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Sunday, February 29, 2004

Life

How Movie Taglines Are Born
by Jon Mooallem, Boston Globe
2003 was an off year for copy lines, those punchy epigrams printed above or below the film's title in posters and ads.

Accidents Happen
by Steve Rubenstein, San Francisco Chronicle
On how reporting can get personal.

Joining The Debate But Missing The Point
by Nathaniel Frank, New York Times
For a productive dialogue, we should be asking the question this way: is giving gays the right to marry good for society?

The Joy Of Gay Marriage
by Frank Rich, New York Times
The San Francisco weddings mark a new high-water mark in one of the most fast-paced cultural tsunamis America has seen.

Are Malls Democratic?
by Paco Underhill, Boston Globe
Shopping centers may resemble town squares, but civil rights and commercial interests don't always mix — and freedom is often the loser.

Say No More
by Jack Hitt, New York Times
Languages die the way many people do — at home, in silence, attended by loved ones straining to make idle conversation.

Saturday, February 28, 2004

Tech & Science

Tiny New Rulers For The 'Ultrasmall'
by Robert C. Cowen, Christian Science Monitor
Three recently reported achievements show how researchers finally are mastering the exquisite precision needed when devices are built atom by atom.

Life

Every Trip Is A Picnic
by Joanne Kaufman, New York Times
Let others fret about whether they've packed film for the camera or a spare battery for the computer; the cab is waiting, and I'm wondering whether I've packed the corn muffins and the lemons for my ice tea.

Friday, February 27, 2004

Life

The Passion Of The Christ
by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
It is a film about an idea. An idea that it is necessary to fully comprehend the Passion if Christianity is to make any sense.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Expressions

Duet On Mars
by John Updike, New Yorker

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Life

Have It Your Way
by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Time
Cook-it-yourself restaurants are booming, as heartland diners discover it's fun to play with food.

Wrap It Up, We'll Take It
by David L. Harris, Boston Globe
Dinner now comes in paper bags, in plastic wrap and containers, and in anything else that will get it to your supper table without spills. Who has time to cook?

Why Is It Called The Passion?
by Sam Schechner, Slate
How Jesus' suffering got its name.

What's It Take To Get A Waiter In This City?
by Florence Fabricant, New York Times
A rush of big-ticket restaurant openings, from over the treetops at the Time Warner Center to down in TriBeCa, has put more pressure than ever on chefs and owners to find qualified people to chop, saute, serve, clear, pour and manage the dining rooms.

Happy Marriage Between Eggs And Greens
by Matt Lee And Ted Lee, New York Times
"My father would drive five hours for the right pancetta, the right pecorino. This dish takes five minutes."

Expressions

Chicxulub
by T. Coraghesan Boyle, New Yorker

Song
by Frank Bidart, Slate

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

World

Civic Disobedience
by Richard Thompson Ford, Slate
San Francisco chooses the wrong way to flout the state.

Tech & Science

Working The System II
by Gary Stix, Scientific American
Corporate greed no longer remains the sole domain of the corporation.

Life

Select All
by Christopher Caldwell, New Yorker
Can you have too many choices?

Nailed
by David Denby, New Yorker
The despair of the movie is hard to shrug off, and Gibson's timing couldn't be more unfortunate: another dose of death-haunted religious fanaticism is the last thing we need.

Monday, February 23, 2004

World

Quayle, Reconsidered
by Calvin Trillin, New York Times
Using influence to get into the National Guard and out of Vietnam is no longer disqualifying to a candidate; it's assumed.

Life

'Sex' And The Mythic Movie Dream Of New York City
by James Sanders, New York Times
"Sex and the City," perhaps more than any film or television project of recent decades, has succeeded in re-establishing the vision of a glamorous, mythic New York that had been a fixture in the popular imagination for much of the 20th century: a sophisticated wonderland, replete with nightclubs and cocktails, spacious terraces and skyline views, elegant shopping streets and sidewalks filled with stylish women.

Sunday, February 22, 2004

World

Leader Of A Nation, Not A Party
by Ron Chernow, New York Times
George Washington's birthday today serves as a reminder of how presidents can transcend politics and embody the national spirit.

Tech & Science

Hope And Clarity
by Abraham Verghese, New York Times
Many believe that a ''positive attitude'' influences survival in the battle against cancer. But is optimism a cure?

Life

No Kids, Please
by Carlene Hempel, Boston Globe
They don't want to have children, they don't want to be bothered by children, and they'd just as soon not live near children. It's the child-free movement, and it's growing.

Life In The Age Of Old, Old Age
by Susan Dominus, New York Times
Bill is 73, but his dad won't let him retire. Charlotte is 97, and her big sister still wants to tell her what to do. Natalie has been trying to please her mother since the Hoover administration.

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Life

What Did Jesus Really Look Like?
by David Gibson, New York Times
From Eastern Orthodox icons to Hollywood movie hunks like Jim Caviezel in "The Passion of Christ," depictions of Jesus have always served the needs of the day.

Friday, February 20, 2004

Life

Love Notes And Ghosts On A Lonely Road
by Chris Dixon, New York Times
Highway 50, a transcontinental road containing many extraordinary stops, is nearly forgotten in the ear of the interstate.

Catching A Good Buzz
by Noel Holston, Newsday
What is thing thing called "buzz"?

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Tech & Science

Black Hole's Vast Power Is Documented
by John Noble Wilford, New York Times
New X-ray observations by orbiting satellites have given astronomers their first telling evidence that appears to confirm what had been only theory: that a star is doomed if it ventures too close to a supermassive black hole.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Tech & Science

Fertile Ground
by Eliza McCarthy, Slate
Is there any way to predict a woman's reproductive lifespan?

With Close-Ups Of Mars, The Mystery Gets Lost In Space
by Sarah Boxer, New York Times
Does Mars really look like southern Iraq?

Life

Would Shakespeare Get Into Swarthmore?
by John Katzman, Andy Lutz and Erik Olson, The Atlantic
How several well-known writers (and the Unabomber) would fare on the new SAT.

The Joy Of Cooking And Baking, Really
by Nigella Lawson, New York Times
What I had not realized — and bakers keep this a secret for obvious reasons — is how easy baking is.

Expressions

The Diamond Cutter
by Thomas Lux, The Atlantic

Light Years
by Joan Swift, The Atlantic

The Bell Zygmunt
by Jane Hirshfield, The Atlantic

1652
by Sally Ball, Slate

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Tech & Science

Beyond Delicious: Could Chocolate Also Be Good For You?
by Elizabeth Olson, New York Times
Raw cocoa contains flavonoids, plant-based compounds with protective antioxidants like those in green tea.

Life

Listen To This
by Alex Ross, New Yorker
A classical kid learns to love pop — and wonders why he has to make a choice.

The Adjective — So Ludic, So Minatory, So Twee
by Ben Yagoda, Chronicle Of Higher Education
As far as not getting respect goes, adjectives leave Rodney Dangerfield in the dust.

Monday, February 16, 2004

Life

The Accidental Literary Star
by Mel Gussow, New York Times
Anne Tyler is that rare writer who has literary stature and a wide public, and she has earned that position without self-promotion.

Sunday, February 15, 2004

World

The Very, Very Personal Is The Political
by Jon Gertner, New York Times
Political parties are using enormous databases to learn everything about you so they can tailor their pitches for candidates just for you. Are campaigning and voting becoming just marketing and consumption?

Why Your Job Isn't Moving To Bangalore
by Jagdish Bhagwati, New York Times
In a world economy, firms that forgo cheaper supplies of services are doomed to lose markets, and hence production. And companies that die out, of course, do not employ people.

Life

The Failing Light
by Paula Span, Washington Post
Why did a rising young poet plunge into despair, taking her own life and the life of her 2-year-old son?

When Love Is On The Menu
by Alison Arnett, Boston Globe
Working together has always been a starting point for romance, and the restaurant industry is full of couples running establishments together, mostly the husband in the kitchen and the wife greeting customers. In the last decade, as more women have trained professionally and begun their own businesses, the dynamic has shifted.

The New Golden Age Of Acting
by A. O. Scott, New York Times
In 2003, Mr. Penn and Ms. Theron provided the most striking — you might say the most dramatic — evidence that we are living in an extraordinary period, one we will eventually look back up on as a golden age of screen acting.

Friday, February 13, 2004

Tech & Science

The Segway: A Bright Idea, But Business Model Wobbles
by David Armstrong, Wall Street Journal
Dean Kamen hoped to change the world by inventing his futuristic upright scooter, the Segway. His quest now is more pedestrian: keeping afloat the company that sells his invention.

Dissecting Miracles
by Amanda Onion, ABC News
Scientists try to explain Red Sear parting and other miracles.

Life

The Cups Runneth Over
by Jessica Seigel, New York Times
Want to know Victoria's Secret? Push-up bras don't work.

Thursday, February 12, 2004

World

The Shopping Of The Presidency
by Joyce McGreevy, Salon
Thanks to the media, choosing a candidate is quick, cheap 'n' easy!

Life

Classical Music Is Not Just For Nerds
by Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph
Those seeking to promote classical music with the young should stick to grandeur and complexity.

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

World

Made In The U.S. Of A?
by Linda Baker, Salon
It's not the most obvious way to run a successful textile company in Los Angeles: Pay the workers a living wage and give consumers absolutely no choice.

Tech & Science

How The Red Planet Came Down With The Pink Blues
by Kenneth Chang, New York Times
Did NASA fiddle with the image to make it look that red?

Expressions

Snow
by Debra Nystrom, Slate

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Life

Route 3
by Ian Frazier, New Yorker
What I saw on the road through New Jersey.

Good Stuff Was Ugly, But The Bad Stuff Was Great
by Aidin vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle
The best part about the 46th Grammy awards was when they gave Celine Dion a broken microphone.

Expressions

La Ragazza
by Andrea Lee, New Yorker

Monday, February 9, 2004

Tech & Science

Will The Election Be Hacked?
by Farhad Manjoo, Salon
A Salon special report reveals how new voting machines could result in a rigged presidential race — and we'd never know.

Sunday, February 8, 2004

World

Making The Facts Fit The Case For War
by Richard Goodwin, New York Times
Presidents and other decision makers usually get the intelligence they want.

Bush's Missing Year
by Eric Boehlert, Salon
In 1972, George W. Bush dropped out of his National Guard service and later lied about it. With the media finally paying attention, will he now come clean?

Life

Loking For Mr. Goodbyte
by Laura Boswell, Washington Post
An ingenue ventures onto the World Wide Web to find the man of her dreams and discovers just how sticky things can get.

A Loss For Words
by John Powers, Boston Globe
Americans may mean what they say, but they can't always summon the language to say what they mean.

The End Of Happy Endings?
by Pico Iver, New York Times
When the believer, in any faith, tells us that the reward for bloody sacrifice is eternal joy, the nonbeliever is often tempted to think that the believer is merely trying to justify the ways of God to man. On earth at least, the end of life is death.

Friday, February 6, 2004

World

What A Country!
by Bill Kauffman, Wall Street Journal
Every four years, candidates and journalists discover America — or do they?

Life

The Reporter They Left Behind
by Mariane Peral, Salon
Two years after my husband, Danny Pearl, was kidnapped and murdered, his employers at the Wall Street Journal seem all too willing to forget.

They Came, They Sang, They Conquered
by Allan Kozinn, New York Times
From the distance of 40 years it seems almost silly, but on Sunday, Feb. 9, 1964, at 8 p.m., nearly 74 million Americans — just under half the country, according to the Nielsen ratings — plopped in front of their television sets to watch four English rock 'n' rollers in their early 20's introduce themselves to the country by playing five songs on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS.

Thursday, February 5, 2004

Tech & Science

When A Search Engine Isn't Enough, Call A Librarian
by Jeffrey Selingo, New York Times
With a widespread public expectation that answers can be found almost instantly by typing a few words into an Internet search engine, librarians increasingly find themselves on the sidelines in the question-answering business.

Life

The Campaign Against 'Like'
by Andrea Petersen, Wall Street Journal
As ex-Valley Girls (and Boys) move up the ladder, pressure grows to sound professional.

Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Life

A Challenge To Shoppers: Rise To The Occasion
by Glenn Collins, New York Times
But will they go up? Only the customers themselves can answer this crucial retailing question: whether shoppers will ascend the Time Warner Center's four-story atrium, bursting with shops large and small, when it makes its public debut tomorrow.

Expressions

Book Of The Dead
by Garrett Doherty, Slate

Tuesday, February 3, 2004

Life

20040203job
From Programming To Delivering Pizza
by Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon
Sure, there are jobs to be found in the so-called economic recovery. You want extra cheese with that, sir?

20040203cruise
Cruising All The Way To The Buffet
by Dave Barry, Miami Herald
And so a few weeks ago, we set out on a sea voyage from Fort Lauderdale, knowing that it would be five days, and roughly 153 meals (included), before we would reach our destination: Fort Lauderdale.

Sunday, February 1, 2004

Life

A Potpourri Of Pooches
by Peter Tyson, PBS
How is it that the dog, alone among Earth's species, comes in so many shapes and sizes?

And You Think This Is Cold
by Peter Edidin, New York Times
Here are a few examples of life far, far below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

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