If you’re like me (and the rest of America, according to the Billboard Hot 100), you love the Jay-Z song “Empire State of Mind.” But here’s the thing: there’s apparently a frequently-misunderstood lyric…

I recently finished The Lost City of Z, David Grann’s account of the British explorer Percy Fawcett’s final journey in the Amazon basin, where Fawcett disappeared in 1925. Meticulously researched, staunchly reported and beautifully written, it covers the…

Prangstgrüp, active throughout the early and mid-Nads, was the arbitrarily Teutonic prank-committing team out of Columbia University. The members of Prangstgrup have all graduated, and their membership is…

This rundown of one j-school student’s favorite newspapers points us to “one of the country’s most non-sequitur parenting columns.” It is called Daddy Needs A Drink, and it lives at the Santa Fe Reporter, and, indeed! Here is Rob Wilder on the matter of his…

There is a three-part process to peddling a novel (a novel is a book that is not born from a Tumblr), according to Awl columnist Matthew Gallaway. Here is step two: “Write a ‘query letter’ in which you describe 1)…

Slate, our totally favorite website, where we all desperately want to work some day, looks at the annual statement by the good people at the Committee To Protect Journalists, who report today that 46% of journalists…

eBay, always so handy: “I’m an unmarried heterosexual woman, and since I probably won’t be using my right to get married, I would like to give it away.”

“Some pictures need little introduction. They stop you in your tracks. These are exclusive pictures to Reuters of a Canadian polar bear eating a cub that it killed and cannibalized.” These pictures are EXTREMELY DISTURBING, and this is one of those “can’t unsee” situations…

The Atlantic’s James Fallows takes a look at a Times story-headlined “In Face of Skeptics, Experts Affirm Climate Peril”-versus a Washington Post story-headlined “Stolen files of ‘Climate-gate’ suggest some viewpoints on change are…

Highly indictable former New York State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno was found guilty on two counts in his corruption trial yesterday. Bruno, who went six-for-eight on the charges, faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for each of the…

Man, Herta Müller’s 2009 Nobel Prize lecture is breathtaking. [Via]

This is why I stick to booze: “[S]ince 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.”

“How does one discern whether a given song is good or bad for karaoke?” REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin gets zen.

Remember how 2009 sucked? Of course you do, as it is still sucking. Brace yourselves, because today comes uncertain-making news about 2010 and its various qualities. Yes, it’s the color of the year. Turquoise, says Pantone, as they do each year now at this time. Because, they say…

Good: “Police say a man tried to rob a New York diner while wearing a paintball mask and carrying a paintball gun.” Better: “Yonkers police Sgt. Patrick McCormack says the man was subdued at the Broadway Diner by four volunteer members of the city Office of Emergency Management.” Talk about being on top of the job!

Having a hard time finding the perfect gift for that person of color on your holiday shopping list? It’s understandable: They are so exotic and different! Fret no more: The Times is here to help! I’d suggest the M2M damoreJon…

Words to live by: “As an official crank, your editor does not appreciate the Twitter and the Facebook and putting up YouTubes of your children so pedophiles can form virtual attachments, etc. It is, probably, ‘bad for society,’ but whether it’s any worse than all the other stuff…

This is why I stick to booze: Caffeine will not sober you up, but it will make you think that you’re less drunk, says Science.

Those of you who have jobs may be receiving one “extra” paycheck this year. You people make me sick.