Headlines from December 2, 2010

Audience offered refund after disappointing, too-artsy Steve Martin event.
Australia braces for Wikileak data-dump, though its own low self-image prevents too much worry.
Op: Taking future dumps for granted, let's encourage people to challenge institutions, not pledge further fealty.
Report from one of Earth's coldest places, where burial requires fire.
Astronomers get first peek of atmosphere of a "Super-Earth" exoplanet.
Dumpster-diving personal files from David Foster Wallace.
Op: Unless publishers fight Amazon, books will be sold as--and possibly become--cans of soup.
Purported Kansas eighth-grade quiz from 1895 goes long on orthography.
With only 3% of U.S. population, North Carolina is basketball's global capital.
Profile of Randy and Eva Quaid, who have gone off-grid in Canada to avoid "the Hollywood Star Whackers," who may have killed Heath Ledger.
Letter from Mailer to Hemingway, signed with adorable flair.
Long read: Autopsy of an MI6 agent found bagged in a bathtub.
Apollo awards best in fine art from 2010; Sam Keller wins "personality of the year."
The human choices made in the book are my invention. Interview with TMN's Jessica Francis Kane.
Two quick takes on why America lacks corner pubs; see also: in search of the great D.C. novel.
White House reverses course and says Gulf coastline will remain closed to oil drilling for seven years.
Nigeria to file charges against Cheney and Halliburton on bribery grounds.
China: Our love for Pyongyang will outlast international "tempests."
While war seemed to arrive on the Korean Peninsula, life in North Korea was (relatively) normal.
Related: How to evaluate the new Kanye album while Kim Jong-Il threatens your friends.
Pictures of Kim Jong-Il looking at things.
Op: Internet or no, the art of drawing nudes will thrive because it's always a return to the real.
Scientists chart terrorism patterns in hope soon a computer will predict attacks.
The internet exists because: German Scrooge McDuck named after Frankish kings, an inquiry.
In the secret American description, official malfeasance and corruption infect all elements of Russian public life.
It's the freedom that causes the bloating. Tribute to the 50-year-old Pill, medicine that changed a generation.
From Branwell Brontë to Warnie Lewis, stories of prodigal brothers are "god's gift to biographers."
John Banville kicks off The Millions' annual "Year in Reading" series.
Story of Marfa master horse whisperer and his quest to win the Mustang Makeover.
Sam Western profiles dowser Vernon Brady, latest in line claiming religious inspiration helps find any object.
Coffeebreak read: Larkin's letters to Monica, girl he didn't marry.