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Headlines for Friday, October 29, 2004

New York’s currently: trick and/or treating

Study shows 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the U.S. invasion. (Interview with one of the researchers here.)

Arafat to Paris for medical treatment, likely end of his power.

Because tax-exempt organizations cannot endorse or condemn candidates, the IRS is investigating the NAACAP for speech that criticized Bush administration.

See which cities the presidential candidates flew through this week, and back to the beginning of the month.

Amazing piece, with audio, on the influence of John Peel, his charisma, and his absolute love of music.

Tea-leaf reading: If Kerry can’t win without the Red Sox, then he definitely can’t if the Redskins do.

Iraqis are given digital cameras, and the result is a documentary opening today.

BBC reports on GOP secret document showing plans to suppress minority votes; a “list” is involved.

Watch lo-res Fahrenheit 911 online, for however long this lasts.

Where ideology and maritime piracy cross paths, terrorism flourishes.

Psychotic fun! Toss the paper into the trash, realize you’ve been doing it for two hours.

Haunted ads! Bush campaign fakes photo for maximum troop count.

Cryptic music! Everything you could want to know about Prog, with reviews, mp3s, and interviews.

Just freaky! Man electrocutes wife to put spark back into marriage. Erm…

Horrific dating! A romance through spam.

Scary video! Bush gives us the finger.

Spooky food! On being the personal chef for Kim Jong Il, design your own ice cream and have it shipped to you, and when everything goes rotten.

And of course! Zombie jokes!

Headlines for Thursday, October 28, 2004

New York’s currently: cheering for Boston until lunch, and then it’s back to normal

Red Sox win World Series under lunar eclipse; thankfully no one dies during post-game revels.

Israelis, Palestinians fear chaos from power vacuum if Arafat falls permanently (for now, Sharon will allow him to fly abroad for treatment).

Iraqis describe “orgy of theft” at Al Qaqaa, days after American troops swept by in April 2003.

West Elm beds fail under coitus.

Why do black women account for 72 percent of HIV infections in U.S. females when only 13 percent of Americans are black?

List of hostages killed or currently held in Iraq.

Legislation against luring bears with pastries, and then shooting them, prompts hunters to reconsider what’s fair about baiting.

Desired: Esopus magazine.

Composer explains how music is scored for news shows, including the mandatory “dead Pope” music, for when the Pope finally dies.

Details of those murdered—soldier, politicians, journalist—yesterday in Iraq.

Top 100 American speeches.

In America, it’s only white trash who upgrade. Moscow realtor bemoans fellow citizens’ taste for improving their fancy cars rather than discussing Kurt Vonnegut.

Judge ends GOP effort to contest 35,000 voters in Ohio.

58,000 absentee ballots in transit to voters go missing in Florida.

What things are made of, and how they’re designed.

Interns from Eliot Spitzer’s office report endless drudgery, occasional breathless euphoria.

“They Will Know Us By Our T-Shirts,” a blog from within Christian retail.

Video: How to fold a shirt, perfectly.

Headlines for Wednesday, October 27, 2004

New York’s currently: expressly local

Israel parliament approves Sharon’s plan to pull out of Gaza, though nearly half of his own party voted against it, and some now demand a national referendum.

John Peel, a legend in radio broadcasting, a patron to independent music, dies. From Beatles expert to pirate radio to the BBC. An archive of songs he played on his show. Details on every Peel Session since 1992. Johnny Marr, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, others on Peel’s influence, friendship. MP3: Peel’s favorite song, The Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks.”

The New York City subway turns 100. Related: New York Mayor McClellan on piloting the first train in 1904: “Whooowee!” And: A beautiful interactive feature from the Times.

One third of Afghanistan’s economy is rooted in opium, and it just produced its largest crop in history. But can a narco-democracy exist?

Never, never, never count anyone out, unless you have seen the body with a stake through the heart. Don Rumsfeld is a perfect example. And more tips on how to survive a power surge in post-election Washington.

New Journal analysis shows Bush and Kerry in electoral-vote deadlock. So: What happens if there’s a tie next week?

Chief Justice Rehnquist hospitalized for thyroid cancer. Should he retire, whoever wins the presidential election will pick the next leader of the Court.

Iraq PM Allawi blames massacre of 49 Iraqi National Guard recruits on negligence of occupation forces.

British bobby on holiday tackles stabber in Diamond District.

South Korea and China criticize U.S. for stalled nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

“If I’m a proponent of life, I have to think about the consequences of not providing prescription drugs to seniors or sending young men off to war.” Conservative Christians rethink Bush.

78 people arrested at Thai protests die in overcrowded military trucks.

From “hip” to “chav” and every word in between: Buzzwords from the last 100 years.

The periodic table of comic books. What, no Kryptonite?

Headlines for Tuesday, October 26, 2004

New York’s currently: seven days away from trusting its nation’s future to the integrity of lawyers

Geneva Conventions don’t apply to some non-Iraqi prisoners captured in Iraq, says new White House legal opinion.

Print and memorize: Large summary of president’s anti-proliferation record, with success in Libya but major failures in Iran and North Korea.

Swing states wait under rancorous clouds while parties accuse opponents of rigging the ballots.

Elvis leads list of highest-earning dead celebrities, with $40 million annually.

Amateur election-guessers with heads for math go deep into building online crystal balls.

Afghan president-to-be Karzai under pressure to build a party around him.

Pentagon investigates claims that Halliburton subsidiary unfairly won no-bid contracts worth billions.

If Iraqi insurgents steal more tons of explosives than we pull down of Saddam Hussein statues, do they win? Don’t forget to get your war on.

Results still rolling in from Saturday’s parliamentary elections in Kosovo, which was boycotted by 99 percent of the province’s Serbs.

Iraqis call American soldiers “the Jews.”

Bleecker Street’s Joe’s Pizza, New York’s best street-slice shop, closes.

Your stupid arrogant assumptions about me and what I am doing are slander. Authors respond to Anne Rice’s tantrum on Amazon. (See tantrum here.)

Movie posters reworked for more literal titles.

The Nation’s 100 facts to back an opinion: four more years of the Bush Administration will be a tragic period.

Republican insider emails published, sent accidentally to www.georgewbush.org, not .com.

The Anomalist tracks hauntings, unexplained theories around the world.

Headlines for Monday, October 25, 2004

New York’s currently: dreaming about Boston victories

U.N. says that nearly 350 tons of explosives have vanished from a former Iraqi military complex.

49 new Iraqi police recruits killed by insurgents at a fake police checkpoint.

How the White House secretly—without even telling Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell—changed military law after Sept. 11.

Sasha Frere-Jones on the death of punk rock, and how the Clash brought it back to life with London Calling.

The Times on today’s New York crime: Remember the golden age of the mugger? It’s safer now, but still: Don’t get complacent.

Archives of 19th and early 20th century New York newspapers.

Cottage industries based around the Boston curse worry they may lose business if the Red Sox win the World Series.

Guessing at the meanings behind a massive collection of grocery lists.

After years of development, Peru is finally ready to export a new delicacy, the super guinea pig, to the tables of America, Europe, and Japan.

Video: “Let’s See What You’ve Got.”

For Republicans who want to hear the right thing, and also maybe have phone sex: Lie Girls. (Phone number really works.)

Vicious feud between brothers for control of Williamsburg’s Satmar temple divides Hasidim community.

U2’s briefcase containing lyrics, song ideas for October turns up after being lost for 23 years.

Trouble sleeping? A little on edge? Making speeches to your family? Don’t worry. These are normal symptoms of pre-election tension.

The more I learned about comedy writing (not that there’s much one can actually learn, but I suppose a little experience can sometimes help quell the panic) the more I appreciated him. Woody Allen on George S. Kaufman.

Headlines for Friday, October 22, 2004

New York’s currently: wonderful this time of year

Iraq’s insurgency comprised of thousands of soldiers, dozens of groups, with gigantic financial resources.

Big, remarkable summary of White House’s successes and failures in fighting al Qaeda.

U.S. finishes a “strong second” in Iraq war.

More than 10,000 Nepalis have died in a civil war defined by disappearances and torture, overseen by a brutal Maoist movement—and the world doesn’t have a clue.

Singapore goes gay-friendly to harvest pink cash and seem less authoritarian.

Don’t have time to read the hot new thriller? Have the ending spoiled for you instead!

Op-eds: Friedman: Conservatives have failed their own test of patriotism; Voters for whom religious faith makes a difference can have good reason to distrust candidates’ talk about their faith.

At least eight inmates released from Guantanamo returned to fight the U.S. in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Video: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog takes on Washington spinsters.

29 North Koreans flee to South Korean school in Beijing, seeking asylum.

Iraqis unprepared to send Hussein to trial.

PDF: Bell Atlantic’s Record magazine introduces its Picture-Phone service in June, 1969.

The electoral college calculator.

How Eliot Spitzer has risen to become Wall Street’s titan and terrorizer.

William Grimes becomes third Times book critic, eating cake with Janet Maslin and Mcihiko Kakutani.

The Baghdad Blogger goes to Washington.

How many Spaniards does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Juan. And other good jokes of recent note.

Headlines for Thursday, October 21, 2004

New York’s currently: not sure why Babe Ruth would curse anybody in the first place

Condoleeza Rice hits the campaign trail in swing states, breaking with the precedent that national security advisers do not get political.

Highest ranking of soldiers charged with crimes at Abu Ghraib enters guilty plea.

New York doctors giving flu shots to those not at high risk could face fines.

A gallery of Bush bulges. His tailor says it’s a pucker, and he should know.

Commuter plane crash on Tuesday interrupts the longest period of airline travel safety in U.S. history.

Pat Robertson says President Bush told him prior to the Iraq invasion that there would be no casualties in the war; White House denies the statement, but still: Pat Robertson?

Red Sox eliminate Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS—yep, they’re going to the World Series, and they want to break the Curse of the Bambino.

Bloomberg busted with beer at Meadowlands on Sunday.

“Planet formation is violent, slow, and messy.”

The legendary, yet obscure, Jandek plays live in Scotland.

Artist Corinne May Botz and a gallery of her dollhouse crime scenes.

Hotdog from final Expos game goes for a record price (for a hotdog) at auction, and is then mummified.

The flu virus is airborne. Try to be a little less mouthy and keep your piehole shut. Mr. Sun’s flu tips.

Rat-infested Mexican town discovers that an army of cats just doesn’t work.

Could you pass eighth-grade math? Did you pass eighth-grade math? Take the test now.

Headlines for Wednesday, October 20, 2004

New York’s currently: less than two weeks away from cheering for America

CARE International halts programs in Iraq after director is kidnapped.

New York leaders Pataki, Silver, and Bruno control borrowed billion-dollar slush fund available for pet projects, sticking taxpayers with the bill.

U.S. Army 30 percent shy of its soldier goal in the first month of the recruiting year.

48 percent of New York City high-schoolers have had sex; 24 percent didn’t use a condom last time.

CIA report investigating pre-9/11 accountability feared delayed in order to save presidential face, as evidence continually points to bad intel misleading troops.

Watch poll data accumulate and make predictions, updated every hour.

Air Force tells man to stop his TV from crying wolf or pay $10,000 a day for emitting false distress.

Sudan now mostly allows kids in Darfur to die of starvation, instead of heaving them onto bonfires. Columnist Nicholas Kristof reports from Darfur, wonders why we’re doing so little to stop genocide.

White House had no plans for rebuilding post-war Iraq, says invasion retrospective.

Newspaper endorsements for Kerry and Bush tracked closely, though no mention of foreign countries like Iran endorsing the president.

Excerpt from Booker-winning The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.

Michael Stipe spends $3,018.86 wisely in New York City.

Pizza Party U.S.A, the idea both parties should agree on?

Pat Robertson says God told him Iraq would be messy (and apparently forgot to inform the president), but still wants Bush in office.

MTA to hike fares, reduce service, fire station agents, and kill any dreams of new projects.

New Errol Morris ads feature Bush 2000 voters prepared to vote for Kerry, while most expensive TV campaign ad plucks heartstrings for Bush (see video here).

Yes, have some: The Ghostbusters tour of New York, and even better, the Ghostbusters tour of the Spider-Man 2 videogame.

Headlines for Tuesday, October 19, 2004

New York’s currently: wet and leafy storm gutters

U.N. reduces its role in Iraq elections, due to concerns over the insurgency and U.S. security measures.

From Oct. 11 to Oct. 17, an estimated 208 Iraqis were killed in war-related incidents, significantly higher than the average week. Iraq Health Ministry stops releasing casualty numbers, saying “it’s a political issue.”

Bush and Kerry both oppose a draft, both say their opponent is at least a little bit for it. And: The origin of drafts, and why the war in Iraq is hurting the Army Reserve.

Early voting begins in Florida, and already there appear to be hijinks afoot.

One-hundred percent of pollsters have no answers.

A history of the war between the Mods and the Rockers, beginning in the 1770s.

A new study shows that the average British man is shaped like an apple.

Charlie Suisman takes down Zagat.

Oh, yeah—and brush your teeth, you filthy animals. Guardian readers participate in email writing campaign to undecided U.S. voters, who responded, not so kindly.

What kind of adhesive you will need to glue just about anything to just about anything else.

High Times readers want to know who, as stoners, they should vote for.

Watch online: PBS’s fascinating The Choice 2004, which gives a rare view of Bush and Kerry’s lives from Yale to the present.

These aren’t the toys you’re looking for: Star Wars figures, new and old.

TROUT: All Picasso had to do was paint pictures that were already hanging in museums in the future. KV: OK. Kurt Vonnegut has a final conversation with Kilgore Trout.

Red Sox’s 14th-inning home run avoids ALCS elimination; Astros’ 9th-inning home run takes them ahead in NLCS.

A gallery of old punk and new wave 8-tracks.

Headlines for Monday, October 18, 2004

New York’s currently: preparing Jon Stewart’s key to the city

Fighting rages in Fallujah with intense battles around the insurgent-held city.

Nov. 2nd election to be scrutinized by more than 25,000 poll watchers.

Jon Stewart goes on Crossfire to beg for less spin, calls Tucker Carlson “a dick” (many video clips here).

We’re an empire now. Bush and his extremely tight circle of advisors have no doubts when it comes to their decisions.

Nick Denton to release long sought-after Ed Wood porn film.

TMN’s Matthew Baldwin to read in Seattle tonight about expert ghost hunters.

Poland’s president expresses displeasure with Iraq situation, though no mention of John Kerry’s absent-mindedness.

The Brazil is surely the Chieftain tank of all the nuts. It’s a young man’s nut, of course. British actor Sir Christian Pyle remembers his favorite nuts.

Examples of terrible architecture in Beijing.

Pat Buchanan: “Lesbian” is a cold, hard word. Rush Limbaugh: Saying you’re a lesbian is like saying you’ve had an abortion.

Rituals of the Gang of 500—Washington’s chatterers—as laid out by “The Note’s” Mark Halperin, and read by Karl Rove and the Clintons.

Everything you need to know about skinheads but were afraid to ask.

Photos: Martin Wolf Wagner; Abelardo Morell; Seze Devres.

Best-seller lists explained, though how they’re assembled so differently is still a mystery.

Ask the plat du jour what’s for dinner.

Everything’s doing crap. Joseph Lelyveld talks to many Wisconsinites about the candidates, while Matt Taibbi goes undercover with grass-root right-wingers.

Red Sox stave off Yankees sweep.

Video: Zany Japanese commercials involve toilets, penguins.

Headlines for Friday, October 15, 2004

New York’s currently: blustery, gray, anglophilic

Two suicide blasts in Baghdad’s Green Zone—the first major attacks inside the guarded area.

In the weeks before the first debate the Bush campaign did an effective job of caricaturing John Kerry as a wishy-washy hippie. Perhaps too effective: Audiences were happily surprised by the real senator.

Cheneys say it’s not OK for Kerry and Edwards to use our gay daughter for political purposes, but it’s fine if we take what you said and use that for political purposes.

Nader campaign has gained enough momentum to push several key states one way or the other.

The producers of what looks like a fine new documentary, Going Upriver, which traces the life of John Kerry from Vietnam to the 2004 Democratic nomination, want you to download their movie now, for free.

Republican voter registers told to throw away Democrats’ forms.

We do not know who bit this snake, but we know that it was bitten. Or that it bit. Or both.

After being in a romantic partnership for eight years, after living together for four, after jointly purchasing property, sharing bills and income, Terra and I are still denied 1,049 federal rights automatically granted to heterosexual, married couples. Here are those rights.

A profile of Benedict Morelli, the lawyer who’s representing Andrea Mackris in the case against Bill O’Reilly.

Man vows to eat only pudding until he can watch football in the Virgin Islands.

First survey of the world’s animal population shows that a third of amphibians are in danger of extinction.

Possibly authentic? Nick Nolte has a blog.

New study shows that one out of 100 adults is asexual.

Typhoid Mary documentary on Nova shows the misunderstood life of the woman who wouldn’t get sick, interviews with Anthony Bordain, and some unfortunate re-enactors.

Why did the President of the United States think scapegoating Massachusetts during the debates was acceptable?

Headlines for Thursday, October 14, 2004

New York’s currently: rooting for good games even if it means rooting for the Boston hobbits

Explosions in Baghdad’s Green Zone, following civilian killed by bomb, plus judge, journalist, and two army officers killed by gunmen.

Fact-check for last night’s debate.

Bush’s lack of concern about bin Laden is a precise summary of his administration’s war on al-Qaida.

Profile of New York PR madam responsible for hot women who provide party services.

The O’Reilly affair: Fox News and the White House will eliminate Al Franken; loofahs are not made of falafel; meeting the Pope just isn’t what it used to be.

Ways Brits and other non-Americans can make a difference in the election—tell Ohioans what you think!

John Kerry Is A Douchebag But I’m Voting For Him Anyway. Choose your level of Kerry comfort.

Allawi threatens attack on Fallujah if al-Zarqawi isn’t surrendered, a move that could split Fallujans from foreign terrorists, or bring them closer together.

Fascinating: The story behind BiDil, the first ethnic medicine.

Details behind the Supreme Court’s consideration of executing juveniles.

Number of American elderly will more than double in next 20 years.

Video: Interview with Homeland Security’s chief graphic designer. See also: the Sierra Leone banking-spam soliloquey.

Connections between France’s embrace of Chinese business and Chirac’s willingness to lift the EU arms embargo on China.

Better one lost election than the continued empowerment of cynical men who abuse conservatism. The conservative case against George W. Bush.

Haunted House for adults opens in New York next week.

Confessions of a man who looks just like Dave Matthews, aswirl in a world of sorority girls.

Follow the Scandinavian rock scene with It’s A Trap! magazine.

Headlines for Wednesday, October 13, 2004

New York’s currently: crisp!

Iraqi PM Allawi pushes to allow Baathists back into politics, meets with strong Shiite, Sunni resistance, as top Shiite cleric calls upon all Iraqis to register to vote.

Local insurgents in Fallujah, hoping to avoid military strikes, turn against foreign Islamic fighters, who they feel are too fundamentalist.

There are nearly three times the number of flagged Democratic registrations as Republican. Broken down by race, no group had more flagged registrations than blacks. Black leaders confront the election office.

Tonight’s final presidential debate elicits concern from Republicans.

Taxpayers foot the bill for Bush election-year mailing.

“I never should have left Kansas City” and other items Overheard in New York.

Titles of Hardy Boys books in which the villain could have turned out to be George W. Bush.

Reliever Mariano Rivera arrives late at Yankee Stadium, still grieving over family tragedy in Panama, to hold Yankees’ lead over Red Sox.

U.S. wants Nato to take over Afghanistan, while Germany says if conditions change (read: John Kerry is elected), it will consider deploying troops in Iraq.

Don’t know what this thing does, but it sure does a lot.

Exhaustive trivia on ’80s movies. (There really is a Golf ‘n Stuff in L.A.—just like they had in Karate Kid.)

Elvis impersonator fakes heart attack and Blues Brother look-a-like steals car.

OK, now it’s time to get off the internet and vote.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear his case, and it’s been a long journey for the homeless man who filed to have the Ten Commandments removed from the Texas State Capitol grounds.

Choose your own Choose Your Own Adventure.

Headlines for Tuesday, October 12, 2004

New York’s currently: sunny and cold, with everyone in blazers

Senate passes $137 billion paycheck for lobbyists, a corruption nightmare any way you look at it.

Germans work hard to improve their manners.

Karzai’s challengers in Afghanistan agree to election inquiry.

How 29 high-school freshmen and sophomores, in one month, got 17 letters printed in the Times.

Stories of solo flights, capes, and literature in the life of Christopher Reeve.

Anticipating the political career of former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic.

Times public editor passes torch, says paper doesn’t prefer one candidate over the other.

Houston Astros win first playoff series in 43 years of existence.

I am constantly disturbed by what I did in the bush. Accounts of children abducted in Uganda.

Interview with Slate founder Michael Kinsley, describing why newspapers can’t call lies when they see them.

New York’s best characters, including “Best Anonymous Sex Symbol: Neckface.”

Bones found in reputed mob cemetery in Queens.

Videos: Terrifying first-person account of Manhattan on a bike, and a terrifying Carl Lewis music video made in the gym.

Fashion magazine for Mormon teens: Modest clothing, positive media, and clean music reviewed.

Central Park to host 50 truckloads of tag sale this week.

Jonathan Franzen, who is voting for Kerry because his wife is hot hot hot, among novelists to warn us about their votes.

Videos: Short films by Pes, including “Drowning Nut.”

Quiz from the 2004 campaign for president.

Life is short, enjoy it, take your girl and run away. Profile of Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, author of craze book Snow.

Watercolors by Warren E. Saul; drawings by Mark Lewis Hodgson.

Headlines for Friday, October 8, 2004

New York’s currently: overwhelmed by work and politics

Israel suspects al Qaeda behind bombs in Egypt that killed at least 31 and injured 122 at Red Sea holiday resorts.

“Soft” voters to question the candidates tonight, with each camp pre-claiming the other has the advantage.

Scientists, wealthy fishermen partner with Mongolian monks to save salmon.

Indonesian embassy in Paris bombed.

In stunning lack of bold headlines, U.S. newspapers allow administration to claim CIA report backs path to war; “pushing limits on facts” doesn’t cut it.

Cheney’s wife has 300,000 Education Department booklets destroyed for mentioning National Standards for History.

We made it possible for [Che] to be killed. Fascinating interview with Watergate-guilty spy E. Howard Hunt.

Fresh Direct driver admits to making filthy phone calls to female customers.

Photos: Soldier’s candid shots from Iraq.

Think raw tuna is fresh when it looks cherry red? That’s only because it was sprayed with carbon monoxide.

Videos: Flips and flops within the Bush administration, and related lies they’re pushing right now. See also the remarkable fully linked résumé of George W. Bush.

Details of arms dealers and military suppliers who helped Saddam ignore the U.N. sanctions.

Known in the states for The Piano Teacher, Elfriede Jelinek wins Nobel for literature.

If Bush is re-elected, will Canada see a new flush of exiles?

If I don’t rock the mask they might not believe it’s me. Interview with MF Doom.

Interactive feature on Latino gangs shuttling between nations.

PDF: Viewer scorecards for the last two debates broken down by region.

Doodles the president drew during the first debate with John Kerry.

This weekend: Subway Centennial Film Festival.

Headlines for Thursday, October 7, 2004

New York’s currently: wondering if we skipped fall

New CIA report definitively states Saddam Hussein has not had weapons of mass destruction since Iraq’s programs were “essentially destroyed” during the first Gulf War, in 1991. (Report available here.)

The report also shows that, even though Hussein gave oil vouchers to weapons inspectors hoping they might put in a good word for lifting sanctions, there really were no weapons, as his own generals were surprised to learn.

White House goes into overspin, claiming the new report “provides extensive new documentation that Saddam Hussein was a threat to international peace and security, and was in violation of U.N. resolutions.”

Zinger no more: Dick Cheney met John Edwards long before Tuesday night’s debate. (More photos here and here).

No eruption imminent at Mount St. Helens (insert “hot air” joke here), though you can watch, just to make sure.

Shortage of flu vaccines this year has officials asking healthy adults to let the young and the old have theirs first.

Terminal Five exhibit at JFK Airport is shut down after art lovers leave vomit, cigarette butts, and graffiti at the opening night.

World’s largest flower, which smells like “overripe Camembert cheese on a bed of roadkill” blooms in Sydney.

Video: Masters of the Universe meets The Big Lebowski.

For over 30 years, the U.S. has wanted energy independence, but is it even possible?

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay gets popped again by ethics committee, this time for misusing FAA resources and shady fundraising.

Those burritos that taste so healthy…they’re not so good for you.

The new plan for New York’s trash? Put it on a barge and ship it “elsewhere.” The new plan for New York’ subways and buses? Shut some down, make them all more expensive.

Feasters at the enthronement party for England’s Archbishop of Neville in 1465 consumed 1,000 sheep; 2,000 pigs; 2,000 geese; 4,000 rabbits; and 12 porpoises and seals. How to make medieval-themed restaurants more authentic.

Oklahoma tourism brochure pulled for images of manure tossing, Confederate flags.

Headlines for Wednesday, October 6, 2004

New York’s currently: quickly remembering winter

Karzai’s VP running-mate bombed but not injured, marking third attack on Karzai’s supporters before this weekend’s elections. (Rival gains by appealing to anti-Soviet vets.)

Reporters agree Farnaz Fassihi’s email was correct about life in Iraq (see letter here).

The veep debate was: a contentious draw; remarkable for an internet goof; the sun on Edwards’s face; the meat in Cheney’s molars; insignificant.

Can the FBI fight terrorism better by adopting tactics from the U.K.’s MI5, particularly if that means large invasions of citizens’ privacy?

Top 10 flip-flops committed by Bush, and top 10 committed by Kerry.

Rodney Dangerfield dies at 82.

101 essential pieces of concert music from the 20th century, to be explained.

More than 3,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops begin major operation to secure lawless areas, undermine insurgents.

Video: Theo Jansen’s skeletons walk on the wind.

Neighbors battle with presidential placards in Plymouth, Mich.

Reported mastermind behind Iran’s nuclear program announces new missiles can cover 2,000 kilometers.

Politics! Bush supporters asked to spin Cheney as debate’s winner hours before debate began.

Journal drawings from a visit to New York.

Spot repeated phrases in last night’s VP debate.

The Bush rhetoric is clever. It may deceive many voters. Many arguments for why bird watchers may be the dark horse voting block.

Facts spat during debate checked and corrected.

Video: Mechanical pong, not described in English.

Twenty years of shortwave recordings that may contain secret intelligence.

Headlines for Tuesday, October 5, 2004

New York’s currently: 500 years away from a bionic lovebot

Four car bombs, two in Baghdad, leave 20 dead, 113 wounded in Iraq.

Paul Bremer says U.S. never deployed enough troops to Iraq and didn’t do enough to contain public violence.

Race for the White House is making vandals more active than ever, but experts predict the highest voter turnout in 30 years.

As orchestra pits shrink, musicians are sent to perform, chat in side rooms.

Rumsfeld quoted as saying he sees no connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, then issues statement saying that’s not what he meant.

Man, there is a huge scam going on here! These contractors are doing everything you can think of from security to catering lunch! Letters from soldiers to Michael Moore.

The Beyond the Valley of the Dolls tarot deck.

Private space exploration now a reality with SpaceShipOne flight, predicts bad things for “that other space agency.” And: Hoping to keep the momentum, competition for civilian spacecraft to continue annually.

To know Dick Avedon was to know the sun. Gopnik eulogizes Richard Avedon. (A gallery of Avedon’s New Yorker photographs.)

Tonight’s vice-presidential debate takes on a new significance, as Cheney must try to make up for lost ground. Also: Why nobody thinks vice-presidential debates matter, why the one in 1980 was cancelled, and why people thought Dole lost it for Ford.

Profiles of Cheney as shadowy puppetmaster and Edwards as hard-working, self-made man. Prediction: The debate will be like that one episode of Buffy.

EU reference map fouls up and replaces Wales with the Irish Sea.

Iran boasts missile with 1,250-mile range.

Let Choire Sicha guide you to what’s arty and what’s not this week in New York.

Create your own George W. Bush stump speech.

Photos from the Terminal Five exhibit at JFK Airport.

Republican Springsteen fans feel disenfranchised.

Headlines for Monday, October 4, 2004

New York’s currently: committed to ignoring polls for six weeks

14 killed, dozens injured by two car bombs attacking lines of police recruits in Baghdad.

U.S. regains control of Samarra, prepares to hand over control to Iraqi security forces.

The big story:  How the White House used disputed intelligence to convince itself Saddam was preparing nukes (including self-criticism for the Times).

Cars donated to charity bought by Mexican smugglers for moving immigrants across the border.

Spanish and French police arrest alleged ETA leaders.

AIDS might be a good thing, in a way, because it is killing people who only destroy the country anyway. Stories behind Russia’s enormous AIDS problem.

Birth-control pill for men to debut within five years—what took so long?

Afghanistan’s opium poppy cultivation set to break records this year, far past levels reported during the Taliban regime.

Present celebrities compared to subjects in the National Gallery.

International election observers unimpressed by U.S. voting methods; states still debating whether to require a paper confirmation of electronic votes.

No hats (in meetings); no TV (within ninety minutes of game time); no cell phones (when Coach is around). A few of Tom Coughlin’s new rules for the Giants.

American doctors win Nobel Prize in medicine for work on smells.

Reports from voting classes, in preparation for Afghanistan’s presidential election that’s only a week away; voters menaced by Taliban attacks, militia intimidation.

Have whites come to speak “black” better than blacks speak “white?”

Put some fairydust over the bastard! Studio chat from the Troggs, band that inspired This Is Spinal Tap.

Questions for Kissinger if he ever stops traveling.

Headlines for Friday, October 1, 2004

New York’s currently: totally ready to vote

In their first debate, Bush and Kerry show strong differences in direction and opinion.

The candidates may have said more when they weren’t saying anything, but still found time to exaggerate and omit certain facts. (Transcript here)

Spin: Key statements from the candidates; trying to change what viewers just saw; blinking lights; who’s the better father figure, they sure were scrappy, weren’t they? Unspun: Did any of it actually change a vote?

U.S. troops begin major offensive against insurgents in Samarra, north of Baghdad; 80 dead, including civilians.

Proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage defeated in House.

Army loosens standards to help meet recruitment goals.

Tony Blair enters hospital to undergo treatment for irregular heartbeat, says if elected he will serve a third term before stepping down, while his critics liken him a Jeeves to Bush’s Wooster.

This Sunday! See Tobias Seamon and Michael Barrish read at the Oblivio Series in the Bowery!

Canadian community opts not to build memorial to American draft dodgers.

EPA says its clear-air efforts are being derailed by new Bush laws that make it easier for corporations to skirt regulations.

In the largest prescription-drug recall ever, Merck withdraws Vioxx, citing studies that show the drug doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The meaning and meaninglessness of New York area codes.

Hanzi Smatter: exposing the incorrect use of Chinese characters in tattoos, advertising, everywhere.

Yancey Strickler on selling one of the best music collections in the hemisphere.

Auction for your favorite indie-rockstars’ protest signs.

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