Headlines: February 2008 - The Morning News

Like nearly everyone in the news media, the three of us are totally in the tank for Senator Obama. SNL’s Fred Armisen reveals a convincing Barack.

After twice being refused oxygen, a woman with heart disease dies on a flight to Brooklyn.

Walter Reed turns to Disney for help improving its bedside manner.

A history of Best Pictures, in posters.

Shortlist announced for Oddest Book Title; you can vote, too.

Video: Everything a mom says each day, in under three minutes, set to the William Tell overture.

A 39-year-old man dons a wig, tries to “blend in” with group of high school girls.

Chauffeuring parents, internet blamed for declining number of 16-year-olds clamoring to get their driver’s licenses.

On revitalizing Cuba’s golf courses, and remembering when Castro lost a round to Che.

Video: Focus, live in 1973—that’s how you work a crowd.

Headlines for Friday, February 22, 2008

Afternoon Edition

We love “Making Book 2008”: Lay down a little money on the Tournament of Books and you (plus the matching companies) are buying books for kids.

Welsh police refute “death cult,” “online shrine” theories about 17 young people killing themselves in a year.

PowerPoint presentation answers all of the universe’s questions.

Fascinating confessions of a “language polisher” for China’s propaganda bureau.

Stallone’s unsmiling and serious-looking style makes him look like a lunatic. New Rambo unpopular with Myanmar chiefs.

Feeling ill, blue, or in need of a hot toddy? TMN’s picks for movies to curl up with.

Video: Rip Torn bashes in Norman Mailer’s head with a hammer. (Explainer.)

Jad Abumrad, host of the magnificent Radio Lab, edits today’s Video Digest at TMN with his favorite music for films.

Test finds it’s tough pegging college students’ musical tastes to their personality characteristics.

Italian scientist discovers the G-spot, develops an ultrasound test to look for it; Italian scientists unveil robot that can make coffee.

Germany puts science, and a focus on international relations, at the top of its economic agenda.

Gallery of images from the International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest.

“There is no meal without meat.” Namibia is a vegetarian’s hell and an anemic’s paradise.

Story of infiltrating Seattle’s 9/11 conspiracy crowd.

Our new favorite book title: How to Avoid Huge Ships. See also: Obsolete skills for the 21st century.

Headlines for Friday, February 22, 2008

Morning Edition

Targeting Kurdish rebels, Turkish troops enter northern Iraq, promise to return home “in the shortest time possible.”

Behind-the-scenes on “The McCain Article” in the Times; reporters are ready to field your flak.

Election committee informs McCain he can’t withdraw from the public financing system he helped create.

“We didn’t raise all of this money to keep paying consultants who have pursued basically the wrong strategy for a year now.” Clinton supporters question their candidate’s spending.

In Belgrade, demonstrations over Kosovo’s independence turn violent as protesters attack, set fire to the U.S. embassy.

From allegations the firm failed to protect employees sexually assaulted by co-workers to findings that it charged $45 per can of soda… How war contractors in Iraq became profiteers.

The world of art thievery, as told by a former dealer.

Celebrities, 700 patrons require Hepatitis A vaccines after exposure in a West Village bar.

Stray cockroach in Turkmenistan gets 30 people fired.

Bob Geldof, Bush travel Africa, draw crowds, goodwill.

Monochromatic New Yorkers: The girl who only wore turquoise switched to gray; we thought it was teal.

Video: On Soft Focus, Ian Svenonius interviews Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie.

British parents rank their own childhood bedtime stories far above Harry Potter.

Celebrity World War I draft cards, from Al Capone to Duncan Hines.

Headlines for Thursday, February 21, 2008

Afternoon Edition

McCain denies Times story about romancing a lobbyist, doesn’t touch former strategist’s story.

Op: Since conservatives were responsible for civil rights, President Obama is a natural result to smile upon.

Southern whites eager to get racial legacies off their backs (especially when black candidates are “genial”).

In kosher restaurants—even those down South—the mashgiach is king, gatekeeper, and pilot light wrapped into one.

In a connection far too obvious for any of us to see, saltier snacks means more thirst-quenching sodas, means more obese kids.

Links to lack of wisdom around measuring the U.S. poverty rate.

Attention 15-year-olds: a list of things we would have told ourselves back in the day.

A choreographed tour through YouTube’s best dancers.

Time smartly appeals $100 million due to now-deceased President Suharto for libel.

Yankees to play exhibition game against the media.

Video: Americans are not stupid; Brits are not stupid; French people are not stupid.

Many questions unanswered when study finds a higher homicide rate in societies with a higher prevalence of left-handers.

Radial communities as viewed from the sky; Julian Schnabel’s building as viewed from inside.

Inside the world of “honey trappers,” private detectives who test the integrity of your spouse.

The integrity of TMN’s 2008 Tournament of Books is based on transparency, chickens.

Slow day at work? More time to tackle the top 21st-century engineering challenges (full list here).

Headlines for Thursday, February 21, 2008

Morning Edition

If you have to join a cult, this is not a bad one. Name-calling for Obama supporters.

Supreme Court rules employees can sue over poor 401(k)s, patients can’t sue over faulty medical devices.

Also in yesterday’s docket: Curbing internet sales of tobacco to teenagers is a good, illegal idea.

After the U.S. successfully downed a spy satellite, China accuses it of threatening space security.

When “Made in Italy” actually means it was made in a sweatshop.

YouTube’s questionable contribution to the approaching election in Spain.

Few have heard about the “new Christian urbanism”; fewer know there’s an evangelical college in the Empire State Building.

A staircase to covet: gets you to the attic, shows off all your books.

Audio: How anonymous text-messagers encouraged—and even caused—acts of violence in Kenya.

New map reveals the origins of emerging infectious diseases; best to avoid any place with human-animal conflict.

After 100 days of being writer-less, Jon Stewart has eight days to prepare for the Oscars.

With inflation rising and recession looming, the condition you’re seeing is “stagflation,” and it’s retro-’70s.

Local businesses mourn the loss of Brooklyn’s off-track-betting locations.

“We have to change our mentality.” More Americans are giving up golf.

Headlines for Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Op: Putin will try to use the Kosovo precedent to destroy NATO.

Zimbabwe’s inflation hits new record—66,212 percent—without taking the black market into account.

Scientists create the blackest black so far.

Print for the commute: Research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to successful child-raising.

Doonesbury explores clinical neurolinguistics.

Video: 20-minute Obama endorsement for those who like presentations.

Wrong font for your gravestone; ill-advised business names.

Being the only white person around. Blog devoted to what white people like.

Text-heavy slideshow farewell to the Polaroid picture.

Andrew Womack picks the top 10 albums of 1987; Erik Bryan examines Valentine’s Day with mp3s in today’s Digest.

James Patterson directs new marketing plan at mothers so their children will read his books.

Retailers hire “civil recovery” firms to hunt down shoplifting suspects.

Today’s white paper: The Effects of Power on Laughter. (And for the French speakers: Vie de Merde.)

The power is too strong, we just can’t stop reading: Johnny I hardly knew you.

On comparing Ice Cube and Italo Calvino’s interpretations of your female form.

Headlines for Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Morning Edition

Update: Castro’s failure to name a successor means someone other than his brother could be appointed president—and there are viable options

Two more states go to Obama, who’s winning supporters from Clinton, who now may need more than Ohio, Texas to win.

Barackula is a “political horror rock musical” about a vampire-fighting Obama—the vampires were added because the original script “lacked conflict.”

Saturday Night Live is back this weekend; Tiny Fey hosts, and no one has an Obama impression.

One in five U.K. university students drop out, despite government efforts, money.

Just got sacked? Get a Twitter and share it with everyone.

For the connoisseur, a rundown of Spanish beers.

Fossil found, revealing a giant “devil frog” that may have eaten dinosaurs.

Video: Chip Kidd presents five experiments in form and content.

You’ve Got Mail, The Heartbreak Kid, and 20 more radically different film remakes.

Video: Mike Patton sings the theme to Rosemary’s Baby.

Because you need more than one Stormtrooper for a battalion: the biggest Star Wars collection in the galaxy.

Photos of children and their science fair experiments.

Headlines for Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Obama’s “Yes We Can” slogan now being heard in Russian and Italian elections.

“We always try to smile at one another.” A brief summary of the state of Russian-American relations.

Retired American submariner claims credit for Russia’s polar dive plan and subsequent conquering of the Arctic shelf.

What it’s like to live at the South Pole.

Photos of Portland green streets landscaped by runoff stormwater.

Call to replace cuddly “global warming” with “global climate disruption,” or perhaps “you’ll die sooner.”

Researchers puzzled why 20 percent more 45-to-54-year-olds are committing suicide since 1999.

College students generally all for online gossip, except for JuicyCampus.com, which is just plain mean.

Proposed policy changes may make it harder to fake a pregnancy at work, achieve sainthood in your lifetime.

Richter’s “Kerze (Candle)” painting to be sold at auction, for all the Sonic Youth fans in the room.

New stories released Mondays at “Five Chapters.”

Never-before-seen Polaroids by Robert Mapplethorpe in this week’s Gallery at TMN, plus an interview with Whitney curator Sylvia Wolf.

Not only does Robert Birnbaum run through the week in books, he also gets Richard Russo to recommend a few new reads.

Video: Vampire bat running.

Headlines for Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Morning Edition

“It seems like someone else should be there.” White men may decide the Democratic nominee—and they’re still undecided.

Though the final tally won’t be in for days, early indications show Musharraf’s party lost big in Pakistan’s election.

Ailing Castro resigns as Cuba’s president, handing power to his brother Raul.

When I come back, I’m going to bring baseball. I’m going to bring the American gift. Baseball in Cambodia.

U.S. anti-terror operations inside Pakistan occur with the help of local sources—and without the government’s approval.

A who’s who of recognizing Kosovo’s independence.

Audio: NPR’s thoughtful, stirring, in-depth profile of the star power of…Darth Vader.

Ten years later, one critic re-awards the Oscars.

Fending off the Library of Congress, man puts the “world’s Greatest music collection” for sale on eBay. (see the listing)

With IVF as successful as it is, the next horizon in fertility treatments may be to control multiple births.

Parents criticize the newest math, say their children can’t do their homework.

When children’s books are written by authors who founded marketing firms at 16, product placement, debate abounds.

The elevation of frugality into a virtue seems likely to last about as long as modern recessions do—about eight months.

A 25-year study of older men reveals how to live long; 5 lies your mom told you about the human body.

Headlines for Monday, February 18, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Print for the commute: Remembering when America previously debated “water cure” torture, and then forgot.

Safety invoked while making the case for sharing our nuclear secrets.

The last time the city went more than a month without a killing was a 40-day period in 1963. Newark hits 33 days without a murder.

Prank caller shows up with nonsense questions during blue-chip earnings calls, and executives answer.

The films that influenced men’s style.

Offered FREE shipping, we take it, even when it costs us. The irrationality of your behavior.

The rise of “blank check” companies, who realize business plans are much less sexy than cold hard cash.

Video: Mr. Wizard reincarnate shows you how to count the number of sections in an orange without cutting it open.

Oldie but goodie introduction to the state of experimental philosophy.

State of the book-selling business in Calcutta, and in Japan.

Oxford American staffer arrested for embezzling $30k from the magazine that can never catch a break.

A slow bike ride with Italy’s foodies to guage the state of gastronomy.

Barack Obama is everything to everyone, including a bicycle; Hillary Clinton is the bike Obama fans kick.

Headlines for Monday, February 18, 2008

Morning Edition

In Afghanistan, 80 are killed by a suicide bomber on Sunday, then 37 more at a market on Monday.

In Pakistan, voters brave militant violence to have their say.

Obama speeches bear resemblance to those from Gov. Deval Patrick—though the governor already gave the candidate his words to use.

Following video of ill cattle, USDA recalls 143 million pounds of beef—most of which has already been consumed.

Study reveals the uninsured and those covered by Medicaid are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancers.

The newly diagnosed turn to “cancer coaches” to help them navigate the early, confusing choices.

I am totally convinced it’s inevitable. After Tamagotchis and the Roomba, the next step is pure, robot love.

College entrance advisors take pause with too-verbose college essays, stamp them with “DDI”—“Daddy Did It.”

MTA subway grammarian wins praise from writers, editors for “impeccable” use of a semicolon.

In Ivory Coast, “big bottom” dance craze sparks an increase in black market rear-enhancers.

“There can be little monuments too, you know—ones you don’t have to worship.” Protesters fight the close of Mexico’s oldest bar.

Bill on Hillary, according to “those who just might know.”

[Google’s]… plant can be expected to demand about 103 megawatts of electricity—enough to power 82,000 homes, or a city the size of Tacoma, Washington.

Mp3: From Judson Frondorf: “Infidel.”

Headlines for Friday, February 15, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Analysis: Among the costliest decisions… Clinton’s presidential campaign has made this year was to largely cede caucus states to Barack Obama.

Obama supporters send a few dollars more every time he inspires them—and it’s adding up.

Al Gore ties sub-prime crisis to carbon assets, “guarandamntees” investors they’re headed for financial trouble.

Does the paper’s topic provide an original contribution to the Creation and Flood model? Guidelines for submissions to creationism’s peer-review journal.

With 35 children, six mistresses, and no heir apparent, the Sultanate of Surakarta has a succession problem for the ages.

Typo on court documents for Barry Bonds causes a temporary tempest over a drug test that wasn’t actually failed.

Getting into certain college classes is always hard—at MIT it’s a gamble, at Wharton it’s a complex online auction.

When the soldiers came upon a flea-infested and starving puppy while on patrol, they could not resist sharing their affection and their ready-to-eat meals. Operation Baghdad Pups brings a stray to the U.S.

Scientists consider how robots could be used in laboratory tests in lieu of live animals.

Video: The trailer for I Am the Walrus.

Photos of 1960s London, both Swinging and pre-Swing.

Videos: A modern compilation of film clips of whacky inventions, crazy stunts, and derring-do from the 1920s-50s.

Test your knowledge: Donald Judd or cheap furniture?

Post-concert, violinist trips, falls on his 290-year-old Stradivarius.

Headlines for Friday, February 15, 2008

Morning Edition

U.S. to shoot down out-of-control spy satellite—impact with the Earth could pose a danger due to rocket fuel, government secrets.

“Instead of needlessly frightening the country, you should work with Congress in a calm, constructive way.” Dems block intelligence bill, admonish Bush over wiretap furor.

Security Director McConnell: If you don’t protect us from Congress, we can’t protect you from the terrorists.

“The country’s lack of self-confidence is in stark contrast to the implacability of its Islamist terrorist enemy.” U.K. government attacked for going soft on terrorism.

Northern Illinois security created a new response plan after the Va. Tech shootings—and the email from the school still came too late.

Photos of NIU in the wake of yesterday’s shootings.

Audio: Journalism school dean uses anonymous sources, senior student tries to track them down.

Bloomberg on Bush’s rebate checks: “Like giving a drink to an alcoholic.”

Condom rings are not available everywhere. Drugstores and supermarkets make room for “sexual wellness” products.

On dating sites, the lazy lovelorn copy other, more interesting profiles in hopes of becoming more interesting.

Voyeuristic researchers catch gorillas mating face-to-face, then cuddling.

New phone technology can detect the level of passion in callers’ voices.

From stuffed animals in Tehran to chocolate baths in Japan: How the world celebrates Valentine’s Day.

Video: Playing wineglasses.

Headlines for Thursday, February 14, 2008

Afternoon Edition

“I think the message is ‘Don’t do anything until we get this sorted out.’” New study disputes last week’s study about diabetes treatment.

Evidence suggests Georgian billionaire Patarkatsishvili died from natural causes in his London home.

Foiled al Qaeda plot could have left Philippine president quite unnaturally dead.

Kosovo plans to soft-launch independence as early as Sunday; Russia isn’t pleased, unlike the U.S.

Superdelegates explain the electoral system to Colbert.

Print for the commute: Understanding how the past attacks East Timor’s future.

Backlash to Carla Bruni’s love-me appeal after she said a gossip web site was Nazi-friendly.

We have discussions probably every six months about unifying our look a little bit. Hot Chip loves the runway.

Iran hates Perspolis more than 300.

On the role of subjectivity in Julian Schnabel’s films and art.

Grammarian’s (perhaps subjective) tips for better Valentine wishes.

The Golden Girls got your Valentine right here.

Study says men produce millions of sperm because women cheat.

Giles Turnbull illustrates how to write a bio without cheating; Erik Bryan brings you, with brief relish, the best in leaked music.

Gallery of six-word memoirs.

Headlines for Thursday, February 14, 2008

Morning Edition

Our road will not be easy… Take away Obama’s stirring rhetoric, and the message that’s left is disheartening.

While Hillary was canvassing San Antonio, endorsing hot peppers, the mayor was endorsing Obama.

Texas businessman with “Kennedy-straight teeth” claims he’s JFK’s love child.

Congressional earmarks are due, and lawmakers have set up online forms so voters can choose their bacon.

“He thought I smelled like a traveling carnival.” Sales of women’s fragrances plummet, trade group blames user error.

For couples whose weather is crisp, celebrate Valentine’s Day with a “smitten,” the mitten for two.

Videos, in this order: The trailer for Be Kind, Rewind, and director Michel Gondry’s version.

“I have always been inspired by the films of Goddard [sic], Visconti, Passolini [sic], and Fellini… Madonna directs a movie.

The cost of the writers’ strike: upwards of $3 billion—that includes the cost of hiring people to roll out red carpets.

With anxiety, writers return to work; Jimmy Kimmel distributes egg creams.

All fast food and no exercise for a month can lead to liver damage—or to a boost in cardiovascular health.

Two years after deliberation began, CDC confirms government trailers emit formaldehyde, pose health risks to Gulf Coast evacuees.

How Roger Clemens beat the odds and made his needle-wielding accuser out to be a sympathetic figure.

Mp3: The Houston Astros’ psychedelic square-dance-ish fight song from the early ’80s, “Go Go Astros.”

Headlines for Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Excerpts from Obama’s economic policy speech, with plenty to say against NAFTA.

The number of new H.I.V. infections in men under 30 who have sex with men has increased sharply in New York City in the last five years.

European newspapers reprint Mohammad cartoon after reporting attempt on artist’s life.

Latest Russian to show up dead in the U.K. is Badri Patarkatsishvili, Georgian oligarch worth estimated $12 billion.

Day-by-day pictures show Mother Russia in bizarre glory.

Brits begin to fight back against ugly public artwork.

“The staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either.” Woolworths withdraws “Lolita” line of girls’ beds and thongs.

The architecture of polygamy.

Print for the commute: Gender inequality and headscarves in Turkey.

Looking at gray matter when the abortion debate resorts to black and white absolutes.

Writer says it’s unfair that Carla Bruni, stocked with brains and beauty, should seek solace from Yeats.

Not to be missed: Radiolab debuts Season 4 at the Angelika, free for New Yorkers who know good radio.

Astronaut’s take on what space smells like.

Headlines for Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Morning Edition

After landslides in the Potomac primaries, Obama now leads Clinton in the race for delegates.

Many Democratic voters have gotten past whatever reservations they might have had about his electability or his qualifications to be president. An analysis of Obama’s wins.

Op: We may not have stopped this war, but we may have stopped the next one.

In Italy, abortion will be a hot election topic, as the leading candidate calls for a universal moratorium.

Pigeons can get away with almost anything in Venice. But no longer, now that birdseed may be evicted from St. Mark’s Square.

In protest of Israel’s plan to replace Asian cooks with Israelis, restaurants refuse to serve spring rolls.

In dispute over China’s inaction in Darfur, Spielberg pulls out of the 2008 Olympics.

Do we really want another black president after the events of Deep Impact?

New study shows secret prejudices influence real—and shameful—actions.

“You’ve got to realize that everybody uses the equipment, and you don’t know where they’ve been.” The germs in New York’s gyms.

W.H.O. classifies the plague as “re-emerging”—the likely culprit is global warming.

Video: Leland Palmer sings “Mairzy Doats”—the story behind the song.

A review of a new “book ripper” should alleviate the publishing industry’s fears of being Napsterized—for now.

Throughout history, translators have conveyed Aesop’s morals through the agendas of their time.

Headlines for Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Serbia leaks proposed measures against countries that recognize independent Kosovo.

Ten things that won’t change no matter who gets elected.

Bloomberg: In the long term, global warming is worse than terrorism.

Download for the commute: Inside The Onion’s editorial meetings, and an interview with Mormon solicitors on the Upper West Side.

Pew study predicts one in five Americans will be foreign-born by 2050; New York, of course, hit 36 percent almost 10 years ago.

“Pervasive processing problems” leads White House to OK skipping FBI background checks for large number of green card applicants.

Europe says it can play the U.S.’s security game too, plans to fingerprint all incoming visitors.

Perhaps the criminals know something the experts don’t, but extremely famous artwork is extremely hard to sell.

Who won the writers strike? The writers, sort of; or not at all, at least not for now.

Op: Nations do what they do best and trade for the rest…simply put, the poor are less poor.

Various states rendered in 2D forms.

Photographs of the Pakistani elections, plus valentines to “the daily life in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahore.”

RNC Valentine’s Day cards; scientist valentines; oozy chocolate love.

Headlines for Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Morning Edition

In the waning days of the Bush presidency, charging six detainees for the Sept. 11 attacks takes care of some unfinished business.

Danish police arrest three suspected of plotting to murder one of the cartoonists who lampooned Mohammed.

This week in national apologies: China, for the weather; Australia, for tearing Aboriginal children away from their families.

If children really were systematically removed to end the existence of Aborigines as a distinct people, then the crime was definitely genocide.

The etymology of “pimping,” and why when MSNBC’s Schuster said it, he didn’t intend it to mean “living large.”

An “unscheduled amorous encounter” between a goat and a ewe results in a “geep.”

The cinema in 1967: a watershed year, when all the roles were played by Sidney Poitier.

After 35 years of using the same garment sizing system, Spain will measure up to current figures.

U.K. girl can only eat Tic-Tacs.

Analyzing a lot of hair, Italian scientists determine that Napoleon was not offed with arsenic.

Whether because of toughening on illegal immigration or recession, Latino immigrants in Arizona are vanishing.

In California, Blue Cross asks doctors to disclose information that it can use to cancel their patients’ medical coverage.

Researchers surmise living to 100, even for the chronically ill, may be easier than previously thought

How mimicry influences social bonding with strangers, and how prone we are to falling right in line.

Headlines for Monday, February 11, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Early last night, East Timorese military attempted a coup, shooting their Nobel Peace Prize-winning President twice.

Polish town of Poczernin aims to be your one-stop exorcism shop.

Improperly conducted exorcism—if it was an exorcism at all—leads to Texas woman’s death.

Dramatic art heists are the new dramatic art heists—this Swiss one totaling $163 million of damage.

The week in what to read, both in books and blogs, from Robert Birnbaum.

Print for the commute: When your children lie, it’s often your fault.

Tobacco now responsible for 10 percent of the world’s adult deaths.

The argument for single women in their 30s to settle for whatever they can get, from a 40-something single mother.

Op: How the NFL showcases racial unity: both black and white are encouraged to point to the Lord with no fines or sanctions.

The truth in black and white: Polaroid is getting out of the Polaroid business.

The palette of Brooklyn’s industrial evolution.

The site for all things that fail in the world.

Headlines for Monday, February 11, 2008

Morning Edition

Military prosecutors to seek the death penalty for six Guantánamo detainees who will be charged with roles in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Following Obama’s Maine win, Clinton replaces her campaign manager.

No Republican politician has won the category since…1968. Obama snags a Grammy, too.

Bush to McCain: You must show you’re a true conservative; Bush to Clinton: You’re not a racist.

“There are good men in Mexico, but they’re not the ones on public transport.” Groping complaints lead to single-sex buses in Mexico City.

Ever-so-slightly incestuous couples have “scads” of children.

French women stay thin and have sex; related: a roundtable from 2005, “The French Paradox.”

When you have an eating disorder, that’s the voice you hear in your head all the time. When a diet book is not a diet book, one must take the authors to task for bullying.

Authors, their horrible handwriting, and the terrible trouble it gets their scholars into, far down the line.

Hunting every scrap of Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting—as a lawyer for 25 years, there’s a lot of it out there.

“I believe that they are not going to go beyond 20 or 30 pages.” HarperCollins to begin publishing books on the web for free.

Writers Guild OKs new contract, many scribes back at work today—when your shows will be back, and those that are gone for good.

Video: Trajan is the movie font.

Actor Roy Scheider (Jaws, All That Jazz) dies, age 75.

Headlines for Friday, February 8, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Kenya rivals agree to humanitarian aid, not to a power-sharing government.

Op: The argument for Obama’s electability.

Emerging economies are better at adopting new technologies than at putting them into widespread use.

Study finds whichever gender rules society is also the more competitive.

Conservationists mull when to help non-endangered marine mammals.

Print for the commute: She believes that the dysfunctions of neural centers led to the slaughter of countless innocent people.

Sugar dust blamed for Georgia refinery explosion that has left six workers missing.

Winners of sexual-health poetry competition; map of fetishes.

Best of Brit tabloids: King Henry VII caught on cameraphone; 500-lb anti-gambling shoes.

Pictures from Vanity Fair’s remake of Hitchcock stills, with Seth Rogen fleeing an airplane.

Physicist submits “optimal boarding method for airline passengers” to Journal of Air Transportation Management.

McSwonion? General life advice as provided by the Stage Directions to Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Eric Feezell’s advice on using “begs the question.” See also: Meave Gallagher stakes turf on Super Tuesday mania.

College football adopts NFL’s rule that at least one minority candidate must be interviewed for any open coaching position.

Headlines for Friday, February 8, 2008

Morning Edition

Romney’s campaign shined a light on the Mormon Church—and the Church learned there’s a lot of silent anti-Mormonism in the U.S.

Racism should not be tolerated and this is not the first time British sportsmen have been racially abused in Spain.

The writers’ strike may be ending, with pens in hands as early as Monday—Michael Eisner says it’s so.

FBI raids in New York and Sicily result in arrests of more than 60 members of the Gambino crime family.

It was Monday night on the Strip, and John Devaney was giving a party for himself and fellow connoisseurs of risk who have seen their hot hands go cold.

A pet owner wonders: How much is too much to save the life of her beloved cat?

Hoping to win the support of Sunnis in Iraq, al Qaeda shifts to “softer tactics,” which means not killing Sunni civilians.

Actually, I think this might be an al Qaeda recruitment film. Charlie Brooker on MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen.

Reader mail: Do Guilfoile and Warner support Obama only because he’s the anti-Hillary; and: Can we have a president my age?

French designer envisions giant, whale-shaped flying hotel for tourists.

Audio: Clorox introduces a new, green brand—at a price that undercuts the other eco-friendly products on the shelves.

Chinese environmentalists protest throwaway chopsticks, promote a BYOC campaign.

About a man with one of the worst cases of sleep apnea in Britain—he slept only 14 minutes a night.

Headlines for Thursday, February 7, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Romney halts his campaign, says continuing would make a Clinton or Obama win more likely.

Bleak, frightened atmosphere surrounds Pakistan’s elections; violent reactions anticipated.

Stories from expats evacuated from Chad.

Democratic expats: Some of you can still vote (though no longer online) in the Democratic Primary.

“It’s tough for this old Razorback to say things like ‘Roll, tide roll.’” Translating Huckabee-speak.

Anyone who still includes the www when mentioning a URL is unfit for office.

Notes on diagnosis and treatment for NADD (Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder).

Nerds about walking: Will Self and Spencer Wells discuss migration.

European economics battle between candlemakers, who want protection, and candle buyers, who want Chinese candles.

NIH halts diabetes study after finding that lowering blood sugar may increase risk of death.

Other diabetes research reveals that large breasts—or at least the fat inside them—contribute to development of the disease.

Video: Meter-wide shark head with 17 feet of shark love to follow (see also: “Solar”).

Headlines for Thursday, February 7, 2008

Morning Edition

White House reopens the torture debate by asserting that waterboarding is legal.

Newly public documents reveal CIA destroyed its interrogation videos at the same time a federal judge sought information about one of the men interrogated.

Breaking down each candidate’s cost per delegate—with this kind of spending, it’s hard to believe there’s a recession.

How do you win California? You get Rob Reiner, is how.

Would it be too much for Americans to have representatives of two “minorities” leading the country? The Clinton-Obama ticket: dream team, or keep dreaming?

Super Tuesday photos: Candids of the candidates; portraits of the voters.

Researchers suggest vaccines could be delivered via tattooing, rather than injection.

From the Novice: “How to Give a Tattoo.”

The creator of the artificial heart takes flack for an artificial ad.

If the object is marriage, sex, or companionship, the immediate subject is tennis. From “Sex & Tennis,” 1976.

Video: On Soft Focus, Ian Svenonius, formerly of the Nation of Ulysses and the Make-Up, interviews Graham Coxon, formerly of Blur.

It’s like a man is in a car and the car is old and the man gets out of the car and rolls the car into the water into a lake. David Lynch on the death of Maharishi.

Reader mail: Replacing “and” with a comma is annoying, unnecessary.

Twenty-five years after it was first released, a remembrance of the video for “Beat It.”

Headlines for Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Australia apologizes for 50-year practice of kidnapping Aboriginal children.

Afghanistan to become world’s top marijuana producer (no longer just defensive cover for Taliban fighters).

American teens hear more than 30,000 references to booze and drugs annually via pop music; 20,000 are positive.

Putin’s heir apparent to receive Deep Purple concert as parting gift from Gazprom.

How American Samoa prepared for its Super Tuesday spotlight; how America’s ridiculous caucus rules are, in fact, legal.

How Eli Lilly fell into the spotlight: Lawyer sends corporate secrets to Times reporter Berenson, rather than co-counsel Berenson.

Ladies and gentlemen, and Tony Blair… World leaders gather for Ahmadinejad roast (see also: thermal pictures from a zoo).

Reading the week in ~~fashion~~ Suzy Menkes.

It’s only February, but it seems the headline of the year has been found.

How you see it: a single news story told by three news stations simultaneously.

New technique involving three parents and one baby may prevent mitochondrial disease.

The week’s brilliant inventions include nugget-holding soda cups and smoking ban-friendly mini-cigarettes.

Sometimes a party’s so great, you have to swallow your house key to avoid going home.

Headlines for Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Morning Edition

Despite Kennedy, Kerry endorsements, Clinton bags Massachusetts, but she’s still in a virtual tie with Obama.

McCain sees big wins across the nation, though Huckabee, Romney aren’t out of the race.

Romney loses West Virginia, thanks to some old school moves from the McCain and Paul teams.

One more loser from yesterday: the proposal to replace Alcatraz with a global peace center.

Scientific itch-scratching really scratches the itch.

The tale behind the O’Brien/Colbert/Stewart feud, and all of it in one succinct YouTube number.

Matthew Baldwin watches Sophie’s Choice as part of his AFI 100 Project. (See the rest of the project here.)

These stories…reveal something about the eternal and dangerous nature of being female. The adoptions and abortions of four decades ago.

Fiction writers: L Magazine’s Search for Pocket Fiction competition is now taking submissions.

Video: A meeting with an editor: “Maybe it’s not a shark, but it’s a squid, or a pebble, or a policeman.”

At a London concert, Morrissey sports an “Obama-Morrissey” T-shirt.

I recently shaved my 161 day old beard and placed it in a mason jar. Beard for sale.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, dies—believed to have been 91 years old.

Headlines for Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Afternoon Edition

See this morning’s headlines for all your voting needs. And may we again urge you to vote.

Op: Clinton is running a campaign; Obama is bringing the revival.

Op: Since nothing drives hate for Hillary, it is that most sought-after thing: a self-replenishing, perpetual-energy machine.

And now for non-election stories: stories of counterinsurgency in Iraq that the press doesn’t cover.

Wikileak: U.S. rules of engagement for Iraq.

List of carrots to lure Palestinian Islamists into peaceful politics.

Print for the commute: It is easy to make fun of French foreign policy, but not so easy to think what you would do if you were France.

Freelance reporter explains what it’s like to work in Pakistan, and what it’s like to be kicked out.

How much should a potential employer pay to interview you?

Impact India may feel if the U.S. economy catches a cold; India relaxes rules on foreign investment.

Worldwide marches held yesterday to protest FARC’s actions in Colombia, as organized with Facebook.

You might be a redneck if… you activate a Harvard student’s dorsal mPFC. When prejudice is engaged.

For those with millions: Extremely expensive, number-one license up for sale in the UAE.

For those who panic: Baby lotion only kind of poisoning your baby, pig brain-related diseases limited to slaughterhouses.

Video: Actors say the darndest things.

Headlines for Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Morning Edition

Welcome to Super Freaking Tuesday; here’s an overview of the “orgy of primaries and caucuses.”

Interactive map: The states to watch on Super Tuesday—includes linchpins and candidate strategies.

A viewer’s guide to watching the returns: when the votes will be in, hour-by-hour, with predictions.

If your state’s primary is today—and chances are it is—send a photo of your voting experience to the Polling Place Photo Project.

Setting Obama’s speech to music—with a little celebrity assistance—by will.i.am.

Americans should be asking to Candidate Clinton… Where can I go to pasteurize my children?

Video: Hillary’s reaction to Ann Coulter’s endorsement of her.

The president claimed… his plan would put the country on the path to balancing the budget by 2012. That is nonsense.

By delivering more digital copies of Bush’s budget, the White House estimates it saved 20 tons of paper—or 480 trees.

Swedish airline introduces check-in via fingerprint—no other I.D. necessary.

A half-ton of shredded paper will be dropped on Lower Manhattan today for the Giants.

Talking animals have been done to death, but this one is worth it for the split-second of a tiny screaming cricket on a tree branch. The Super Bowl commercial revue.

Video: The best Super Bowl commercial? This one, which referenced all the ones you saw during the game.

Headlines for Monday, February 4, 2008

Afternoon Edition

Bush unleashes his proposed budget on unsuspecting after-school programs, children’s hospitals, baby ducks.

The shared party split: one candidate who reaches across party lines, one who states his or her first principle as representing the traditional base.

Analyzing Hillary and Barack as method actors; analyzing New England’s primary empowerment.

Op: The 2008 campaign has already served one foreign-policy purpose: It has changed how America’s Western allies see the country.

Graphic: A guide to which candidates our politicians, actors, and politician-actors have endorsed.

Freshly married to a supermodel, and with his ratings in the sink, Sarkozy vows to avoid his personal life for several months.

Print for the commute: Hersh reports lessons from his trips to Syria to find out what Israel bombed.

Lessons from neuroscience applied to copywriting.

The Onion apologizes to man it said was dead, saying it had permission to say so.

A 12-year-old cat. I don’t know why. I questioned myself and the situation heavily. Veterinary technincian’s blog, “What I killed today.”

Today on TMN: Kent Rogowski’s reconstructed puzzles; the Guilfoile-Warner Papers prep for Super Tuesday; Robert Birnbaum gives us the week in books.

You were wondering, and no, Arcade Fire didn’t license Fox to use “No Cars Go” for the Super Bowl.

Postmodern dance is so capable of giving you 10,000 ideas and no traffic signs. And how do you limit it, how do you choose? Trisha Brown on contemporary dance.