Lately I’ve been getting increasingly more angry whenever I visit either Costco or Sams Club. I buy a LOT of crap at these places and I’ve got the top membership levels, so why is it that they always want to see my receipt before I leave the damn building?

I mean, let’s face it. I just waited in some horrendous line, they don’t even bag your stuff up for you, and then 50 feet from the checkout they want me to stand in another line and then reproduce my receipt to allow some lackey to glance at it, glance at my cart and draw a line on it with a marker? What the hell is up with that!?!
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October is Black History Month in the UK (it’s February in the US), and one very unique individual is Gil Scott Heron, an American poet and musician known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word performer.

Mr. Heron recites a poem in which he uses sarcasm and wit to make the point that the white people who “discovered” Africa weren’t exactly discovering anything, and certainly weren’t good for the indigenous people.
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Ok. I can’t wait to see the comments on this one. Some people are going to laugh at it, some are going to be angry, and some will be preachy. I hope we don’t get into a debate about whether God exists. We’ve already done that here.

I can only guess that some kid’s brother filmed his mom cursing him out after he announced he was an atheist. It’s obvious that the camera was placed on a table and then quickly taken away when it appeared the parents might see it.
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Tasers were developed as a non-lethal option to bring dangerous situations under control. But law enforcement officials are now using them with wild abandon in cases where simple diplomacy or a little hard work would otherwise suffice.

In the past I’ve written about the police tasering of a UCLA student for refusing to show his school ID, as well as the time a cop tasered an 11 year old at school because the officer on hand apparently couldn’t physically restrain him?!? (Gee, what would they have done 10 years ago?)

Police have also used Tasers against peaceful protesters (NPR audio about tasering protesters), a pregnant woman (8 months) and an elderly man who called 911 to get medical attention for his diabetic seizure.

So who’s next? Maybe you.
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Six years have passed. Say what you will about the war in Iraq, George Bush, or religion. America was attacked. The last time this happened was Pearl Harbor. The result - the USA demonstrated it’s political will and military might.

That makes the US 2 for 2. Two attacks on US soil = two foreign military powers and their allies utterly destroyed.
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In the 1950’s and 1960’s Charles Manson and his gang of drugged out hippies preyed on society as few criminals ever have. After eventually being sentenced to death, then having that sentence commuted to life in prison (California repealed the death penalty) the Manson “family’s” reign of terror came to an end.

The name Charles Manson now strikes fear in people, but most of us don’t really know much about the man behind the myth. For example, the fact that he was 5′ 2″ tall and under 140 pounds lets you know right off the bat that he was not a physically intimidating human.

He is also not known to have actually committed murders. Instead, he used his charisma to control a bunch of drugged out people who were desperately seeking someone to follow.

In 1981 Tom Snyder interviewed Charles Manson. This interview provides a rare look into the mind of a crazy person who simply has no remorse or comprehension of morality.
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Hmmm. Many people are claiming this is the greatest short film ever created. Props to Rich Skrenta for pointing it out.

The Academy-Award nominated animated short-film by Mark Osborne tells the story of a lonely inventor, whose colorless existence is brightened only by dreams of the carefree bliss of his youth.

By day, he is trapped in a dehumanizing job in a joyless world. But by night, he tinkers away on a visionary invention, desperate to translate his inspiration into something meaningful.

When his invention is complete, it will change the way people see the world. But he will find that success comes at a high price, as it changes himself, as well.

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You know, people always talk about a million as if they actually know what it would look like if they were actually staring at one million things. But for most of us, we’ve never actually seen a million of anything!

So, I decided to take a look at one million, and to do so I created a document that has one million periods in it. It’s attached here.

The file is a 976kb download, and if you open it in Word it takes 254 pages in single spaced format.
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Not to sound like someone pitching a self-help seminar, but I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and also been doing some experimentation and I believe I’ve found the secret to being happy - and it’s incredibly simple and entirely within your own control.

I made this initial discovery at, of all places, 7-11. You see, I’ve been working in D.C. on a project and living out of a hotel room for months. But my room has no refrigerator in it, so I stop at 7-11 every single morning on the way to the office to pick up a Sobe Green Tea (I highly recommend it if you haven’t tried it!).

Anyway, although I always see the same people working there I’ve noticed that I get a different reaction from them every time I come in the store - and this actually translated into how I felt.
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First of all, NO… my blog is not digressing into another porn site! Actually it’s sad, but I really debated about reporting this because nudity is involved. But I decided that it was for the common good and that the vast majority of my readers would probably appreciate the link…

The popular women’s magazine Jane has launched a Breast Health Guide, and a related Boob Blog called Show Us Yours!

The blog encourages regular women to send in a photo of their own breasts and a description about what they like about them. A LOT of women have taken up the challenge and they range from small to very, very large, and also including brave women with mastectomys, the site proves that boobs come in all shapes and sizes and that the most important thing is not what they look like, but that you are loved for who you are.
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A while back I wrote about one of the most inspiring stories I’ve ever heard about, the father and son team of Richard Hoyt and Richard Hoyt Jr. Well, in the June 2007 issue of Men’s Health magazine Richard Jr. published a huge father’s day letter to his dad. I figured it would be appropriate to share given that we’re only a week away.

You have to realize that it takes an extraordinary effort for him to communicate in this manner, so the length and eloquence of the message are moving.
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In a few months I’ll be 37. I think it’s fair to assert that I’m past the point at which I’d be considered a young man, and I’m closing in on middle age. The most interesting thing that has accompanied age for me is an increasing awareness of how little I actually know.

When I was younger I was more certain about my knowledge, even though I had less of it. But Socrates’ aphorism “Know Thyself” has become more intimate to me as I grow older.

There are still a few things that I remain certain of, and I figured that I should probably write them down now before I change my mind.
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