Deserving? Blair has refused to travel to Washington to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor that has been awarded him. more inside

Fear itself. A lengthy but fascinating article about terrorism and how people around the world react to it on a day-to-day basis.

You can't fake how damn cold it was How fake is fake? I report, you decide.

Jazzstep, techstep, darkstep...all explained here . Ishkur says that his Guide to Electronic Music "could be used as a credited resource or a musical primer" but quickly goes on to say that it's not recommended as he "made most of it up!" more inside

Monkey! Monkey! Monkey! 'A while back I read an interview with a birthday clown -- you know, one of those guys who gets hired to entertain a bunch of yard apes at a seven year-old's shindig? And the interviewer asked, like, "What if you're dying out there? What if the kids are hating it?" And the subject, the interviewee-guy (I honestly have no recollection who this clown was or why I was reading this interview) said, in a pinch, he could always resort to a Funny Word. When pressed for clarification, the clown revealed a fascinating (to me) trick of the birthday clown trade: apparently every year there are two or three Funny Words, which invariably crack kids up, and when things are going sour you can just blurt one out and bring the house down. But you gotta keep up-to-date, because the Funny Words mysteriously change over time, so while "booger" might have killed in 1998, 2004 demands nothing less than a "monkey."'

On war, John Kerry is all Vietnam and no Iraq more inside

don't tell your friends
unless they dig dj moozak.

Please Stop Chewing Crap

Despite the fact that most of us carom through life like there's no tomorrow, we've all got an expiration date. Find out when yours is likely to be at Living To 100's Healthspan Calculator.

Three cheers for the Surveillance Society! "In the brave new future, Big Brother will watch our every move. But that's OK, because we'll be watching him too." So says David Brin, author of The Transparent Society. more inside

Imperious George! Time to be an opinionated bastard/bastardess. You get to eliminate one word, one category of television advertising, and one idea that makes you cranky from the Universe...which would they be? Funky (what does this word even mean now?)...Car ads (if I see yet another car slither to a dust-billowing stop in a dried up lake bed, I shall kill myself)...That The Matriarchy would somehow be better than The Patriarchy. (Ha! It would be "Lord of the Flies" in a halter top, thank you very much.)

Curious George When undercover cops or FBI agents are on a stakeout, do they really sit in a telephone company or cable TV van outside the house for days on end like they do in the movies?

Cosplayers