Longreads

On a hot Austin night last summer, 60 natives convened for a social rite involving stick-on mustaches, paella, and a healthy flow of spirits. Young lesbians formed the core of the crowd. The two…

Note: As we were finishing off this story about serial killers and mass murderers in China, news broke of a massive manhunt for murderer and armed robber Zeng Kaigui. Yang Shubin looked the part:…

Somewhere in Russia a signal of mysterious beeps and buzzes has broadcast since the high-water days of the Cold War. But why?Photo: Sergey Kozmin From a lonely rusted tower in a…

That's right, metaphors, like Shakespeare's famous line, "All the world's a stage," or more subtly, "The darkness pressed in on all sides." Every speaker in every language in the world uses them effortlessly, and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity wants know how what we say reflects our worldviews. They call it The Metaphor Program, and it is a unique effort within the government to deal with how we use words.

A year ago, Todd Levin got the job of a lifetime—writing for 'The Tonight Show.' Nine months later, he was packing his desk. Now he recounts what it was really like: helping reboot a fifty-six-year-old franchise; watching his boss, Conan O'Brien, get screwed; and saying good-bye to the funniest late-night show to barely exist

A picture of genial abandon in rumpled khakis, football jersey and sneakers, Murray was urging Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman and Chevy Chase to drop their ''reserves of cool'' on the dance floor and ''get down!'' Murray's warmth is disarming.