The Wall Street Journal
The A-Hed
Cattle rancher Les Scott keeps one of his prized possessions—a hailstone—in a frost-free freezer in his basement. He holds the U.S. record for the nearly two-pound hailstone that fell from the sky during a storm last year.
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Nothing says "Colorado" like…jogging with a donkey? Momentum is building behind a campaign to designate as the state's official sport pack burro racing—running through mountain passes while roped to a stubborn beast.
![[ARCTIC_79]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-PA251_ARCTIC_A_20110802224402.jpg)
The town of Kiruna, Sweden, 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle, is planning to move to give a miner access to a precious streak of iron ore beneath the earth.
![[AHED-0801_79]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-OZ641_AHED08_NS_20110801173502.jpg)
New for city dwellers around the country is the plucky cousin of the genteel garden tour: the urban chicken coop tour.
![[SNOWBALL_79]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-OZ275_SNOWBA_A_20110731165502.jpg)
Suppliers of snowballs—a frosty treat made of super-finely shaved ice and flavored syrup—are battling over trademarks, patents and flavors.
![[VIRTUAL_79]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-OZ193_VIRTUA_A_20110729212602.jpg)
People who sell livestock in the virtual world "Second Life" can breed, feed and groom their animals in the game's online environment. But when they sue each other, it happens in real-life federal court.
![[HAMPSTOCK_79]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-OY721_HAMPST_A_20110728214402.jpg)
A planned weekend-long "summer music festival" has roiled East Hampton. Fears that throngs of youths partying to wailing music will take over the town are causing flashbacks to another August, long ago.
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Are the Bonneville Salt Flats turning into the Bonneville Mud Flats? Hot rodders who race on them think they are. But the potash mine they blame has a different view.
![[LAGOS_79]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-OX256_LAGOS__A_20110726232202.jpg)
Seeking to stem an epidemic of wrong-way driving, authorities in Lagos are threatening errant drivers with psychiatric exams, a twist in the rough road of Nigerian traffic.
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As the Arab world consumes more films and TV shows from beyond the Mideast than ever before, dialect has become a critical tool in the regional battle for some 250 million Arab viewers.
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Bats in Sydney's historic Royal Botanic Garden are killing rare trees and plants, so the garden wants to evict them. But encouraging the animals to leave is proving difficult.
It takes two months for the Academy to dole out Oscars. The Nobel Peace Prize process takes 15 months. Yet it takes three years for the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to accept a proposal, design the stamp and issue it.
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"Pearlies," groups of Cockney Londoners who sew pearl buttons on their clothes and sing sentimental pub songs, are known for raising money for charity. But all is not well in their world.
![[AHED_1011jpg]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-KS458_AHED_1_A_20101103193933.jpg)
One of the Journal's legendary writers of A-heds explains what they are and how they came to be.
![[ahed_hedcutarti]](/Code-https-web.archive.org/web/20110806013733im_/http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-KP669_ahed_h_A_20101027152756.jpg)
For a newspaper that for more than a century celebrated the lack of images within its pages, it is surprising to note that the Journal's signature mark is the dot-ink portrait.
For more than five decades, readers have been reveling in the unexpected, odd and amusing topics of The Wall Street Journal's front-page middle column, or "A-hed."
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