January 3, 2012: Afternoon
- "Unmistakable paradoxes" frame Iowa's Republican primary, mostly to do with mediocre candidates.
- On "fan death"—widely held belief that a fan left running overnight in a closed room can cause death.
- Jupiter's heart is dissolving.
- Terrific summary of a few things we learned on the way to the Moon.
- Plenty of stuff we missed in 2011's "Top 10 New Media Moments."
- Best photo books from the previous year as culled from lists of best photo books from the previous year.
- "New Year's Poem," by Margaret Avison.
- Story of the couple that came apart while publishing the soft-porn sensation, Jacques.
- Analysis of the weirdness that occurs when multiple people claim to be Michiko Kakutani.
- Worth remembering: "I Am Michiko Kakutani."
- Rundown on the most anticipated books of 2012.
- Roger Ebert's six reasons why movie revenue is declining.
- Long critical appraisal of Steven Pinker's asking the crucial question of modern history.
- Related: "Everything's amazing and nobody's happy."
- Also related, kinda: Rather pretty alternate posters for Die Hard.