Headlines from September 10, 2012

More and more, the FBI is becoming dependent on informants, who aren’t subject to the same regulations as agents.
Opinions clash as Shell begins Alaska drilling.
He moved nervously around the house, drawing curtains, checking window bolts. Salman Rushdie on life under fatwa. #longreads
Chemist who invented the Pill talks about his new play and how he turned to lit to spite his English prof girlfriend.
Monopoly to release an edition honoring Alan Turing, who loved the game.
Like it or not, he re-invented the post-presidency. Jimmy Carter becomes the longest-serving ex-president.
Why cave bacteria that survive outside friendly lab conditions could help develop antibiotics to fight drug-resistant superbugs.
Explainer on the bubonic plague: It’s still around, and a seven-year-old in Colorado just survived it.
Professor plays pranks on unsuspecting pedestrians in the name of science.
Forty years ago there was a market economy. Today there is a market society. Robert Fripp switches from music to business.
Goodnight Keith Moon. via
Following the Paralympics, British gyms expect an upswing in disabled visitors, who may find facilities don’t meet their requirements.
It was awkward. I didn’t see it coming. Actors written out of Mad Men air their feelings. #roundtable
Interview with the psychotherapist who shaped the first four seasons of Mad Men. #tmn
Serena Williams wins U.S. Open; men to play final this afternoon.
In case you missed it, the Minnesota Viking’s pro-gay marriage letter to a Maryland politician.
Most NFL players support gay marriage, says Ravens linebacker.
Lunch breaks should be mandatory, even if they require “libertarian paternalism” to enforce.
Both sides of the coin on whether 27 is the modern woman’s perfect age.
One side of a coin: Criticism protects a writer, fiction exposes her.
Other side: The critic is free, free, free—within her dark and lonely cave.
High-quality exchange between Times critics on the effects of digital in Hollywood.
Funeral-music composer David Young responds on NPR to his songs being compared to Muzak.
See the original TMN story, “Songs in the Key of Death” by Nicole Pasulka.
Smartphones are creating a golden visual age, and it’s up to the photographic community to harness the explosion. #opinions
Jerry Seinfeld thinks iPhone cases are stupid. #video
See also: Seinfeld takes Alec Baldwin out for coffee and Baldwin mocks Seinfeld’s luck.
You can still mix with Americans. Imagination is a powerful thing. Advice to Nigerians on how to obtain foreign friends.
The Czech Republic, home of beer, finally has a variety of beers to choose from.
Beer in straight glasses is consumed slower than beer in curved glasses.
Musings on butter mountains and strategic reserves after the world’s maple syrup was stolen.
What might once have been a recherché, if not a perverse taste has been democratized by the Internet. Ode to the crash-test dummy’s appeal.