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2009

Educational? You Be the Judge.

Meet Supreme Court Justice Irene Waters. With her pursed lips and dark hair pulled back in a bun, she bears a passing resemblance to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Krakauer speaks: As his new release hits shelves, an intimate recap of an accidental career

From the windows of his home outside Boulder, Colorado, Jon Krakauer can look west to find the silhouettes of the Flatiron mountains.

After a Slow Beginning, Asian Interest in Indian Art Grows

Sakshi Gallery, one of the largest private art spaces in Mumbai, is planning to lead a group of Taiwanese collectors on a contemporary art tour through India in December after opening a Taipei branch in February — the first Indian gallery to set up in Taiwan.

A Refuge Made From Refuse

Dried loofah, a fruit of the gourd family, is commonly used as a coarse, skin-scrubbing bath sponge. But in rural Paraguay, where an estimated 300,000 or more families lack adequate homes, it is finding a new use as a low-cost construction material.

Targeting Scalia’s Secrets

There are a few things you may know about Antonin Scalia. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, he joined the nation’s highest court in 1986. He’s among the most conservative of the nine Supreme Court justices.

Military’s Plan for PTSD: Early Diagnosis Good, Prevention Better

The military is struggling to address a surge in mental health problems being reported among returning soldiers. As the New York Times recently reported, suicides are at their highest level on record, with 129 reported between January and mid-July — more than the number of troops killed in active combat during the same period.

Physicist’s Fool-Proof War Formula (Just Add Media Accounts)

The military has been trying for years to turn the chaos of war into a simple math problem. So far, those efforts have been trumped by a confluence of shaky variables: free will, tribal factions and chance being a few examples. But one physicist says he’s cracked the code. How’d he do it? He turned on the TV.

The Rumpus Interview with Robert Sullivan

Journalist Robert Sullivan often documents unlovely corners of the natural world: The Meadowlands(1998) turned a naturalist’s eye on a dispiriting region of northern New Jersey notable for its Mafia dumping grounds, while in Rats(2004) Sullivan gave Ratus norvegicus the Dian Fossey treatment.

The Goat That Got Away

A FEW Sundays ago, between 2:53 and 2:56 a.m., a young man was seen loitering outside Cabrito, a Mexican bar and restaurant on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village.