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IDEAS: FEATURES
Great Expectations People don't read anymore. Translation is expensive. The Internet! At the London Book Fair, the sky was most definitely falling.
Bottled Water World I was a judge in an international water contest — tap waters, purified waters, spring waters, sparkling waters. It was almost enough to make one forget there's an H2O crisis looming.
All Made Up Clothes cover and festoon a large expanse of the body, but makeup interacts with that smaller, more expressive part of the body — the face.
The Art Catalog The theorists are always arguing about what makes something art. 30,000 Years of Art says let's just move on and look at some more of it.
Bobby Fischer Read Here He rose to fame as an international chess whiz, but spent his last days in the back corner of a sleepy Reykjavik bookstore.
Car Parts Chinese manufacturers, assembly lines, spinning stages, and sparkly dresses. Our correspondent reports from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The Oberlin Experiment There was a time when sports and politics were inseparable, and Oberlin College launched a lunatic revolution of Radical Athleticism and "jock liberation." It may be the great unwritten chapter in American sports history.
At the Body, Mind, and Spirit Expo I heard pets speak from the grave, had a picture of my aura taken, and got sucked into a Scientology pitch. And that was just the first day.
Sequins & Scandals Figure skating is the quintessential American sport. It's both fiercely individualistic and incredibly conformist. And athletes and fans have an extraordinarily high tolerance for corruption. Our correspondent reports from Skate America.
The Official Typeface of the 20th Century Helvetica turned 50 this year. A profile of the font that gave shape and tone to our visual culture.
In Praise of the Town Library Its budget is never enough. Its collection is often small. But I have not yet visited one, not even in the drowsiest rural village, in which a child could not find enough to get started.
Here's To the Death of the "Death of" Article Stephen King asks: What ails the short story? That question misses the point entirely.
Old Like Me Can empathy be taught? I put corn in my shoes and almost pee on the floor as I undergo aging sensitivity training.
Menckenmania How do you celebrate a grouch like Mencken? Our correspondent went to Baltimore for his 127th birthday and found that it involves torture, opera, pit bulls, and cheese.
Northeast Kingdom The apple can be robust or whithered, delicious or deadly, beautiful or terrifying. A photo essay with text by John Wood.
A Dilettante's Guide to Art 1001 Paintings You Should See Before You Die acknowledges the question "What is Painting?" The answer: "Who cares?"
Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara Science exists whether humans exist or not. A Q&A with paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara.
Scopes Revisited Every few years Darwin gets hauled into court. We revisit the most famous case of all, the Scopes Trial.
Small Businesses Blink and you'll miss them. Tiny free-standing businesses are the proverbial canaries in the coal mines, the first to go when gentrification comes knocking. A photo essay.
   

IDEAS: COLUMNS

Pertinent & Impertinent
The big ideas on the small, the not-so-small, and the everyday.
The Death of the Monoculture Why no summer jam this summer? Blame the death of the monoculture.
A Little Something We want mystery in our lives, but we want it to be predictable. Enter SomethingStore.
By Greg Beato
All Bottled Up Like oil, water is a finite resource. Yet criticism of bottled water focuses often on the container, not on what's in it.
By Anne Janette Johnson
A Room With No View Porn has long been a staple of hotels like Marriott. But when groups like Focus on the Family won't stop calling...
By Greg Beato
Gallagher? Seriously? Who goes to a Gallagher show in 2008? That's what I wanted to know.
By Meg Favreau
Farmed Out It felt good to join an organic co-op. It felt even better to blast the AC after a day on the farm.
By Christina Le Beau
Sole Survivor Converse may turn 100 this year, but the All-Star remains the world's most functional shoe.
By Greg Beato
Handwashing, Food, and Existentialism I went to the Food Safety and Security Summit intent on exposing our nation's food hypocrisy. In the end, I realized I'm the phony.
By Jesse Smith
The Death of Gadget Worship Sharper Image sold us stuff we never needed. Turns out, we don't need Sharper Image either.
By Greg Beato
The Pizza Police Want a pizza certified by the Italian government? It's a lot of red-sauce tape.
By Julie Reno
No New Developments Polaroid film will soon be gone. In our digital age, an instant photo is just not instant enough.
By Brian M. O'Connell
Body Triple So why does Hannah Montana (or is it Miley Cyrus?) get away with lip-synching?
By Greg Beato
Get Closer New for the couple that has everything: the intimacy of a shared toilet.
By Greg Beato
Chipping Away A chip used to be just a fried slice of potato. Then it became a lifestyle.
By Jesse Smith
My Night at the Roller Derby The fishnets and elbows of roller derby hint at a time when the narrative of success was less complex.
By Paula Marantz Cohen
Vanslaughter Whatever happened to the van? How the icon stopped rocking at the Tokyo Motor Show.
By Greg Beato
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- Olympic Fever. By Tony Perrottet
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- Got Gout? By Jennifer Fisher Wilson

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