Entertainment

GIFs: Why a technology that seems outdated is making a comeback.
Gaming: Games like Farmville are bringing the low-tech crowd online.
Ballet: Is it a dying art?
Gossip: Inside the Gawker empire.
Soap opera: They may be experiencing a primetime renaissance,  but the good-old daytime shows are dying.
Television: Comparing the theme songs of today with the classics of yesteryear.

*Photo courtesy rayparnova.

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CSI: The reality of the forensic lab isn’t so glamorous, or effective.
Charter school: What it’s like to wait for Superman.
Women: Discrimination isn’t the only reason they’re paid less. Tracy Corrigan says itmight be partially their fault.
Facebook: The stars of The Social Network aren’t on it.
Music industry: The news isn’t so bad as it seems.
Europe: Forget the American dream. For the Chinese, it’s about retiring in the Old World.

*Photo courtesy Edward Kustoff.

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Art

Music: Bach’s tunes to sleep to, and a brief history of commissioned work.
Bowie: Lady Gaga doesn’t realize he wasn’t just about poses and clothes.
Nobel: Did the committee change its politics with its awardees this year?

Fashion

Blahnik: The man behind the heel.
Moustache: Is America ready for a president with a furry upper lip?
Business casual: The last two decades and the tech boom led to a spate of ugly outfits.

*Photo courtesy Observe the Banana.

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City Life

Vagrants: Can San Francisco handle its homeless?
Graffiti: A new breed of mischief-makers leave knitted animals around London.
Poverty: With no jobs in the private sector, it’s up to L.A. County to create jobs.
Dickens: George Packer finds a fan of the writer in Lagos.

The Word

Amazing: It’s an overused and now dying term.
Gubernatorial: Why don’t we like the official adjective?

*Photo courtesy vemma.

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Schools: Education experts weigh in on how to solve their problems.
Teachers: How to get the best and the brightest to be teachers.
California: Nine ballot initiatives claim to solve the state’s problems, but they won’t, says Joe Mathews.
Twitter: The social network has the traffic, now it gets the ads. Will it follow Google and Facebook to success?

Writers’ Wives

Saul Bellow: With the release of his letters, his widow opens up.
David Foster Wallace: Karen Green copes with his suicide two years ago.

*Photo courtesy Karel Hermans.

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Pakistan: How many cycles of violence has the land survived?
India: There’s a lot of dust, and other lessons one child immigrant learned about her land.
Central: Is the great game finally over?
China: Debating whether Obama is ready for the challenges he faces there.

Supreme Court

Conservatism: Erwin Chemerinsky on the majority’s rulings.
JPL: How much privacy should government contractors be granted?

*Photo courtesy abrinsky.

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Women and Writing

Marilyn: What her loopy script reveals about the star.
Helen: How the most mythic woman came to be that way.
Sex: Confessing all may be the way for female writers to get ahead, but Anne Davies wants to quit the game.

Art and Place

Vienna: Why the Blue Danube defines the city.
Jersey: The language of “Jersey Shore.”
Mexico: Exploring David Siqueiro’s work off the big walls.

*Photo courtesy Antonio Carlos Castejon.

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Resources

Gold: The prices are up now, but they may not stay that way.
Textiles: The industry in Pakistan collapses in the wake of flood, and Europe and the U.S. have their own industries to worry about.
Money: Zadie Smith on the problem with lending to friends.

Facebook

Nerds: Does the head of Facebook have no social skills?
Evil: Lawrence Lessig on the real message of “The Social Network.”
Women: Are they just accessories for the new nerd-ocracy?

*Photo courtesy Hector Lazo.

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Banned: Why we end up blacklisting some words.
Handwriting: The art that seems to be fading actually helps us learn.
I’m Late: The excuse made possible by technology.
Propaganda: What happened to Obama’s mastery of words?

Ending

Comics: Did good daily ones die with the Peanuts?
Tests: Why final exams are on the way out in colleges.

*Photo courtesy M D’Evreux.

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New Jobs

Rahm Emanuel: How the sharp-elbowed former chief of staff plans to take Chicago.
Congress: The president shouldn’t be surprised that it seems he will lose the midterm vote.
Knife-thrower: A master of the trick tries its hardest challenge.
Supreme Court Justice: Should they have term limits?
General: An in-depth look at the ouster of Stanley McChrystal from an army colonel.
Party: The post-ouster life of Obama’s party-planner, who let in too many undesirables.

*Photo courtesy Jonathan.

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