* Traffickers and local police have colluded to keep Eritrean refugees in torture camps in Egypt and Sudan for the past decade. * Audience attendance at Sochi is abysmally low—at times 50% less than stadium capacity—seats are now offered to volunteers. * American bars are too loud and cafes too quiet
The truth behind Washington’s Birthday, President’s Day, Presidents’ Day, or whatever the hell you want to call it, as briefly explained by puppets.
* Following years of the Taliban obstructing vaccinations, a Kabul girl is the first to be diagnosed with polio since 2001. * In Iraq, accidental detonation during training kills 22 would-be suicide bombers. * Stigmatizing smokers has gone too far. * North Carolina hospital informs patients they may have been exposed to a
A gentleman in 1720 could read Greek while mounting a running horse. Today’s gentleman reads GQ in the bathroom. From rapists to stylists, a history of the American gentleman.
An artist observes her own process of making art, from daily encounters with her computer to personal reflections on how life itself unfolds.
* U.S. government to expand same-sex marriage rights "to the greatest extent possible under the law." * Behind the scenes of how the NFL prospect about to become the league's first openly gay player came out. * According to a former U.S. military drone operator, targets
* Journalists' gleeful schadenfreude about personal inconveniences in Sochi is the hallmark of entitlement. * Post Cold War America and Russia have switched places—America was conservative and nationalistic while Russia was revolutionary. * Chanel No. 5 changed the perfume industry by incorporating musk; after WWII, animal secretions were de rigueur. * Alaska
Our Russia hand submits a roll-up of all the corruption, crises, ill-preparedness, highways paved with French luggage, and other #sochiproblems surrounding Putin’s graft-gutted Winter Olympics.
* Scientists discover entirely new way to reprogram animal cells into stem cells, with no genetic manipulation. * CVS to stop selling tobacco in 2015—an important move, though 75% of all cigarettes are purchased in convenience stores. * In France, hamburgers overtake baguette sandwiches in popularity; the French are also the second
Sometimes a love scene calls for [WHIMPERS], sometimes it needs [YELPS], but knowing which one to use makes all the difference. The secret life of a professional closed captioner.
