The Trials of the Century - New York Times

The Trials of the Century - New York Times: "Fortunately, there are still some members of the American intelligence community who are interested in the terrorist’s whereabouts. Not long ago one of them approached me — not because of my reporting on Al Qaeda but because of my experience as a Hollywood screenwriter, a talent pool the C.I.A. occasionally draws on for futurist thinking. The official asked me to envision what we would do with Mr. bin Laden if we caught him. I said that I didn’t feel comfortable, as a reporter, writing a script for the C.I.A.

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Mr. Universe - New York Times

Mr. Universe - New York Times: "“Star Trek” painted a noble, heroic vision of the future, and that vision became my lodestar. "

The Greatest Story Ever Sold - By Frank Rich - Books - Review - New York Times

The Greatest Story Ever Sold - By Frank Rich - Books - Review - New York Times: "Show business has always been an essential part of ruling people, and so is the use of fiction, especially when going to war. What would Hitler have been without his vicious fantasies fed to a hungry public through grand spectacles, radio and film? Closer to home, in 1964, to justify American intervention in Vietnam, Lyndon B. Johnson used news of an attack in the Gulf of Tonkin that never took place. What is fascinating about the era of George W. Bush, however, is that the spinmeisters, fake news reporters, photo-op creators, disinformation experts, intelligence manipulators, fictional heroes and public relations men posing as commentators operate in a world where virtual reality has already threatened to eclipse empirical investigation."

Into the Woods

Into the Woods: "This happens to be the specialty of one of the novel's more repellent characters, a Nazi named Professor Cheruski. Asked by Heinrich Himmler about the key to understanding a people -- 'to knowing how they think, why they choose to act or not to act in a given situation' -- Cheruski answers: 'It is their literature, Herr Reichsf�hrer. The stories they tell of themselves. . . . The tales that seem to have sprung from the depths of their folk-soul.' Nazism could never have found such a ready purchase had the Germans not become, as one character observes, 'drunk on their own mythology.'"

Dogs May Laugh, but Only Cats Get the Joke - New York Times

Dogs May Laugh, but Only Cats Get the Joke - New York Times: "Laughter is not always about what’s funny, as Robert R. Provine, a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who has studied laughter, has noted in books and articles. It is frequently a social behavior unrelated to jokes or wit. It can serve different purposes. It can be friendly or submissive, hostile or dominant. Witness the old distinction between laughing with and laughing at someone."

This Can't Be Love: The Curious Case of Sexual Cannibalism by Carl Zimmer - Science - New York Times

This Can't Be Love: The Curious Case of Sexual Cannibalism by Carl Zimmer - Science - New York Times: "Across the eastern United States, a gruesome ritual is in full swing. The praying mantis and its relative, the Chinese mantis, are in their courtship season. A male mantis approaches a female, flapping his wings and swaying his abdomen. Leaping on her back, he begins to mate. And quite often, she tears off his head."

A very selfish gene...

On Austrian TV, a True Story of Captivity - New York Times

On Austrian TV, a True Story of Captivity - New York Times: "“I promised myself I would grow older, stronger and sturdier to be able to break free one day,” she said. “I made a pact with my older self that I would come back and free that little girl.”"

Long History of Vote Fraud Lingers in the Mexican Psyche - New York Times

Long History of Vote Fraud Lingers in the Mexican Psyche - New York Times: "What is sure is that Mr. López Obrador has defined himself for many voters as the candidate who lost the election, not through his own errors but because the entire apparatus of the state was against him. That is an old tune in Mexico, one that many know the words to."