This week, the New York Times increased its weekday paper's newsstand price to $1.25. (Sunday's paper now goes to $4 from $3.50.) The paper's daily price was 25 cents in 1980, 30 cents in 1982, and 35 cents in 1988—by 1999, the price was 75 cents, and then a dollar in 2002. But how have the paper's price increases kept up with the other costs and benefits of being a liberal? Intern Mary, with some crazy science, breaks down the paper's price versus the stock prices of Volvo and Whole Foods, the yearly number of marijuana related arrests, and the rate of inflation.

The Economist examines the street price of cocaine worldwide. "No surprise that it is cheapest in Colombia, the world's biggest producer of coca: at $2, a gram costs less than a Big Mac." [The Economist]

The Chronicle of Higher Education takes a look at U.S. News and World Report's annual "best colleges" issue and suggests that it's one of the only reasons people actually ever recall that there's a third newsweekly option on America's newsstands. But U.S. News owner Mort Zuckerman disputes the fact that the publication takes the extra-ad revenue generated by the "this school is better than that school" issue into consideration when publishing.