* Christopher Hitchens dead at 62 from pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer. * My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends. * Longform's round-up of articles by and about Christopher Hitchens. * Ian Parker's definitive bio of Hitchens: "How
* State Dept. "will have billions to spend" in Iraq over the next few years. * And now we get to prematurely place behind us another quite troubling incident in our recent history. * This year was the first in over three decades that fewer than 100 people were sent to
* Ad of Mitt Romney speaking French, with fake English subtitles, declined by Fox News for being misleading. * Chirac given two-year suspended sentence for corrupt behavior while mayor of Paris. * German social scientist says society is poisoned, consumed with status-minding and discrimination. * Massive face atop German lighthouse changes depending
* Gawker dumps files documenting every time a Blackwater guard shot at an Iraqi between 2005 and 2007. * Author of "Observations From 20 Years in Iowa" cites "raging bonfire" of backlash that has him scared. * Podcasts on how to negotiate with kids, jerks, and the opposite sex.
* Hong Kong is the world's most developed financial market, U.S. is no. 2, says report. * Forbes ranks America's banks. * The democratic market for ideas is not a truth machine. * African democracies will gain more legitimacy when elections oust incumbents—in South Africa, that may not
* Obama hails end of war in Iraq; Iran cheers its victory. * Red Cross considers whether violent video games should be subject to international humanitarian law. * Chart plots which countries spend the most at Christmas. * Receivers don't care how much gifts cost; people prefer cash to surprises. * Cambridge puts
* Pressing China and Russia for action, UN says more than 5,000 people have died in the nine-month-long Syrian uprising. * United Russia's rally in Moscow sparsely attended; many people forced to be there. * List of the worst sounds in the world, with YouTube links. * Reddit meets
* Brief history of price fluctuations in the cost of Barbie dolls and associated real estate. * Norway suffers butter shortage after fad diet depletes national stock. * Researchers analyze email response time and find we reply to friends first (within seven hours). * Study finds low speaking pattern, once classified as speech disorder,
* For-profit colleges caught scamming students lobbied the hell out of the White House and won the day. * Once more, "Coplandisms" are scoring political commercials. * Timeline of shady dealings in American campaign finance. * Republicans object to so-called "millionaires surtax" but can't find millionaires
* U.S. troops could remain in Afghanistan through 2014. * A female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. * Thousands march today across Russia in biggest protests since fall of the Soviet Union. * Profile of the blogger and leading dissident
