September 2011 Archives
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Eurozonia
As Arizona, So the Continent
That election saw the defeat of a right-wing coalition which, allied with the far-right Danish People’s Party, earned Denmark the label of the Arizona of Europe, due to...
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Late Night Sports Radio
Los Tiempos Van Cambiando
The two obsessions merged in my head around midnight, on day 162 of the baseball season. I actually wasn’t in bed, but sitting at my desk listening to Steve...
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Crushes on Strangers
My New Resolution
“Get the nerve,” she wrote back. Actually she wrote: “GET THE NERVE.” It was typical that I couldn’t just join a dating site&mdash...
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Taking Stock
We’re All NASDAQ Symbols Now
Perhaps bigamists have it the worst: “You must refrain from changing your relationship status to “It’s Complicated,” regardless of how true it may seem. To...
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Fathers & Sons
Photo Finish
Running into your father on the internet can be a startling event when it’s unexpected. Particularly when your father is dead.
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My Contemporary British TV Detectives
For the Love of Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch—the man sounds like his own classification of mania. “But I can’t go outside, darling, Sherlock’s on, my cumberbatch is acting up...
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Portraits by Other Means
Till Death Do Us Part
Marcus Garvey Garvey had a stroke in January of 1940, and he becomes incapacitated. George Padmore, who was a columnist for The Chicago Defender, had heard a rumor that Garvey had...
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Birnbaum V.
Geraldine Brooks
Our man in Boston sits down with the Pulitzer-winning novelist to discuss Australian literature, Harvard’s (neglected) charter to educate American Indians, and those residents of Martha’s Vineyard who say no to Chardonnay.
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Gallery
The New Abnormal
The creatures in Alison Brady’s portraits escaped from an Ambien nightmare and are hanging around the house, scaring the cat. Some images may be NSFW.
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Eurozonia
Needs Must
When they say “must,” the commenters quoted are trying to say that any other course of action is dumb, because the one they’ve proposed is better....
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Letters From Haiti
Ghosthunter
In the Port-au-Prince neighborhoods of Turgeau, Bois Verna, and Pacot exist 300 “gingerbread houses”—derelict and endangered, never mind scary. Still, a good old-fashioned ghost story takes some looking for. Until it comes to find you.
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Late Night Sports Radio
Everyone Gets a Go
Rob in Bayside: “I have a friend who moved to North Carolina and every day he texts me or emails me saying, ‘Why can’t Teixeira hit...
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Letters From Spain
We Must Walk the Camino Together
For centuries, the Camino de Santiago has drawn religious pilgrims to northern Spain. But those guys never did it with walkie-talkies, GPS, taxis, and Wonder Bread.
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Crushes on Strangers
One of Us Is Naked Right Now
I IMed Thomas. “I have seen so much today that I can’t unsee.” “This might be good fodder for your crush column,” he said. ...
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Of Dice and Men
PAX Primer
Every year, tens of thousands of gamers descend on Seattle to attend a convention that began as a webcomic, and has grown into the epicenter of gaming culture. An account from this year’s event, which encompassed nearly every imaginable game genre—and a few never before imagined.
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Portraits by Other Means
Our Domiciles, Ourselves
Pope Benedict XVI Until 2005, under John Paul II, the papal apartment was run by Polish nuns. The memores aren’t nuns, do not wear religious garments, are laypeople and...
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Excerpts
The Funny Man
When asked, focus groups describe the funny man as “untalented, successful, bad husband and father.” He had been at the top, but is now heading toward the bottom. An excerpt from John Warner’s forthcoming novel, The Funny Man, published by Soho Press.
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Sound Advice
Tennis Fan
As a copy editor, your job is to enforce the rules of grammar, spelling, and style, and do so with enough conviction and authority that you don’t have...
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Gallery
China’s New Energy Pioneers
Covering 11 provinces in a four-month tour of China, photographer Toby Smith returned with a multifaceted look at the country’s burning energy needs and the rapid measures China is taking to meet demand.
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The Non-Expert
Holidays-in-Law
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week, tips for a productive working vacation with your extended family.
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Crushes on Strangers
The Man of Action
I knew Thomas would have a plan. Thomas is a man of action, not a woman of romance and longing like me. I get a crush, and that is the...
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Spoofs & Satire
What’s On?
With more than 70 TV show premieres this fall, who has time to watch them all? Or even know what any of them are about? With no prior knowledge of the shows’ premises, here are some guesses.
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Eurozonia
Crisis Is Just a Detour in the Decline of the West
It again looks likely that Greece will default. While it hardly indicates the immediate demise of a whole continent, European politicians and markets fear the consequences for the Eurozone. John...
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Just the Same as You and I
Shorty
When you were a toddler, doctors told your parents you had a “failure to thrive.” Which means: You’re small, and you’re going to be short. Later, when medication helps you grow faster than you’ve ever grown before, the hardest part may be deciding when to stop.
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Portraits by Other Means
Feel the Burn
Jimmy Carter It is the kind of scene that happens every weekend all over the country, but this one is by now part of presidential history—the middle-aged runner...
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Sound Advice
Over It
When “Repress Yourself” was published in the New York Times magazine in February 2003, it had been 18 months since Sept. 11, and someone had finally dared to suggest we might...
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Gallery
Stellar
Animated images inspired by Carl Sagan that show humans made from stars.
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Late Night Sports Radio
The 5 a.m. Pugilist
Smith rolled his tapes often in the hours before daylight. There wasn’t sports radio back then—it wasn’t invented until WFAN launched in 1987—but...
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The Biblioracle
Back to School With the Biblioracle
Class is back in session at campuses across the nation. But for the rest of us who yearn for an assigned reading list, the Biblioracle will recommend your next favorite novel today from 2-3:00 p.m. ET.
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Letters From Austin
Inferno
As Texas burns, prayers are answered in the form of a feathered-haired governor. It’s a good thing he already knows how to beat down the devil.
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My Contemporary British TV Detectives
…And Live by the Sidekick’s Law
Trustworthy: The genius detective must have faith in your silence, your belief in his brains, your wakefulness during stakeouts, and your way with a handgun, should he want one used...
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Opinions
Rising Up at Ground Zero
Construction continues at the new World Trade Center—as does criticism of the approved designs. But a look deep inside the new structure shows the progress so far has proven to be in exactly the right direction.
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Crushes on Strangers
In My Back Pocket, With the Maps
I had decided to go to South America in part because I didn't have a boyfriend. That sounds so lame, particularly in the face of the cooing admiration I...
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Roundtables
The College Years
Armed with personal histories and transfer credits, grads from ’88 to ’15 hold a fall-semester seminar on majors, dorms, and the types of roommates to avoid.
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Cosmology on the Brain
Special Topics in Mindboggling Physics
Popular science books are all well and good until they ask you to picture a hundred cats playing volleyball in the fourteenth dimension. Writing lessons for astrophysicists.
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Portraits by Other Means
The Things They Married
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow* (not married) Then in April 1979, [Farrow] noticed a picture of Allen on the cover of this magazine. He had on a scruffy sweater and was...
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Birnbaum V.
John Banville
Booker Prize-winner John Banville discusses writing crime novels under a pseudonym, hanging around with authors who own multiple homes, and why literature takes longer to produce than pulp.
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Late Night Sports Radio
Before Sunrise, Nobody Cares About Tennis
Health care for the elderly, automobiles, insurance, and frozen hamburgers—that just about covers it. Rubinson returned to the air. She was excited about the NFL preseason games and...
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Punchlines
Cosa Nostalgia
How Hyman Roth’s quip in The Godfather: Part II picks up on a cinematic pastime, and exposits layer upon layer of information about his character.
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Eurozonia
Ghostride the Wake
First the bad news: Trouble remains, fundamental flaws may doom the continent, and growth isn’t happening as fast as hoped. Business and consumer confidence appear strikingly low, according...