The New York Times has sought the counsel of Syracuse University professor of popular culture Robert Thompson “in 150 separate stories over the span of almost two decades.” Thompson, who has spoken with 78 different Times scribes, most recently brought his expertise to the topic of “spaghetti tacos,” which are apparently sweeping the nation.

“That man is a mind-game genius. I read the Machiavelli war-tactic books, his biography, everything. That man is just like sticks and stones, bad. You see Waka Flocka, what do you think? Negativity. You read Machiavelli? Negativity. My brain, I’m so sharp, I can play stupid on the camera and they think I’m dumb. So really, you just playing yourself. I’m so ahead of y’all. That’s for the bloggers.”
–You think Waka Flocka Flame’s lyrics betray a lack of erudition? You thought he looked a bit flumoxed when questioned about education and voting on 106 and Park? Perhaps his name itself led you to question his intellect? Pshaw. As he tells MTV News, it’s all strategy. He is operating on a higher level.

Today in tenuous photocaptioning: “Holding death at bay was something Dorian Gray was able to achieve, although his methods were very different to the pioneering new research by scientists at the University of Milan.”

An addendum to our snapshot of this moment in time: Here is how some of the popular entertainment of the day reflected our current obsessions and concerns. This episode is called “Remembrance of Things Past,” so I guess someone on the writing staff has at least a couple of semesters of college under his or her belt.

“David Archuleta, American Idol runner-up in 2008, has become in 2010 the subject of a Wikipedia free-for-all, where the facts of his personal history and his career are up for grabs. On the ‘most edited pages’ list for Wikipedia articles, his article sits at #91-very high for an artist who’s been on the scene for two years, especially as Michael Jackson is #115, Barack Obama is #110, and Lady Gaga falls outside the top 5,000.”

This is an interesting idea, that web design (with its ads! And colors!) and also being on the web (with IMs! And diversions!) is bad for reading. I’m not sure I agree all told with these arguments but I do also enjoy me some Instapaper.

What’s going on in America these days? Let’s look at three different stories which, taken together, provide a snapshot of our country in an era of economic difficulty and political upheaval.

First, a warning to parents that letting their children wear overly tight latex products on their skin for an extended period of time may result in injury.

Next, the face of Jesus appears in a woman’s MRI.

Finally, two mothers in Pennsylvania arranged a fight between their daughters. So enthusiastic were the moms that they themselves began to engage in fisticuffs. The story ends on this note: “The incident was all captured on cell phone video and apparently was to be posted online.”

And that’s where we are right now, in October of 2010. And that is without even bringing up “LARGEST ALLIGATOR EVER KILLED IN ARKANSAS HISTORY.” If we somehow survive long enough that you are able to tell your grandchildren how you lived in such an age they will refuse to believe it.

Forty or so students walked out on their social studies class yesterday, as the fight about an endowment from New Republic owner/figurehead Marty Peretz heats up. The $650,000 undergraduate research fund comes from donations in the name of Peretz, who is, among many other things, a former Harvard professor. (There is already a Martin Peretz Chair in Yiddish Literature at Harvard, since the early 90s; that money comes from his married-into (and now separated) Singer fortune.) Peretz was recently disinvited from speaking at Harvard over his recent thoughts on Muslims. The students’ crazy objections seem to mostly be about how Peretz not only hates Muslims but also most Latinos though mostly Mexicans and a fair share of the blacks as well. (But only what Peretz has historically classified as the lazy ones.) The Harvard Islamic Society is still waiting for its meeting with the school’s president.

Girls micturating in doorways, men relieving themselves on monuments, members of both genders throwing up in the streets… it’s just another night out in Knifecrime Island. Or, as the Mail has it: “Too drunk to care: Staggering students urinate on war memorial and vomit in gutters as Carnage revellers shame our streets again.”

Light one up for this guy: “A chimpanzee once hooked on smoking by visitors offering it cigarettes has died at a South African zoo at the relatively advanced age of 52, officials said on Wednesday. ‘He appears to have died of old age,’ said municipal spokesman Qondile Khedama. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.”