Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.

Hey, did you read:

• The Washington Post's in-depth look at the meaning and use of a racial slur? —Megan Thielking

• About the world's largest coal mine? —John Dunlevy

• That a new government sterilization program in India is killing poor women? (They're paid 600 rupees—about $10—to participate.) —Gwynedd Stuart

• This map providing a different angle on American demographics by showing the second-largest religion in each state (Christianity being the first in all of them)? —Tony Adler

• That the free-for-all is over at the New Yorker? —Steve Bogira

• About Bill Cosby's online publicity campaign that quickly turned into a forum for the rape allegations against him? —J.R. Jones

• About the man who has eaten nothing but Olive Garden for the past six weeks? —Brianna Wellen

• About the time Bob Dylan and Larry Charles met up to discuss Dylan possibly writing and starring in a slapstick TV series for HBO? —Aimee Levitt

• This desperate search for meaning in Too Many Cooks? (The author was apparently too cowardly to give it the full Ben Sachs treatment, though, by watching it at 4 AM and/or stoned.) —Aimee Levitt