Aurora. (Afghanistan) A man in full-out combat gear walked into a theater and started shooting, killing 12 and injuring 59. The media (mainstream, social, and otherwise) is full of declarations, opinions, and speculations. Buzz words like “crazy,” “tragedy,” “gun control,” “national shame” and a flood of the same cliches that came out when Representative Gabriel Gifford was shot, after Columbine, [...]

I imagine that I’m going to get a lot of hate for this, but I’m not a huge fan of the Olympics. I can generally think of better things to do with my time than watch people swim, run, and jump for what seems like 300 days. I don’t dislike the Olympics; I just don’t care. And I’m tired of [...]

So, here we are. For whatever reason, you saw the title of this post and thought it might be worth it to stop on by and bone up on your voter suppression skills or commiserate with others about flagrant disregard for U.N. sanctions. Maybe you’re looking around and noticing a lot less familiar faces enjoying their petro-dollars in your crush-my-people-for-personal-glory [...]

After reading the plea for sanity and civility from a friend, I have spent the last week on a self-imposed social media political post hiatus.  This has left my Facebook and Twitter feeds available for what I believe they were intended: fart jokes, movie quotes, and the occasional sports rant. The best way to prevent  myself from creating status posts  that convey [...]

This isn’t an easy post to write. At all. Everyone has differing opinions on Gun Control. Everyone has their opinion about why the Aurora shootings went down. I’m not here to try to sway anyone or even to say my opinion on these issues is right. I just want to talk about it a little bit, mostly because I think [...]

Just what is the deal with Mitt Romney ? He’s become the Republican candidate for president, but even Republicans have to admit there’s something wrong here. His campaign has been troubled with gaffs  that are drawing a lot of attention, but that’s not so much the problem as the nominee himself. It’s not just that he flip-flops. Heck, find a politician who hasn’t changed a [...]

It’s July during a presidential election year, and you know what that means: people are going nuts. Every constitutional scholar on Facebook (which amounts to everyone, even though I’m fairly sure that few of them have actually bothered to read the US Constitution) is filling their feed with memes, pictures, statistics, graphs, and other posts proving that this candidate or [...]

If you are reading this chances are good your computer has survived Malware Monday.  For those of you that were unable to correct your visious malware issues in time, I will send a hard copy of this story to you.  As your mailing address is no doubt available on any number of public forums.   The virus in question, like many, was aimed at [...]

With temperatures pushing triple digits across the country, my thoughts have drifted to cooler times.  From jumping into cold ocean waves on summer vacation back in the day to knocking back cool drinks with friends more recently, the summer soundtrack below accompanies many a sunny flashback.  Just as John and I gifted you our hipster Christmas playlist in December, I’m happy [...]

If you live anywhere between Indiana and Washington DC, odds are good you either lost power for sometime, still don’t have it, or know someone without it. In my region, AEP and other providers are calling as many as six more days before electricity is fully restored. That means hundreds of thousands of people (millions during the first few days) [...]

I recently came across a FiveBooks interview from two years ago (exactly: July 4, 2010) with Republican Indiana governor Mitch Daniels. Though I don’t align ideologically with Daniels, I was happily surprised reading through the interview. He comes across as well-read and eloquent, better than John Kerry in his FiveBooks. I’d recommend giving it a read, especially if you’re interested [...]

With the Supreme Court decision coming down on the side of the health care mandate, and thus upholding the entirety of the “Obamacare” bill, a lot of people are upset. Their frustration, from what I can tell, is rooted in the idea of freedom. It seems unfair for a free nation, like the one we live in, to force people [...]

I don’t like Barack Obama.  I am not a fan of his policies.  I believe his approach to the Office of President runs between inaction and overreaching.  His demeanor is condescending and insulting to his constituency. I need only one hand to count the number of times I have agreed with him on domestic or foreign policy with three fingers to spare.  [...]

Someone I know is going GREEN party this year. It seems another life-long Democrat has decided enough is enough. It’s time to go with a party that can get things done… or at least watch that party impotently protest while others do things! And I could go on the usual tangent about how this is the Ralph Nader effect or the [...]

It happens at the worst times. Most notably: when you’ve thought up or been handed an unfathomable project with a fast-approaching due date and your mind goes blank.  Your creativity vanishes and you panic.  What if you can’t get out of your slump?  What if you can’t break through the brick wall holding your imagination and productivity hostage?  We can’t [...]

The first trailer for the last Twilight movie is out and it looks… like you could replace any given scene from it with cuts of the trailers for any of the other movies. If the last film was any indication, it will probably be the worst of a terrible franchise, and then the healing can begin. But, the question remains, [...]

Twenty years ago, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janiero for the first Earth Summit.  Current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon explains that they “agreed on an ambitious blueprint for a more secure future. They sought to balance the imperatives of robust economic growth and the needs of a growing population against the ecological necessity to conserve our planet’s most [...]

So, the new Green Lantern was revealed this week, and he’s some kind of brown. That is to say that he’s a multiracial lantern with some African and Arabic heritage. The released cover shown in a recent #0 issue for the upcoming DC Trinity War shows a masked Green Lantern with a track of Arabic tattoos in the usual highlighted green of [...]

“I want it all. I want it all. I want it all, and I want it now” The opening line of this 1989 tune has been playing in my head for the last few days. Those words were first sung by the British rock band Queen over 20 years ago were meant to indite the excess of the 1980s.  Wanting it all [...]

Are you ready for an epic roadtrip – windows down, music up, driving to the next kitschy sight while basking in blue skies and sunshine? Or are you the international type – ready to fly halfway around the world to feast on authentic cuisine and immerse yourself in traditional customs? Or are you the quintessential beach bum – ready to [...]