Headlines from February 18, 2010

Haitian judge releases eight U.S. missionaries; two are still being held for further questioning.
Living in a Riyadh ghost town, the sprawling, opulent--and empty--Diplomatic Quarter; some photos of the DQ.
Angela Merkel moves to buy stolen Swiss data.
As the U.S. Mint rolls out a Millard Fillmore coin, Buffalo and Moravia, N.Y., stake their claims to the president who symbolized mediocrity.
For this month's Of Recent Note, tell us: Who is your favorite President of the United States?
"I don't even know that I have a career or have ever had one." The profile of Tucker Carlson that will make you actually like the guy.
King Tut's official cause of death: malaria.
A 3D map shows how your memory works.
The Plastic Ono Band reforms (with many special guests) for Yoko Ono's birthday this week.
John Lydon struggles with his decision not to perform with Pink Floyd, worried he would appear "pretentious."
Folk covers of the Talking Heads.
First known video of the Malaysian clouded leopard captured.
California cargo traffic on the rise.
Play-by-play reconstruction of the Hamas-commander assassination in Dubai.
Do spies and assassins really wear fake beards? Yes.
Sullivan on why war is always evil, even when it's necessary, but torture is never justified.
Op: Conservatives would never dare return the stimulus; it's brought them too much prosperity.
Half a million Britons wash their bed sheets only three times a year.
Fascinatingly bureacratic: Newly released files on UFOs and "flying Toblerones" in the U.K., 1994-2003.
To achieve transcendence, forget study--"just have surgery on your parietal cortex and give it three days to a week."
Instapaper for the flight: The struggles of salmon.
Profile of Yuichiro Miura, the man who skied down Everest 40 years ago.
Flattery--even the patently insincere type--is especially effective on folks who are down on their luck.
The mean game that editors talk about punishing plagiarists is just that. Talk. The universal rules of plagiarists.
Photo of a tempting array of cheeses set aside for the nation of Latvia.
Pictures of wooden churches in the Russian north.
What costs more: the Silverdome or the number of peanuts needed to build a life-size replica of the Silverdome?