* Bad jokes from the RNC. * Neil Bush, brother of George W., unexpectedly becomes a Chinese internet sensation. * The exact origin of @ is a mystery, but its first documented use was to denote jars of wine. * For centuries, whiskey distilleries have been home to a black fungus; now that it'
* Police bully young drug offenders into becoming informants with few legal protections, massive danger. * NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board is institutionally imbalanced, lets down people treated as customers. * Syrian émigrés in America fundraise for rebels, help provide intel to U.S. * Syria is at the point of no return, sitting
* Why the world's most popular blogger, a 29-year-old Chinese racecar driver, is practically unknown in the West. * Chicken Soup for the Soul publisher to start selling soup (not just chicken). * Yosemite National Park cleans, inspects cabins following recent deaths attributed to rare, rodent-borne hantavirus. * Reviews
* Hurricane Isaac lacks Katrina's ferocity, but overruns a levee 95 miles from New Orleans. * Puerto Rican party functionary shouted down at RNC by nativist chanting. * Gay Marine beaten to bloody pulp to fire up RNC crowd. * Since 2009, 51 Tibetans have died in self-immolations protesting Chinese rule.
* The RNC has a national debt clock familiar to New Yorkers, who may remember when it went in reverse under Clinton. * Mitt Romney could become Ronald Reagan. * Mitt Romney could become Richard Nixon. * NYPD admits targeting Urdu speakers as potential terrorists—a problem since 80,000 New Yorkers speak it.
* Army-linked militia planned to take over Fort Stewart, bomb dam, poison apples, assassinate Obama. * Jeffrey Johnson's mother seeks clues from his life as to why he killed a former coworker. * Israeli judge rules Rachel Corrie's death not Israel's fault—she was protecting terrorists.
* Why Breivik's 21-year sentence doesn't seem like enough: It's a question of retributive vs. restorative justice. * Two members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have fled the country. * The Economist remembers Neil Armstrong, "The Ice Commander": equal parts reserve and shyness.
* Up to 300 people executed in one of the deadliest raids by the Syrian army. * How one woman lost her career for thwarting plans to provoke war with Iran. * NSA whistleblower fears the NSA will soon be able to track and store a century's worth of the world&
* We're on summer vacation until Aug. 27. In the meantime, enjoy a selection of our summer longreads. * A report from North America's largest consumer craft fair, where the competition for puppet dollars is intense. * A two-week journey across the U.S.—passing through a handful
* Russian punk band Pussy Riot sentenced to two years in prison for protesting Putin in a church. * Listen to Pussy Riot's new single, "Putin Lights Up the Fires." * Tom Morello: "Paul Ryan is the embodiment of the machine our music rages against." * The [Confederate]
