5/23/13

"Don’t interact, don’t talk, they are not humans." - Gitmo guard's basic orders.
_____

A breakdown of the directionality of time, and how we perceive it.
_____

Team Obama has dispensed with the absurd pretense that targeting Americans is a secret, and admitted that they've killed a total of 4 Americans with drones.
_____

How to think like Sherlock Holmes: Lessons in mindfulness and creativity from the great detective. 

5/22/13

Fairchild Air Force Base lost its bid to host the tankers that refuel bombers. This is a good thing, right? We end up playing a lesser part in the killing of innocent brown people around the globe. True, we might end up paying a few extra cents for our gasoline and our mochas; but, in the grand moral scheme of things, in our supposed adherence of "Do unto others..." this is a good thing, right?
_____

This is what tyranny looks like.
_____

Time-lapse of the Oklahoma City tornado.
_____

NASA to fund 3D food production project.
_____

Semi carrying assorted fruit crashes on I-90 Freeway, creates jam.
_____

A federal appeals court yesterday backed the U.S. government's decision not to release photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden during and after a raid in which the terrorist leader was purportedly killed by U.S. commandos.
_____

Adam: Honey, that's not a salad. That's my dirty laundry.
Eve: Mmmph?
_____

Obama worse than Nixon? Pentagon Papers attorney decries AP phone probe, Julian Assange persecution.
_____

The top five underrated sci-fi movie masterpieces.

5/20/13

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, dead at 74.
_____

Defense against the psychopath.
_____

Factoid revealed by last night's Billboard Music Awards show:
You could print a map of Trinidad on Nicki Minaj's butt in 1:1 scale.
_____

The late Christopher Hitchens: An inspired rant about restaurant workers pouring wine for you.

Five obnoxious things restaurants need to stop doing.
_____

Florida has introduced an online method of reporting people to the government, called "iWatch." The site explains what kinds of things should be reported; among them: people making sketches of buildings, a stranger who asks about building security, worrisome fumes, and suspicious car renters.
_____

 UFO sightings in Canada are at an all-time high, doubling in 2012.

Click here to hear the Canadian National Anthem.
_____

Adam Kokesh - the armed march on DC guy - was arrested in Philadelphia at the 5th annual Smoke Down Prohibition. He was not in possession of marijuana. All he did was speak.
_____

"Astoundingly disturbing": Obama Administration claims power to wage endless war across the globe.

Washington gets explicit: Its war on terror is permanent.
_____

When I said I wanted to be a comedian, they all laughed at me. Well, no one's laughing now.

5/19/13

Cell phone photos from the FBI raid of a Browne's Addition apartment yesterday in connection to the ricin-laced letters sent to the Spokane Post Office. 

5/18/13

My friend Madeline with her friends Kyra and Billy Bob Thornton in downtown Spokane last night.
_____

"Doctor. Tell me. How much time do I have left?"
"Ten."
"Ten? Ten what?"
"Nine..." 
_____

Eight great philosophical questions that we'll probably never solve.
_____

Slow motion lightning strike: One second equals three minutes.
_____

Here's the face of Richard III, 3D-printed from a scan of his recently exhumed skull.

5/17/13

Director Lars Von Trier: It's not difficult to make films; you just have to push a button.
_____

In just ten months, the United States managed to transform an 82 year-old Catholic nun and two pacifists from non-violent anti-nuclear peace protestors accused of misdemeanor trespassing into federal felons convicted of violent crimes of terrorism.
_____

A great documentary: Stanley Kubrick - A Life in Pictures.

5/16/13

Depending on whom you ask, Andy Kaufman either died on this day 29 years ago, or he pulled off one of history's greatest hoaxes.
_____

Here's the first draft of the state's rules for growing and selling marijuana in the state of Washington.
_____

Bill Maher is increasingly becoming like the guy who invested in the Edsel and feels he still has to tout it's glories even though it's dented and on blocks in his front yard.
_____

So, you want to see Bea Arthur naked, huh?
_____

I hope you didn't make the mistake of playing the drinking game and taking a sip whenever Attorney General Eric Holder said "I can't comment because of an ongoing investigation" before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. Ouch...
_____

Saudi religious police boss says that anyone using social media sites, especially Twitter "has lost this world and his afterlife."
_____

An epic internet meltdown: Delusional restaurateurs freak out on Facebook. 

5/15/13

To keep tons of steel and harmful embalming fluids out of the ground - and to save money - more and more Americans are considering a natural burial after death.
_____

Swedish man dies after having sex with a hornet's nest.
_____

Chris Hedges on Democracy Now!: From WikiLeaks to AP Phone Scandal, U.S. Nears "Totalitarian Security & Surveillance State"
_____

No doubt you've heard everyone freaking out (rightfully so) about the ancient Mayan pyramid in Belize that has been reduced to rubble, apparently to make fill for roads. This has been going on for centuries: I've walked on the Zocalo, the enormous plaza in downtown Mexico City, that was build from the stones of the great Aztec pyramid torn down by Cortes in the early 1500s. 
_____

Cormac McCarthy's The Road may have the scariest passage in all of literature.
_____

How to read topographic maps.
_____

Suddenly it takes both hands to count all of my grandchildren...

5/14/13

Police could soon get their hands on the U.S. military's "pain ray." This high frequency microwave weapon makes you feel like your skin is burning, but leaves no scars.  
_____

Outrage at Syrian rebel commander shown in video cutting open Syrian soldier's chest and taking a bite out of his heart.

Here's the video: Obviously, it's graphic.
_____

The U.S. Department of Justice secretly seized two months of phone records for reporters and editors of The Associated Press in what the news organization said Monday was a “serious interference with A.P.’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news.”

And then they came for the AP...
_____

Jon Stewart rips Obama a new one, for everything...
_____

The ACLU was curious about warrantless government snooping on citizens’ text messages, so they filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department. They received 15 pages, completely blacked out.
_____

Check out Time Mag's cover this week: Homeland Insecurity.
_____

Adam Kokesh seeks Obama's support for the Open Carry March on Washington.
_____

"He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavored to ... cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.”

— Article II, Section 1, Articles of Impeachment against Richard M. Nixon, adopted by the House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974
_____

How it begins: Man refuses to stop drone-spying on Seattle woman.

5/13/13

On CBS Morning, reporter John Dickerson described the Benghazi fiasco as typical "ass-covering."

Ron Paul rips both sides on Benghazi.

How can we understand Benghazi without probing the CIA's role? The attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens targeted a CIA operation, not a "diplomatic post."
_____

When it comes to contraception, science takes a back seat to politics at the White House.
_____

The Texas State House voted to pass House Bill 912, which would criminalize unmanned aerial vehicle surveillance without a property owner's knowledge.
_____

Barns are painted red because of the physics of dying stars.
_____

Proof there is a God: A police drone fell from the sky and crashed into an armored police vehicle.
_____

The Wall Street Journal and Reuters both report that the IRS moved beyond giving a skeptical eye to “tea party” and “patriot” groups.
_____

I just gagged on a piece of Brooke Candy.

5/12/13

The privacy-invading potential of eye tracking technology: Among the things that eye tracking has or could be used to try to discover about us: drug and alcohol use, mental and psychological illness, lie detection and sexuality.
_____

"America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long."
   ~  Ron Paul
_____

Some gun owners aren't happy about the open carry march on Washington.

5/11/13

How to beat a photo-enforced speeding or red light ticket.
_____

The modern history of swearing: Where all the dirtiest words come from.
_____

Mysterious aircraft puzzles Boston area residents.
_____

Foreign visitors to North Korea are allowed to attend sports matches alongside their minders. Here's a report about on the eerie silence and subdued atmosphere at a soccer match in Pyongyang.

5/10/13

During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools.
_____

What do speed traps, parking tickets, toll roads, speed cameras and red light cameras all have in common? They are all major revenue sources for state and local governments.
_____

Adam Kokesh, the gun march guy, on "If you were waking up from a 10-year coma."
_____

Pew Research Center: Gun violence plummeted, but people think it increased.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report saying that firearm homicides are down 39% since 1993. There are about 50 million more guns in America now than in 1993 and crime did not go up.
_____

On target pressure points: Militarized police.

5/9/13

Rolling Stone readers' poll: The ten worst bands of the Nineties.
_____

Sid Vicious would have been 56 years old today if not for, well, about ten thousand different things.
_____

Ninety percent of the editors on Wikipedia are men. Not surprisingly, there are fewer articles on female poets than on porno actresses.
_____

Is 1984 now? Rand Paul on how George Orwell's dystopian novel continues to come true.
_____

Here's Adam Kokesh, the guy organizing the armed march on Washington, giving a speech to the Iraq Veterans Against the War/Veterans for Peace gathering. Scary - not the speech itself - but the fact I can't disagree with what he says.

Here's his "Message of Freedom in One Minute."
_____

Two second graders pointed pencils at each other during a pretend battle, and were suspended for their imaginative play. "A pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made," said a spokesperson for Suffolk Public Schools.

5/8/13

The Obama administration is on the verge of backing an FBI plan for an overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate by Internet rather than phone.
_____

Newly declassified memo shows CIA shaped Zero Dark Thirty's narrative.
_____

Artist makes soap from his own liposuctioned fat.
_____

The FDA announces a plan to investigate, and potentially regulate, caffine.
_____

 Crisis, policing and militarism after Boston: Why we need to establish fire lines.
_____

A plastic firearm that can be churned out on a 3-D printer and easily assembled was downloaded at least 50,000 times Monday, according to the self-described anarchist who made it available for free online.
_____

The Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 5-to-4 decision.

5/7/13

Store pulls nuts from shelves because it wasn't disclosed on the package that the bag of nuts contained nuts.
_____

Over the line: U.S. agents shooting innocent Mexicans across the border with impunity.
_____

A lot of people are criticizing folks who choose anal bleaching. Those assholes really need to lighten up.
_____

Spokane and much of Eastern Washington is being invaded by giant, flying ants! There seems to be no consensus as to where they came from. Some say it's a natural occurrence after the unseasonable warm weather (though I don't remember this ever happening before), and some say they were blown in on a strong wind (from Antland? Antwerp? Antlantis?).
_____

A new report from the United Nations Human Rights Commission suggests that lethal autonomous robots need to be regulated before they become the military weapons of the future, as some of these machines can allegedly choose and execute their own targets without human input.
_____

Here's a collection of all of the North American English Dialects, based on pronunciation patterns, all with video examples. Strangely, the Inland Northwest is typified by the speech of George Nethercutt. 
_____

Despite the rhetoric, scary YouTube videos don't turn people into terrorists.

5/6/13

Adam Kokesh claims to have 1775 confirmed attendees for the Open Carry March on Washington this Fourth of July. He's hoping for 10K.

He was on the Alex Jones show this morning.
_____

More than 30 million Americans have used psychedelic drugs.
_____

Poll: 3 in 10 voters believe an armed revolution might be necessary "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years. 
_____

Senior military, intelligence, law enforcement, and government officials who question the 9/11 Commission Report.
_____

Obama tells graduates to reject antigovernment talk. He says government critics "gum up the works." He told the crowd at the Ohio State commencement ceremony, “They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.”

That's right. Voices like Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Franklin, Paine.
_____

Obama says he wants to close Guantanamo, but his actions don't match his words: Four policies that help keep the prison camp open.
_____

U.S. Naval medics are forcing tubes down the noses of detainees at Guantánamo Bay in order to feed them against their will. When does "suicide prevention" become torture?

5/5/13

Remember, if you're running Bloomsday today, leave your backpacks, coolers, individuality, reason and antiquated sense of liberty and dignity at home.
_____

Roman Polanski will debut his new film Venus in Fur at Cannes. It's a film adaptation of a two-person play set in the modern day by David Ives. The original Venus in Furs is a totally warped story about kinky sex and sadomasochism - perfect for Polanski.
_____

Here's the Rick Steves interview in High Times mag.
_____

"Nuclear Incident" drills are going to be conducted in Montana this week. The stated goal is to get local police used to working with Homeland Security, FEMA, and the military. 

But don't worry: they're probably nothing like the terrorism drills held just before 9/11, or the subway bombing drills held just before the London subway bombings, or the Marathon bombing drills held just before the Boston Marathon bombings.
_____

A horse won the Kentucky Derby yesterday!
_____

The last person yesterday to say, "May the Fourth be with you," had no idea that they were one person away from having their eyes clawed out.

5/4/13

Go to OtherSpokane's Special Discombobulated Issue.

5/3/13

Click Like if you hate the Like button.

_____

Liberty was also attacked in Boston: Forced lockdown of a city. Militarized police riding tanks in the streets. Door-to-door armed searches without warrant. Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause. Businesses forced to close. Transport shut down.
_____

Never-before-seen photos from 100 years ago tell vivid story of gritty New York City.
_____

First female is added to the FBI Most Wanted  Terrorists list: A 65-year-old Black Panther, on the lam since the Seventies.
_____

Fifteen very weird things found in school books.
_____

Can you ever travel from one place to another? Ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea gave a convincing argument that all motion is impossible - but where's the flaw in his logic? How to resolve Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox.
_____

Apparently tomorrow is World Naked Gardening Day. Watch that rake.
_____

Gadgets of the future, now.
_____

This explains a lot: Court says it's okay to bar cops because their IQ is too high.
_____

The number of names on a highly classified U.S. central database used to track suspected terrorists has jumped to 875,000 from 540,000 only five years ago.

5/2/13

Oooooommmmm...

5/1/13

   Happy May Day.
(Time for a change.)

4/30/13

Wow. Who did I piss off?

4/29/13

Every time you make a typo, the errorists win.
_____

Did Jesus heal using cannabis? Cannabis is an ancient herbal remedy and has only recently been considered a street drug.
_____

Bipolar  :):
_____

Eight things you won't see at the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
_____

Do you want an energy boost or do you feel like kicking back? Sativa vs. Indica.
_____

Boston bomber and mother were on terrorist watch list: Has the government bungled the investigation?
_____

Eccentric anthropologist Grover Krantz donated his body to science, on one condition.
_____

Bill Gates has pledged $100,000 to anyone with credible plans to make a condom that "is felt to enhance pleasure." Can it be done?
_____

CIA's "bags of cash" fueled Afghan corruption, bought little influence.

4/28/13

Psywar: This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the elitist theory of democracy and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.
_____

Leonardo da Vinci invented a robot.
_____

Human Resources: a documentary about social control - examining the history, the philosophy and ultimately the pathology of elite power.
_____

The Republicans' George W. Bush magic calendar.
_____

Obama jokes about smoking pot at the 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner while nearly 2 million people are imprisoned for the same thing.
_____

Thirty-five camping tips and tricks.
_____

I say a lot of Bob Dylan's songs are proto-rap. Prove me wrong hippies.
_____

Ten quotes that illustrate Henry Kissinger's megalomania and indifference to the deaths of untold numbers of civilians.
_____

Inside Barcelona's political shoplifting movement.
_____

Moses Lake Airport is one of six sites in the nation where the FAA wants to test drones.
_____

Scientists have created a genetically altered lamb that glows under ultraviolet light.
_____

Isolated Point Roberts is in a quandary on how to get legal pot.
_____

Noam Chomsky: Obama's attack on civil liberties has gone way beyond imagination.

4/27/13

Gil Scott-Heron: 

We Beg Your Pardon
Whitey On The Moon
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
_____

If you could rid the world of one thing, what would it be?
_____

Nine burning, unresolved questions about the Boston bombings.
_____

How to debunk the George W. Bush cronies attempts at revisionism.
_____

Forget the maps: Travel writer Paul Theroux on why planning your trip can be a lesson in frustration.
_____

The real questions about the Boston attack: Glenn Greenwald talks to Bill Moyer about the need to investigate why so many people are willing to risk lives and liberty to bring violence to America.
_____

Five occult-like military insignia: What do they mean?
_____

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
   ~  Volaire

4/26/13

Former The Scene magazine correspondent and provocateur, and creator of the raucous cartoon Giant Fetus, Jon Welge, has been picked as the KHQ Facebook Friend of the Day. Another sign of the Apocalypse! (Notice he's breaking Washington state law in the photo.)
_____

Animator Mike Sullivan explores how robots might reproduce once humanity is out of the picture. This episode goes behind the scenes of his short films, which resemble a surreal, NC-17-rated version of Metropolis.
_____

Photos from the city of Pripyat, inside the exclusion zone around the nuclear plant at Chernobyl in Ukraine where an explosion and subsequent reactor meltdown became the world's worst nuclear accident.
_____

The MeCam quadcopter will follow you around, filming everything you do. It launches from the palm of your hand and hovers instantly. Uploads to social media sites.
_____

Made with the help of USC's Medical school in LA, this CIA video on LSD shows trials of a dosed human guinea pig in 1955.
_____

The science of lying. The details behind our lying ways, how such behavior evolved, how pathological liars are different from the rest of us, and how scientists are getting better at spotting lies.

4/25/13

I watched the news reports of the dedication of the George W. Bush Library and Museum with all of the living Presidents of the United States, where President Jimmy Carter looked like Urkel kicking it with Mafioso kingpins. A brave move by the inventor of Billy Beer's brother - appearing publicly with this band of warmongers and liberty looters.
_____

"Masochism is a valuable job skill."
   ~  Chuck Palahniuk
_____

Tupac, Neck Braces, and Suicide: An Interview with Harmony Korine.
_____

Obama ready to deliver another blow to whistleblower protections. Thousands of federal employees have lost the right to an appeal if fired. Don't worry. It's for your national security.
_____

Boston: Prep for the police state? An interview with former FBI translator and whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds.
_____

The George W. Bush Library and Museum opened today. If you can't find that certain Dick and Jane book, or that obscure Dr. Seuss testament, now you know where to go.
_____

Thirteen people who are dead because of America's futile War on Drugs.
_____

Watch this young American-educated Yemeni's Senate testimony about a drone strike on his village.
_____

So, you want to topple the U.S. government?
_____

Found at auction: The unseen photographs of an unassuming children's nanny who kept to herself and never showed a single one of her photographs to anyone.
_____

The Stargate Project: Psychic warriors and the CIA.
_____

The suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had no firearms when he came under a barrage of police gunfire that struck the boat where he was hiding.
_____

Most Gitmo detainees are now on a hunger strike.

4/24/13

Did drinking make Hemingway and Fitzgerald great - or hold them back?
_____

Former US Ambassador and human right activist exposes the gaping holes in the FBI's story: Official Tsarnaev story makes no sense.
_____

This documentary traces the history and controversy surrounding the film The Devils, the notorious 1971 film by Ken Russell of alleged demonic possession in 17th century France.
_____

Three reasons the Boston bombing case should not change our attitudes about privacy.
_____

Ten amazing gadgets you can wear.
_____

A: We're going to suspend your rights to protest, bear arms, privacy, and trial by jury.
B: Why?
A: To protect you from terrorists.
B: Why do we need to be protected from terrorists?
A: They hate you for your freedoms.
_____

Democracy Now!: The secret story behind Obama's assassination of two Americans in Yeman.
_____

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."
   ~  Kurt Vonnegut

4/23/13

"A boat is safe in the harbor. But this is not the purpose of the boat."
   ~  Paulo Coelho
_____

What do Auden, Sartre, and Ayn Rand have in common? Amphetamines.
_____

Big thumbs up: Man's thumb has become his surrogate penis after accident left him paralyzed.
_____

Warmonger George W. Bush has a 47 percent approval rating and a 50 percent disapproval, according to a ABC News/Washington survey. When Bush left office, he had a 33 percent approval rating. Must be the paintings...
_____

New York state Sen. Greg Ball (R) last night reiterated his belief that Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be tortured even though he is a U.S. citizen.
_____

An additional 10 points deducted from anyone who said the alleged Boston bombers were "Czechoslovakian." Congratulations: you've not only missed Chechnya by 1300 miles, you have misidentified it as a nation that hasn't exist for over 20 years.
_____

Ten of the most toxic places in the world to live.
_____

Bloomberg says interpretation of Constitution will "have to change" after Boston bombing.
_____

Systematic house-to-house raids in locked-down Watertown, Mass.
_____

Breaking down the CISPA bill: No more internet privacy?

4/22/13

The Orwellian warfare state of carnage and doublethink.
_____

Ritchie Havens, dead at 72.

Ritchie Havens opening Woodstock.
_____

I celebrate Earth Day by walking upon it.
_____

After Boston: Don't get fooled again by the "War on Terror" hawks.
_____

Pics of the bombing suspects in the crowd: 
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
_____

Regular Joes? One bombing suspect loved pot and Obama. The other was married.
_____

A new report from an independent task force finds that the Bush administration committed torture. The decision to do so, made by top officials and the president himself, was unprecedented.
_____

Facebook users may soon be required to submit password to employers.
_____

CIA "admits" using news to manipulate opinion in the U.S. during the 1975 Senate Church Committee.
_____

Marijuana's per-ounce production price could plunge to 62 cents if drug is legalized.

4/21/13

Watertown martial law. [Video "removed by user."]
_____

One of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects is in custody. Assuming that Dzhokar Tsarnaev is indeed guilty of these crimes, a very real threat to public safety has been taken off the streets. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the Tsarnaev brothers have taken the last vestiges of a free society in America down with them.
_____

Bob Dylan is STILL ALIVE! And will be touring this summer with Wilco for the Americanarama Festival of Music.
_____

People who do cocaine should be aware of the substances - many of them potentially toxic - that are commonly used by dealers to cut the goods.
_____

A Canadian astronaut performs a science experiment designed by high school students: What happens when you wring out a wet rag in zero gravity?

Click here to play the Canadian National Anthem.
_____

4/21: National Surprise Drug Test Day.
_____

I love the fact that Boston was stormed by hundreds (thousands?) of militarized, home-invading, machine gun toting police officers; yet the alleged bomber ended up being discovered by some guy who defied lockdown orders and stepped out to have a cigarette.
_____

Why should I care that no one's reading Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda Rights?
_____

To murder several people using bombs at a sporting event is terrorism. To murder 175 children using military drones is U.S. policy. We should accept neither.
_____

The Evergreen State goes to pot. An Easterner visits the Wild West.

The 19 most stoner product ideas of all time.

You don't have to use marijuana to celebrate its legalization.
_____

This is terrorism: Police raid a home in Watertown. If you walk like a Nazi, talk like a Nazi, maybe...

FBI: Boston suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev followed "radical Islam."
_____

Boston, 1775: Don't tread on me.

Boston, 2013: Let me high-five the guy who just cavity searched me (you don't even have to wash your hands, sir).

4/20/13

Maps of the manhunt.
_____

Glen Beck gives Obama until Monday to admit Boston bombing was an inside job: or else.
_____

FBI interviewed dead bombing suspect years ago.
_____

No joke: The martial law lock down of Boston and surrounding areas had a cost of $333 million per day, but police requested that Dunkin' Donuts stay open during the city wide shut down.
_____

Tsarnaev not read Miranda Rights under "Public Safety Exception."
_____

Watertown man describes having home searched during manhunt.
_____

Janet Napolitano says that questions about the deportation of a former person of interest in the Boston bombings are "not worthy of an answer."
_____

Bombing suspects mother says her sons were set up.
_____

Here's the grisly post-mortem photo of the Boston bomb suspect.

4/19/13

The manhunt is over. One suspect is dead. The other is wounded and in custody.
_____

My son called me from Boston early this morning to say the entire city is shutdown, police are searching houses door-to-door and warning people not to go outside, explosions and gunfire a mile away. Good morning! 

Bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, dead. Here's his Amazon book wish list - first on the list: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention. He was the subject of a photo essay when he competed at the National Golden Gloves competition.

FBI evidence photo shows Boston bomb suspect standing near child later killed in marathon blast.

Suspect posted video about Al Qaeda prophecy on YouTube.
_____

If you are under the age of 25 you might not remember - 20 years ago today - our government burned 85 people alive, including 21 children.

Bill Hicks cut through the BS.

Here's the amazing documentary Waco - The Rules of Engagement.

4/18/13

Victorian cruising: Young dandies, eager to affect a regal air, carrying intricate and often explicit canes. Some that could spit up to eight feet.
_____

Guess what? While you were freaked out about Boston and ricin and Texas blowing up, the House criminals passed CISPA. See how that works?

Here's why people are up in arms about it.

Oppose CISPA if you value any privacy in our digital world.
_____

Wow. Busy news day yesterday: The gun bill shot down, toxins mailed to the president, a bomb scare in the Boston courthouse, the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas. Am I missing anything?
_____

Idaho Governor Otter signed into law a bill that requires police to obtain warrants to use drones to collect evidence about suspected criminal activity.
_____

The deadly toxin ricin was sent to President Obama yesterday: What is ricin?
_____

Photos of the actual Boston bomb.
_____

Here's a 60 Minutes interview from 1993 where a federal judge says the CIA smuggles cocaine into the U.S.
_____

Last week a man was sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing president Obama's teleprompter.
_____

Washington state is delaying its timeline for granting marijuana growing and processing licenses.

4/17/13

There are cameras in nearly every store, every intersection, in downtown Boston. All the world's media was there where the bombs went off. But no camera captured someone packing around duffel bags heavy with metal pressure cookers filled with ball bearings, nails and detonation devices?
_____

Question everything you hear about the Boston Marathon bombing.
_____

"Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant."
   ~  James Madison
_____

The bombs used in Boston were immediately recognized by counterterrorism experts as a type touted by al-Qaeda for use by its operatives around the world. Similar devices have been used by terrorists in mass-casualty bombings in numerous countries, from the Middle East to South Asia to North Africa.
_____

Boston, Oklahoma City, Waco: Why Patriots' Day?
_____

Journalist tells the blatant truth: Increased security is "all for show."
_____

Ted Gunderson, former FBI chief, says most terror attacks are committed by our CIA and FBI.
_____

Reality Check: Did the FBI know about the Boston bombing beforehand?
_____

Boston rumors aside, the government does have the power to shut down cell phone service.
_____

Reporters have been normalizing the abnormal for so long that they’ve created well-worn catastrophe templates to convey their stories.

4/16/13

Aftermath of the Boston bombing: How do terrorists use improvised explosive devices?
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The front pages this morning after the Boston bombings.
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Some of the most unusual elevators on Earth.
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Here are the 23 executive orders on gun safety signed today by the president.
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The feeling that others are watching us is an evolutionary mechanism designed to keep us safe, experts say.

4/15/13

Several explosions erupted near the finish line of the Boston Marathon today, in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, just a few miles from my son and daughter-in-law.

Live updates on the explosions at the Boston Marathon.

BBC already suggesting homegrown right-wing terrorist narrative.

Alex Jones on the Boston bombings.

Photos of the Boston Marathon bombing. A Video.

Boston explosions highlight a frightening new reality.

White House security stepped up.
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An email circulating the Washington State Legislature revealed that a drone demonstration held at the State Capitol building last Wednesday was purposely kept private from the public.
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From eyeballs to skulls, here are 10 body parts snatched from the corpses of dead celebrities.
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Act da Fool, a short film by Harmony Korine.

Korine describes how he made Spring Breakers and turned four college girls' quest to extend spring break forever into a hyper-colored ecstasy trip through the teenage psyche. Here's Part 2.
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Oh, Phil, how I miss you.
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In response to Margaret Thatcher's death, the Munchkin-based ensemble number from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead! is heading for number one on the charts in Britian. 
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"Football, beer, and above all gambling, filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult."
   ~  George Orwell, 1984

4/14/13

I kind of miss my pre-internet brain.
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Military guards at Guantanamo fired four non-lethal rounds at detainees yesterday as the facility commander forced them into single cells in an apparent effort to stop a hunger strike. Currently, 43 detainees are on a hunger strike at the prison; 13 of those are being force fed.
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Some sex workers are giving disabled people a chance to live out their dreams: giving them a chance to be touched in a non-medical way, perhaps for the first time in their lives.
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Ne eas ibi.
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The rise of robot wars: Google chief warns armed drones will soon be in the hands of terrorists and miniature models could be used to spy on neighbors.
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Stand on Zanzibar, the 1969 sci-fi novel by John Brunner, made some unsettlingly accurate predictions.
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The Gadsden flag - which displays a coiled snake on a yellow background with the phrase "Don't tread on me," has been a part of American history since the Revolution. The city council of New Rochelle, N.Y., voted to remove it from the New Rochelle Armory, claiming that it represents the Tea Party.
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North Korea is reclusive and oppressive, but hints of daily life there have leaked out: Strange cultural facts.
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The Beatles' song Get Back began as an anti-immigrant satire so easily misunderstood it remains in the vaults.

4/13/13

Stephen Hawking: Mankind has 1,000 years to escape Earth.
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The U.S. goes to DEFCON 3. 
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The temperature at the center of the Earth is estimated to be around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 
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There are seven countries in the world where the state can legally execute you for being an atheist: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, the West African state of Mauritania, and the Maldives.
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Voters passed a bill that increased taxes in order to help support upgrades in fire and police emergency call centers across Washington state. Lawmakers have decided they will divert that money to the state's Military Department.

4/12/13

Jonathan Winters, comedy genius, dead at 87.
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Jonathan Winters on Jack Paar. (1963)

The affect of insanity on comedy: Jonathan Winters on Dean Martin Roast Frank Sinatra. (1978)
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When I heard that North Korea said "nuclear war is unavoidable" and that it's first target would be Japan, I thought, well, at least now I'll have time to get a few things done.
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A one-word review of Scary Movie 5.
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The Department of Homeland Security is testing out a batch of new sensors for their drones, including one sensor that would offer the ability to determine if an individual is armed with weapons or not.
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New police drone near Houston could carry weapons.
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Friendships are cut short on social media as people get ruder.
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The Internal Revenue Service has claimed that agents do not need warrants to read people's emails, text messages and other private electronic communications, according to internal agency documents.
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Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) compared a national gun registry to government databases in the Rwandan genocide. “I use this example to warn that national databases can be used with evil consequences,”
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The Liberal civil war over social security cuts: Obama's proposal to cut Social Security benefits has split his base.
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Fifteen anti-gay activists caught being gay.
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A man a Home Depot in L.A. tries to saw off his own arms with handsaws. That's right, both arms. I'm still trying to figure this one out.

4/11/13

You lookin' at me?

4/10/13

Babbling sounds of monkeys share rhythms with human speech.
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Government documents reveal that the Department of Homeland Security, an agency created after the September 11 attacks, conducts daily monitoring of peaceful, lawful protests as a matter of policy.
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Wes Craven, Clive Barker and Dr. Ruth discuss horror and sexuality.
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The Jones Plantation: a profound, axiomatic metaphor of the immoral, inherently-flawed, outdated, and intrinsically broken social system known to many as "government." Told by anarchist trouble-maker Larken Rose.
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Seattle to build nation's first food forest: seven acres of edible plants all free for the taking.
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First genetically modified animal sold as a pet: Fluorescent GloFish in stores now.
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Babies who don't nap are resisting a rest.
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We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural.
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New documentary unveils 6-inch "alien" found in Chile.

4/9/13

PETA says it is actively shopping for a drone to monitor hunters.
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I heard the U.S.P.S is replacing the "Forever" stamp with the "For As Long As We Last" stamp.
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In Spokane tonight: At The Bing Crosby Theater - The One and Only Tommy Dorsey Orchestra; at the other end of the block in The Knitting Factory - TECH N9NE.

STREET FIGHT TONIGHT, YO!
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Westboro Baptist Church to protest at Roger Ebert's funeral. Maybe they didn't like his Blue Velvet review.
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"This is no longer a mainstream media," says Amy Goodman, "but an extreme media beating the drums for war."
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David Lynch on Twin Peaks: “It’s a real place. All the characters are real. And the place is real.”
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Navy unveils powerful ship-mounted laser weapon.
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Former Smiths frontman Morrissey rips into the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as "a terror without an atom of humanity."
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Obama will propagandize our glorious achievements in Afghanistan – both to vindicate the past decade of wasted blood and treasure, and to justify our nefarious occupation into the future.
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A man got a big shock when he brought his two poodles to the vet and found out they weren't poodles at all. Rather, they were giant rodents pumped with steroids to look like dogs.
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Do you know that many states have laws against videotaping animal cruelty?
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Beloved movies Roger Ebert didn't like: A Clockwork Orange, Donnie Darko, Fight Club, Blue Velvet, and more?

The time Roger Ebert told lawmakers - and particularly Senator Majority Leader Bob Dole - to stop criticizing movies they hadn't seen just to appease their base.

4/8/13

Here's a documentary about the art exhibit under the Nazi regime of what they considered to be the most corrupting and corrosive examples of what they called 'Entartete Kunst' or 'Degenerate Art.'
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Margaret Thatcher, dead at 87.
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The Artist and His Demons .):-(.
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Documentary filmmaker Les Blank, dead at 77. Blank did a number of quirky documentaries, but my favorites are the ones he did about German director Werner Herzog: Burden of Dreams documented Herzog's passion as he directed his great movie "Fitzcarraldo," and, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, which documents Werner Herzog eating his shoe. Here's the NYT's article about Les Blank.
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Are you a genius? Check out the world's easiest IQ test.
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David Lynch: Ranking his movies from worst to best. I disagree a bit with the placement of some of the movies. The top two, though, are undeniable: they're two of the best movies ever made.
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From Forbes: How the U.S. military would crush a Tea Party Rebellion.

4/7/13

At the end of shooting yesterday for the 50 Hour Film Slam, Jesse's camera suffered an unfortunate encounter with a concrete floor, and we will be unable to complete the competition. He'll eventually be able to recover the video and put something together - which is a good thing - the footage I was able to preview is amazing.

Still, the world goes on:
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Well, that's kind of creepy: History's 10 most enigmatic people.
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Eleven children killed in U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan. 
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Mark this day: For the first time in history, a Democratic president has officially proposed to cut the Democratic Party's signature New Deal programs, Social Security and Medicare.
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The secret to infinite chocolate - explain this!
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In 18th century England, Thomas Day adopted a little girl and tried to mold her into the perfect wife.
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"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten."
   ~  George Carlin
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Our eyes only respond to a very narrow range of electromagnetic radiation. This diagram demonstrates just how narrow our range of vision compared to the overall electromagnetic spectrum
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Things you didn't know about beer.
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In an issue of "Life" magazine that dates back to 1945, it was revealed that during World War II, Hitler and German scientists had began developing a "sun gun," which mimicked the logistics of using a magnifying glass to burn ants.
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Ten assassination conspiracies.

4/6/13

We be doin' the Slam. A tough one. Back soon...

4/5/13

I'm getting psyched up to wham bam the 50 Hour Slam tonight with Mr. Hennessy.
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The North Korean army has warned the US that its military has been cleared to wage an attack using "smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear" weapons.
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Anonymous declares war on North Korea as it breaks into the regime’s Twitter and Flickr accounts.
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Thousands of Americans are sent to jail not for committing a crime, but because they can't afford to pay for traffic tickets, medical bills and court fees.
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Japanese scientists have invented a machine that predicts images dreamt during sleep. Researchers call it 'decoding' - the process of translating brain scans into pictures.
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Is there a parallel universe where we actually get a second chance and make things better? Here's a lesson on the various hypothesis of parallel universes.
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RIP Roger Ebert: Movie criticism's great communicator.
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Roger Ebert kept writing about movies because he cared about movies, cared so much that he couldn't bear not to be writing about movies. And that's why so many of us will miss him so dearly.

4/4/13

"I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine... Mad's parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin—of the way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas. I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe."

   ~  Roger Ebert, dead at 70. Two thumbs up.
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Saying the right to bear arms only meant muskets is like saying your right to free speech is limited to the way English was spoken in the 1700s.
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New York City fast food workers this morning planned to walk off the job in what organizers promised would be the largest-ever strike against the fast-growing, virtually union-free industry.
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Self-loathing Republicans: Members of the GOP offer a harsh critique of the party.
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I predict: The federal government will do something stupid and self-aggrandizing. We'll "spread democracy" to some country that doesn't mind being bombed. Monsanto will do something underhanded and evil. Police will shoot the wrong guy and call it "justified." The feds will print up a bunch of fake money.
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911 - because we'll swallow any king of crap fed to us with a spoon.
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When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping? According to a new study more than half of Americans (51.8 percent) shop and spend money to improve their mood.
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Just a theory: Seven misused science words.
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"Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away, if your car could go straight up."
   ~  Sir Fred Hoyle
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More than you ever needed to know about fake poop, rectal smuggling, and weird diets.
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Advocates of Electronic Voice Projection claim they can use radio equipment to communicate with the dead.
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There is now a glazed donut flavored vodka.

4/3/13

A Spokane woman holds a burglar at gunpoint until police arrive. Police said the woman acted appropriately and helped them catch the criminal.
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Wild edible plants of the Pacific Northwest. This list only contains "safe" plants - those that are easy to identify and have no deadly poisonous look-alikes.
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The most dangerous countries for tourists.
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Ten weird ways we deal with the dead.
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The History of Philosophy (without any gaps) is now up to podcast number 122 and still thinking.
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"We're developing a new citizenry. One that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won't be able to think."
   ~  Rod Serling
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After God: What can atheists learn from believers? Why do religious stories continue to mean so much to even the self-described "new atheists"?
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The most epic frog fail in glorious high-speed video.
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Roseanne Barr says MK ULTRA mind control rules in Hollywood.
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Broadcasting live from inside a human stomach: a guy eats a camera and we see what it records. Take a trip down esophagus lane.
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Why do we hate certain words? The curious phenomenon of word aversion.

4/2/13

Jim Morrison on why fat is beautiful. A very cool animated video.
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Democrats push for $10,000 fine for gun owners without liability insurance.
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There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data,
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Fusion center director: We don't spy on Americans, just anti-government Americans.
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The six weirdest theories about The Shining.
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One writer's "common sense solution" to fix the economy: Print money. Send everyone a check.
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Can voters ban domestic drones? Would you vote for an outright ban of drone use by law enforcement?
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Getting to know a place from the inside out. How to connect more intimately with favorite travel destinations.
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The Earthquake: 15 minutes of live cam footage form the 9.1 quake that caused the tsunami and devastated Fukushima.
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A “gate to hell” has emerged from ruins in southwestern Turkey, Italian archaeologists have announced. Known as Pluto’s Gate - Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin - the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition.
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Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn goes global with political ambitions.
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An upcoming film will explore the often-terrifying sensation of sleep paralysis, which often comes with nightmarish hallucinations: Sleep disorder makes people see demons.
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The anti-drone hoodie that helps you beat Big Brother's spy in the sky.

4/1/13

Since this morning, I've had the power to levitate small, terrestrially bound animals, but in particular, small dogs. Were you in downtown Spokane earlier this afternoon walking a small dog on a lease? Now you know. That was me.
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When I was very young, I learned that I could travel into the future. But, the problem is, I can only go forward in time for less than a second or so, which only makes everything vibrate and echo in a really annoying way, and isn't very beneficial at all.
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Scientists says they've discovered a remote region in France where a species of alligators convulse in a way that resembles human dancing.
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I'm still extremely disappointed in the voters of Washington state for legalizing marijuana.
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I spend many long hours ruing the fact that I never joined the military. I envy ex-service people who can shave their head bald yet sport bushy mustaches. 
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This is the first year I didn't cheat on my taxes.
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I can juggle milk. Not bottled milk. Not milk in a carton or in a glass. Just milk. I can juggle milk.
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More people should ask why scholars never talk about history's dark Fudge Era.
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When I moved into my apartment five years ago, I discovered a secret portal to the extra-dimensional Sludge Kingdom of shape-shifting lizard people who communicate by interpreting each other's reptilian mouth froth, but so far I've chosen not to enter.
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I can count the 2000+ women I've had sex with on one hand.
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For some reason, I grew nearly sixteen inches taller between 10 pm last night and 6 am this morning: Yesterday I was a bit over 5'10". I am now 7'2".

Don't stop now!
Go to Feb - March '13 archive

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