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December 11, 2005
The 5th Annual Year in Ideas

This issue marks the fifth anniversary of what is becoming a venerable tradition at the magazine: The Year in Ideas. As always, we seek to gain some perspective on what has transpired since January by compiling a digest of the most noteworthy ideas of the past 12 months. Like the biographer Lytton Strachey surveying the Victorian Age, we row out over the great ocean of accomplishment and lower into it a little bucket, which brings up to the light characteristic specimens from the various depths of the intellectual sea - ideas from politics and science, medicine and law, popcorn studies and camel racing. Once we have thrown back all the innovations that don't meet our exacting standards, we find ourselves with the following alphabetical catch: 78 notions, big and small, grand and petty, serious and silly, ingenious and. . . well, whatever you call it when you tattoo an advertisement on your forehead for money.

These are the ideas that, for better and worse, helped make 2005 what it was. You'll find entries that address momentous developments in Iraq ("The Totally Religious, Absolutely Democratic Constitution") as well as less conspicuous, more ghoulish occurrences in Pittsburgh ("Zombie Dogs"). There are ideas that may inspire ("The Laptop That Will Save the World"), that may turn your stomach ("In Vitro Meat"), that may arouse partisan passions ("Republican Elitism") and that may solve age-old mysteries ("Why Popcorn Doesn't Pop"). Some mysteries, of course, still remain. For instance, we do not yet have an entirely satisfying explanation for how Mark Cuban, the outspoken Internet mogul and N.B.A. owner, came to be connected with three of the year's most notable ideas ("Collapsing the Distribution Window," "Scientific Free-Throw Distraction" and "Splogs"). That was just one surprising discovery we made in the course of assembling the issue. In the pages that follow, we're sure you'll make your own.

Accredited Bliss
Anti-Paparazzi Flash, The
Anti-Rape Condom, The
Branding Nations
Cartoon Empathy
Celebrity Teeth
Cobblestones are Good for You
Collapsing the Distribution Window
Consensual Interruptions
Conservative Blogs are More Effective
Dialing Under the Influence
Do-It-Yourself Cartography
Dolphin Culture
Econophysics
Embryo Adoption
Ergomorphic Footwear
Fair Employment Mark, The
False-Memory Diet, The
Fleeting Relationship, The
Folksonomy
Forehead Billboards
Gastronomic Reversals
Genetic Theory of Harry Potter, The
Global Savings Glut, The
His-and-Her TV, The
Hollywood-Style Documentary, The
Hypomanic American, The
Fertile Red States
In Vitro Meat
Juvenile Cynics
Laptop That Will Save the World, The
Localized Food Aid
Making Global Warming Work for You
Medical Maggots
Microblindness
Monkey Pay-Per-View
National Smiles
Open-Source Reporting
Parking Meters That Don't Give You a Break
Playoff Paradigm, The
Pleistocene Rewilding
Porn Suffix, The
Preventing Suicide Bombing
Readable Medicine Bottle, The
Republican Elitism
Robot Jockeys
Runaway Alarm Clock, The
Scientific Free-Throw Distraction
Seeing With Your Ears
Self-Fulfilling Trade Rumor, The
Serialized Pop Song, The
Sitcom Loyalty Oath, The
Solar Sailing
Sonic Gunman Locator, The
Splogs
Stash Rocket, The
Stoic Redheads
Stream-of-Consciousness Newspaper, The
Subadolescent Queen Bees
Suburban Loft, The
Synesthetic Cookbook, The
Taxonomy Auctions
"The Crawl" Makes You Stupid
Toothbrush That Sings, The
Totally Religious, Absolutely Democratic Constitution, The
Touch Screens That Touch Back
Trial-Transcript Dramaturgy
Trust Spray
Two-Dimensional Food
Uneavesdroppable Phone Conversation, The
Urine-Powered Battery, The
Video Podcasts
Why Popcorn Doesn't Pop
Worldwide Flat Taxes
Yawn Contagion
Yoo Presidency, The
Zero-Emissions S.U.V., The
Zombie Dogs