Headlines from October 9, 2013

A government shutdown worst-case scenario is happening as a Salmonella outbreak reaches 18 states.
Especially at a time of war, any threat to the Treasury’s financing is a threat to national security.
See also: Everything you need to know—in cartoon form—about debt-ceiling fiascos, from McKinley’s war to Obama getting punk’d. #tmn
“Bill is a fucking jackass.”
There’s no evidence that the great library at Alexandria was destroyed in a fire—more likely, it succumbed to budget cuts.
Similar to healthcare.gov, Washington state’s marketplace was crash-prone; now it’s what Obamacare should hope to be.
It’s pointless. Which hopefully means something. The Village Voice‘s Banksy exclusive.
Rituals to push away bad luck—e.g., knocking on wood—“work” in that they instill a sense of control.
England is the only developed nation whose young adults are less literate and numerate than their grandparents.
Austin environmental science professor to spend a year living in a Dumpster that will eventually be air conditioned.
Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. Everything Jonathan Franzen currently hates.
Bustillos: “The principal (and fatal) flaw of The Circle is that nobody would use this thing.”
In addition to hard work, training, and rehab, Nadal’s return to form is due in part to Plasma Rich Platelet therapy.
Peyton, LeBron, and Serena are the athletes who send the most mixed messages to children about junk food.
I assumed people knew who Leo Durocher was, and to introduce him would be stupid. “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” annotated.
Related: “What I did was I hung around people who hung around Sinatra.” #tmn
Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig writes the definitive review of Drake’s new album.
What We Watch: “a geographic exploration of popular YouTube videos.”
Main NSA data center in Utah, which uses enough energy to power 33,000 houses, experiences electrical issues.
This is not East Germany. MI5 agent defends British surveillance.
See also: Apology notes from the NSA to private citizens. #tmn
Kuwait claims it has the technology to detect homosexuals—an actual gaydar—and will use it to bar the “unhealthy.”
Why Higgs (the scientist)—and not some of the other researchers involved with the particle—won the Nobel.
Are we too disengaged with the world to be taken seriously, or else too deeply engaged with it to be distinct? Why Americans rarely win Nobels in literature.
An etymological cauldron of words related to witches and witchcraft.
New study suggests viewing photos of food on Instagram and Pinterest creates “sensory boredom,” resulting in appetite loss.
There’s no evidence that narcissists are more creative than the rest of us. But there is evidence that they think they are.
Starbucks UK launches doughnut-muffin hybrid.
Photo of the day: An orca whale attacks a sea lion in shallow surf. #photos
Hidden cameras in Borneo rainforest capture a Sumatran rhino, long presumed extinct in the country; fewer than 275 remain in the wild. #video
Chris Brown admits first sexual experience happened at age eight; it was child rape. #opinions
West Virginia: the inbred love child of Virginia and DC. Fifty state stereotypes in two minutes. #video
Former nurse recreates famous portraits using trinkets and scraps of childhood toys.
Related: Mona Lisa as you’ve never seen her before—liberated, assertive, ferocious. #tmn