December 11, 2014
- Psychologists who developed the CIA's torture methods based their work on a study of inducing helplessness in dogs.
- Navy debuts laser on Persian Gulf ship, too lethal to be used on humans.
- US government infiltrates Cuba's hip-hop scene to turn rappers against their government.
- Detroit's bankruptcy state of emergency is finally coming to an end.
- On a Congressional level, Democrats should forget about the South.
- Playing out the plot of How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days in real life.
- "Heel heat," in wrestling terminology, is the crowd's anger towards bad-guy wrestlers—a necessary component.
- In alpine Europe, an "evil, goat-horned spirit" called Krampus used to accompany Santa and beat children.
- It's that time of year again to re-learn the Dutch preference for Santa's assistants in blackface.
- Related: David Sedaris reads his essay, "Six to Eight Black Men."
- Racial disparities in health care to continue until reducing them is incentivized.
- FDA's argument against gay blood donation smacks of moral crusade, assuming gay men to be diseased liars.
- Straight white boys texting (they should be stopped).
- Donation-management services offered by financial giants are popular—and pose deeply problematic conflicts of interest.
- American Weltschmerz has extended far beyond millennials. It has become the dominant zeitgeist.
- You have one more day to nominate a book for the 2015 Tournament of Books and apply to be a judge.
- Your Thursday poem: "How to Draw a Perfect Circle" by Terrance Hayes.