* Afghan school administrators claim drinking water poisoned to keep girls out of class. * Odds considered on when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will travel abroad, and whether Myanmar will let her back in. * Evidence weighed in the case of a man who believes a stroke made him gay. * Everyday objects
* Buffett's cancer diagnosis refuels conversation about succession for Berkshire Hathaway. * Investigation finds records of colonial crimes were destroyed during the waning years of the British empire. * In his Kremlin-owned TV debut, Julian Assange awkwardly interviews Hezbollah leader. * Stuck with each other, Mitt Romney and the Tea Party
Israel and Iran are swaying on the brink, if you listen to the international media. A peek inside the Israeli capital finds people acting blasé, but not making summer vacation plans just yet.
* Bizarre publicity stunts will appear in otherwise reasonable science articles as long as they draw attention. * Economics of the matzo market. * Now we know: The New York Times first published "asshole" while quoting Richard Nixon. * H.P. Lovecraft's commonplace book of fragments and ideas. * See also:
* Frustrated by FDA approvals, ALS patients home-brew experimental treatments. * Spate of lawsuits arrive in New York courts from lawyers who find businesses with disabilities violations, then recruit plaintiffs. * Researchers marvel at orangutans' engineering skills while constructing their nests. * Tanzanian farmers try to thwart crop-raiding elephant packs, which
Portraits of young men in Panama showing off their bikes—strikingly decorated, variously macho, and altogether “priti.”
* New online dating sites embrace face-to-face singles events over scrolling through profiles. * Germans build a hand-cranked barrel organ out of Legos that plays the Star Wars theme. * Arguing that Tolstoy and Aristotle would consider meme culture an art form. * Ten years in, Andy Baio's favorite
South of Wall Street stands what is billed as the oldest standing structure in all Manhattan. The building that became Fraunces Tavern was built in 1719 by Stephen DeLancey, who’d been given the site in 1700 by his father-in-law, New York mayor Stephanus van Cortlandt. The Georgian-
* El Salvador marks its first murder-free day in almost three years. * For the first time, Kim Jong-un addresses the North Korean people—his father addressed the nation only once. * Uncovering new clues in the mystery surrounding the Bush National Guard story that ended Dan Rather's career.
Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. Many of this week’s stories were related to remembering the bad things in order to make a better, happier, and more pain-free future. Researchers find
