Good morning! Here is a video of a dog playing pool! Because it feels like it’s going to be a dog playing pool kind of day. Speaking of unlikely participants in activities for which they seem completely unsuited, our own Choire Sicha is guest-hosting at Deadspin today…

A farmer in China’s northeastern Hebei province has figured out how to grow Buddha-shaped pears. He sells them for $7 each. Kinda cool, I guess. But it wouldn’t exactly make for a rockin’ bachelorette party, would it? You can get five penis pops for the same price.

Forensic pathologist G. Austin Gresham has died at the age of 84. Gresham’s 1975 A Colour Atlas of Forensic Pathology- which featured “a gruesome compilation of photographs of naked human bodies after drug overdoses, fires, car crashes, murders and suicides, along with a colourful…

This is one of those things where the results are actually more horrifying the deeper into the numbers you look: “Thursday’s annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau’s principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes…

Trouble across the pond: “More than half of all Britons have been injured by biscuits ranging from scalding from hot tea or coffee while dunking or breaking a tooth eating during a morning tea break, a survey has revealed. An estimated 25 million adults…

We’ve previously mentioned Awl pal John Cook’s Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, written with label founders Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance. The book is out next week, and not only can you read an excerpt here, but you can also participate in an online Q&A; with Cook, Ballance, and McCaughan right now! Go! Ask!

Speaking of Joe Wilson: “Military beneficiaries like Wilson─who, as a retiree, is eligible for lifetime coverage─never have to worry about an eye exam, a CT scan, a prolonged labor, or an…

Nice interview with former Sen. Harris Wofford (D-PA), a good and decent man who was one of the casualties of the Democrats’ failure to pass health care reform early in the Clinton administration. He’s optimistic about its chances this time.

Could global warming’s elevation of sea levels result in a flood here in New York City? Some scientists say yes, and suggest that the city erect expensive storm surge barriers to protect low-lying areas. Others worry about the cost and caution restraint until the potential…