Newsweek articles from December 2006

Newsweek archives from December 2006

Let's Kill the Turkeys Before They Can Fly.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Allan Sloan Now that Thanksgiving has passed and we're stuffed with good cheer, it's time to start thinking about New Year's resolutions. Nowhere do we need resolve more than Washington. Given my contrarian nature, I'd like to...

Scenes From a New Mall; Shoppers can now find 'downtown' in suburbia.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Jamie Reno Like so many suburbs, Lakewood, Colo., near Denver, never had a downtown. Now it does. Well, actually, what it has is Belmar, a shopping center--only this isn't your basic strip mall. It's what's called a "lifestyle...

Letters to the Magazine.
December 4, 2006... Calling On the Former President's Men Some readers of our cover package expressed wary hope that Bush Senior and his team might help direct the country and rescue George W. Bush's presidency. "In the past, Bush 43 shunned his father's advice...

The Editor's Desk.(Editorial)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Jon Meacham There was a time, in the spring of 2003, when a relatively smooth transition from tyranny to democracy in Iraq did not seem an outlandish prospect. Baghdad had fallen; Saddam Hussein was on the run; soon the president...

New Speaker, Old Virtues.(Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi)(Column)
December 4, 2006... Byline: George F. Will There has been an admirable absence of chivalry in assessments of Nancy Pelosi's stumbling steps toward the speakership. She dismayed colleagues by saying that in order for her to be an effective leader she needed...

Sword of the Shia; He can deal out death through his black-clad followers and roil the government any time he chooses. Why Moqtada al-Sadr may end up deciding America's fate in Iraq.(Cover story)
December 4, 2006... Byline: This story was written by Jeffrey Bartholet with reporting from Kevin Peraino and Sarah Childress in Baghdad; Michael Hastings in Amman; Dan Ephron, Michael Hirsh and John Barry in Washington; Christopher Dickey in Paris; Melinda Liu in...

The Next Step? Think Vietnam. There is much moaning in Washington about the return of the 'realists.' But what we need is a Kissingerian effort to extricate America.(Column)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Fareed Zakaria If you want to understand the futility of america's current situation in Iraq, last week provided a vivid microcosm. On Thursday, just hours before a series of car bombs killed more than 200 people in the Shia...

The Coolest Mogul; Multimillionaire business exec Shawn Carter--Jay-Z to you--is 36 and still hasn't lost his street cred. How'd he manage that?(Interview)(Biography)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Lorraine Ali No flashbulbs go off when Jay-Z enters the small downstairs lobby of Soho House, an exclusive hangout looking down on Manhattan's trendy meatpacking district. In fact, no one really even notices the 6-foot-2 guy in...

The Maverick of Movieland; Robert Altman, 1925-2006.(Obituary)
December 4, 2006... Byline: David Ansen Robert Altman never courted an audience's affections. A cool, iconoclastic customer, he scorned sentimentality, upended the rules of genre, spurned happy endings. Why, then, did his best movies produce in me a happiness...

Thou Shalt Not Turn Me Into a False Idol; Because I'm a pastor's wife, everyone thinks my life is perfect and they have me figured out. Not so fast.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Eileen Button (Button lives in Davison, Mich.) I married a banker. I like to remind my banker-turned-pastor husband of this when we're having a particularly difficult time in the ministry. Although I wouldn't trade his...

The Last Man Standing; With the neocons in disarray, Elliott Abrams may be their best hope for keeping President Bush onboard.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Michael Hirsh and Dan Ephron It's been a rough season for neoconservatives, the group that has dominated U.S. foreign policy since the attacks of September 11. They've been largely run out of the Bush administration, beset by...

A Latino 'Spanking'; Bush's party lost favor among Hispanics in 2006. Now the new Republican chief has to woo them back.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Arian Campo-Flores (With Daren Briscoe) Until recently, Jane Barbosa was as reliable a Republican as they come. A Mexican native who arrived in the United States at the age of 2, Barbosa, 60, first got involved in politics as a...

The Elusive Hunter; It's a way of life that dates to the dawn of the nation. But hunting is on the wane in America. A sportsman's lament.(Column)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Steve Tuttle I remember the first time i ever killed something. It was a rabbit, and I was about 12 years old. I put my gun to my shoulder and aimed--taking care to lead the target--and pulled the trigger. The animal seemed to...

Sorry Isn't Just Another Word; I'm not a racist, that's what's so insane about this, and yet it's said, it comes through, it fires out of me. --Michael Richards.(Viewpoint essay)(Column)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Ellis Cose Never apologize and never explain" may have been a fine creed for the cavalry officer played by John Wayne in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," released in 1949. But today, public figures reject such counsel out of hand. When...

Newsmakers: Matthew Broderick, Peter Jackson, Clay Aiken.(Interview)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Devin Gordon, Nicki Gostin Matthew Broderick: The stage and screen star has a new film called "Deck the Halls." He spoke with Nicki Gostin. I'm going to ask you something and you have to tell the truth. OK. How much do...

Perspectives.(quotations drawn from current events)
December 4, 2006... "Our bellies are full of blood." Baghdad resident Imbrahim Tabour, responding to a barrage of insurgent attacks that killed more than 200 Iraqi civilians in one day "I never in a million years thought... we'd be donning Leaf sweaters."...

UNCIVIL WARS EDITION.(political satire)(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... A lesson for tabloid kings who think there's no such thing as too far: Even the Rupester backs down on O.J. Bush (equal) Still sounding stubborn, but trip to Jordan, and Cheney travel, may mean something's up. Let's hope. Iraq (down)...

Investigations: Putin, Russia and an Ex-Spy's Mysterious Death.(Russian President Vladimir Putin)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff and Owen Matthews Until a few days ago, U.S. and British government inves-tigators had never heard of anyone being poisoned by the obscure and unstable isotope polonium-210. Now its extreme rarity is...

Defense: The Pentagon Handoff.(Robert Gates, new Secretary of Defense)(Correction notice)(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... ***** CORRECTION: In "The Pentagon Handoff" (Periscope, Dec. 4), we misidentified Texas A&M University's executive vice president and provost. He is David B. Prior. NEWSWEEK regrets the error. ***** Byline: John Barry and Gretel...

Politics: Out of the Running?(candidates to become chair of House Committee on Intelligence)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Michael Isikoff House speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi is exploring compromise candidates to resolve the furious lobbying fight over who should chair the House intelligence committee. Pelosi has agreed to meet this week with Rep....

TRANSITION.(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: David Gates, Mark Starr Anita O'Day, 87 In the 1940s and '50s, serious jazz listeners loved her almost as much as they did Billie and Ella. At the most fearsome tempos, her singing and scatting sounded relaxed, and she swung...

Beliefwatch: Good Books.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Lisa Miller Noah's Ark is the perfect children's tale. You have animals, a big boat, bad weather, a happy ending (good luck, though, answering the question: why did God kill all those people?). It's not difficult to find a...

Publishing: No More Free Rein For Regan.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Johnnie L. Roberts In Rupert Murdoch's global media empire, few hired hands have operated with the same level of autonomy as Judith Regan, the bad girl of publishing behind the O. J. Simpson "confession" book scandal. Apparently...

Psychology: Pretty Pink Prison Cells.(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Lee Hudson Teslik Six inmates who attempted a jailbreak at a small Missouri prison earlier this year all wound up back behind bars--but in kiddie-themed cells. To repair smoke damage from a fire set by prisoners during the breakout...

Circuses: Big Top Presses On.(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Mummolo In an effort to woo the "iPod generation," Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus made headlines this year for adding a giant video screen and a hip-hop musical score. Other modern acts, like Cirque du Soleil,...

College A More 'Common' Application Process.(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Karen Springen The University of Chicago is known for its "Uncommon Application," filled with quirky questions like "How do you feel about Wednesday?" So when word got out in November that the school is expected to switch to the...

Making Your Grass Greener; Your utility may offer free or low-cost energy audits that can help you find ways of cutting your heating and cooling bills.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn; Reporter associate: Temma Ehrenfeld Kermit the frog should love it. Everybody wants to be green. Now it's the real-estate industry, out to save energy, save the planet and save money for their clients. With only...

First Comes Junior In a Baby Carriage; Four in 10 kids are now born to unmarried moms.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Debra Rosenberg and Pat Wingert (With Karen Springen and Daren Briscoe) Tara Rhodes always assumed her life would unfold in the usual order--she'd date her boyfriend, they'd get married and then have a kid or two. But then Rhodes,...

Heartbreak's Revenge; Some states allow suits for 'alienation of affection.'.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Julie Scelfo When George Berg's wife, Sandra, began spending three nights a week studying for an MBA, he didn't mind. But when the manager of the family's Myrtle Beach time share called two years ago to say someone left behind a...

A Virulent Enemy; The story of yellow fever still has much to teach us.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Anne Underwood It was nature's own bioterror attack. The year was 1898, during the Spanish-American War, and the United States was losing more soldiers to yellow fever than to combat. In the disease's final, hideous stages,...

Back Pain: To Cut or Not to Cut.(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Karen Springen Each year, about 300,000 Americans have surgery for herniated disks, at a cost of $10,000 to $15,000 per procedure. Is it worth it? Maybe. And maybe not. A report in last week's Journal of the American Medical...

Let's Talk About Race; In the aftermath of Michael Richards's meltdown at the Laugh Factory, it's time to tell the truth about what's too scary to say out loud.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Raina Kelley (With Joshua Alston) If you're just back from Thanksgiving in Antarctica, let me be the first to tell you that Michael Richards, the actor best known as Cosmo Kramer from "Seinfeld," let loose a racist tirade on a...

A Question of Freedom; When Benedict XVI goes to Turkey, the media talk will be of Islam, but the pope's visit could advance religious liberty for Orthodox Christians.
December 4, 2006... Byline: George Weigel (Weigel is senior fellow at Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author, most recently, of "God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church.") Rome and Constantinople formally...

Moving Into a New Office; What's in the next Word, PowerPoint and Excel? A radically changed look that tries to unleash features.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Steven Levy Julie Larson-Green had presented her work to Bill Gates earlier in her career, and like just about everyone in her shoes, had to manage some butterflies beforehand. But in January 2005, the stakes were higher. The...

'Stuff That Will Take Your Breath Away'; The Father of Inventions, Dean Kamen.(inventor of the Segway, a personal transporter)(Ka-men)(Interview)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Brad Stone It hasn't been a great year for Dean Kamen's personal transporter, the Segway. Earlier this year the company Ka-men founded recalled all 24,000 units it has sold in the United States, to repair a software glitch that can...

One Brit vs. The Utopians; A master playwright takes on Old Russia's prerevolutionaries. Sound dry? Just you wait.("The Coast of Utopia")(Theater review)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Cathleen McGuigan He's back at last, that daredevil Brit--the guy who's so clever with quips but deep down is dead serious, who's as deft as an acrobat but tough enough to go the distance. No, no--not the new James Bond. We mean...

Technology: Are Hi-Def Discs For You?(high definition media)(Product/service evaluation)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Steven Levy In the next few weeks millions of people will buy TV sets with humongous high-definition screens. They will arrange with their cable and satellite providers to get HD television shows to fill all those pixels. And then...

The Checklist; Our top picks for the week ahead.(popular culture)(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Watch Gwen Stefani's 'Wind It Up' (mtv.com). A yodeling dance video that's a lot of fun, borrowing from "The Sound of Music." Stefani's new album, "The Sweet Escape," drops next week. Drink Crown Royal XR ($150 for 750ml). High-end...

Road Test: Ferrari 599; Italian Symphony.(Product/service evaluation)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Tara Weingarten I'll admit that no one needs 611 horses yanking her to work each morning but, man, it would be fun. Ferrari's latest stallion, the GTB Fiorano (it replaces the 575M Maranello), blasts from a standstill to 62mph in a...

Money: How To Spend This Xmas.(luxury credit cards)(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Linda Stern Cha-ching . is that the sound of a cash register we hear?'Tis the season to upgrade your credit card into premium plastic aimed at big spenders. Each has its own menu of high-class rewards. Here's how they stack up: ...

Environment: A Greener Way to Dress.(fabric made from bamboo fibers)(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Anne Underwood Bamboo: the stuff of floors, furniture... and now, fashion. Five years ago, Chinese engineers learned how to break down the fibers and spin them into thread. Now bamboo is sprouting up in dozens of products, from...

Family: Feeling OK at the Doctor's.(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Anna Kuchment Most kids try to avoid the doctor like the plague. So how do you make your next visit more pleasant? Howard J. Bennett, a Washington, D.C., pediatrician and author of the new book "Lions Aren't Scared of Shots"...

Real Food For Thought; Between the perfect cookie recipe and the surefire post-holiday diet, it's worth noting that America is still in the grip of a hunger epidemic.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Anna Quindlen Alex Toro threads his big white truck through traffic, making the kind of pilgrimage New York City foodies live for. No stop at Le Bernardin today, the French fish restaurant that is routinely named one of the city's...

Get Ready to Rumble; The saucy Bratz dolls are hot, and Barbie's figures are sagging. What's a middle-aged blonde to do? Get a makeover.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh For each of the past 47 years, Barbie has traded in her most prized accessories for something new, depending on the fad of the moment: one season, it's cowgirl boots; another, leg warmers. Next year she's trading up...

Welcome to Iowa Edition.
December 11, 2006... Buckle up! Only 700 more days of punditry until the 2008 presidential election! Vroom-vroom, Vilsack! Bush (down) To Maliki: Heck of a job, Nuri! To American public: No graceful exit from Iraq. Deal with it. Maliki (down) Leaked U.S....

Letters to the Magazine.(Letter to the editor)
December 11, 2006... Coping With Life as a Grown-Up With Autism Many parents of autistic children appreciated our cover story on the challenges facing these young people as they come of age. A mother, just diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, wrote,...

The Editor's Desk.(Editorial)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Jon Meacham As he tells it, James A. Baker III was as surprised as anyone when George W. Bush became president. "I always liked him," Baker writes in his new memoir, "but I wouldn't have taken a bet in the late fifties or early...

Peering Into the Future; Genetic testing is transforming medicine--and the way families think about their health. As science unlocks the intricate secrets of DNA, we face difficult choices and new challenges.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Claudia Kalb (With Anne Underwood and Jonathan Mummolo) The year is 1895 and Pauline Gross, a young seamstress, is scared. Gross knows nothing about the double helix or the human-genome project--such medical triumphs are far in...

Biomarkers: 'I'm Pretty Optimistic'; A Nobel Prize winner talks about the importance of early detection and the future of diagnostic medicine.(Interview)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Fred Guterl The best way to attack cancers and other diseases is to be watchful for the earliest signs. That's why medical researchers are excited about the potential for diagnostic techniques involving proteins--workhorse...

Vitamin D in the Spotlight; This critical nutrient builds bones, helps fight infection and may protect against some cancers. Do we get enough?
December 11, 2006... Byline: Meir J. Stampfer, M.D., DR. P.H. (Stampfer is professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor and chair of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. For more on vitamin D from Harvard, go to...

Old Bugs Learn Some New Tricks; As more drugs are created to fight infection, bacteria mutate and strike in another form.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Harvey B. Simon, M.D.; Simon is editor in chief of the Harvard Men's Health Watch, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, a member of the Health Science Technology faculty at MIT and a member of the...

A Six-Foot Lab Rat; There's hope ahead in the battle against deadly braintumors, thanks to new treatments and brave patients.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Anne Underwood Samuel Hassenbusch knows brain tumors. As a neurosurgeon at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, he's been operating on them since 1988. But early last year, when he suffered a month long string of persistent...

Why Heavy Isn't Healthy; Hold off on the holiday treats. Studies proclaiming no harm from extra pounds don't tell the whole story.
December 11, 2006... Byline: JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., and Peter Wehrwein (Manson is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She is the author of "Hot Flashes, Hormones & Your...

Stem Cells Are Where It's At; Despite setbacks and controversy, promising research is underway.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Mary Carmichael Seventeen years ago, Richard Burt, an immunologist at Northwestern University, had a crazy idea. What if he could press the "restart" button on his patients, destroying their faulty immune systems and building them...

Can We Slow Aging? A compound found in red wine may extend the human life span. A report from the front lines.
December 11, 2006... Byline: David Sinclair, M.D. and Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D.; Sinclair is an associate professor of pathology, codirector of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and cofounder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, the company...

Minds and Magnets; An experimental treatment offers promise for some patients whose depression resists standard medications and shock therapy.(transcranial magnetic stimulation)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Michael Craig Miller, M.D.; Miller is editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter and a member of the faculty of Harvard Medical School. For more information go to health.harvard.edu/NEWSWEEK. Anne and mark (not their real...

Let's Live Healthier; Preventing disease is cheaper and smarter than treating it. Make it a priority, our Harvard doc says.(Interview)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Howard Lewine; Lewine is a clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical director of Internet publishing at Harvard Health Publications. For more information go to health.harvard.edu. Readers should consult a...

Targeting Needless Breast Biopsies; A promising new technology could help to separate benign lumps from malignant ones.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Anne Underwood Think mammograms are unpleasant? Breast biopsies are much worse. Any woman who's had one to determine whether a lump is benign or malignant will attest to that. Even with minimally invasive techniques, the doctor has...

Russian Roulette; The poisoning of a Kremlin critic has the world asking how dangerous Moscow has become.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Michael Hirsh and Owen Matthews (With Anna Nemtsova in Moscow, Mark Hosenball in Europe and Stryker McGuire, Ginanne Brownell and William Underhill in London) Alexander Litvinenko said a lot of outrageous things when he was alive....

A Troubled 'Afghan Model'; Having confronted Islamic extremists on many issues, Musharraf seems to believe he need not thwart them on the goal of Afghan jihad.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Fareed Zakaria As Iraq has descended into chaos over the last three years, Washington policymakers have often pointed to Afghanistan as the success story in the war on terror. Even those who worry about the situation on the ground...

Living the Dream; She lost on 'American Idol.' She's never acted. So what? In 'Dreamgirls,' Jennifer Hudson knocks the socks off everyone--including Beyonce. What happens next?
December 11, 2006... Byline: Sean Smith When Oprah Winfrey phoned the hotel room, Jennifer Hudson refused to take the call. "Tell her I'm not talking," Hudson told her makeup artist, who had answered the phone. Relaying this story a week later, Hudson laughs....

It's Diva-Licious; 'Dreamgirls' is a stage classic. The film's even better.(Dreamgirls)(Movie review)
December 11, 2006... Byline: David Ansen To understand the definition of a showstopper, look no further than "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)," which became an instant Broadway legend in 1981 when Jennifer Holliday belted out the song in Michael Bennett's...

Mel's Jungle Boogie; The embattled director returns with his brutal and bloody chase movie 'Apocalypto.' Run for your life.
December 11, 2006... Byline: David Ansen Let no one deny that mel Gibson is a true auteur, an artist whose films are deeply personal, intransigently independent of movie-industry fashion and possessed of a singular vision. Even if his name weren't on the...

I'm Still Starry-Eyed After All These Years; The passion for astronomy I share with my daughter spans the generations and the galaxy.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Michael J. Pollaci (Pollaci lives in Stafford, Va.) I recently purchased a telescope for my daughter Jenna Rose's eighth birthday. It was, for us, a large purchase, one we really cannot afford right now, but when my wife saw the...

Politics: McCain's Ground War; The senator is calling for more boots on the ground in Iraq. Is this any way to wage a presidential campaign?
December 11, 2006... Byline: Holly Bailey (With Jonathan Darman) Peter Spaulding was John McCain's man in New Hampshire, and with good reason. The longest-serving member of the state's Executive Council (which, with the governor, holds all administrative power...

So Now What, Mr. President? Folks used to wonder why he didn't push into Baghdad. Baker doesn't hear that question much anymore.(Cover story)
December 11, 2006... Byline: This story was written by Evan Thomas with reporting from Richard Wolffe, John Barry, Michael Hirsh and Dan Ephron in Washington; Christopher Dickey in Paris; Kevin Peraino and Sarah Childress in Baghdad, and Michael Hastings in...

Newsmakers: Ricky Gervais, Pam, Kid, Paris, Lindsay and a Haiku.(Kid Rock)(Paris Hilton)(Interview)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Devin Gordon, Nicki Gostin The British comedian stars in the new family flick "A Night at the Museum," which is set in New York's American Museum of Natural History. He spoke with Nicki Gostin. I love the Museum of Natural...

Perspectives.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Quotation sources: New York Times, BBC News, AP, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times (3), AP, Reuters, The Washington Post "I have always been an underdog and a long shot." Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, on being the first Democrat...

On Tape: An 'Enemy' Interrogation.(Jose Padilla)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Michael Isikoff Lawyers for "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla claim he is so disoriented from three years of isolation and aggressive interrogations that he is now mentally ill. In new court filings, Padilla's lawyers also assert for...

Auto Industry: GM Loses Its Back-Seat Driver.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Keith Naughton Struggling General Motors had some good news lately, with its sales rising 6 percent in November and the debut last week of its curvaceous new Buick Enclave. But for besieged CEO Rick Wagoner, the best news had to...

By The Book: Taliban Fighters Play by Their Own Rules.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau In case a Taliban fighter wonders what is expected of him, he can now refer to a nine-page, blue and white, pocket-size pamphlet called the Layeha, which Mullah Mohammed Omar began distributing last...

Language: How Google Translates.(improved translation software)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Lee Hudson Teslik Translation software is notoriously spotty. When Newsweek plugged the phrase "This translation does not make sense" into one popular program, it produced a Russian phrase that, translated back, stated: "This...

Education: A Reader's Best Friend.(certified therapy dogs in reading-assistance programs)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Matthew Philips A month ago, 8-year-old Connor Schultz could read 45 words a minute. Today he's up to 93. The reason? A 4-year-old longhaired dachshund named Ruby who, once a week, visits Connor's school in Schenectady, N.Y., and...

Beliefwatch: Sacrifice.(Apocalypto)(Movie review)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Lisa Miller Let's get right to the point, shall we? About halfway through Mel Gibson's movie "Apocalypto," which opens this week, viewers are treated to a stomach-turning scene of human sacrifice, set in a Mayan city around 1500....

Behind the Scenes: At the Caption Contest.(New Yorker's back page contest)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh Seated in a small cubicle 20 floors above Times Square, a 23-year-old Harvard graduate named Zachary Kanin sifts through submissions for The New Yorker's caption contest. The latest cartoon, depicting an Indian...

Smile! You're an Unwitting Net Star. Will fear of exposure on the Internet cause people to lose every day spontaneity?
December 11, 2006... Byline: Steven Levy By now you've heard enough about Michael Richards's racist meltdown at a Los Angeles comedy club. Plenty has been said about the content of his outburst, but not as much on the speed and thoroughness with which the news...

BlogWatch; A mainstream-media snapshot of what's hot (and what's not) in the ever-widening world of weblogs.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... The folks at defamer.com chortle over Creative Artists Agency's loss of two major clients: Kate Hudson and Hugh Grant. Tpmcafe.com rounds up the political hits, catching a GOP strategist using Barack Obama's little-known middle name,...

This Is Your Brain on Alien Killer Pimps of Nazi Doom.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Karen Springen Symeohn Fuqua, 14, and his brothers don't play videogames anymore. This wasn't their idea; Symeohn had the bad luck to participate in a study by researchers at Indiana University that found that 30 minutes of slaying...

Taxes 2006--Win Some, Lose Some.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn (Reported by Temma Ehrenfeld, Jennifer Ordoñez, Jamie Reno and Hilary Shenfeld) Before turning to your taxes this year, buy a pick, shovel and miner's lamp. You'll have to dig for the few tax-saving nuggets...

Ask the Pro; Pat Vredevoogd Combs President of The National Association of Realtors.(selling a home)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Linda Stern With home sales sagging, TIP SHEET's Linda Stern asked Combs for advice. What should you do if you're stuck between two homes: one you can't sell and one you've contracted to buy? Sometimes this means putting...

Charity: It's Money In The Gift Box.(charitable gift funds)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Linda Stern You may not be Bill or Melinda Gates, but you can still create a charitable gift fund. Here's how it works: you create an account through a financial company with a $5,000 or $10,000 tax-deductible contribution. Your...

Protect Your Money By Learning More About Finance. It's All Online.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Insureuonline.org State insurance regulators tell how to avoid scams and buy the coverage you need. You can check a company's complaint record before buying its policies. Valuepro.net Don't want to overpay for a stock? Find out what it's...

Education: Financial Aid 101.(planning for college)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Byline: LINDA STERN Democrats taking over congress say they wantto make more financial aid available for college students. That's great, but parents have to do their part, too. Here's how to make sure your kids qualify for the help they...

International Mail Call.
December 18, 2006... Our Oct. 23 cover story on North Korea's nukes prompted many readers to blame U.S. foreign policy. "Banish all those horrid weapons!" urged one. Taunted another, "Pot calling the kettle black?" A third faulted "Bush's adamant refusal to talk...