Dirty Coal, Clean Future

To environmentalists, “clean coal” is an insulting oxymoron. But for now, the only way to meet the world’s energy needs, and to arrest climate change before it produces irreversible cataclysm, is to use coal—dirty, sooty, toxic coal—in more-sustainable ways. The good news is that new technologies are making this possible. China is now the leader in this area, the Google and Intel of the energy world.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Nov 9, 2010
Length: 32 minutes (8,217 words)

An Imperfect Weekend

The van, a white Ford Econoline, was upside down, planted hood first on a steep slope in a dense thicket of bushes and trees, near the bottom of a ravine, just off the shoulder of the highway. Lee Risler was lying nose to roof. The sharp corner of the dome light was beneath the point of his left hip, digging in, stabbing at the same raw spot. His body, outstretched, was tilted at an angle, feet elevated higher than his head. He was buried in an avalanche of shoe boxes and leather sandals, about eight hundred pairs in eight different styles, each crafted painstakingly by his own hands.

Author: Mike Sager
Source: Esquire
Published: Sep 1, 2000
Length: 30 minutes (7,748 words)

Application Inflation: When Is Enough Enough?

UCLA said its accepted students had “demonstrated excellence in all aspects of their lives.” Citing its record 57,670 applications, the university proclaimed itself “the most popular campus in the nation.” Such announcements tell a story in which colleges get better — and students get more amazing — every year. In reality, the narrative is far more complex, and the implications far less sunny for students as well as colleges caught up in the cruel cycle of selectivity.

Published: Nov 5, 2010
Length: 16 minutes (4,086 words)

A Deadly Misdiagnosis: Is it possible to save the millions of people who die from TB?

Prasad said nothing more about the medical needs of his patients. “It’s a nice lab,” Mannan said when we left. “Beautiful, actually. But if the doctors used it properly that would interfere with their private practice.” I asked what he meant. “It is simple,” he said. “If patients are treated at the hospital, they won’t need to pay for anything else.”

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Nov 8, 2010
Length: 20 minutes (5,215 words)

Mr. Sunshine: Jimmy Fallon’s Good Humor

Nearly two years later, Lorne Michaels still watches every taping of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and weighs in on small details from set-dressing to individual monologue jokes. “I used to come out at the beginning and jump around and clap, really psyching everyone up,” says Fallon. “Lorne told me, ‘Too much. Just come out and stand there, plant, be confident, and deliver the joke. You command more authority when you make the audience come to you.’ “

Published: Nov 8, 2010
Length: 10 minutes (2,643 words)

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde

After a woman living in a hotel in Florida was raped, viciously beaten, and left for dead near the Everglades in 2005, the police investigation quickly went cold. But when the victim sued the Airport Regency, the hotel’s private detective, Ken Brennan, became obsessed with the case: how had the 21-year-old blonde disappeared from her room, unseen by security cameras?

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Nov 8, 2010
Length: 29 minutes (7,421 words)

A Piece of Their Mind

Tatiana and Krista are not just conjoined, but they are craniopagus, sharing a skull and also a bridge between each girl’s thalamus, a part of the brain that processes and relays sensory information to other parts of the brain. Or perhaps in this case, to both brains. There is evidence that they can see through each other’s eyes and perhaps share each other’s unspoken thoughts. And if that proves true, it will be the rarest thing of all. They will be unique in the world.

Source: Maclean’s
Published: Nov 2, 2010
Length: 8 minutes (2,004 words)

It Was Rubio’s Tuesday: ‘The Most Important Freshman Senator’

Marco Rubio’s strategists were brutally direct in a memo to the candidate on July 10, 2009. “The hard truth is that no one outside of a small number of activists cares about you right now as a stand-alone candidate. And our 2nd quarter fundraising numbers will make many care even less.” The only plausible path to victory was for Rubio to become the Anti-Crist, and the most important point of contrast would be support for the Obama agenda.

Source: Weekly Standard
Published: Nov 6, 2010
Length: 21 minutes (5,446 words)

Please Allow Me To Correct a Few Things

Imagining if Mick Jagger responded to Keith Richards about his new autobiography. “I am, I see here, marginally endowed, if I read Keith’s sniggering aright. I do not sing well, either. I am not polite to employees; indeed, I have even been known to say, ‘Oh, shut up, Keith,’ in band meetings. I do not appreciate the authenticity of the music or the importance of what we do. I want to ‘lord it over’ the band, like James Brown. I am ‘insufferable.’ I slept with Anita.”

Author: Bill Wyman
Source: Slate
Published: Nov 5, 2010
Length: 20 minutes (5,103 words)

George and Sparky

A radio man nicknamed George Anderson “Sparky” way back in the early 1950s, in the minor leagues, back when George was doing what he always did — screaming at an umpire and getting himself tossed out of the game. The radio man said: “Look at the sparks fly! That’s one sparky fella!” George was out of control then — all spark and no plug. He only wanted to be a ballplayer, and he had no idea what would happen to him if he did not become a ballplayer.

Published: Nov 4, 2010
Length: 8 minutes (2,218 words)