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It's sometimes nice to see irrelevant news stories; look at the popularity of "Offbeat" sections if you need any proof.  Business-oriented individuals often want the best possible understanding of their industries, though, and NYTimes.com and LinkedIn are partnering in an attempt to provide it to them.

When LinkedIn users browse the business and technology sections of NYTimes.com, non-personally identifiable information (industry, job function, and so on) from their profiles will be used to create a special collection of articles.  Power company executives might be shown stories about T. Boone Pickens and his energy plan, for example.

 Custom NYTimes.com Headlines For LinkedIn Users

Special ads will be part of the deal, too.  Denise Warren, the senior vice president and chief advertising officer of The New York Times Media Group, stated, "This relationship expands NYTimes.com's targeting capability and creates a powerful incentive for advertisers to leverage LinkedIn's and NYTimes.com's combined reach of the business community.  Advertisers are constantly looking for context, content and quality brands and this approach delivers just that."

LinkedIn users will even be able to share the NYTimes.com stories (and presumably, the accompanying ads) with other people in their networks.  All in all, it's an interesting, though not extraordinary, partnership.

And users who would either miss the random articles or fear the privacy implications needn't worry, as opting out is allowed.