IDEAS

 Another design-related cover at the NYT Mag: Inspiration. Lots of good stuff, but I like the designer presidential candidates posters slideshow.

 Umberto Eco gets all brilliant again in an al-Ahram essay about print versus digital books.

 Scientific American: Does Race Exist.

TECH

 Fortune has the first deep-analysis backlash story on Google. Interspersed among the stories of internecine conflict are these numbers: 1,000 people apply for jobs at Google every day, 30% of Google workers are contractors, 150,000 advertisers have signed up for Adwords, 5% of Google is owned by Yahoo, and an IPO would probably value the company at $20 billion.

LIFE

 Life is so confusing. Last week, the Times Mag told me all about online dating, and this week they diss dating. But then there's the San Fran Chronicle to bolster scamming your friends for dates.

 NYT: The Intern as Hipster.

MUSIC

 NYC names a street after Joey Ramone.

 New Blur video from Shynola: "Good Song".

LOCAL

 Did you see the Strib's review of the spate of new spendy downtown clubs? Babalu, Empire, Escape Ultra Lounge, Dakota Jazz Club, Rossi's Blue Star Room, Soul City Supper Club, and Tabu all cropped up this year. This chump hasn't been to any of them yet.

 Your moment of bliss: Har Mar Superstar vodka ads. Tidbit: I got my hair cut next to Har Mar at Cost Cutters last week. Take that, Gawker Stalker.