Headlines: December 2004 - The Morning News

Headlines for Wednesday, December 22, 2004

The Philippine votes were all counted at last / And Arroyo was once more in power. / But no comeback for Bill, though kid Clinton could still / Pull crowds with a vapid memoir. What happened in 2004, in verse.

French teenagers beat up Santa Claus for candy. Photos of kids who are scared of Santa.

“A Visit from Saint Nicholas (In the Ernest Hemingway Manner)” by James Thurber, “Homecoming” by William Maxwell, “Christmas Is a Sad Season for the Poor” by John Cheever.

Every Christmas the Guardian publishes the notorious King William’s College quiz; bone up for this season’s with those from years’ past: 2003 (questions, answers), 2002 (q, a), 2001 (q, a), 2000 (q, a).

Give: The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.

How Robert Burns added to “Auld Lang Syne” and the version we know now.

Baby, it’s cold outside: But do you need a jacket? Find out.

Here’s the year in weird news.

Many galleries of old holiday postcards.

We still don’t understand what Boxing Day is all about.

Headlines for Tuesday, December 21, 2004

New York’s currently: as cold on the outside as it was on the inside

Bush holds press conference, dodges questions trying to make him “negotiate with himself.”

The math behind the Mets paying $54 million for four years of Pedro.

These tactics have produced no intelligence… New FBI memos show pattern of abuse against detainees in Guantanamo.

If poisoning is not an amateur’s game, why did Yushchenko’s would-be killers use dioxin?

The unsolicited commercial love story of Alicia and Maurice.

Stores offer free booze to encourage holiday shopping.

Clinton’s national security adviser watches Hotel Rwanda with remorse, and fury over international lassitude toward deaths in Darfur and Congo.

Photos: Jonathan Long, Nathalie Grenzhaeuser.

A fascinating look at the beginnings of New York public transportation and Alfred Beach’s Pneumatic Subway.

How do I avenge a shark attack? Can lasers really bring down planes?

Twenty-five percent of Indian teachers absent on any given day.

Meta-list of newspapers’ “Best of 2004” book lists.

MP3s: The Beatles’ Christmas records, a Tijuana Christmas.

Profile of Malcolm Gladwell, humble New Yorker writer, semi-god to marketers everywhere.

Things Steve shouldn’t eat, but does anyway.

Build a champion of cheer.

Headlines for Monday, December 20, 2004

New York’s currently: a grease-flavored snow-cone

Iraqi Shiite leaders call for non-violence after twin blasts kill 60 people in Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala; 50 suspects have been arrested in connection with the Najaf bombing.

Clashes in Congo town bring fears of a return to full-fledged war.

Op: How we’ve let the genocide happen in Darfur.

“There’s definitely a lot of trash that comes with the prize of being famous. It’s a nice gift, but there’s a lot of wrapping and paper and junk to cut through.” Bill Murray interviewed while running errands in Manhattan.

Purchase books by the yard. [via things]

Better than Tang: Improving on astronaut cuisine.

“Most of the Festivi had a theme. One was, ‘Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?’ Another was, ‘Too easily made glad?’ The very real origins of the Festivus for the rest of us.

Geniuses who take smart drugs to become super-geniuses are making the rest of us look kind of dumb.

To father—What do you know of the value of a dollar? And more from a Eugene O’Neill Christmas.

Why you wouldn’t really want to get a car for a Christmas present.

What do you want to do with your life? Find others who feel the same way.

A catalog of creatures with spliced genes, available for order in October 3032.

Statistics show that in the last 20 years Americans gave up smoking and took up eating.

The 25 laws of Japanese animation.

Major award or eyesore? It’s the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.

Headlines for Friday, December 17, 2004

New York’s currently: ready to please have Christmas now, over, finally, please

National Guard triples retention bonuses, asks for $20 billion to replace equipment.

Britain’s highest court says the government can’t detain suspected foreign terrorists indefinitely without trial.

African Union adds to its troops in Darfur—a whopping 1,000 strong—that have failed to improve security.

Saddam swallowed all the pricks of the world, and he still said he was victorious. Graffiti seen in Baghdad.

CIA has kept prisoners in a secret jail within Defense’s Guantanamo Bay prison.

To do in NYC this weekend: NYU’s ITP Winter Show.

EGullet Q&A with El Bulli chef and foodies’ favorite mad scientist Ferran Adria.

MTA approves fare hikes for New York public transportation. Leading Republicans approve Rumsfeld’s ouster.

You think when Jesus comes back he’s gonna want to see a fucking cross? Bill Hicks quotes.

Fascinating intelligence talk with former NSA director Adm. Bob Inman.

Video: Hunting for white truffles in Italy.

Great Leonard Lopate broadcast on media inside Afghanistan as the country struggles to redefine itself.

David Blunkett has stolen my Christmas. Shamed U.K. minister’s biographer has a blog.

Panoramic photos from France.

Be prepared…the customer service number for Amazon is…1-800-201-7575.

Game: Bounce and flip some holiday penguins.

Headlines for Thursday, December 16, 2004

New York’s currently: factoring wind chills

After two years of tinkering, the U.S. missile defense system is tested, and fails again.

Guantanamo Bay detainees receive letters notifying them of their rights, six months after they were supposed to be sent.

With no explosives and no ransom, Albanian hijackers release bus hostages in Athens.

Major League Baseball rejects D.C. stadium proposal, putting future of the relocated team in doubt.

Immigrants to the U.S. show up skinny, then blend in with weight.

Ex-military lawyers want to block Gonzales’s cabinet nomination, citing his involvement in the torture memos.

Why TiVo wanted to get tough on grammar.

New government rules allow publishers to work with authors in sanctioned nations.

A stroll through patio life from the 1960s. (With recipes!)

“Everyone used to think Santa had to be fat. But you can always put a pillow under your suit.” How a mall Santa stays in shape.

Merry Christmas: U.S. takes money for kids’ vaccinations and spends it on experimental flu vaccines for adults.

Two galleries of booksellers’ plates.

Catch up on your obituaries at the Blog of Death.

Great photo of Dwight Eisenhower’s ranch. [via things]

Video: Squarepusher and Kraftwerk.

Why everything tastes like chicken.

Headlines for Wednesday, December 15, 2004

New York’s currently: constantly stepping into some tourist’s special Christmas moment

Gunmen seize Greek bus, holding 26 people, and demand flight to Russia.

Documents show marines in Iraq tortured detainees, including burning hands, sodomy with a rifle.

Kerik’s downtown love shack was originally used for weary cops at ground zero.

Europeans fret about diversity, particularly when considering how to include the history of Turkey.

Americans fight for a Christ-less or Christ-more Christmas.

Video: Everyone has had more sex than me.

TMN’s Matthew Baldwin takes his Best Games of 2004 to the radio (see article here).

Your fear of frying should be overcome for the sake of making onion rings at home.

Since waiters never compare the signature on your check to the back of your credit card, you can get away with signing anything; some examples.

Former Saddam deputies to finally be charged with crimes as early as next week.

I love to poop and pee all day long! Children do say darnedest things.

List of scandals suffixed with gate.

Op: Kristol asks: Have any [defense secretaries] so breezily dodged responsibility and so glibly passed the buck?

How to craft a miniature orange, or perhaps a miniature organ. Also: How to crab.

Hamas claims secret contacts with the EU and U.S.

Blogs abroad in Paris: La Coquette; Dispatches from France; NYC à Paris.

Interview with designer who made eyeglasses attached by a piercing.

Headlines for Tuesday, December 14, 2004

New York’s currently: only being good for goodness’s sake

Unocal to settle human-rights abuse claims in Myanmar.

Senate Democrats announce watchdog committee to review what the GOP-controlled Congress won’t.

Even though Santa is missing from London department stores, you can still find him online.

Google makes deal with libraries to digitize millions of books.

Deadlines are deadly.

89-year-old former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet deemed fit to stand trial.

What is dioxin? And can its effects be reversed?

Become a British lord or lady for 60 bucks.

Tom Wolfe slithers to a win in the bad sex lit award.

Serpents hissed and glared at me from every side, and huge lizards and ugly shapes scrambled over the wet floor. Journalist infiltrates 1883 New York opium den.

From Abbey Records to Zucchini: an A to Zed of Spinal Tap.

50 ways to end the year in New York.

Why beer is only as good as its rocks and what happens inside your body when you drink it.

How to crack a safe.

Op: It’s time to defend television against the attacks from the moral, or at least the vocal, right.

The International Dark-Sky Association petitions against light pollution, so you can see the stars.

An 1890s guide to etiquette for English gentlemen.

John Coltrane’s composition “Giant Steps” forms both a ditone and a quadratone progression between the key centers of B, G, and Eb. Let’s see how that works.

Headlines for Monday, December 13, 2004

New York’s currently: running its 10th day in a row of depressing weather

Unlike past wars, National Guard soldiers are one-third more likely to be killed in Iraq than full-time troops.

Frist prepares “nuclear option” to surpass Democrats’ filibusters and confirm Bush’s judges.

Poor people need low prices. Wealthy people love low prices. Dollar stores draw well-heeled customers and the manufacturers who serve them.

Road blocks in the hunt for bin Laden in Pakistan: Mountains, mud, and hatred for the U.S.

Nine Iraqis killed by suicide bomber; seven marines killed on patrol.

The Times does the year in ideas; e.g., see-through concrete and cartoon underwear.

This too shall pass, this too shall pass. What it takes to dance all day as a Rockette.

Americans who “totally got” the Beatles in 1964 tested to see if true love doesn’t die, now that Meet the Beatles! is back.

Scissor Sisters’ singer Jake Shears describes 12 months of success.

How celebrity weeklies goad celebrities into defending themselves against questionable stories.

While Giuliani apologizes to Bush for Kerik’s nanny, a maelstrom of bad news erupts around Kerik.

MP3s: Swervedriver, live.

Now that it’s time for a free election in Iraq, the EU, NATO, and Arab League are wringing hands.

Your stomach does not have teeth—so chew well. Posters of wisdom.

The Guardian’s best music of 2004, the Washington Post’s best books.

Headlines for Friday, December 10, 2004

New York’s currently: growing gills

Bush says no tax increase for Social Security reform, prompting privatization as a more likely option.

Privatization of Social Security still doesn’t solve its inherent flaw: that as baby boomers retire, there will be fewer workers to support them.

Ex-Pantera guitarist murdered in on-stage nightclub shooting; motive unknown.

Must be time for winter break: Harvard wants people to know it sucks and Bennington students can’t keep their clothes on.

Meet the real Steve Zissou: a lawyer in Queens

Get CDs from the final shows of the Pixies North American tour.

Bizarre, yet informative: Stop the Sores.

Smart clothes for frequent travelers: plastic clasps, shank-less shoes.

Scientists grow rat brain in petri dish, teach it to fly a fighter plane.

Video: Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson bash Canada, for no real reason.

Election results got your holiday spirit in a dizzle? Have yourself a blue Christmas and buy only from retailers that donated to the Democratic Party.

Just about everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the art of James Bond.

Animated hobnobbery: Someone keeps stealing my letters…

Printable messages to cellphone loudmouths: Shhh! (PDF)

Take Our Word For It, the online word-origin magazine.

See Depeche Mode remixed in video and relive the glory days of eighties British guitar-pop at Turquoise Days.

Photos of Uncle Jesse doing stuff at What Would Uncle Jesse Do?

Headlines for Thursday, December 9, 2004

New York’s currently: remembering the Maccabees over a nice ham sandwich

Rumsfeld tells soldiers to cope with trucks equipped with “hillbilly armor,” some 95 percent of the unit’s vehicles.

Children caught in the middle of Nepal’s civil war, thousands abducted or exiled.

Antonio Reid lands Jay-Z in the president’s chair at Def Jam.

President Bush to consult with Alabama representative hoping to ban books featuring gayness.

Addresses and dates for New York’s media holiday parties you can crash.

Blogging economists review Snow’s previous term as Treasury secretary, and what he should do now.

TMN’s Robert Birnbaum chats with Francisco Goldman, author of The Divine Husband.

Iraqi president and King Abdullah of Jordan say Iran is pouring money—and citizens—into Iraq’s elections to ensure a Shiite majority.

Geeks to have even harder time reproducing? Laptops may fry sperm count, urologists say.

Op: The European Union has fashioned a foreign policy mechanism by which inaction is virtually automatic—even in the face of genocide.

Only 10 percent of soldiers injured in Iraq have died from war wounds, the lowest casualty fatality rate ever.

It’s Italian family stuff. You can’t blame them in a way. Composer of alternate score for Napoléon goes up against the Coppolas.

Interview with David Grann, who investigated the mysterious death of the world’s leading Sherlock Holmes scholar.

Poem: “Gods in Exile,” by James Longenbach.

France strives to strip hate from TV, when broadcasts call for war against the Jews.

Enough is enough: there can be no more dancing to “Hey Ya!”

Headlines for Wednesday, December 8, 2004

New York’s currently: whatever’s thicker than pea soup

House approves intelligence restructuring bill 336-75; Senate to vote today.

Under the bill, the new chief of intelligence may lose all authority without presidential backing.

Ambassador’s brief to U.N.: “No progress” in Darfur.

New York State to reduce its mandatory drug sentences, which are considered some of the harshest in the country.

Matthew Baldwin has runners-up for his 2004 Good Gift Games Guide.

How radiators work—and why they don’t.

Groups oppose development in an environmentally sensitive area in Maryland, set fire to 41 un-familied houses; authorities claim “eco-terrorism.”

A cartoon history of Iceland.

Surowiecki on how corporations hold cities hostage with economic threats, and why that’s bad for all of us.

Video: Beautiful music videos from ’90s shoegazers Slowdive.

Boys hit woman’s car with golf ball… then apologize to her… then she runs them over with her car.

The Poop Report wants to know why the media thinks toilet humor is only OK so long as we’re talking about Duchamp.

A gallery of Cary Grant lobby cards.

Eulogizing the career of Dave Barry, written like Dave Barry.

Audio blog of drunk answering machine messages.

Who’s on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

Oh, and please: Beware of Children.

Headlines for Tuesday, December 7, 2004

New York’s currently: lighting candles in the window

Bush wins backing for intelligence reform bill, hoping for congressional passage this week.

20 years later, string theory remains unexplainable, untestable, and not for the untrained.

Kurds threaten to boycott election unless they can reclaim Kirkuk, a city of violently contested history called “the Jerusalem of the Kurds.”

Truck bearing Mexico—a plexiglass box full of hunk and babes—taunts Manhattan.

Elections are the ideal way to expel the occupier from Iraq. Shiite clergy drums massive campaign to get out the vote.

Daily life described by people in Iraq.

Biodegradable plastic designed so cell phones can grow sunflowers.

Excellent summary of the U.N.’s crisis, when it can’t keep pace with U.S. pre-emptive ambitions.

Morrissey sings to the disaffected, and God knows alienation is part of the assimilation tradition. Understanding Latino love for Morrissey.

“Night and Reality” photographs by Yoshi Abe.

Why is importing a bottle of wine directly against the law in two dozen states—and how soon will that change?

Two-thirds of artists say peer-to-peer file sharing poses a minor threat or no threat at all to them.

CIA’s Baghdad chief sees horizon of worse security, worse violence.

Fantastic: Skeletons of popular cartoon characters revealed.

26 dead in past two months from Japanese suicide clubs.

Headlines for Monday, December 6, 2004

New York’s currently: an isle of shoppers

Gunmen attack U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia, take unknown number of local staff hostage.

Increased attacks by insurgents in Iraq have left 80 dead in the last three days.

Renewed Russian interest in nuclear arms sparks Wargames-like fears.

IAEA now certain that North Korea has converted enough nuclear material for four to six bombs.

Witness: I knew that when Mr. Ovitz was an agent he had courted Goofy, and if I’m not mistaken the two shared a house together in Aspen. Woody Allen puts Mickey Mouse on the witness stand.

All you need to know about how to mail a human brain and 100 things you need to do before you die, scientifically speaking.

Treehugger blogs on environmentally conscious style.

Audio: Hear backwards masking (real and otherwise) in “Stairway to Heaven,” Britney Spears, and Pink Floyd.

A man opts to drink nothing but Pepsi Spice, to disastrous effect.

Play with interactive timelines at WhoWhatWhen. [via things]

It’s the friendly corner bar, it’s the new malt shop: It’s Starbucks.

Delve into the other side of Texas at The Backword. Go on, delve.

Person We Like Gene Mirabelli has a new novel: The Passion of Terri Heart.

Video: When children’s television takes a wrong (and funny) turn with innuendo and rainbows.

Still, significantly more good than bad. Reassessing Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles output.

Headlines for Friday, December 3, 2004

New York’s currently: having eggnog for breakfast

Best-dressed former top cop Bernard Kerik chosen to replace Tom Ridge.

Car bomb kills 13 in Baghdad, just after rebels killed 12 while overtaking a police station.

Bush affirms election path, dismisses postponing Iraqi elections.

International aid groups tap Islamic money for rivers of gold.

Notes, anecdotes, and memories of a weeklong interview with Paul Bowles.

Op: What remains from a messy week in Israeli politics will spark long-standing trends.

Full-length streams of the San Francisco Symphony playing American Mavericks.

Interrogators in U.S. jails in Afghanistan given weak or zero guidance, says classified report.

Neuroscience tries to explain why people get chills of euphoria while listening to music.

Op: Nobody can claim to have an answer to this most vexed question of our times: “How far should liberal societies tolerate the intolerant?”

CIA knew about 2002 coup against Venezuela’s Chávez, despite Bush’s denials at the time.

10 interesting facts about Beaujolais, the least interesting of wines.

Pocket squares are pretty much de rigeur. Sopranos costume designer describes looks and choices.

A very complete guide to eating sushi.

The postcards of the Keown-Boyd family, 1898-1922.

Video: The only fitness video featuring poodles you’ll ever need to see.

Headlines for Thursday, December 2, 2004

New York’s currently: watching its windows stretch

Pentagon says it will raise troop levels in Iraq to 150,000, the largest since the occupation began.

Intelligence reports that Iran is still developing atomic weapons at secret military sites; U.N. inspectors request access.

“HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.” Federally funded youth abstinence programs spread misconceptions.

Paul Ford talks on All Things Considered about watching television on the internet and why the lawyers shouldn’t get involved.

Palestinian leader enters race for successor to Arafat—from Israeli jail.

New York restaurant builds padded, soundproofed room for those who would rather talk on their cell phones.

Thai Premier figures the best way to quell the incipient Muslim revolt is to distribute at least 63 million origami cranes.

Are you conservative or liberal? Take the quiz and discover your inner leanings.

Maureen Dowd: Why we let the march of the tall, handsome, white, male anchors continue.

Dinner is served at 7.16 and finished at 7.20 pm. From 8.09 to 9.59 pm symphonic readings (out loud). Erik Satie’s entertainingly absurd daily schedule. [via things]

It’s December, and that means it’s time for Leslie Harpold’s 2004 Advent Calendar. Always wonderful.

Audio: Download music from The Karate Kid: The Musical.

New design, illustration, and photography at Superette.

Icelanders claim they don’t get depressed in the winter darkness, though some say they’d rather be in Spain.

A catalog of people who are Canadian, and who you probably didn’t think were.