Headlines from November 22, 2011

U.S. embassy in Beijing embarrassed by private groups’ ability to out-produce cultural exchanges.
Pictures of the ongoing meme “Casually pepper spraying everything cop.”
Making a meme of pepper-spray cop doesn’t trivialize the event—it spreads the news. #opinions
Other things the internet can do: The Rap Board, featuring push-button catchphrases from all of your favorite rappers.
Passw0rd, dragon, baseball, and the internet’s other worst passwords.
Map of hybrid-car sales finds Bay Area leading with 8.4% of all cars sold.
NPR listeners are 27% more likely than the average adult to own a bread-making machine.
The “indomitable diving grandmas of Jeju Island” keep Korean fishing tradition alive.
Berlusconi is going nowhere—his party will “unplug Monti’s government life support whenever necessary.”
Leonardo da Vinci’s to-do list illustrated.
Sketchbooks of van Gogh, Kahlo, Warhol.
Themes from W.G. Sebald’s novels—memory, desire, ghostliness—show up in new poems that he never published in book form.
Tuesday poem: “My Puppets” by Jeff Dolven.
TMN’s Sarah Hepola on the many things you may notice during the holidays if you find yourself not drinking.
Depressingly realistic sexual role-play scenarios.
Tahrir Square braces for crowds as protests in Egyptian cities enter fourth day of demonstrations.
Q&A for Egypt’s new protests.
“Every cycle, the U.S. political system becomes more polarized and more dysfunctional, at greater human cost.”
The chances of anyone existing are one in 10 to the 2,685,000th power.
After all the talk about a 10,000-hour rule, research says natural talent still matters.
Attempting to build an army, Libya struggles to convince militias to disarm.
Related: “Gentlemen, to bed, for we rise at—what time’s the battle?” #video
Aziz Ansari tweets that he, David Chang, and James Murphy want to party in Tokyo, and can a magazine pay? GQ says yes.
Do-gooding fashion labels prefer to change mindsets than supply chains, finding production in Africa too hard.
Sounds of an office from 1964. #audio
Notes on the econ/pro-business subjects touched on in Moneyball.
Giant illustrations: where be the money.
Always say “when you call,” not “if you call.” Tricks of the informercial trade.
Panoramic images of New York City crime scenes explained by a detective.