Michael Jackson Dies at 50

Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead Thursday after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital after a heart attack left him in a coma, according to published reports. He was 50.

Refreshing by Definition

(NY Times)
By Pete Wells

AGAVE NECTAR In a Venn diagram of vegans and bartenders, this might be the only overlap. While the former group likes it as a honey substitute with no taint of animal exploitation, the latter appreciates its easy ability to blend into cold drinks. Professionals prefer mixing it with tequila and mezcal, but [...]

A Sequined Glove That Mesmerized the World

(NY Times)
By Guy Trebay

IT was impossible to look away from him — not when he was a dimpled child singer crowned with a pillowy Afro, not when he became a pop demigod uniformed in rhinestones and epaulets to command what were always referred to as his armies of fans, and not when his surgical transformations [...]

A Round Peg

(NY Times)
By Randy Kennedy 

Here’S a good art-world quiz question, one that could stump many an astute insider: What do Sol LeWitt, Sonic Youth, Dean Martin, Mel Brooks, Merle Haggard, Hudson River School painting and midcentury New Jersey tract housing have in common?
The answer, Dan Graham — a Zelig of so many creative circles over the [...]

Device judges your pulse and Tweets its findings to your parents and Ashton Kutcher

(Engadget)

What’s creepier than automatically informing Twitter every time your unborn child kicks his mother’s womb? Giving all your Twitter followers a live feed of your heartbeat, including canned messages to announce your death in case you cease pumping Cheeto-infused blood through your goth-nerdy veins. This Japanese DIY project has open source schematics and is designed [...]

Michael Jackson surges to top of UK album chart

(The Guardian)
By David Batty

Michael Jackson’s untimely demise has propelled him to the top of the UK album chart six years after his last number one, the UK’s offcial charts compilers have revealed.
Jackson’s greatest hits album, Number Ones, is set to hit the top spot after a surge in sales in the days since his death [...]

Michael Jackson: The video game star

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2009/06/68492930/1
While his strongest impression was made in the world of music, pop singer Michael Jackson, who died Thursday in Los Angeles, also made his mark in video games.
Gaming site 1up has posted a retrospective of the singer’s impact in the industry.  Most video game players likely remember Jackson from his appearance in the arcade and [...]

Be the best suited for that job with great interview clothes

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/fashion/2009-06-16-interview-clothes_N.htm
By Mary Cadden, USA TODAY
Subtlety is key. That’s the mantra men should keep in mind when dressing for an interview in this tight job market. “You want to stand out for the right reasons,” says Tyler Thoreson, executive editor for Men.Style.com. “Your accomplishments make the statement, not your tie.” USA TODAY asks Thoreson to put [...]

Puppy love: More pets partake in even formal weddings

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-06-23-pet-weddings_N.htm
By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA TODAY

Wedding attendants are going to the dogs.
Pet-loving couples are increasingly including their dogs (and other pets, to a much lesser degree) in the wedding parties of some very formal weddings — decking them out in silk and satin and including them in the receiving line, on the program [...]

1941 science test shows how things have changed

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2009-06-24-evolution-exam_N.htm
Some of us might rather forget our old science exams. But sometimes they still have lessons to offer.
For example, take a 1941 exam unearthed by one anatomy professor. The test is a relic of a simpler time that tells us a lot about the evolution of studying evolution.
“I just found the exam in one of [...]