In Westhampton Beach, N.Y., a new bookstore comes to town and a war begins. From the attic: Pitchaya Sudbanthad's 2005 profile of Brooklyn's Freebird Books. Park Slope residents are unsure whether the white-painted stroller is a memorial or a warning. Mailer waxes on graffiti:
In the heat of a Carolina summer, nothing’s better than a nice swim, assuming the pool doesn’t explode.
New Jersey's Christie warns G.O.P. from going too far with mosque story; Gingrich goes Nazi. Wives and children of Catholic priests push to end celibacy ban. For the non-celibate: Erik Bryan explains whom you can date (flowchart included). How human psychology ensures the strictest religions
Boarded-up windows in abandoned brick buildings, grass growing from sidewalk cracks, rusty storefronts—the cycle of a city’s evolution and abandonment is familiar. Artist Peter Feigenbaum reimagines these ghettos in miniature, using components from toy train sets and more.
The week ahead in news: natural disasters in Russia, Pakistan, and China. Gaza doctor writes anti-hate book after three daughters were killed by an Israeli shell. Why it's hard to return looted art: centuries of wartime theft mean few can identify the original owner. I'm
Violence spreads across Iraq as attacks escalate during Ramadan; U.S. military says it's an attempt to shake confidence in the police. "As a person I was paralyzed." Haiti's president tells how the quake shook him. South Korean president suggests a tax to fund
Bulgaria hopes its John the Baptist bones will attract tourists and their money. Post-Sept. 11 funding expanded the Coast Guard's duties to include oil spills; Deepwater revealed gaps in oversight. Behind the Economist's advertising, which "tugs at the insecurities and ambitions of the status-
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. A reader wants to know if it’s OK to date a distant relative. We answer by way of flowchart.
Putin co-pilots plane and dumps 24 tons of water on forest fires outside Moscow. Assessment of the current global orangutan population in light of mankind's tendency to hunt. Nature report says hominins used tools to butcher meat 3.4 million years ago. See also: Blooper reel from
Aril: “an extra seed-covering, typically colored and hairy or fleshy, e.g., the red fleshy cup around a yew seed.”
