August 20, 2014
- American journalist James Foley, kidnapped in Syria in 2012, beheaded on camera by the Islamic State.
- See also: The story of Foley’s kidnapping along with Austin Bennett Tice.
- The Islamic State are "extreme sadists with a conventional army and nation-building aspirations."
- LAPD cop asks that we extend courtesy and empathy—rather than hostility and fear—to police.
- Reporter explains what it's like to be shot with rubber bullets.
- On whether Ferguson “raises important issues about race,” 80% of black respondents said yes; only 37% of white respondents agreed.
- Brief profiles of 10 rising Hispanic stars in American politics.
- Unrelated: History of the American gentleman, from rapists to stylists.
- The secret lives of Putin's wife and daughters, of whom no public photos exist.
- Kate Bush joins other artists in losing battle: disparaging fans who want to watch her through their phones.
- Art made from $8,000 worth of junk food.
- America's "Pizza Belt" is where the chance of obtaining a decent slice from a random pizzeria is greater than 50%.
- See also: How to tour Europe on bicycle as a vegan.
- More than 1,000 German authors join their American colleagues to protest Amazon's business tactics.
- Study finds readers absorb significantly less from books read on Kindles.
- Poet Paul Muldoon on songwriting: "I think the middle-eight is a fossilization of the sestet in a Petrarchan sonnet."
- Wednesday poem: "Vernacular Owl" by Thomas Sayers Ellis.
- Slightly strange London bus-stop names.