From Brooklyn to Worthington, Minnesota

Novelist Tim O’Brien revisits his past to come to terms with his rural hometown

Source: Smithsonian
Published: Nov 1, 2009
Length: 7 minutes (1,821 words)

The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model

Source: Wired
Published: Oct 19, 2009
Length: 37 minutes (9,296 words)

Inside the Islamic Emirate

We’re in Pakistan, I thought to myself. We’re dead. Eight days earlier, a Taliban faction had kidnapped me along with an Afghan journalist, Tahir Luddin, and our driver, Asad Mangal, during a reporting trip just outside Kabul.

Published: Oct 18, 2009
Length: 25 minutes (6,454 words)

Mike Bloomberg Owns This Town

With shrewdness and luck, an imperious idea of democracy, and plenty of money, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made himself the only political player in New York who really matters.

Published: Oct 18, 2009
Length: 23 minutes (5,865 words)

Man of Extremes

The Return of James Cameron.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Oct 26, 2009
Length: 23 minutes (5,840 words)

Onion AV Club Interview with Bronson Pinchot

Source: Onion A.V. Club
Published: Oct 20, 2009
Length: 19 minutes (4,782 words)

A Drone Strike and Dwindling Hope

A stalemate between the United States and the Taliban seemed to unfold before me. The drones killed many senior commanders and hindered their operations. Yet the Taliban were able to garner recruits in their aftermath by exaggerating the number of civilian casualties. (Part 4 of 5)

Published: Oct 20, 2009
Length: 17 minutes (4,267 words)

The Three-Year Solution

How the reinvention of higher education benefits parents, students, and schools.

Source: Newsweek
Published: Oct 17, 2009
Length: 11 minutes (2,864 words)

8 Teams. 17 Years. 208 Games. One Long Road

The oldest field player in the NFL is Brett Favre. The second-oldest is Jeff Zgonina. He’ll never make it to Canton, but he and players like him are the soul of football.

Author: Tim Layden
Published: Oct 19, 2009
Length: 6 minutes (1,682 words)

Mad About Mad Men

What’s wrong—and what’s gloriously right—with AMC’s hit show

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Nov 1, 2009
Length: 5 minutes (1,414 words)