1-26-10 The Day in Review

Stanford asks for a permanent exemption from a Santa Clara County Ordinance cracking down on underage drinking.

Jytte Klausen explains the process by she learned Yale University Press would not to publish the cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in her book on the controversy.

Fiat Lux’s founder Paul Craft sees a potential Republican challenger to John McCain’s Senate seat.

David Brooks warns of the perils of populism.

Newsday’s experimentation in online paywalls has not gone well. Guess how many subscribers have signed up in three months. It’s lower. Much lower.

Wired’s editor Chris Anderson (coming to Stanford!) says that atoms are the new bits, whatever that means. Joel Johnson over at Gizmodo says rather emphatically that they are not.

Obama takes a hatchet where a scalpel is needed and declares a spending freeze.

Playing God alert: Scientists create monkey with a father and two monkeys.

The perennially dour British find a few reasons to be cheerful.

The Dallas Observer profiles a man who earns a living racking up debt, then suing debt collection agencies for violating little-known laws.

Basketball’s Landry Fields wins Pac-10 Player of the Week.

FEATURED ARTICLE:

Patrick Brown writes an elegy for reality TV.

ON THIS DAY:

The Suleman Octuplets celebrate their first birthday today. Don’t worry, People is all over it. And don’t worry, the Octomom is completely stable and is not addicted to anything, like having children or plastic surgery.

Nelson Rockefeller died today in 1979.