The Very Best Tweet of 2012

Putin says the world will end in about 5 billion years, when our sun turns into a white dwarf.

— Ellen Barry (@EllenBarryNYT) December 20, 2012

You know how when you wake up early in New York, your Twitter is all London? Well, if you wake up earlier, your Twitter can be all Russia. Time zones! How and why do they work. Sometimes I think I should get off Twitter for good — this past horrendous week, I’ve certainly thought that quite a bit. But then comes a tweet, from Times Moscow bureau chief Ellen Barry, that restores my faith in the whole point of this bizarre way we consume and expel words now. It’s magical in every imaginable way. Speaking of magic: The Times Moscow bureau is on fire.