Mr. Cardello, a former food-and-beverage industry executive, said he was surprised to find that fast-food chains sold a slightly higher percentage of lower-calorie food servings than sit-down restaurants did.

WSJ: Low-Calorie Items Fuel Restaurant Sales

Pop culture is being made, remade, remixed, rebooted and churned up so fast that, sometimes, the only reaction is a slightly exasperated, seen-it-all-before sigh.

CNN: Entertainment 2012: The year of 'meh'

His drinking, like his love for fast cars, was of a piece with the man: slightly reckless, fully immersed in whatever he was doing.

ECONOMIST: Bhimsen Joshi

Mr Fast says computerised-video strike zones can vary between stadiums or drift slightly over a season.

ECONOMIST: Cheating in sport

Two young graffiti artists from the Bronx, the slightly nerdy and awkward Malcolm (Ty Hickson) and the sharp-tongued, fast-witted Sofia (Tashiana Washington), platonic friends, try to hustle up money for an attention-grabbing coup: tagging the Home Run Apple at Citi Field.

NEWYORKER: Gimme the Loot

This Japanese car (right-hand drive in the version I piloted) is coming to the U.S. in slightly enlarged form, and I was able to plug it in to a mobile, truck-mounted fast-charger (at left) that can get it mostly ready to go (80 percent) in 20 minutes.

FORBES: Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan Electric Cars At LA Auto Show