Nytimes-style popup when the user makes a selection

Answer 1

I think you'd have to do something like this.

$('div.selectableText').mouseUp(function(e){
     if (window.getSelection()){
      var xCoord = e.pageX;
      var yCoord = e.pageY;

      //Use the coordinates (or maybe offset) 
              to position your little modal popup
     }

)};

Answer 2

NYT code is here

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/common/screen/altClickToSearch.js