May 10, 2012

• Rush-hour car-bomb attacks kill 40 in Damascus, part of an "alarming upsurge."
• Explosions are passé in Hollywood—we have entered the era of the implosion.
• Obama endorses same-sex marriage, a position he backed in 1996.
• I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side.
• The "myth" that marriage is a sacrament didn't circulate until the 13th century.
• Michele Bachmann becomes a Swiss citizen, but won't run for office there.
• Non-censored stories popular in China last week.
• Episode one of Typesetting TV features Austrian designer Elisabeth Kopf.
• Round-up of good books with single-word titles.
• Vidal Sassoon dies at 84.
• Flame for the London Olympics torch relay lit in Greece.
• Behind-the-scenes report of how London won the Olympics, down to Tony Blair chatting up an official in the bathroom.
• Inside story from the Quidditch World Cup, in which biceps get torn off a shoulder.
• Wonderful pictures of the Royal de Luxe's gigantic marionettes.
• Everything you could possibly want to know about international heralds.