Building a Better Teacher – NYTimes.com. this is one long article. interesting stuff about the lack of training teacher’s receive.

Fractions of a Second: An Olympic Musical – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com. an interesting visualization for the difference between first and last.

Olympic Pictograms Through the Ages – Video Feature – NYTimes.com. nice little video talking about the evolution of pictograms at the olympics.

36 hours in Vancouver – NYTimes.com. Vij’s & Rangoli are going to be so stupidly busy for the next 3 weeks. People line up there before the restaurant opens on a normal day let along during the olympics.

Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord – NYTimes.com. if you find yourself doing karaoke in manila, make sure you don’t sing “My Way”.

Conan O’Brien Says He Won’t Host ‘Tonight Show’ Following Leno – Media Decoder Blog – NYTimes.com. “I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting”. oh snap.

A Peek Into Netflix Queues – NYTimes.com. Choose Seattle, and then check out movies like “Milk” and “Paul Blart : Mall Cop”.

As Hawaii’s Seas Roil, Surfers Await the Big One – NYTimes.com. it’s like the end of Point Break.

McCann Responds to ‘Mad Men’ – Media Decoder Blog. i guess this would be a spoiler if you haven’t watched Mad Men this season. A real agency that still exists today buys the fake agency on Mad Men. They put a video up on their website pointing this out.

The Jobless Rate for People Like You – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com. The worst off: black men ages 15 to 24 without a high school degree: 48.5%. The best off: white women ages 25 to 44 with a college degree: 3.6%

Maine Vote Is Focus of Gay-Marriage Fight – NYTimes.com. i recently had the pleasure of driving through the state of maine. it’s quite nice. as are equal rights.

Mets Fans Have Choice of Two Evils in World Series – NYTimes.com. “This, my friends, is Baseball Armageddon, there is no happy ending. The next two weeks are going to be the worst two weeks on earth.” ha.

The New Untouchables – NYTimes.com. it’s people who can hustle.

Aerial Bowfishers Take Aim at Invasive Silver Carp in Midair – NYTimes.com. if you can make it a sport, i’m confident an american will figure out how. the video is good cause the guy is such a hick.

California School Has a Montana and a Gretzky at Quarterback – NYTimes.com. Montana’s son is the starting quarterback, Gretzky’s is the backup. And Will Smith’s son plays wide receiver. talk about a celebrity school.

Cultured Traveler – Fans of ‘Twilight’ Book Series Put Forks, Wash., in the Spotlight – NYTimes.com. it’s kinda ridiculous to see stuff like this happen to cities. oddly enough, i once drove through Forks with Auriol and didn’t even notice it.

Study Shows New York Charter School Students Score Better – NYTimes.com. the report is interesting in that it compares kids who applied to charter schools but divides them based on whether or not they got accepted. “selection bias” has been long argued why charter schools perform better on standardized tests.

Why We Travel: Readers’ Photos – NYTimes.com. love this one photo. i love road trips. tons of amazing photos in there.

Roger Penske, Detroit’s Mr. Fix-It, Takes On Saturn – NYTimes.com. it’s interesting to know that Saturn has lost money for GM every year it existed.

Working Class Zero – Timothy Egan Blog – NYTimes.com. nice commentary on the people at these “tea parties” protesting Obama.