video games The Japanese version of MARIO KART 64 included Mario-brand cigarettes and Yoshi-brand motor oil Thom Dunn

Ben & Jerry's There is an ice cream-fueled shadow economy near Ben & Jerry's headquarters in Vermont Andrew Yi

politics The origins of student debt Elías Villoro

Comic Books Love and Rockets gets a documentary after 40 years of being the best comic book ever made Mark Frauenfelder

books Fascinating interview with dystopian author JG Ballard on the "Art of Fiction" David Pescovitz

Partnership for a Drug-Free America This anti-pot PSA warns that smoking the devil's lettice may cause you to purchase too many surfing monkey statues Popkin

newspaper Top NYT headlines from 50 years ago today Annie Rauwerda

smoking New Zealand will ban smoking for entire next generation and beyond David Pescovitz

guns A new investigation from the Trace shows that the ATF rarely enforces the law Thom Dunn

new zealand New Zealand aiming to be "smoke free" by 2025 Jess Sabine

tabloids Sex, meth and flatulence in this week's dubious tabloids Peter Sheridan

History Before it was a collector's item, PEZ was an anti-smoking device Thom Dunn

halloween Send scary clowns to deliver "Screaming Telegrams" Rusty Blazenhoff

happy mutants The lost audiobooks of Roger Zelazny reading the Chronicles of Amber Cory Doctorow

white supremacy Ecofascism isn't new: white supremacy and exterminism have always lurked in the environmental movement Cory Doctorow

police brutality Eric Garner's killer will not be charged Xeni Jardin

addiction Public ignorance about "drunk/drugged up losers" is expensive and deadly Maureen Herman

cancer Tobacco giant Philip Morris is quietly funding an "anti-smoking" foundation offering $1 billion in "grants" to public health leaders Cory Doctorow