The City Room blog at the NY Times discusses what looks like a winking emoticon in an 1862 NYT transcript of a speech by Lincoln:

The post goes on at some length. Experts are called in to dissect the space/semicolon/parenthesis - is it a typo, an actual emoticon, or archaic punctuation with a space added to make the line right-justified? There are some interesting reader comments, with the best being:

Ah, if only the Times would go to this length and depth of inquiry when investigating WMD claims.

“I don’t believe in capital punishment. But I’d travel anywhere to see Kissinger hanged.”

– Sydney Schanberg

Sydney Schanberg, you’ll recall, is the Pulitzer-winning reporter whose experiences in Cambodia, covering the bombing of the country and the rise of the Khmer Rouge for the New York Times, were turned into the film The Killing Fields.

If you’re unsure why Kissinger deserves the gallows, read “The Case Against Henry Kissinger” [part 1, part 2] by Christopher Hitchens, or the book based on these articles, The Trial of Henry Kissinger [excerpts here]. Or at least watch The Trials of Henry Kissinger [Google video].

Schanberg’s quote was recently revealed in All the Art That’s Fit to Print (And Some That Wasn’t): Inside The New York Times Op-Ed Page [book site] by Jerelle Kraus, who was art director of the op-ed page for 13 years. She briefly mentions that Schanberg gave his thoughts on Kissinger during a lunch at Sardi’s. (Besides the op-ed page’s greatest hits and lots of juicy behind-the-scenes info, this heavily illustrated book includes artwork that was rejected by or altered at the insistence of the Times‘ editors.)