Headlines: March 2004 - The Morning News

You should prosper even as in the past, when your lands were fertile, when your ancestors gave to the world literature, science, and art, and when Baghdad city was one of the wonders of the world. British speech shortly after occupying Baghdad, 1917.

Tourists gleefully fire the Trump Tower.

TMN’s Maggie Berry now sells t-shirts explaining correct etiquette for the bedroom.

Precise and proper rage at Apple Computer’s pretentious posturing and pod-shucking.

‘At the end of the day’ voted most irritating phrase in English language.

Michael Barrish reading this weekend with Andy Horwitz, T.C. Gardstein.

Headlines for Wednesday, March 24, 2004

New York’s currently: ready for toasty

New, vitriolic leadership for Hamas vows increased attacks against Israel, yet claims not its policy to attack U.S. targets.

‘I don’t ride buses at times like this’ Under a new threat of terror, Israelis live in caution. Related: Israel approves further assassinations of Hamas heads.

Clinton, Bush aides go before 9/11 commission, with Clarke’s testimony set for today. Related: Untangling the knots behind the war on terror.

AIDS, fertility issues show drastically slowed world population rate.

From the American Library Association: The 100 most frequently challenged books.

Mars exploration finds evidence of standing water on the red planet. Related: Ancient Romans did not know the dangers of stagnant water.

11 Iraqi police officers killed, part of relentless, ruthless pattern that’s left more than 400 cops and recruits dead.

Raising the ire of West Virginia when Abercrombie & Fitch raises its T-arms.

How old is that Fig Newton? A timeline of food products: Developments have slowed considerably since the first part of the 20th century.

American maritime security needs assume control of foreign ports.

Response unavailable when MSN throws SXSW party with Grandmaster Flash on the decks; GF’s call for the crowd to shout ‘MSN’ falls flat.

A little too risky. Though no go this time, the Onion sees notice from the Pulitzer committee.

Police union says NYPD forces crime statistics down through creative categorization.

Beautiful collection of Japanese wood-block prints.

East New York man attempts cop-kill with bowling ball.

Sure, you can ‘filibuster,’ but with November sooner than you think, you better know your stuff. A handy political dictionary.

Over-colorization of popular Indian dishes in the U.K. hits toxic levels

Headlines for Tuesday, March 23, 2004

New York’s currently: increasing desires, exciting sensual appetites, disturbing peace of mind, evil

Anti-constitution, Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Sistani threatens to not cooperate with the U.N.

Network that sold/sells black-market nuke technology relied on parts meant for more innocent pastures, like iMacs.

‘Largest crowds in Gaza in a decade’ attend vengeful funeral march for Hamas leader.

Want conservative judges on the top benches? Support gay marriage. (Or, consider how the founding fathers would have reacted.)

Portrait of Richard Clarke: Security expert, Bush critic, Paul Revere.

Story behind grad student discovering white felons have easier time finding employment than non-felon blacks.

Getting in on early Mendelssohn. Twee-er: It is insane to insert two spaces after a period, no matter what teacher told you.

Not all musicians below the age of 30 are getting tattooed with runic symbols and sending viruses to each other on tiny, inscrutable batphones. No relation, Sasha on Norah.

Prints by the Prarie Print Makers.

Very hot: Edited by K. Schlegel, TMN now publishes reader mail, send yours!

You will spend hours inside The World of Awe.

Video: Interviews with producer Roger Corman, director/writer Kimberly Peirce, bloodhound Billy Bob. [ via cdl ]

How do birds wheel and swoop in unison? How should I fuck married men?

When Google’s too tough: Free research, acronyms by instant messaging oracle.

Frankly, it’s day-to-day and touch-and-go whether I’d rather read Henry James or read about him. Larry McMurtry on Mark Twain’s diddling.

213 things soldiers shouldn’t do in the Balkans.

Headlines for Monday, March 22, 2004

New York’s currently: deceptively sunny

Israeli helicopter strike kills Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Britain and France come out against the killing, while Hamas vows revenge against Israel as well as the U.S.

After a week of bloodshed, a funeral for the two Kosovo boys whose deaths sparked the ethnic attacks.

U.S. policy outside the law: Defy Geneva conventions, practice torture, possibly allow suspected terrorists to be killed in custody.

The new New York music: moody, doomy, gloomy.

Inspired by Hussein’s humiliating fall, Syrians resist their own tyrants.

Queens woman leaps from fourth floor of burning building, and survives.

Very funny: Bertie Wooster goes modern in the form of P.R. king Rick Renard.

Keeping up with the times while keeping true to the spirit: Sub Pop and Drag City. [via tot]

Ban on two pesticides in upper Manhattan results in larger birth weights.

…The Aznar government’s seeming willingness to mislead the public in order to exploit an act of terror for political advantage. Remnick on appeasement and changing governments.

An interview with the classic-rock street musician at the 14th Street F train platform.

Possibly the story of two roommates who turned into peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

U.S. in foreign elections: El Salvador, Taiwan.

You’re at a Peter, Paul & Mary reunion concert… Your employment application at a liberal radio network.

Headlines for Friday, March 19, 2004

New York’s currently: all hearts to Madrid

Pakistani army continues attacks on compounds, believed to house al Qaeda members.

Iraq, a year, analysis: the Journal, the Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post.

Taiwan’s president and vice-president survive assassination attempt.

NATO increases troops in Kosovo after second day of violence, 31 killed and hundreds injured.

Hussein and friends skimmed $10 billion from the U.N. oil-for-food program.

Lieberman calls for solidarity with Europe, Rumsfeld calls for patriotism for Iraq.

Investigating Elliott Smith’s suicide or murder.

Search the White House top dogs’ public statements about Iraq, from the ‘Iraq on the Record’ database.

Map of political donations around New York.

Policies and plans as America restructures its forces around the globe.

Video: Celebrities’ favorite swears.

Whitehead, Lahiri, Auster read for democratic PAC Downtown for Democracy.

Guides: How to properly use a press pot, how to properly foam.

Hey! One last day to win a Sugar print!

Tim’s creative streak is so surprising that simply thinking about it made me fall off my bicycle on the way to the wacknasium today. Timbaland is the Beatles, Neptunes are the Stones, now get over it.

Eric Umansky stays up all night to write ‘Today’s Papers’ for Slate

Analysis of hearts moved to vote Socialist in Spain.

Video: Robot flutist plays Mozart.

Headlines for Thursday, March 18, 2004

New York’s currently: frozen green puddles

NATO troops head into Kosovo as violence swells again. Related: The region’s history of Serbian-Albanian conflict during the late ’90s.

Car bomb levels Baghdad hotel, 27 dead.

Deeming the U.S. occupation of Iraq a ‘fiasco,’ Spain’s Zapatero calls upon American voters to support Kerry.

The 100 most commonly mispronounced words and phrases.

Three gay couples to marry today on the steps of City Hall, clergy to preside, as Methodists put lesbian minister on trial.

‘In fact, Saddam Hussein would almost certainly still be in Kuwait.’ In speech at Reagan presidential library, Dick Cheney criticizes Kerry, draws upon many crowd-pleasing historical references.

Gasoline prices soar as global flux, refinery regulations push oil prices to a 13-year high.

Not just for slicing off stray fingers anymore: A primer on mandolines.

More Water! Frozen! Lots! Mars orbiters confirms ice cap on the planet’s south pole. And: With discovery of new planet Sedna, minimum requirements for planet size could downgrade Pluto.

After a 21-year, $400 million cleanup, Love Canal declared clean and is removed from the Superfund list.

Majella O’Shaughnassy, a native of County Limerick, yesterday wore an oversized, green foam hat. Celebrating St. Patrick’s Month with the Irish in Westchester, while down in the city, revelers promise Guinness to paraders, Bloomberg disputes existence of snow.

Fascinating: Computer games and software programmed into the grooves of record albums in the ’80s. [via things]

Multimillionaire investor/parochial school teacher and Kenyan activist/immigrant son win their parties’ Senatorial nominations in Illinois elections.

Every number has a little something that makes it special.

Watch the movie: Commune with nature in Manhattan through the lens of videographer Tim Hall.

Having fun with anti-Americanism in Cairo off-Broadway.

Headlines for Wednesday, March 17, 2004

New York’s currently: on a three hour tour, a three hour tour

U.S. gives $5,000 and apologies to families of civilian casualties in Iraq.

Members wavering, Bush pleading, Iraq coalition threatening to come undone: Netherlands, Honduras, El Savador, Guatemala may pull troops after June.

Ski resorts protect guests from avalanches with cannons, and from other ski resorts’ cannons with detente.

Democrats lament seven-year truce with Republicans on ethics investigations.

Queens can’t find new poet laureate who’s written ‘poetry inspired by the borough.’

How Bush resists the empirical: Pentagon spanking, Medicare lockdown, EPA End Run.

300 Pakistani troops clash with 500 highly-trained Islamic militants, miles from the Afghan border. Related: Border tribesmen say bin Laden’s elsewhere, bristle at army’s presence.

New York art: Mari Lyons, Gael Mooney, Ellis Wood this weekend.

Waters continue to rise. Riverdance, the longest running stage show in world history, closes after 5,417 years. A look into the future, now that Ireland’s shrinking.

Considering the sacred human on cloning’s slippery slope. Related: Rothstein in 1979 on Gödel, Escher, Bach.

Calling on Bush and Kerry to resign from Skull & Bones.

Mel Gibson has plans for Chanukah movie.

Young Chechens make painstaking efforts to acquire books by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The current state of literature in Chechnya.

Diane Keaton on being funny looking as opposed to funny.

The Guardian on the Madrid bombings, and Andrew Sullivan on The Guardian.

Headlines for Tuesday, March 16, 2004

New York’s currently: snowing in the face of spring

Whether Al Qaeda or not, Madrid bombers employ same tactics; is Spanish PM-elect Zapatero’s vow to withdraw Iraq troops a form of appeasement to terrorists? Yet, one year into Iraq, coalition forces otherwise unchanged.

Spain identifies six believed to have carried out the attacks. One in custody, while earlier detainees only connected with fraudulent phone sales.

Aristide claims U.S. tricked him to flee Haiti, offering a television appearance and switching it with a plane off the island.

Man strolls Central Park with a caiman on a leash, a cockatiel, and a Burmese python.

The piping was not good: the high A out in relation to the other notes. Bagpipes in cinema.

Whether it’s cameras, compasses, binoculars, or the clothes you were wearing today, there is a lot of text on things.

‘I didn’t like it at all. It reminded me of ammonia, verging on cat pee.’ A live whisky tasting. Related: Not a hallucination, Guinness bubbles do float downwards.

George Bush’s Hotmail inbox. GWB doesn’t appear to use many of the junk-mail rules.

With all the hits from Foregone Conclusion: The music of David Brent (MP3s, lyrics, tabulature included).

White vinegar removes ketchup, but ketchup removes copper tarnishing: How to clean just about anything with just about anything else.

Advice from SkyMall magazine.

Build your own crossword puzzle.

Headlines for Monday, March 15, 2004

New York’s currently: a romance assailed by time

Socialist Zapatero wins Spanish presidency, saying he’ll yank troops from Iraq by June 30, while Putin cruises to easy victory.

Five arrested in Madrid attacks, al Qaeda claims responsibility on videotape.

Don’t worry, you won’t be beaten today because you’re with me. Stories from British detainees released from Guantanamo’s prison camps.

Video: Bill Murray’s Oscar-acceptance Speech.

Transcendental teenagers flown in to soothe New York middle-school students.

Investigators review TV segments involving ‘reporters’ hired by the White House to praise new Medicare law.

New York ran largest-ever terrorism drill yesterday at Shea Stadium.

China admits Great Wall can’t be seen from space.

Everyone’s speculating on Kerry’s V.P., so we figured, why not: John Lewis? Kathy Sebelius? Max Cleland?

North Korea bought complete nuclear kit from Pakistan. Related: Iran boots nuclear inspectors.

I said Holy Shiite. What did you think I said? Coalition Provisional Authority Phrase Book.

N.C.A.A. brackets: Men’s, Women’s. [PDFs]

Anthony Lane on Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

If you have scars on your wrists from suicide attempts, by all means display them proudly. Various but crucial makeup tips for goths.

Days in the life of Chris Rock’s cell phone number.

Headlines for Friday, March 12, 2004

New York’s currently: nearing 40 hours

Madrid aftermath: No bombers named, but al Qaeda and Basque separatists ETA suspected. Related: If ETA, a new deadly platform; if al Qaeda, same tenuous branch that claimed last year’s blackouts?

Personal accounts of the attack in Madrid.

Fed’s Medicare expert threatened with the sack for divulging $100 billion extra costs in Bush’s reform plan.

Testimony on removing organs from prisoners, oftentimes tax evaders, executed by the Chinese government —that generates million of dollars annually.

U.S. government preparing to purchase enough experimental anthrax vaccine for 25 million people.

Spend this weekend imagining a garden party austere with Tobias Seamon.

Immigrants earn their way to a bigger house in Brooklyn, under the glare of onlookers.

This weekend calls for us to enjoy a too-vast amount of art for art’s sake at the 2004 Armory Show.

Loving the pocket, loving the notebook medium with Moleskinerie.

Crew members of Queens runaway train say they set the brakes on the engine before they left; investigation continues.

The Wounded Warrior Project: helping hurt soldiers readjust to their new lives at home.

Dave Blood, bassist from the Dead Milkmen, committed suicide Wednesday.

Where will amateur gardeners —and their plants —be without Martha Stewart and her lovely, inspiring photos?

Breathewords with Adriana de Barros in a beautiful, illustrated theatre.

Make every dub exceptionally narcotic with the Infinite Wheel.

Headlines for Thursday, March 11, 2004

New York’s currently: not your grandfather’s cesspit of liberals

More than 170 killed by attacks on train stations in Madrid, days before general elections. Also, astounding photos, diagrams from El Pais. [PDF]

Marines’ orders stepped up in Haiti, to seize weapons and open fire, if necessary, to prevent killings.

Plea deals considered for D.C. teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, life sentences instead of death.

U.S. on Musharraf: A firm and reliable ally, who seems complicit in selling nuke technology, and will suffer when we soon invade Pakistan to find bin Laden.

Highly enriched uranium, of purity reserved for weapons, discovered in Iran.

Jennifer Garner dripping with love for Ricky Gervais.

We must not allow the American ballot box to be made Hitler’s secret weapon. Flag-snapping and moral cries when FDR campaigned for re-election.

Morrissey gets a job, heaven knows he’s miserable now.

Polls, polls, polls: Bush holds razor-thin margin over Kerry, with half the country expressing positive feelings about him.

Casualties of war announced by the Defense Department. Related: OIF/OEF Casualty Update. [PDF]

Plot is fate, and fate is always, by definition, inhuman. Michael Chabon on Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials Triology.

The hip-hop face book for cops: racial profiling, or good policework?

But not if you’re gay! Words not accepted by the official Bush/Cheney campaign poster machine.

Andrew Sullivan on a Marie Antoinette-ish David Frum, the battle over benefits for gay couples, and same-sex marriage.

Anal sex, seeking asylum, wetsuits, war, death. Things that are the new black.

Headlines for Wednesday, March 10, 2004

New York’s currently: scrambled, cheeseless

Sniper John Allen Muhammad receives death sentence in Virginia courtroom; Lee Malvo awaits sentencing today.

New poll shows 51 percent of the U.S. favors legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples, while support for state-by-state decision on same-sex marriage is back up.

The young couple from Brooklyn did a scene from The Princess Bride, with [him] turning in a fine Wallace Shawn impersonation, complete with lisp. Movioke night in the East Village brings out the actor in you.

Man killed in induction ceremony at Masonic lodge in Long Island; death believed accidental.

Lance Arthur has part one in his product and technique guide for the groomed man.

CD.C. says unhealthy eating and inactivity will overtake cigarette smoking in 2005 as the number-one cause of preventable death in the U.S. Related: A compiled menu of fast-food restaurants’ nutritional information.

Palestinain militant and mastermind of 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, Abu Abbas, dies while in U.S. custody. Related: Family of sole Lauro casualty Leon Klinghoffer says Abbas avoided justice; in 1996, Abbas termed Klinghoffer’s death a mistake.

U.S. teenagers who vow to abstain from sex display same rate of STDs as sexually active teens.

Intense: beautiful panoramic photos of various locales in Great Britain.

37 StabwoundZ is not from the good people at 37signals. Probably.

Eating racoons, mealworms, nutria, and scorpions (‘in there as a hidden secret’) at the Explorers Club anniversary dinner.

Let art into your life, but not all art: The Museum of Bad Art.

Mr. Choire Sicha on Mr. Anderson Cooper, Superstar.

Veterinary-center assistant houses monkeys in his Manhattan apartment, loses them to animal-control raid, vows to bring them back home.

Headlines for Tuesday, March 9, 2004

New York’s currently: time out for Spalding Gray

Five Britons released from Guantanamo terrorist camp returning to the U.K. today.

Kerry leads Bush, 48 percent to 44, among registered voters; Nader gets 3 percent, taken entirely from Kerry.

U.C.L.A. sold $704,600 worth of cadavers in six years to a middleman.

Poke: Reproductive Mexicans are ruining our Anglo-Protestant way of life. Counterpoke: Before the Civil War, many Anglo-Protestants were so eager to meet folks from other cultures that they actually purchased them.

USDA opposes private mad-cow tests, but ranchers and consumers want their own labs.

Street photos, London people.

Lawsuit filed in Washington on behalf of marriage-seeking same-sex couples.

Spalding Gray confirmed dead.

Pinhole photographs by Jan Dunning, including ‘The Girl Became a Bird.’

Recalling the stickhandling of John Kerry, King of the rebounds.

The real history of hip-hop and porn, as reported by BET last year.

Do you enjoy watching girls? Well, you’re definitely not the first.

New Yorkers: Support independent radio, support WFMU.

Fifty years ago, Victor Gruen designed a fully enclosed, introverted, multitiered, double-anchor-tenant shopping complex with a garden court under a skylight. Where the mall is coming from.

Nice cups of tea: according to Orwell, and Douglas Adams.

Woman ages in eight pictures, and other time-elapse videos. [ via things ]

Headlines for Monday, March 8, 2004

New York’s currently: leftover slush

Insiders say Bush is ‘consumed’ with his road to re-election, even if he doesn’t know where he’s driving. Still, it’s not too early for the candidates to be eyeing Florida.

White House pressures Israel to postpone its disengagement from Gaza until after the November U.S. elections.

Amidst changing opinions from Shia cleric and attempted attacks, interim Iraq constitution signed in Baghdad.

A guide to interpreting your own dreams.

Bard College senior Melissa Kennedy, missing for two weeks, surfaces in Hamptons, but won’t say how or why.

‘It was scary the way they was beating him.’ Teacher put on leave for showing Passion to sixth-graders.

Pick it up and dial: How to make friends by telephone. [via coudal]

Esquire back issues online; right now only reaching to 1997, but here’s hoping they mine the whole history.

After a hiatus in being arrested, David Crosby busted in Times Square hotel on drugs and gun charges. Related: After a 1982 arrest, when asked why he was carrying a gun, Crosby replied, ‘John Lennon.’

‘I hear more support for her than anything. She tries to inspire people to be creative on their own.’ A look at the Martha Stewart verdict from flower shops in Cape Cod and through the eyes of a Kmart manager.

Launching into obsession and masterpiece with William T. Vollman’s Rising Up and Rising Down, a collection 20 years in the making.

‘The way children are eating now is teaching them about disposability, about sameness, about fast, cheap, and easy.’ Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters makes a way for children to love great produce.

Making your own vermouth is surprisingly simple.

An absolute must-visit for music and MP3 lovers: Large-Hearted Boy.

Headlines for Friday, March 5, 2004

New York’s currently: the right way to paste things together

Republican aides stole/downloaded thousands of Democrats’ computer files over past three years.

Bush trampled by protests from firefighters, victims’ families over use of Sept. 11 imagery in new ad campaign. Related: Hopefully MBNA will be trampled too.

Retrial ordered over withholding of crucial evidence for Mounir el-Motassadeq, the only person successfully prosecuted for Sept. 11 attacks.

Blind, but still: Russian engineers aided Saddam’s missile program, as recently as 2001.

Liberty Counsel and Alliance Defense Fund lead evangelical Christian movement to push moral visions through courts.

Government is not reason or eloquence, George Washington once said, it is force. Rational appeal for repealing the Patriot Act.

Easy to parse Kerry’s original and revised positions on the issues, but exactly ‘what is Brahmin?’

They can sue but they can’t hide. Texas database for doctors blacklists litigants.

Underground protest press from the sixties.

Oh, to be a faux-Republican! Bloomberg must back Bush’s re-election, and get re-elected in a town where Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-to-1.

How to become a saint: Holy anorexia, kicks in the mouth, swallowing spiders, drinking from sores.

Presidential brothers, polite enough to open doors for women, and sleep with them.

Our favorite for the next five minutes: ‘Friends and Enemies,’ by Julie Moos.

Bush loses his most ardent gay backers, ‘The Austin 12,’ over constitutional amendment.

’80s video games you can play on the Web.

Headlines for Thursday, March 4, 2004

New York’s currently: mushy, warm, happy

This morning: Gay New Yorkers seeking marriage licenses gather at City Hall; city rejects requests.

Unknown terrorists with bombs blackmail French railway system, though trains continue to run.

Though Attorney General Eliot Spitzer warns gay marriage is illegal in New York, upstate marriages continue, as Senate Republican leaders say they will ‘aggressively pursue’ an amendment to ban gay marriage.

Through all the best-laid mousetraps: a museum of unworkable devices.

Water on Mars! Water on Mars! But astronomers are already on to exploring Mercury, Venus, ~~Earth~~. Related: Wait, what does this mean for Earth’s past? And: The Atlantic traces a history of asking the price that can be put on space exploration.

Bush re-election ad campaign features firefighters, Sept. 11 imagery, excellent Spanish, URL typing. [watch the ads here]

U.S. intelligence agencies have improved in languages, but still understaffed in Arabic, Persian, Pasto, Urdu, and others deemed necessary, security-wise.

Brazilian bingo workers march in protest of government shutdown of bingo halls, considered to be fronts for organized crime.

Crooked former Moscow police officer chomps off his tongue to stay silent during police interrogation.

Hey, lottery winners: How to choose between the lump sum and the annunity.

Big there, tall here, brown those? Learn what physical qualities you’re attracted to. Emotional baggage doesn’t appear as a checkbox.

Creepy, crawly, gross-y, and Gorey-ish animations.

‘I don’t know, Mexico, maybe.’ After drinking for four days, man celebrating his 21st birthday steals two planes, flies one into a power line, wasn’t sure where he was going in the first place.

An ‘independent, nonpartisan resource’: polls, polls, polls.

Headlines for Wednesday, March 3, 2004

New York’s currently: taking its top (layer) off

Kerry wins primaries across the nation, takes congratulations from Bush.

Photos from yesterday’s attacks on Shiite shrines in Iraq, leaving 143 dead and many more wounded.

U.S. rejects Haitian rebels’ claim of military control, State Department wants weapons laid down, and Baby Doc wants back.

With Kerry’s initials printed on the ticket, the hunt for a Democratic vice president heats up—why not Bill Clinton? Related: History of perpetual motion machines.

At least 40 worshippers killed in Pakistan on Shiite holy day.

Despite deadliest day in Iraq since toppling Saddam, Pentagon pushes benefits of war: ‘Thousands of children throughout Iraq will soon be able to participate in an Iraqi Boy Scout and Girl Scout program.’

McDonald’s ends supersizing.

Senate rejects measure to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits after Democrats tack on assault weapons ban.

Tactical details behind the U.S.’s indictment of WorldCom’s chief Bernard Ebbers.

Puppeteering New Paltz mayor charged with 19 counts of performing illegal marriages for same-sex couples.

Times stringer fired for past gay activism?

Fascinating material in John Bennett’s ‘Doing Photography and Social Research in the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1948-1951: A Personal and Professional Memoir.’

Kerry can come up with sentences that have a dozen subordinate clauses in them that you couldn’t diagram on five blackboards. Reporters want stories, not cul de sacs.

Rover finds evidence of ancient water on Mars, supporting theory that habitable environment may once have existed.

Home-style cooking hops in London, where ribs are eaten with silverware and Brits enjoy imitating American accents.

Porn that’s safe for work.

Headlines for Tuesday, March 2, 2004

New York’s currently: practically spring

Rumblings over the fairness of Super Tuesday voting as Edwards fights for the life of his campaign and Kerry eyes a clean sweep. And: A crib sheet to find out where the candidates stand on the issues.

Where it went wrong: Why this could be the final day for Edwards. And: Kerry wasn’t willing to take the risk of parting with his own medals. They might come in handy some day. The trouble with Kerry.

Calling all New Yorkers: Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote.

Coordinated attacks in Karbala and Baghdad kill scores, wound hundreds.

Anger in men causes war, pestilence, strokes. Related: Video games in children cause the same, plus fat.

Astronomy teams flip-flop in finding the furthest galaxies.

Yemeni judge ‘re-educates’ Islamic militants, claims 90 percent success rate.

‘Stairway to Heaven,’ backwards and forwards and upside-down.

The life and times of a Philadelphia punk rock band in the early ’80s (with their unreleased album).

One [conservative activist] told Daniels that his coalition resembled the bar scene in Star Wars. (Daniels replied, ‘When the right-wingers get together, that’s the bar scene in Star Wars. Those are the alien forms.’) Conservative Matt Daniels thinks his constitutional amendment banning gay marriage is better than yours.

Big Brother for the Middle East canned for its un-Muslim ways.

Girl believed dead in 1997 fire discovered alive.

New book delves into the hidden meanings of nursery rhymes. [‘See Saw Marjorie Daw’ PDF sample here]

MTV 120 Minutes playlists, 1986–2003.

Honoring the centennial of Theodor Suess Geisel.

Rare 1866 silver dollar —only one of two believed to exist without the ‘In God We Trust’ inscription —found in Best Western hotel bar in Maine.