July 16, 2014

• After 350 posts and 40,000 deaths, a Times blogger reflects on what she learned cataloging American gun violence.
• A map of gun incidents in New York City thus far in 2014 correlates with the city's race and class lines.
• An exposé of the NYPD's "21st-century arsenal."
• The position of most black men, relative to white men, is no better than after the Civil Rights Act in 1965.
• US immigration policies are directly tied to gang violence in Central and South America.
• The case against summer vacation: Low-income families suffer if they can't afford daycare or camps.
• Oxfam says that at the current rate, it will take 75 years to close the gender pay gap.
• For more than a decade, the ingredients that make other countries' sunscreen superior have been caught in the FDA's approval pipes.
• Using "selfie sticks"—poles to attach to a phone or camera to take a wider-shot selfie—will become (even more) prevalent.
• A family dog's last day.
• AP test graders on their "supremely nerdy" work.
• The most at-risk jobs are those that involve paper: e.g., mail carriers, lumberjacks.
• Crossword puzzle enthusiasts worry that with print's eventual death, boomers may be the last crosswording generation.
• Three years after distressing over a highly anticipated novel that ultimately failed, John Warner is publishing a new book, and sleeping fine.
• If we're to learn anything from the honeybee collapse, it might be how to avoid our own extinction.
• Heteronymity in Kierkegaard and MF Doom.
• From 2006, a critical analysis of Weird Al's career, beginning with 1981's "Another One Rides the Bus."
• The stunning trailer for Nick Cave's forthcoming 20,000 Days on Earth.