Headlines from February 6, 2013

The sum of the parts amounts to a recipe for legally sanctioned error and abuse. Picking apart the case for drones against Americans.
The presence of armed drones in Germany’s arsenal would come in handy the next time a NATO ally requests backup.
How the Taliban is using promises of sex as a tool for recruitment.
Ted Cruz of Texas is now the only senator who has been on the losing side of every vote this term. #politics
In the 1900s, utopian settlers created Blacktown, a short-lived settlement of African Americans in New Mexico.
Related: An artist imagines families surviving the Great Depression raising children and farming homesteads—in the absence of men. #tmn
Images and videos from a computer model depicting the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. via
Erik Bryan walks through Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, site of two of the largest World’s Fairs ever. #tmn
A flight attendant explains his superhero-themed phonetic alphabet.
I thought for a moment about how long it took for Shields to make this music, and then how much longer it took him to make peace with it.
While the rest of us are generally content to hear sound, Eno can clearly see it. Laurie Anderson interviews Brian Eno.
Deep beneath Italy’s Gran Sasso mountains, shielded from cosmic rays, scientists try to solve the mysteries of dark matter.
Hollywood can’t get enough of distracted people being hit by buses. #video
French claim killing “hundreds” of Islamist militants in Mali ahead of next month’s withdrawal.
Confidential memo says the U.S. can kill American citizens if they’re believed to be senior members of al-Qaida or an “associated force.”
North Korea releases video showing nuclear destruction of America set to strains of “We Are the World.”
Thirty-year-old owner of In-N-Out Burger becomes one of the world’s youngest female billionaires.
Photographs of art gallery employees who happen to resemble the art they’re selling. #tmn
See also: Three pictures of people blending into their surroundings. #photography
When scientists are quoted discussing “evil” and “central lobes,” the science article in question is likely crap.
Psychology supports GTD—the importance of having a good plan for when and how to do our tasks.
More than half of current Facebook users say they’ve taken a break from Facebook for a period of several weeks or more.
Chicago comedian kicked off OKCupid for not being two kids in a long trench coat posing as an adult.
Give yourself extra time to cook. Food editor goes vegan for a month, offering tips and recipes.
It’s faster to send a few hundred gigabytes of data via FedEx than over the internet, and that may never change.
New Radiolab episode, “Speed,” includes segment on high-speed trading. #audio
Financial experts complain about China’s highly suspicious economic numbers.
Discovery of melanosomes in dinosaur feathers allows scientists to begin coloring in polychromatic species.