cease-fire established in Fallujah, seven Chinese kidnapped by insurgents, U.S. helicopter shot down in Baghdad.

Bush says Bin Ladin briefing was non-specific. (Read the memo for yourself.)

America losing Iraqi hearts and minds from the sidelines to the insurgents.

Set-ups, put-downs, and late-night skits provide rare chance for politicians to be human.

Man shot for cellphone while bicycling across the Williamsburg Bridge, one of 12 shootings in New York on Saturday.

Howard Dean: Do not make a mistake; do not vote for Ralph Nader.

To hear him talk about that son of his would break your heart, if he weren’t murdering you. Hard to be a murderer.

Remembering: Clara Lemlich’s speech, the Triangle Shirt Factory fire, the incredible Al Smith.

Log Cabin Republicans: Politically expendable in a party more obsessed with gayness than they are.

True stories from Kim Jon Il’s personal chef.

Don’t mix beer and wine—ever. Tad Friend profile on how Harold Ramis changed Hollywood.

MP3s of Sept. 11-panel testimonies.

With 300-500 new malaria cases a year, cheap and effective DDT needs an image-makeover.

George W. Bush has engaged in a silly ecumenical project to try to pretend that all religions are really the same and equally valid. Excellent summary of reasons to not vote for Bush, and consider drafting Roy Moore.

The history of jokes and joke collectors.

Video: Stacking photographs for music video.

Headlines for Thursday, April 8, 2004

New York’s currently: sending its restaurant critics to Falluja

Widespread anti-U.S. uprising in Iraq combines Sunnis and Shiites, contradicting White House’s portrayal.

U.S. reaction to insurgencies in Iraq seen as tipping point to battle-bogdom, up to 25,000 troops may be delayed from coming home.

Chance for ceasefire agreement between Sudanese government and rebel groups, also chance for international military reaction.

Never feed fresh grass to an overheated animal. Marines use 64-year-old guide to fighting guerrillas.

Two women raped in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, returning home from art gallery.

Contractors in Iraq repel insurgents’ attacks, calling for help but not receiving military aid.

Nine days of no shootings in the Bronx, longest bullet-free span since 1994. Related: Small cars crash into trees, hurting no one.

Take this iTunes song —and tell us about it —please!

Thurston Moore: We didn’t perceive Nirvana’s status as lame. It was cool.

Americans killed yesterday.

50 to 60 percent of sushi in the U.S. is frozen before being served. Related: Interviews with Manhattan waiters. [ via MUG ]

Week of mourning 10 years after genocide in Rwanda.

Friedman: Iraqi insurgents are not the Viet Cong, but it’s not up to the country’s silent majority to defeat them.

‘The Smoothest Way is Full of Stones’ by Julie Orringer

Details of furor and conspiracy over interim Times restaurant critics.

Comic panels by Japanese high schoolers learning English.

Headlines for Wednesday, April 7, 2004

New York’s currently: shopping for Mr. Coffee

Sadr’s rebel insurgency swells to six Iraq cities, with signs that Sunnis and Shiites are cooperating in the resistance.

While U.S. vows to ‘destroy’ the rebel militia, still wants to go slow with Sadr, spinning him with marketing and hoping Iraqi police arrest him.

The 10-year mark today of the massacre that killed over 800,000 sees many Rwandans lost faith in their country, found it in Islam.

Confidence in Bush erodes, political crisis mode begins with new violence in Iraq —and 30 U.S. troops and 130 Iraqis killed in Fallujah since the weekend.

Gymnast falls from fourth floor in apparent accident, does somersault on the way down, escapes major injury.

Post-handover, largest C.I.A. station in the world to remain in Baghdad.

New software nabs plagiarists, students and the press must find new ways to write.

New York’s oldest fireboat —maybe the world’s —still in service with a few malfunctions, but new laptop.

Library of Congress to receive over 4,000 Early American artifacts, including letters from Columbus and the Carta Marina.

Record labels use file-sharing data to boost sales, influence marketplace.

‘He wants it so bad that when he has his alphabet cereal in the morning, the letters spell out ‘Treasury Secretary” New York Democrats jockey for positions in Kerry’s cabinet.

‘Woe is me, I think I am becoming a god,’ and other famous last words.

Carnegie Deli closed for health violations.

Baby naming in the Arab world and how it’s affected by politics, world events.

There are more ways to spell ‘Viagra’ than you’d probably think.

Vanilla shortages boost price, not magical powers.