20 December 2006: Afternoon By The Morning News — 20 Dec 2006 Heavy fighting erupts on at least two fronts in Somalia (see recent timeline). Long-gone Columbian drug lord's foraging hippos multiply, roam for miles, "are too big and wild" to manage. Want to understand contemporary Russia? Begin with its hellish airports. Italian poet crusades against the courts so he can die. I did it for the fucking food. Laura Albert explains why she invented J.T. LeRoy. Orhan Pamuk's Nobel speech, and what it was like growing up among the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. Today's long read: Julian Barnes's terrific essay "The Past Conditional." Pictures of the interactive "Volume" exhibit at the V&A. The Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society in 2006 parts one, two, three. In divorce shocker, Eminem makes us question whether true love really exists. But then Pink reminds us celebrities have hearts when it comes to fuzzy animals. Obnoxiously cheery people obnoxiously resistant to colds. Baby run through x-ray machine at LAX, found to have strong healthy bones.
