European leaders may boycott soccer tournament in Ukraine due to prison abuse of ex-opposition leader.

James Lipton gives Mitt Romney tips on how to act human. #video

A blind man explains his first lesson in echolocation, how he gained long-range vision.

Hear TMN’s Rosecrans Baldwin in conversation about his new book at McNally Jackson in New York tonight.

See the doc on China’s prison factories that led to Al Jazeera being told not to report in the country. #video

The New Yorker recommends web series to check out.

Light sculptures in abandoned houses in this week’s gallery; worst type of light revealed. #tmn#photography

Dalai Lama afraid of being killed by pseudo-devotees with poisoned hair.

Seoul’s 105-foot Lego tower marks 80 years of stacking colorful plastic bricks.

“Can you see any clippy bits?” Panel of kids explain their strange names for each Lego piece. #tmn

Graphs, charts, comparisons of the Lego gender imbalance through the years.

War crimes trial of Ratko Mladic begins, accused of crimes against humanity, deaths of 100,000 people.

Despite drug war’s unimaginably gory crimes, Mexicans are apathetic, disturbed by their attitudes.

Behind the scenes at a huge marijuana factory in an underground bunker.

Only a Greek withdrawal from the euro zone will give the country a chance to get back on its feet in the long term. #opinion

Chinese attempts to needle American ambassador backfire, thanks to Internet commenters.

Flickr helped spark the social web; Yahoo’s top-down approach killed Flickr. #longreads

Facebook’s biggest worry might be user exodus after shareholders’ impact is felt.

Please accept these terms and conditions to continue LIFE. #video

At Jedermann events in Germany, ‘everyman’ can mimic elite cyclists, helping rebuild the sport.

The Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago is perhaps America’s most popular contemporary art work.

Read War and Peace along with TMN’s Erik Bryan and friends this summer.

Hollande to dine with Merkel in Berlin on his swearing-in day.

Part two of “Our French Connection” heads to Kentucky’s Paris and Versailles. #longreads

Related: New excerpt available from Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down.

Nine days after an inconclusive vote, Greece tries again to form a government.

In the May 6 election, more than half of Greece’s police officers voted for the Neo-Nazi party.

Portraits of Civil War re-enactors. #photography

Pictures of and appreciation for “the most beautiful corn in the world.”

Reprint of Hemingway’s 1923 reports for the Toronto Star about his first bullfights.

Profile of comedian Patrice O’Neal, comic that other comics feared.

Chart of every Yahoo CEO’s tenure against the starting and ending stock price.

The myth of Chinese meritocracy, in which many senior officials flaunt fraudulent credentials.

Note: Dr. Hedgeh would like you to stop tacking letters onto the end of his name.

Belle du Jour, now known by her real name, gives tips on how to blog anonymously.

British birds made of Lego.

When you have a bank as big as JPMorgan…almost anything could count as “hedging.”

From the mid-‘70s to six years ago, Kodak operated a secret nuclear reactor beneath its Rochester headquarters.

I raised her as my own, and I knew it was wrong. 1987 NY baby snatcher faces sentencing.

Reproduction today: Wannabe grandparents help pay for egg freezing. #family

Phallic rock formations in Turkey’s aptly named Love Valley.

To archeologists, fossilized dental plaque is more interesting than fossilized skulls.

Drew Toothpaste finds the worst Amazon listings so you don’t have to.

Algorithms are just frolicking in the mountains of data that they can play with.

“It’s not a lie if nobody cares” and other lying advice from George Costanza.

A documentary from 1987: Brian Eno on Creating Music and Art as Imaginary Landscapes. #video

For some Americans, the French way of life is best. And other people simply prefer “freedom fries.” A two-week journey across the U.S.—passing through a handful of towns named Paris—to find out what Americans really think about France today. (Part two of four.)

Fraudulent Stradivari dealer was so persuasive banks provided him with millions in return for photocopied appraisals.

Clients often ask, jokingly, whether we learn our trade in prison. Interview with a safecracker.

Related: “With Dicks in, all 6 WA congressional Democrats favor repeal of gay-marriage ban.”

Christian documents from the 10th and 11th centuries may describe the “Office of Same-Sex Union” and “Order for Uniting Two Men.”

To put it mildly, there’s something of a New Yorker feature curse going around Hollywood these days.

Former Booker T and the MGs bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, who played himself in The Blues Brothers, dead at 70.

Chris Herring on the nonsensical “jumble” of the New York Jets’ locker room.

Records from 1859’s Great Auroral storm.

Science hopes to solve coffee cup sloshing.

Europe slips in survey of the nations people admire most—China is on the rise.

Culture war in Israel imminent with plans to end military exemptions for full-time religious students.

Photojournalist Horst Faas, who brought images of Vietnam to U.S. readers, dies at 79.

Live free or die… unless you’re a lady. A state-by-state guide to anti-choice laws so far.

Confronting Stan Lee about the injustice done to Jack Kirby by Marvel would be like grilling Mr. Peanut about the business practices of Kraft Foods.

Q&A with the New Yorker‘s cover editor on controversy and the covers that didn’t make it.

Related: The New Yorker FDR cover that never ran.

In ancient Rome, walking was a marker of culture and status.

How sex symbolism and vanity made our feet grow to look like shoes.

Pentagon releases study on studies; accountability office declares Pentagon’s study invalid.

A list of things claimed to be as addictive as cocaine and a list of things that are actually as addictive as cocaine.

Before the internet, before Facebook, before Twitter, a group of British documentary filmmakers launched what has become the grand-daddy of reality television. What can Seven Up! tell us about our own experiences in the (self-induced) spotlight?

Argentina passes world’s most progressive transgender rights laws.

Trustees of tiny all-male Deep Springs College object to administration’s plan to admit women.

Prince Charles appears as Scottish weather forecaster.

Hollande may be more open to austerity, less able to bring a change of course, than France hopes.

Two-dozen cute pictures of Putin posing with animals.

Scientists seek ways to make regifting seem less boorish.

Interview with the photographer burned by CNN’s controversial “Life in Appalachia.”

Interactive quiz to match train services with their names.

I have said in a knowing, pompous tone, “That is so ‘Corrections.’” Books the Times magazine staff haven’t read.

Little known history of napkin-folding culture.

Jennifer Rubell’s “Nutcrackers”—18 life-size female mannequins retooled to open pecans. #photography

Latest exercise advice: Stand every 20 minutes, drink chocolate milk after tough workouts.

Jonathan Lethem, at length, on the Talking Heads’ “Memories Can’t Wait.”

Nick Drake: Ptarmigan tears, nettle spread, rice bread. Bands as sandwiches.

“Oh geez, this is Jeff’s turtle!”

You may have noticed that one of our co-founders, Rosecrans Baldwin, has a new book out about his stint living and working in France, inspired by the letters he wrote for TMN.

On Tuesday, Rosecrans and Paul Ford will read at New York City’s KGB Bar at 7 p.m.. Rosecrans and Paul have an unlikely friendship, but we’re pretty sure this will be an event that TMN fans will not want to miss. Plus, there’s a party afterward.

Photos of the lost town of Kaixian before it was flooded by the Three Gorges Dam project.

Round-up of energy-related conflicts around the world.

Speech transcripts show Obama using the word “extraordinary” an extraordinary amount.

Hedge-funders now despise Obama over taxes and capital gains.

A philosophical book needs about four days to read. Life of a Kuwaiti censor.

Profiles of Londoners who pay rent to live in garden sheds and freezers.

Lesbian arrested in North Carolina marriage-license office for refusing to leave until she could marry.

Wacky peanut statues around Dothan, Ala., the “Peanut Capital of the World.”

Slideshow of contemporary architecture found in Georgia.

Once you use a fabric somewhere in a room, you’re not supposed to use it anywhere else in the house. Lessons learned from the most recent House Beautiful.

List of things a rich person needs to ski.

Profile of Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard, now partnering with WalMart to spread environmental lessons.

Depressed copywriter retools corporate advertisements.

Typos culled from the last three issues of Copyediting magazine.

Not-comic comic: Memories of being raised by an abusive mother.

Design-based solutions for water management in India.

Green-energy excitement of the day: Power from onion waste.

Philippe Starck designs gadget that makes you instantly drunk for less than a second.

Reporter seeks out cooler version of himself to get high with and contemplate a non-bourgeois life.

Study finds self-disclosure so pleasurable, we’re willing to pay for it.

Bowling alleys are disappearing from churches—a survey and brief history.

Two dozen horses die at America’s racetracks each week, and the danger is growing.

Facial recognition software may be able to identify unknown subjects of famous paintings.

Pictures of limited-production vehicles. via

Live map of global book sales is oddly entrancing.

See also: Readers/writers pick best audio books for a road trip.

And in case you aren’t already obsessed: The Tobolowsky Files, in which actor Stephen Tobolowsky shares stories from his life.

List of top 50 Wikipedia articles as ranked by “interestingness.”

Number one on that list: The Marree Man of South Australia.

History of buttermilk, more or less.

When “small batch” equals big dollars and one-person companies are supported by corporate-size websites, is “hand-made” what we think it is? A report from North America’s largest consumer craft fair, where the competition for puppet dollars is intense.

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.

The usual celebrity hijinks and the customary health warnings about ice cream bars. 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.

Creating an HIV vaccine is like trying to fire a gun at millions of shielded, moving targets.  State of the vaccine effort.

Journalism is being replaced. #opinions

Blogger uses the Journal to speak out after the Chronicle of Higher Education fires her for mocking Black Studies.

Brief, accessible piece on the state of nihilism—laugh tracks optional.

Inside the kitschy decor of the modern Italian mobster house.

The new breed of Delta musicians needed an instrument that was affordable, portable, and capable of producing a wide variety of musical timbres. Sears, Roebuck & Co. midwifed the birth of the blues.

Musician and producer Steve Albini lets Reddit users ask him anything.

Why we need music: it defines the best of us.

What Tina Brown’s currently reading.

Related: Brown’s musings on Heydrich remind us of the wonderful HHhH, “the only essential piece of World War II fiction in years.”

Fake survey data from Fake Pew Research.

They pry the mind open: Jonah Lehrer on how cities incubate creativity.

Charles Murray dissects creativity, past and present.

Everything you need to know about Disneyland’s secret restroom, currently unavailable to the public.

New Yorker who grew up sharing a bed with her mother finally gets to sleep alone.

A boy asking for money. An editor yelling at him to go away. An author, a rising star, dying young from a heart attack. A group of followers ending their lives at the wish of a single man.

Bomber given the advanced underwear device found to be a CIA and Saudi intelligence informant.

Economics lessons on how to negotiate with pirates.

Notes on why the “broccoli argument” is a rhetorical tour de force that captures the anxieties of Obamacare’s enemies.

The fact that the Hindenburg had a smoking lounge teaches us a lot about risk, markets, and fashion.

How craft beers could save the economy.

An 11-year-old took a Stanford class online and all he got were some lousy videos.

R.I.P., Maurice Sendak, dead at 83.

Part one of the terrific Colbert-Sendak interviews. #video

Ferrari apologizes for burning rubber on a 14th-century Chinese wall with a new car dipped in “Marco Polo red.”

Nevada issues first license for a self-driving car.

Researchers ask bikers to record roadkill in the name of transportation advancement.

“Moto-polo”—played with motorbikes, duct-tape, and beer.

Tasting notes on a meal eaten with spoons coated with various metals.

All of the first investigations of the limits of life came about as an inadvertent byproduct of innovations in food preservation.

Twenty-nine touristy eating spots in America that are actually good.

Losing weight does not always equal looking good—but sometimes it does and it’s okay to say so. Responding to “Why Black Women Are Fat.”

France’s center-right party stares glumly at new paths in a post-Sarkozy future.

Part one of “Our French Connection”—figuring out what Americans think of the French right now. #tmn#longreads

Related: The whole story currently available as an e-pub for $3.

Carnegie Mellon computer scientists use Foursquare to map “livehoods” rather than neighborhoods.

YouTube isn’t just the immediate past, it’s the pre-internet past.

Young writers today avoid writing what they know because they only know SUVs in the suburbs.

Erin Geyer investigates myths about serial killers, concludes that they could be basically anyone.

Story of one man’s man-boobs, and how he came to embrace the name Tits.

Krulwich: Ike’s highway system killed the popularity of hats.

Comparison: Downton Abbey is essentially Battlestar Galactica with corsets.

The biblioracle needs your last 5 books in order to immortalize a recommendation for your next read.

Large-scale relief prints made from trees’ cross-sections. #tmn

Upgraded “underwear bomb” plot foiled before an AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) bomber could reach an airport.

Ethiopia cracks down on international adoptions as reports of fraud surface.

Nuclear-free Japan looks to thermal springs for energy alternative.

State of the Free Tibet campaign now that MCA is dead.

Long profile of Facebook’s boy genius Zuckerberg discovers his hidden talent: firing people.

Porn company sues Tumblr for copyright infringements.

Meta column about how “meta” went from fashionable to ubiquitous in pop culture.

Angry Birds Land opens inside a Finnish theme park.

Exhorting obese people to eat less and exercise more doesn’t work; blame the value of the advice. #opinions

Airplane seats designed for 170-pound dummies may not protect today’s larger passengers.

South Korea confiscates “human flesh” capsules believed to fight disease.

“The question was not, ‘Should you eat human flesh?’ but, ‘What sort of flesh should you eat?’” The history of human remains used in medicine.

Biologists think to look for shy animals’ DNA inside leeches’ last meals.

Tragic story of wife caring for husband with frontotemporal dementia. #longreads

Trailer for a documentary about the voice-over side of Hollywood. via #video

In Brazil, a growing economy demands more energy, but environmental concerns fuel protests against hydroelectric projects.

American pegs hardcore frequent fliers, including those with lifetime passes, for millions in losses.

Each according to his or her abilities and each according to his or her needs is sort of the same thing as supply and demand. Communism = integral to capitalism.

WaPo investigation into DC’s lawless cab drivers.

Notes from the savage, off-road “display of wealth and power” known as the Dakar Rally.

The Bookslut celebrates 10 years online.

Alec Baldwin: Eloquent supporter of classical music.

Starting today, and continuing every Monday through May, an investigation into what Americans really think about the French.

Related: Avoid the wait for $3.

Some have even reported snoring in space! How astronauts sleep.

TMN’s Sarah Hepola believes she is the only person who likes talking on the phone anymore.

Teddy Wayne insists you share this article he wrote to be shared.

Politics of competitive board gaming amongst friends. #video

Bertrand Russell’s 10 commandments for teachers.

For some Americans, the French way of life is best. And others simply prefer “freedom fries.” A two-week journey across the U.S.—passing through a handful of towns named Paris—to find out what Americans really think about France today. (Part one of four.)

Greek and French voters rejected austerity, throwing Greece into political uncertainty.

Sarkozy was always more our man than theirs, but he changed how the French see the presidency. #opinions

Slate on Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down.

Related: Funk up the Paris cover and possibly win yourself a copy.

Sept. 11 defendants say the judicial process was rigged to lead to their executions.

Cohen: Forget Europe, pay attention to why India’s growth is losing momentum.

Recycling eyeglasses is a feel-good waste of money.

Story of 40-year fugitive George Wright, now a free man in Portugal. #longreads

I felt like school was out for summer, and the simultaneous relief and boredom that the last bell brings. Day one of life without Internet.

Winners of this year’s National Magazine Awards available for online reading.

Episode one of Sherlock’s second season now available in the States. #video

Scientists make 15 adults suck on spoons to see how cutlery tastes.

Shaq got his Ph.D. on Saturday “wearing a custom-made, bright red XXXL-sized gown.”

Lovely goodbye from Sasha Frere-Jones to The Beastie Boys’ MCA, whom he knew growing up.

Great letter to the Times from MCA after the “Ch-Check It Out” video was panned. via

My sister met Muhammad Ali at the post office. Remembering a grandfather, NBA baller.

“Parahawking”—hawking while paragliding, even when the birds are vultures. #video

List of things that should have fallen out of the piñata at your Cinco De Mayo party.

Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. This week, the opinion column’s wrath bled well beyond its confines with the headlines full of people calling others out, correcting them, and setting them straight.

Corrections to stories from the Middle East—e.g., “farewell sex”—that were too good last week to fact-check:

Blame it on journalists unfamiliar with their subject matter, the demands of an ever-quicker news cycle, or simply salacious stories that were “too good to check.”

In America in 1968, like Europe today, austerity was the goal; it is not so in America now.

Law schools hire graduates to help them find jobs, and possibly to boost schools’ grad-employment rates.

Story of the missing cosmonauts.

Psychologist Margie Profet was a Genius Grant-certified rising star, then she disappeared without a trace.

The idea that the U.S. can make a powerful country like China change its political and legal system simply by insisting on it—by “doing something”—is delusional.

Yes, using the internet changes your brain, but so does making tea.

Everything you need to know about “Call Me Maybe,” its deeper message and those many cover videos.

Battle notes from the McDonald’s counteroffensive to convince skeptics they’re wrong about fast food. #longreads

Zazzle’s loose formula for putting images on T-shirts and beer steins brings internet spam to life.

The best designs in modern sci-fi.

Books recommended by where they were read.

How to obtain and keep a mentor.

Reddit users attempt to convince members to love musical genres they say they hate.

In Downton Abbey, Anglophiles enjoy a false nostalgia for the British country-house setting.

Superhero origin story of Joss Whedon—pretty much responsible for our entire current pop culture.

Video shows assailants who killed Cairo protesters were armed; Army denies the thugs were their own.

Romney’s experiment with an openly gay campaign aide short-lived.

Love, Barry: Obama’s romantic youth.

Charlie Sheen sues strip club to close down VIP room named in his honor.

Framing explains why people can be blind to unethical decisions.

The iPhone may be the most revolutionary development for blind people since the invention of Braille.

Study suggests atheists are more motivated by compassion than the pious.

First-time visitors to South Africa would do well to start in a comedy club.

New film project documents our relationship with the 94 elements—attention on depleting resources.

Fascinating account behind the stat that Americans over seven feet tall have a 17% chance of playing in the NBA.

Horse racing threatened by too many horses and drugs, and too much money.

MAD on advertising, from back when Don Draper’s hyperbole deserved to be mocked, not celebrated.

Engineer admits he’s the one who made potato chip bags so hard to open.

Many common smells were created by noses responsible for luxury perfumes.

Wonderful: Radio Time Machine.

Details of a journey from Wall Street to Occupy Wall Street.

Remarkable art made from forsaken dollar bills. #tmn

Profile of Romney’s wealthy Bain colleague, now author of what may become “the most hated book of the year.”

Colin Firth on being a bad dresser, regrets, and wooing his wife.

Breaking up is hard to do with dignity—better to embrace every cliché. #opinions

Nobody bought the albums, which seemed appropriate, since their subjects were invisible and forgotten. Documentary goes in search of musician Sixto Rodriguez.

Millennials: Generation We or Generation Me? An examination of the data.

Day in the life of tilt-shift Venice. #video

Whiteboard of people’s inventions submitted to the New York Times.

Japanese urinal video game rewards men for strong flow.

Part one of a very long conversation between Greil Marcus and Simon Reynolds.

Bad fan fiction in the style of Dune.

Dubai is recovering thanks to the Arab Spring and The New Silk Road.

Americans call Pizza Hut’s pizza-cheeseburger hybrid an abomination—but the target market is the Middle East.

Will Self eats noodles in London.

Notes from the only debate between France’s final two presidential candidates before Sunday’s election.

Measurements show student brain activity plunging during class.

The best time to caramelize onions is yesterday.  Rage against the conspiracy that says browning onions only takes 10 minutes. via

New York now has an indoor food-truck court in a 19-floor building.

Notes from the 19th-century trial of Albert J. Tirrell, the sleepwalking killer.

For his next project, performance artist who grew an ear on his arm hopes to grow a second skin of microbes.

Video of The Scream being sold for $120 million at auction yesterday.

Reddit members use anonymous accounts to confess their worst crimes and secrets.

Seven-page oral history of Friends, as told by its creators.

Emotions from the advertising life brought to life with animated GIFs.

Fiction enhances our ability to understand other people; it promotes a deep morality that cuts across religious and political creeds. Reading novels is good for you. #longreads

They’re waiting for you. They’re looking for you. Every single night they’re on duty, ready to drive you insane. Stories from the blotter of the men inside your brain.