The New Music Genres of 2012, in Order of Ridiculousness
For readers who don't obsessively comb through dozens of music blogs every day, we put together a guide to this year's musical micro trends. None were nominated for Grammys.
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Discovered: Video games can help dyslexic kids read; pregnancy increases foot size; around 100 million sharks are killed annually; mammalian sperm swims upstream.
For readers who don't obsessively comb through dozens of music blogs every day, we put together a guide to this year's musical micro trends. None were nominated for Grammys.
Dina Esfandiary on Syria's chemical weapons, David Ignatius on an economic NATO, Ezra Klein on budget bickering, Amy Davidson on Bob Costas, and Nora Caplan-Bricker on Uganda.
Citigroup announced a massive round of cuts this morning through a press release that seems to go out of its way to make no sense. One commenter thought she was reading Dilbert for a second.
Discovered: James Cameron comes up for air; savage lobsters are eating each other; French men are becoming more impotent; is this the new oldest dinosaur?
The name Dave Brubeck might not strike a chord with everyone, but trust us, you've heard "Take Five." The pianist behind that song and many other classic, clever jazz compositions has died at the age of 91.
Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia — a woman old enough to have fought for women's suffrage and, indeed, the world's oldest person — died at the age of 116 Tuesday. Who's the oldest person now? One of us.
Eliza Gray on Bradley Manning and the Times, Daphne Wysham on the World Bank, Henry Paulson on China's cities, Shadi Hamid on Egypt, and Mark Adomanis on Syria.
In Bill O'Reilly's mind, Christmas doesn't exclude people from other faiths because Christianity isn't a religion. Jon Stewart tore that argument to shreds, but one commenter notes that Stewart alone can't end it.
Discovered: How mothers become one with their offspring; why elderly people are easier to scam; the past warms the bones; the hidden truth inside ancient rainfall.
The beloved astrophysicist's tweets about Mayans ruffled some feathers. And now he's very sorry that so many people misunderstood him. For the most part, anyway.
Sometimes it's hard to distinguish metal shows from all-out brawls. And now, an onstage tussle between Lamb of God's frontman Randy Blythe and a Czech fan has led to the singer's controversial indictment on manslaughter charges.
Jonathan Cohn on Republicans sending us over the fiscal cliff, David Brooks on Republicans saving us from it, Jeffrey Goldberg on Israel's disappearing allies, Bob Dole and Tony Coelho on disabled Americans, and Joshua Muggleton on Asperger's.
With his presidential aspirations dashed, Rick Santorum has started writing for the birther friendly site World Net Daily. One commenter wonders if Fox News thought Santorum was too fringe friendly for their famously fair and balanced approach.
Discovered: Alcoholic maggots learn just as well as sober ones; a new theory in athletic head injuries; city spiders getting fatter; Curiosity found something on its first trip across Mars.
Heems let it slip over the weekend that Das Racist, his irreverent rap crew, is calling it quits — and that should free up the former Wall Street worker to focus on his label. But how will the rappers' hypeman make easy money now?
J.K. Rowling released her first novel for adults in September, and it's already slated to be filmed. But The Casual Vacancy won't be turned into a Harry Potter-sized blockbuster — it's going straight to the small screen as a BBC series.
It's a bleak Monday morning for newspapers young and old. First, News Corp. announced plans to fold its iPad newspaper The Daily, and now The Gray Lady wants 30 newsroom managers to take buyouts.
Paul Krugman on the post-cliff trouble, Hendrik Hertzberg on the House, Amy Butte on the stock market's opacity, Doyle McManus on drones, and Nathan Brown on Morsi.
Discovered: Mold-less bread could lower food waste; Grand Canyon is millions of years older than we previously thought; facial expressions are hard to parse without body language; superbugs can be reigned in through genetics.
Advocates are rallying around a Montana man facing a lifetime behind bars for cultivating what he emotionally insists was legal pot.
A new fantasy poll — albeit a very legitimate one — says Christie could beat Bruce Springsteen, the state's beloved bard and the governor's own personal hero.
Did you hear about crazy Harvard, approving that crazy new BDSM sex club? Actually, they're hardly the first Ivy League school to recognize an organization for kinky students.
Therese Poletti on Groupon, Anthony Lane on the Leveson report, Paul Krugman on class war, Ana Marie Cox on #Obama, and Ruth Marcus on Susan Rice.
An analysis of Obama campaign emails revealed today that supporters will cough up $690 million if you guilt trip them hard enough. One commenter recalls the desperation flooding his inbox.
Discovered: Weight loss surgery fails to reduce diabetes; E. coli often comes from cities, not cattle; big guts could mean brittle bones for men; sea levels rose nearly half an inch over past 20 years.
Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall swears he never took any performance enhancing drugs. But he tells the AP he's heard of "some crazy stuff," like "guys using Viagra."
What to buy for someone who already has everything no decent person would ever want? How about George Zimmerman's autograph?
A 21-year-old woman thought Mumbai shouldn't have been shutdown for the funeral of an Islamophobic leader. Broadcasting such opinions on Facebook was apparently grounds for arrest.
Amy Davidson on Hillary Clinton, Matthew Yglesias on the fiscal cliff, Daniel Byman on Al Qaeda, Bill George on H.P., and Shikha Dalmia on immigration.
Discovered: The black hole that takes up the most space, proportionally speaking; how running can be bad for you; why "keep your eye on the ball" is good advice after all; developing a universal cancer blood test.
Public universities and colleges in the two suddenly pro-pot states, despite this month's successful ballot measures, intend to keep enforcing anti-pot policies on their campuses — for now.
Instead of just groaning and reading on, a legion of spelling sticklers are using Twitter to try and sweep the web clean.
Jonathan Cohn on Medicare, Grover Norquist on the fiscal cliff, Lynette H. Ong on China's construction boom, Bess Lovejoy on digging up the dead, and Jane Kramer on female bishops.
Discovered: Mothers living near freeways more likely to have autistic kids; siblings that get along turn out healthier; high fructose corn syrup linked to diabetes; strange ancient life in Antarctic ice.
GOP leaders are already hinting at possible candidates for president in 2016. One exhausted commenter wonders if perpetual presidential jockeying has become an existentialist nightmare.
Discovered: Climate change threatens the fanciest of ingredients; permafrost is melting; WiFi networks could stifle bovine belching; scientists find relatives of Lonesome George the tortoise.
While we already knew that show business would be giving the guitar legend a double-necked present — a movie starring Andre 3000 and a "new" album — plans for the latest incarnation of all things Hendrix are finally starting to get a little less, uh, hazy.
Joe Nocera on Obama's new cabinet, Jonah Goldberg on Mohamed Morsi, Dana Milbank on Rick Santorum, Peter Hakim on Mexico, and Sarah Ditum on gender-neutral toys.
Discovered: why social media's popular kids are stressed out; cigarettes harm brain activity; ocean acid is corroding snail shells; the end of the permanent case of the tryptophan naps.
With pot legalization taking hold in Colorado and Washington after Election Day, marijuana proponents are pushing to make weed legal in New York, Rhode Island, Montana, and a slew of other states. But they'll face stiff resistance from the feds — and ambivalence from growers.
Andrew W.K. was all set to show Bahrainis the "power of positive partying," until those buzzkills over at the State Department actually found out about it — then cancelled his would-be trip to the U.S. Embassy in Manama.
"This is the last big show for three years or so," Chris Martin told an Australian audience, hinting that the band will be giving themselves—and our ears—a much-needed break from all that earnest falsetto and twinkly piano.
Warren Buffett on taxing the ultra-rich, William D. Cohan on Jon Corzine, Dennis Ross on the Middle East, John Vidal on climate change, and E.J. Dionne on the Catholic Church.
Discovered: Why a key dwarf planet has little atmosphere; roots of PTSD run deep; climate change could affect our past as well as our future; studying holes in old books reveals insect histories.
Going meatless is a great way to green your Thanksgiving. But meat-lovers have long mocked the idea of vegetarians replicating their most indulgent creation, the turducken—until now. Meet the veggieducken.
Freed Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich has accused the band's former legal team of theft and deception, blaming them for the continued imprisonment of other band members. With a new lawyer at the helm, will the other two Pussy Riot prisoners see freedom anytime soon?
E.L. James's series was never even in contention for this year's Bad Sex in Fiction Award, since it's shelved under erotica, apparently. Can you tell the difference between these Fifty Shades excerpts and this year's nominees?
Today in books and publishing: News Corp. now wants to merge HarperCollins with Simon & Schuster; Sandy ruined 9,000 books in a New York store; you'll never guess which two series have sold the most Kindle books.
Mark Bittman on Thanksgiving dinner, Jeffrey Goldberg on Israel, Jeffrey Toobin on the filibuster, Ian Bremmer on Syria, and John Podhoretz on how Obama won.
California Rep. Zoe Lofgren reached out to Redditors for ideas on new Internet legislation. The gesture was surely well intentioned, but as one of our commenters noted, the idea of Reddit writing our laws is a bit terrifying.
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