12 October 2009: Afternoon By The Morning News — 12 Oct 2009 Emergency task force to bombard world media with positive news about Italy's products and Berlusconi. Congressman fulfills childhood dream of surviving seven days alone on an island. Japanese learn English from Obama; sensation is like "listening to good music." Photos of Hakku Tulou apartments in China, some of the first developed bastions of communal living. The North Korean landscape could be said to resemble the Pacific Northwest--but substantially drained of color. Growing up in North Korea. Dialogue: "If hotels were aid agencies." Instapaper for the commute: Exploring the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness. The irony of "don't ask, don't tell" is that it protects bigots and punishes gays who comply. Stratford-upon-Avon outsources its big-brother crimespotting to anyone with a web connection. Calling all trust-funders and alcoholic editors: Magazines are fun, with Ramparts providing case in point (Birnbaum makes the case). Urban sketchers: telling the story of their surroundings, one drawing at a time. The productive terror of becoming a book-a-year author. Nicholson Baker wishes he could write thrillers, instead he records himself talking. Photographs from Bell Labs in the '60s; lifeguard tower designs. Newly developed color-changing solar tiles adjust to the air temperature and heat your house accordingly.
