Readings

This weekend I'll have some pictures/travel stories, I promise. But on this Friday afternoon, I only have the focus to share these articles I've found interesting recently.

• Wired has an article on mileage running - the practice of finding really long multi-leg trips to rack up frequent flier miles.

• When I hear that a movie like Spiderman 3 has broken opening weekend box-office records, I often wonder what that means when you factor in inflation. Box Office Mojo answers my question with a list of highest-grossing films controlling for inflation. Gone With the Wind is tops, Spiderman 3 is 87th.

• David Vitter, the Republicans' latest moral hypocrite, may cost the party a Senate seat.

• San Francisco, Rome, DC, now Nairobi...lucky for me, I'm not a smoker.
  

• The New York Times has an article on San Francisco's quirky but unexciting mayoral election. While the city usually comes up on the list of hippest places to live in America, The Economist takes a more dour look.
  

• This web site, Jam Band Fan or Taliban, has way more potential than it makes good on.

• Funny stories about jurors or potential jurors, listening to mp3 players under their hijabs, or claiming to be racist, homophobic, liars, respectively.
  

• In case you haven't seen this piece in the Washington City Paper on D.C.'s douchey side. And the excellent comments.
  

• Apparently that whole "American dream" excuse for our country being so unequal doesn't actually fly.
  

• The New America Foundation's Peter Bergen, in The New Republic tells us why we should stop being friends with Pakistan's Pervez Musharaf, already.