China has more smokers than the United States has people. The week in China facts and news.

Rundown of presidential analogies from the press this year, and why they're all meaningless.

How the candidates are nicknamed in the press (Mac vs. Bam).

A free society would not shut down your blog. Blogosphere goes nuts after a soldier's blog is banned.

Your opinion sought: what is the most racist city in the States?

Do burglars read Ask Metafilter?

Lock-picking hobbyists reveal trade secrets on YouTube, worrying locksmiths about their jobs, homeowners about their locks.

Interactive guide to prosecutable offenses made by the Bush White House.

To defend yourself against the powers of advertisers, turn to the wisdom of wizards.

Google competes for Wikipedia wisdom with Knol; remembering your Google virginity.

I can still see Henrik standing on the track, awaiting the inevitable. Account from subway driver who killed a man.

Examples of what you can buy for five bucks.

Download for the commute: Martin the tailor.

Man mows Mona Lisa into suburban garden lawn.

She got the better arc, and her journeys were always more intricate and moving. Ode to Scully.

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Months after McCain, Obama visits the same rocket-destroyed house in Israel, enjoys their support.

No reporters left behind: McCain camp appreciative for those not traveling with Obama.

McCain makes historic "FIRST!" visit to the internet.

American voters may be uninformed, but they're consistent--and that's why their candidates love them.

"That giant of a nation is like a Cyclops, with but one eye, that can focus only on one problem at a time." Providence P.D. fights terror, funding threats.

"Free speech zones" set up in Beijing, protesters should expect food, drink, arrest on departure.

Gun-hating family thrilled for son on Olympic shooting team; Lebanese Olympian has difficulty acquiring shotgun.

China hangs its Olympic basketball dreams on the very tall hook of Yao Ming.

"Don't ask about personal experience." China issues list of things locals should not ask tourists.

French factory finally meets clean-air guidelines, profits more from selling carbon credits than manufacturing.

Beirut's terrorist-themed restaurant may be tasteless, but is it worse than a hospital- or jail-themed eatery?

"It's been like Coca-Cola." After some image problems, Blackwater decides to quit the mercenary business.

The most controversial library books in America--Huckleberry Finn is still racist.

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A cunning new loophole has wrecked the government’s Climate Change Bill.

A response to Channel 4’s head of documentaries, Hamish Mykura

Obama visits Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel; view his guestbook entry.

Op: At war, it's credible that we see our enemies' humanity; too bad we don't extend that to our leaders.

The King of Jordan drives Obama to the airport.

Rather than address the G.O.P., Ron Paul organizes rally in Minneapolis; tickets selling for $17.76.

Print for the commute: How making decisions exhausts your brain.

How the word "awesome" got so watered-down that even the president uses it, and in borderline-inappropriate situations.

Considering wealthy schools' tax exemptions, a study of Berea's no-tuition model.

"In the early 20th century, we created almost universal access to high school. We have not done the same with college."

Former professor breaks Harvard students down to three types, none flattering.

Photographed instructions for cooking with arsenic; photograph of a recent favorite headline.

Getting bossed around by an inanimate object? Simply intolerable. Why hackers are so often libertarians.

How to travel by cargo ship.

Inside the homes of New York's uber-cool: The Selby.

"Sociologically, it just matters more. Ideologically, it drives me fucking bonkers." Why people--and not just conservatives--love to hate The New York Times.

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Obama's health plan has been consistent but foggy: a few best-guestimates of what it could mean for us.

The trend so far: When McCain flubs, it's because of age; when Obama flubs, it's because of youth.

After capturing Karadzic, Serbia edges toward E.U. membership, Criminal Court gets extension.

The fatigues-wearing leader of the Bosnian Serbs was unrecognizable in a guise that was part guru and part Santa Claus.

Russian descendants demands property restitution for Bolshevik crimes.

In China, after years of threats and reform the earthquake was the final straw for Qiang culture.

Op: Bush's foreign policy on sex continues to hurt women.

Who still listens to cassettes? America's 2.3 million prisoners--for whom CDs are forbidden.

Spammers employ Onion headlines to trick users into installing malware.

In Newark, the opening of a Starbucks signaled vitalization; with its closing, the message shifted.

Actress Estelle Getty, who played Sophia on The Golden Girls dies, age 84.

Save a spot on the lanai: Getty in classic GG episodes; Matthew Baldwin's GG valentines.

Lifetime, Wow! rates Lifetime television movies' awesomeness, "Lifetimeness," and "Hey! It's That Guy!"

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Short take on Obama's gains in Iraq; long profile of Cindy McCain's perfection in the spotlight.

The more substantial foreign policy news seems to be coming, if rather quietly, from Mr Obama’s rivals.

Op: Anything's possible in American politics, but not probable--and McCain's probably got no shot.

Rejection letter--with editing notes--from the Times Op-Ed page to McCain.

The U.S. is the only country to take the position that some police misconduct must automatically result in the suppression of physical evidence.

You were wondering: How exactly does a police dog become a "sworn officer?"

Gallery: Labs at night.

Hilarious account when Something Awful experiments with a terrible cake-in-a-mug recipe.

Video: Three-part tour through a Lego factory.

Gallery of crayon art drawn mid-flight looks for a permanent home.

Wordle will turn your favorite text into a word cloud.

Porn industry feels effects of recession, looks to cut costs, "get out in front of consumer demand."

Today's seniors have far more sex, and actually enjoy it, study finds.

New York's jellyfish arrive early, infuriate fishermen, swimmers, and triathletes.

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Serbia captures war-crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic--on the lam for 12 years, he was practicing alternative medicine in Belgrade.

Obama meets with Petraeus, tours Baghdad by helicopter, makes no gaffes--McCain responds from a golf cart in Maine.

Regarding McCain's rejected New York Times op-ed--"we know the feeling."

More: the Obama piece McCain was responding to; McCain's draft article.

Miss Brooklyn, a Miss Virginia runner-up who lives in Manhattan, crowned Miss New York, aims for Miss America.

For the first time since the women's movement came to life, an economic recovery has come and gone, and the percentage of women at work has fallen, not risen.

Citing budget gap, M.T.A. wants fare hikes--despite its declining on-time performance for subways.

F.D.A. issues salmonella warning on jalepenos--tomatoes are now safe, but it's a bad year for pico de gallo.

Scientists use tobacco plants to "grow" lymphoma vaccine.

Video: Web ads lend credence to Gary Busey's business ideas.

Selling headsets by depicting radiation-beaming cell phones and other examples of corporations taking the internet too far.

"Israel, Palestine Now Fighting Over Cemetery Space."

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Yahoo's surprise truce with billionaire investor Carl Icahn may buy some peace at the company's annual shareholders meeting next month, but the agreement announced Monday doesn't take the pressure off chief executive Jerry Yang.

• Yahoo statement | O'Brien: It's what's best
• Track Yahoo stock | Microsoft-Yahoo page

The story of how Mugabe and Tsvangirai came to sign a pact.

"I am a seducer, I'm a salesman." The career (and dating) story of Steve "The Goot" Gutenberg.

The history of jokes: why we laugh at them, and what they'll be like a million years from now.

Audio: Tom McCarthy, 2008 ToB runner-up, talks about repetition, architecture, memory, repetition.

TMN's Anthony Doerr remembers 16 trips across the U.S., butterflies and all.

Top 10 advertising icons, and the actresses who could replace them.

Print for the commute: How the uncanny similarity of joy and despair's expressions appealed to Darwin.

What it takes to be a master Chinese gymnast: iron, sweat, acting like a man.

Report from an eight-month investigation into the drug-friendly world of door-to-door magazine selling.

When killing a newspaper, "stabbing an artery can be just as effective as stabbing the heart itself."

Copyeditor wonders how to recast "the cockamamie diction and syntax" of message-board postings.

The use of "surge" has surged.

Eco-friendly club powered by "piezoelectric dance floor" generates power as patrons bounce.

Experiments psychologists would conduct if rules and/or reality didn't get in the way.

Ten mental illnesses possessed by the Batman.

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The Great Global Warming Swindle is just one example of Channel 4’s war against the greens

People love films like The Great Global Warming Swindle, because they tell us what we want to believe.

Military officers, Gates spar over "next-war-itis," and whether we should prepare for "asymmetric" or conventional conflicts.

New evidence--or lack thereof--shows most post-invasion looting of Iraqi artifacts never happened.

"Islamofascism," "watershed," "anything-gate": on the provenance of our political cliches.

If I could, I would give her a medal, even though she would probably eat it, thinking there's chocolate inside. A candidate, stumped.

Op: Hollywood hasn't made a movie starring a real hero since the late '70s.

In Polish city, police deal with street racers by closing roads, organizing public races.

On Jay-Z's backhanded version of "Wonderwall" and the intentions of cross-genre covers.

U.S. Olympians ponder whether to wear pollution masks in Beijing, risk offending their hosts.

High marks if you know who Howard Zinn is or have a C-cup. Look forward to hearing frm [sic] you. Washington, D.C.'s, missed connections blog.

"It is far from widely understood how smart and funny copy editors are as a group."

Profile of David Remnick, editor of the "byword for upper-middlebrow sophistication" New Yorker.

Hendrik Hertzberg discovers a psychedelic taxi in Austin, Texas.

On the history of the foam "no. 1" finger.

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A San Jose federal judge this morning weighed a cutting-edge copyright conflict over Universal Music Corp.'s attempt to force a Pennsylvania mom to take down a YouTube video of her toddler learning to walk with the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy" in the background.

The Palo Alto City Council late Monday night approved expediting a proposal to bring ultra-high-speed broadband Internet access to the city.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a brief stop today at Moffett Field and got a firsthand look at the latest technology NASA is using to help the state's fire crews battle the hundreds of blazes raging throughout California.

England’s mediaeval libel laws are becoming a global menace to free speech

TMN is currently on vacation. See you Monday, July 21.

Former Iranian student, tortured after appearing on Economist cover with fellow student's blood-soaked shirt, escapes to U.S.

Here's his blog, with a photo at the Capitol building.

Jesse Helms: great because he spurred the American Left into fierce fighting.

Op: Everyone knows it will take the hardest of hard power to remove the oppressors in Zimbabwe, Burma, Sudan.

Bush is against human trafficking, but Justice is actively opposed to expanding anti-slavery efforts.

Facts to back the wisdom behind Obama's call to speak a second language.

PDF: The graph on how and why McCain won the week in politics.

Chess-boxing, "the biathlon of the 21st century," gains fans worldwide, including RZA.

British couple arrested, offer example why you should avoid coitus on Dubai beaches.

Video: A screaming reason why you shouldn't record video in the rain.

Video of a quite literal heart for Blogger.com, pumping to internet diarists' emotions.

Collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings, with love.

Alert to the geeks: Do you want the new iPhone, or do you want to be a millionaire?

Unrelated fish found to naturally swap proteins--similar to principles of genetic engineering--to survive in extremely cold waters.

Photos: Beijing's rapidly transforming architecture, including "The Egg," "The Bird's Nest," "The Watercube."

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"I'm not going to retract any of it. McCain distances himself from adviser Phil Gramm's "nation of whiners" comment; Gramm runs toward it.

The story behind McCain's brief bigamy, and how he ticked off the Reagans.

"He's running the last lap of a 54-year marathon...I am a part of that race." Jesse Jackson apologizes for Obama remarks.

N.Y.'s Rangel has been "uncharacteristically reticent" to criticizing his landlord--the four rent-controlled apartments don't hurt.

Bush administration says it won't attempt to stem greenhouse gases before the president leaves office.

Martin Sheen knows that, using saltwater, farmers could utilize desert regions, save water, grow fuel, create habitat.

Time-lapse video of a building demolition; time-lapse map shows Wal-Mart's infestation of the U.S.

Russia says Iran's limited-range missiles negate the U.S.'s need for a shield; Iran doctors photos to boost its arsenal.

Philosopher discusses the end of heroism in professional cycling, compares Lance Armstrong to Achilles.

From 2005, Pitchaya Sudbanthad and Geoff Badner report from the Cycle Messenger World Championships.

If anyone is crazy enough to fund it, this movie is gonna be awesome. A look at the script for Quentin Tarantino's WWII epic.

At fundraising dinner, U.K.'s Labour Party auctions tennis match with Tony Blair.

Video: "I'm not here to make friends."

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Rebellious Middle East youth culture struggles to define itself within Islam's frame; introducing, "Muhajababes."

Zimbabwe calls sanction threats "a colonial and racist campaign."

In case you didn't hear exactly what Jackson said about Obama.

Two Black Panthers allowed out of solitary confinement for the first time in 35 years, still optimistic about proving their innocence.

Disproving 12 years of tabloid headlines, DNA testing proves JonBenet Ramsey's family innocent.

What exactly New York restaurant cooks eat at family meals.

New danger for U.S. soldiers in Iraq: Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions.

New Disney "Dream Home of the Future" packs corporate plugs, not future.

Music videos: "Toe Jam", "My Drive Thru."

Is Daniel Libeskind considered a "world renowned architect" because his press releases say so?

Audio: Interview with Matt from "Where the hell is Matt?", former game designer now world famous for terrible dancing.

Matt's 2008 video in case you missed it.

Sherlock Holmes to be played by Robert Downey Jr. for Guy Ritchie, and Sacha Baron Cohen for Judd Apatow (with Will Ferrell as Watson).

Just because: Triptychs of German pre-packaged food.

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