New York’s currently: asking “What’s so great about hyenas?” “They make the best jokes.”

 Upcoming report on Abu Ghraib to show that dogs were used to terrorize Iraqi teens.

 Kerry still wants Bush to denounce Swift Boat ads, Bush still kinda doesn’t really do it.

 Opinion: The technique President Bush is using against John F. Kerry was perfected by his father against Michael Dukakis in 1988, though its roots go back at least to Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

 Afghanistan says Islamic militants are training at the Pakistani border, readying to disrupt its October elections.

 Is blood a requirement? So how do you win a Purple Heart, anyway?

 Fighting continues in Najaf: Residents annoyed with Sadr and militia; Iraqi government really is calling the shots.

 Resetting our expectations on the promise of stem cells.

 We’re surprised it didn’t snow: 2004 was New York’s seventh-coldest summer since 1869.

 The Morrissey/Princess Diana conspiracy theory. [via coudal]

 Two resources to aid you in determining the age of your globe.

 During Jack’s opening drive up to the Overlook, there’s the slight sound on the soundtrack of Danny’s tricycle going over the floor of the Hotel. Five things you probably didn’t notice in The Shining.

 World War I soliders found, almost perfectly preserved, in an Italian Alpine glacier.

 Come one! Come all! See Dan Benjamin’s retooled, redesigned Hivelogic!

 Even in the pandemic of corruption that is the former Soviet Union, traffic police officers are nearly universally regarded as an especially low form of social parasite.

 Museum officials to art thieves: Please take care of Munch paintings.

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