Snowmaggedon was never that clever, but the way it rolls off people's tongue in the mid-Atlantic would make you think they'd just discovered gift of gab. But Snowmageddon wasn't the only invention from the recent snow storms. Snowpocalypse was another word-meld that gained in popularity.

For…

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It's been just over two months since the Fourth Corner relocated from Washington, DC to Alexandria, Virginia. A first home was purchased, tax breaks obtained (god willing), and mortgages packaged and sold. Then sold again.

To understand where our mortgage is requires an economics degree. Our…

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The Swedes have taken the concept of biofuels to an entirely new level in recent weeks: culled rabbits are now being thrown into the furnaces to heat the colder parts of the country.

While burning rabbits for energy may not be the most popular concept for Americans, they… Read full post »

Stephen King once noted that good horror reacts to the common fears of the people.  In the nuclear 1950s, the films were about attacks of the fifty foot ant, crab, or spider or woman because most Americans were afraid of the unknown future of the atom. 

From there, with/… Read full post »

Yesterday I walked to one of the four Starbucks in a three block radius of where I work (really) and took up Starbucks on their recent instant coffee, sorry--"microground Via"--challenge.  I have this to report.  It tastes slightly better than Folger's Instant Coffee. Slightly.

But thi…

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Embrace the Wikipedia "Random Article" Button

It's like pulling a random book off a library shelf. Or putting your finger on a spinning globe and seeing where you end up. Only now, randomly searching for things isn't nearly as cumbersome as it used to be. Libraries are…

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From the Greek playwright who was crushed to death when a bird dropped a tortise on his head, all the way to the nine poor souls who died in the London Beer Flood, Wikipedia has catalogued the world's most unusual deaths from Ancient Greece through the present.

 Many of the… Read full post »

I remember walking around the Baghdad square where 17 civilians were killed by Blackwater employees.  The Iraqi Security Forces who overlooked the square looked like they wanted to shoot me.  I'm not really sure I blame them.

 I remember the Blackwater helicopters that buzzed over the… Read full post »