16 October 2007: Afternoon

  • China is furious and "resolutely opposed" to the U.S. honoring the Dalai Lama next week with a Congressional Gold Medal.
  • Op: China's Communist Party has troubles it's increasingly ill-prepared to deal with.
  • Japan pulls back millions in Burmese aid as death of journalist finally hits home.
  • The regime has not been able to dent the liveliness of Burma's literary culture.
  • Homeowners as far north as Long Island are losing insurance over fears of another Katrina.
  • And in actual Katrina country, states have gotten themselves into a drought like no one's seen in a century.
  • An undercover FBI agent who went too deep into the mob 15 years ago now stands accused of murder.
  • "If commanders on the ground are screaming that we need this stuff, we'll get it to them." Massive Silly String shipment makes it to Iraq, though perhaps a few months too late.
  • Forget CuteOverload.com--new website features stray puppies with a euthanasia countdown clock.
  • Great white shark: 0; mom with kayak paddle: 1.
  • "As everyone else gets more and more desperate for [oil], you don't want to have it and be a very, very small, very, very independent country, very, very far from anything else."
  • In Pasha Malla's India travelogue, Bangalore brings on cafe coffee, French wine dealers, and late nights.
  • Toddlers with dinosaur obsessions to rue the day the coolest new dinosaur was named Futalognkosaurus dukei.
  • Slideshow: Vintage computers, from a Neiman Marcus recipe machine to the Apple I.
  • Arthritis linked to territorial invasion doesn't slow down the Australian cane toad--or should that be the Australian "chazwazza?"