March 2012
What if the minerals under Manhattan became more valuable than the superficial real estate?
Two former Senators provided affidavits for a lawsuit stating a belief that elements of the Saudi government were involved with 9/11.
Wow. There’s a lot of nostalgia in this collection of old screen savers. After Dark was a joyous thing.
Hey! How about Jeremy Lin! Also, the Knicks looked up the word “team.”
The well-balanced photography of Patrik Lindell.
Forty-one years ago tomorrow, the Weather Underground exploded a bomb in the Capitol, adjacent to the Senate barbershop.
I would like to study the algorithm that determines which words in TMZ tweets are capitalized.
Dolphins use distinct whistles as name-like identifiers.
14% of people under 18 are black. Of the 2,500 people under 18 who’ve been sentenced to life without parole, blacks comprise 60%.
On Jerusalem Syndrome: when visitors to the Holy Land become convinced that they’re the Messiah.
February 2012
One of the best dogs our family ever had was deaf, but it wasn’t exactly paying attention to sign language.
How journalists can counter misinformation in real-time reporting. Good tips for everyone else, too.
Remember how every time Romney has any success, he steps all over it the next day?
At least when the robots take over, there will be music.
The debate over online tracking is interesting to me primarily because it’s an example of how the Internet has sped up an existing technology, not created a new one. Advertisers and marketing companies track you now, even when you’re not online. They compile block-level profiles of your community, they pay attention to the magazines you buy, they know what you get at the grocery store....
“The Malice at the Palace.” An oral history of Metta World Peace’s most notorious moment.
Good news, truthseekers! (Highly suspect and almost certainly crooked) Sheriff Joe Arpaio will tomorrow reveal the results of his (ridiculous and obviously inept) investigation into Obama’s (clearly acceptable) qualifications to be President, with the help of (ridiculous partisan rumor-mongering website) World Net Daily. Should be insightful!
Another Romney flip-flop.
A hotel room in Paris - half pure white, half covered in graffiti.
A woman whose family sheltered over 100 Jews during the Holocaust has died at 91. She was interrogated by the Gestapo nine times.
I like how this Facebook presentation reinforces for companies the idea that we all want to hear from them, but don’t know how.
Inside the New York Fed’s gold vault.
Two men have been hit by trains this morning at one New York subway stop.
The innovations at and legacy of the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens.
The gigantic stick insect that survived centuries tucked away on a shell of a mountain in the middle of the ocean.
The French newspaper that comes out every February 29th. Today’s is the ninth edition.
The discussion of blogging between Choire Sicha and Emily Gould that was just emailed by The @Awl should be available for reading elsewhere. It’s good.
Sir Charles Murray (has he been knighted yet? I hope so) offers a quiz that will let you know if you’re a real American or an elitist, just in case you’ve forgotten what party you’ve registered.
Interesting visualization of relationships between sub-Reddits (topics and sub-topics). Here: politics. Emergent hierarchies.
A 360° panorama from the top of Angel Falls. Vertigo-inducing.
Product displays at Chinese supermarkets.
It is likely that your Facebook timeline doesn’t have entries as far back as the Times’.
How newspapers quickly turned around photos from remote shoots in the 1930s.
Media companies providing space for redemption of hated professions today: the Times, landlords; Bloomberg, bankers.
The man who once sold the Eiffel Tower provided tips on how to run a hustle.
New York City’s restaurant letter grades and health violations, on a handy, scary map.
Animated map of wind patterns across the country over the last 72 hours.
So about those funny novelty / meme Twitter accounts? Block and Report Spam.
These Civil War-era photos of light-complected slave children fascinates me for the history of the emancipatory struggle. But also, the address the cards bear. 477 Broadway, where the pictures were taken, is now the famous Pearl River Mart. 150 years ago, these kids made their way inside and helped shift attitudes toward slavery.
Scientists explore the idea of genetic Lamarckism - that genes can be turned off by parents and passed that way to children.
Barcelona, in slow motion.
Miles Romney, Mitt’s third cousin, celebrates.
FYI: Daniel Pearl became a Mormon last year. Please update your articles, Wikipedia.
This is my favorite data from the exit polls in Michigan: why do you support your candidate? Ladies and gents, your current anti-Romney.
After nine years and one police investigation cheeky Northampton retailer The Sofa King has been told by the advertising watchdog that it must ditch its catchphrase “Where the Prices are Sofa King Low!” because it sounds too much like the word “fuck”. Ohhhh. Now I get it.
Gen. Barry McCaffrey “all but predicts war with Iran within the next 90 days: one that is likely to be started by them.”
Let’s just go ahead and give this guy his Darwin Award.
CNN currently talking to voters in the Ohio State University’s student union, where I once worked. I am available for interviews.
Democratic turnout in Michigan looks to be slightly up over 2008, way down from 2000 - meaning a Romney loss is probably his own fault.
No one on Twitter seems to know the last name of this retiring Senator.