Small Talk


Joe Raedle/Getty Images News

Online Date Hacking

Wired Magazine recently undertook a study of popular online dating services like OkCupid and Match.com to mine some data about the most popular terms and tips.


Hannelore Foerster/ Getty Images News

The World’s Most Generous Nation Revealed

Lizzie O'Leary of economics show Marketplace gives us a little lesson on international economics. Specifically, which countries are handing out the most cash.


Brendon Thorne/Getty

Why Sleep When You Can Scan?

Reyhan Harmanci, executive editor of the food and culture magazine Modern Farmer, joins us to get cozy with "smart pajamas."


Best of 2013 Small Talk

By this point, you're probably buried under recaps of 2013's major headlines. So here, in tiny digestible pieces, are all of the crazy news items that didn't make the front page, but probably helped you win your dinner parties...


Humor in the Details – of Timing

Richard Lawson, now a columnist for Vanity Fair, tells us how to tell how soon is too soon, thanks to a recent Twitter-based study.


Late Notes, from the MTA and Sadie Stein

Story time and solitary weeping at The Paris Review with deputy editor Sadie Stein. She takes us through the most dinner-party-worthy bits of the current issue, Number 207.


Diphthong vs. Gherkin

Sadie Stein, Deputy Editor of the Paris Review, brings us the results of a lexical battle royale


From Russia with Love… Lost

Richard Lawson, Senior Editor for The Atlantic Wire, shares a high-tech story from Russia with loveā€¦lost.


A Sticky Legal Situation (If You Lick the Back)

What's more American than the Statue of Liberty? How about a sexier version of the famous statue, outside a casino in Las Vegas, which is now the subject of a lawsuit with the US Postal Service?