Donna Summer, who moaned, shimmied and grooved her way into the glare of disco’s strobe lights in the mid-1970s and became one of the genre’s most defining and enduring artists, died May 17 in Naples, Fla. She was 63. Read full article > >

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Donna Summer, Queen of Disco, dies at 63; singer influenced many performers

Let’s say you are a devoted fan of Kurt Vonnegut ’s books, love the sardonic comeuppance stories of John Collier and Roald Dahl , own all of Edward Gorey ’s little albums and enjoy watching reruns of “The Twilight Zone.” Where else can you find similar instances of sly, macabre wit, of such black-humored, gin-and-tonic fizziness in storytelling? Read full article > >

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A master of satirical science fiction

Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe. We bet you never sausage a quiz. – Guardian You'll be in hog heaven with this oven-baked pork butt. – Wall Street Journal You are now free to drink in the cabin: The best airlines for tippling. – Food Republic What do you get when former New York Times restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton sits down to watch the Food Network? A lot of priceless criticism.  – Grub Street Sniffing out the biggest wine hoax in history. – New York Magazine

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Box lunch: Sausage knowledge and ‘Chateau Sucker’

The barrel-roof townhouses of River Park are Campbell’s soup cans, halved the long way, balanced on top of metal cubes two blocks from Southwest Washington’s Waterfront Metro station. They are called “houses” — because people live in them, and really, what else could they be called? — but they are architectural punch lines, visual acid trips, the left-behind parts of the secret UFO that docked down by the waterfront half a century ago and then flew away before anyone caught it on camera. The barrel-roof townhouses of River Park were — Read full article > >

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Southwest waterfront’s River Park community turns 50

As a culture, we’re unhealthily obsessed with our mothers. For the past several months, I have been deluged with e-mails wanting to know if I have made plans yet for Mother’s Day. Only a few of these have been from my mother. Read full article > >

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Alexandra Petri: Time magazine and our mommy porn fixation

The ancient Mayans were masters of time, keepers of good calendars. And now we have one of their timekeepers’ workrooms to prove it. In a striking find, archaeologists in Guatemala report the discovery of a small building whose walls display not only a stunningly preserved mural of a brightly adorned Mayan king, but also calendars that destroy any notion that the Mayans predicted the end of the world in 2012. Read full article > >

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Mayan prophecy: The world won’t end, as a newfound calendar goes on and on and on

During the Oscars, celebrities dress to impress the public and each other. During the Costume Institute Gala , also called the Met Ball, they dress to impress a far more discerning audience: Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. More than the Oscars or any other event, the Met Ball is where you’ll see fashion that is playful, fresh and risky — well, maybe not Lady Gaga meat dress risky, but asymmetrical/embellished-sleeve/bold-patterned risks, instead. Read full article > >

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Costume Institute Gala: Why the Met steps are the greatest red carpet

I am thoroughly sick of balsamic vinegar. I’m tired of its raisiny taste, which is too often saccharine and cloying. And of its syrupy density, not to mention its distinct aroma. I am fed up with chefs who have insisted on using it to dress salads, marinate poultry, glaze meat and “enliven” grilled vegetables, fruit, cheese and God knows what else. Read full article > >

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Adios balsamic. Hello, red wine vinegar.

A new book claims that legendary Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee once harbored doubts about whether star reporter Bob Woodward was completely “straight” when recounting in his best-selling Watergate book some of the dramatic, cinematic elements of the scandal. Read full article > >

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New book on Bradlee: Editor harbored doubts about details of ‘All the President’s Men’

As U.S. helicopters approached in darkness a year ago, Osama bin Laden was woefully unprepared: no means of escape, no way to destroy files, no succession plan. But U.S. intelligence analysts scouring the trove of data he left behind continue to find evidence that al-Qaeda was making provisions for the long term, plans that in some cases remain on track. Read full article > >

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Al-Qaeda is weaker without bin Laden, but its franchise persists

Six weeks before the raid by U.S. Navy SEALs that killed Osama bin Laden last May, President Obama’s top national security officials debated various other options, including dropping an experimental small bomb on the al-Qaeda leader inside his Pakistani fortress, obliterating the compound with a B-2 bomber or inviting the Pakistanis to conduct a joint operation. Read full article > >

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‘Manhunt’ details U.S. mission to find Osama bin Laden

If you listen, you can hear the shrieks of excitement from design-obsessed shelter magazine readers everywhere as they spot the cover of their beloved Domino back on the newsstands. But their happiness will likely be short-lived. Domino Quick Fixes , a special edition released last week and available though July 16, is mostly recycled material from the publication’s original four-year run. Another bummer: It costs $11. Read full article > >

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The resurrection of Domino magazine

For emerging fashion designers, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize is a key to the kingdom. Last year, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, along with Vogue magazine, presented the award to French designer Joseph Altuzarra. As part of his prize, that kingdom includes shelf space at J.Crew. On Thursday, a small collection of Altuzarra clothes debuted on the preppy retailer’s online store. The clothes will arrive in stores on Monday. Read full article > >

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Joseph Altuzarra brings French preppy style to J. Crew

I worried about my back. It went into spasm just a week before the scheduled start of a three-day trek through the Ten Thousand Islands on the Florida Everglades’ WildernessWaterway. Even sitting at my computer for long stretches aggravated the tightness in my muscles. How would they hold up to hours of tough paddling while seated in the cramped cockpit of a kayak, followed by nights separated from the hard ground by nothingmore than a thin sleeping pad? Read full article > >

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Kayaking the Florida Everglades, if you dare

The man at the center of the scandal embroiling the General Services Administration — the one who insisted that the infamous Las Vegas planning conference had to be “over the top” — was trying to supplant what previous hosts of the biennial conference had achieved. Read full article > >

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GSA manager wanted ‘over the top’ Vegas conference