John Tyler was the 10th president of the United States. Born in 1790 he became president upon the death of "Tippecanoe" William Henry Harrison. His nickname given by his detractors was "His accidency." He led in relative obscurity. His Grandchildren are still alive.
comment posted at 6:25 AM on Jan-27-12

Psychology Today delves into the societal and psychological issues raised by casual sex.
comment posted at 6:31 AM on Jan-27-12

A Swarthmore College student-reporter's questioning of whether it is moral to go into banking sparks NYT columnist Nick Kristof to not only assert the affirmative, but to argue (in part) that in fact more well-educated, liberally-mined people should go into "conservative" industries like banking in order to reform it from the inside. In effect, Kristof suggests, socialist-leaning, educationally-empowered students should hunker down, swallow their disdain, and apply their ideals to change finance. Said student responds (in Slate): elite, ostensibly liberal-leaning students don't seem to be particularly discouraged from capitalism or going into banking in this climate, and probably never have been.
comment posted at 5:18 AM on Jan-25-12

President Barack Obama will today give the annual State of the Union address. There will be at least three rebuttals in addition to a prebuttal that occurred this morning. The address will be streamed online at Whitehouse.gov.
comment posted at 6:04 PM on Jan-24-12

if i die: if i die is the first and only facebook application that enables you to create a video or a text message that will only be published after you die.
comment posted at 9:46 AM on Jan-24-12

The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor (sl Cracked list)
comment posted at 2:01 PM on Jan-19-12

Defriending My Rapist
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Canada declares its "canadacy" in the race for US President (The Canada Party on Twitter; also spotted on HuffPo)
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53 year old Donna Chen was out walking her dog when she was struck and killed by 22 year old Blake Talman. Her dog, a vizsla, ran off despite his injuries. He was rescued by a fisherman quite some distance away - and more than half a mile at sea.
comment posted at 4:57 AM on Jan-10-12

Tuberculosis, which kills around 1,000 people a day in India, has acquired a deadlier edge. Forty years ago, the world thought it had conquered TB.
comment posted at 3:09 PM on Jan-7-12

Shrek the sheep taught us all that if you really, really don't want to do something, you don't have to.

RIP Shrek the Sheep (1994-2011)
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SLYT: Brenda Hewlett: 5'3", 59 years old, has never held a hockey stick before. At an Akwesasne Warriors hockey game, however, she finally did hold a hockey stick in an attempt to win a new Ford truck by shooting a puck at a goal from 114 feet away. You probably see where this is going.
comment posted at 10:36 AM on Dec-27-11

The final tweets of some notable people who died this year. Some other final tweets.
comment posted at 7:56 AM on Dec-27-11

How Much More Do Books Cost Today?
comment posted at 1:22 PM on Dec-21-11

With the death of the childless Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, the son of Mary Queen of Scots and the reigning King of Scotland became next in line for succession to the English throne. On 11 July of that year the crowns of Scotland and England were united as King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England. The Union of the Crowns was made possible by the the fact that the James VI was protestant, married and had healthy children – heirs to the throne. The English were also comforted by the fact that the Scottish King was a scholar. Among other literary accomplishments, he had authored a number of books on witchcraft. Written in the Socratic form of a dialogue, Dæmonologie presented a wide-ranging discussion of witchcraft, necromancy, possession, demons, were-wolves, fairies and ghosts.
comment posted at 7:00 AM on Dec-9-11

Obion County, TN home burns while South Fulton firefighters watch, again. The City of South Fulton FD offers surrounding Obion County residents firefighting services for a $75 annual subscription, but not all county residents choose to subscribe (previously).

The last time this happened, the city of South Fulton, Tennessee, received a lot of heat nationwide for this policy. That was more than a year ago but nothing has changed.

The mayor said it comes down to simple business. If they don't collect fire fees, the fire department can't survive and if they make exceptions to the rule, no one will ever pay the fee.

Obion County lacks a fire department (pdf) and county residents, who do not pay taxes for firefighting, are provided firefighting services through local cities and towns, either by annual subscription or a per-call fee.
comment posted at 8:37 PM on Dec-8-11
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Kathryn Joyce looks at unregulated Christian homes for troubled children.
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The Seven Worst Gifts for Children! This year’s list of the worst toys is brought to you by plastics, those bright synthetic polymers that threaten to overtake the living rooms of middle-class parents.
comment posted at 1:15 PM on Dec-8-11

The Best Pole Dance Ever. SLYT. Banish your preconceived notions and prepare to be amazed.
comment posted at 6:13 PM on Dec-7-11

At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a yacht race was taking the world's teams through dangerous waters at breakneck speeds. Stig Käll and his brother Lars were in the running to win when, behind them, the Australian team capsized and slipped below the deadly waves. Making a split-second decision, the Källs turned their boat around and rescued the Australians, losing the race and vanishing from the pages of Olympic history, but winning recognition from the Japanese press, who awarded them the headline "Gold Medal of Humanity". The Käll brothers were the first to receive recognition from the International Fair Play Committee, a group that now gives awards and recognition to people who display unusual sportsmanship, such as:
comment posted at 6:29 AM on Dec-7-11

200+ Famous Musicians Who Died Too Young. Ordered by age, from 17 to 54, with brief descriptions and links to their last.fm pages.
comment posted at 9:44 AM on Dec-5-11
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Gawker: How the NYT Style section trolls their readers.
comment posted at 11:14 AM on Dec-2-11

10 Myths About Introverts: "Myth #2 – Introverts are shy: Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite." [via a comment at this similarly accurate post from Diamond Geezer].
comment posted at 5:45 AM on Nov-27-11

Lt John Pike, mustached UC Davis campus police officer, now finds himself the subject of the "Casually Pepper Spraying Cop" meme, where the nonchalant Pike is inserted into famous works of art such as the "The Creation of Adam," "The Scream," and yes, the cover of "Sgt Pepper."
comment posted at 6:37 AM on Nov-22-11

"Every day in the U.S., about 500 people lose a limb. About 1,800 amputation surgeries are performed each year in Oklahoma. More than 1,600 of those — about 90 percent — are lower body amputations. So every day in Oklahoma, four people lose part or all of a leg." (Nationally, the most common procedure is toe amputation.) "These are the stories of four people living in Oklahoma — a mother, a senior, a Marine and a student — all living life on at least one prosthetic leg": Standing Tall
comment posted at 10:13 AM on Nov-7-11

"A momentous and difficult decision for the family which has been in the diamond industry for more than 100 years and part of De Beers for over 80 years" ~ Nicky Oppenheimer, Chairman of De Beers on the recent announcement of selling the family's interest in De Beers to Anglo American and pulling out of the diamond business.

The Oppenheimers may have ruled the roost for decades, but the company began with Cecil Rhodes, the English-born politician and entrepreneur who went on to found Rhodesia, which was renamed Zimbabwe in 1979 and the Rhodes scholarship scheme to Oxford University.
comment posted at 5:40 AM on Nov-7-11

Andy Rooney passed away last night at the age of 92.
comment posted at 10:01 AM on Nov-5-11

"You should have your tongue ripped out." Female bloggers speak out about misogynist comments, rape threats and death threats.
comment posted at 10:47 AM on Nov-4-11

Rick taught his cat, Lou, how to use instant messaging. Their chat logs can be read at Lou vs. Rick. (SLTP)
comment posted at 12:06 PM on Nov-3-11

Previously, we discussed the strangely serious 1985 Too Close For Comfort episode titled: For Every Man, There's Two Women - a show of note in that one of its main characters, Monroe Ficus (Jm J. Bullock), is kidnapped and raped by two obese women with a jello fetish. At the time of the previous post, no footage of the episode could be found online. Recently, however, the entire episode [part 1] [part 2] was uploaded to YouTube. Trigger warning: the episode, though it deals with a serious subject, often plays the abduction/assault for laughs. [via]
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Every episode of Full House hilariously reviewed in chronological order.
comment posted at 8:38 AM on Nov-3-11

In 2004, Texas Judge William Adams beat his 16-year old daughter with a belt for downloading music and computer games. Unbeknownst to him, she filmed the whole thing. Seven years later, fed up with the continued harassment and abuse from her father, she uploaded it to YouTube (warning: graphic language and violence, NSFW). Less than 24 hours after hitting Reddit, the video is all over the news. Hillary Adams says on Twitter that she hopes her father will receive help, not condemnation.
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Did you know that hard candy is actually a glass? Neither did I! Learn the science with this detailed protocol for making your own that helps explain what is going on. (PDF) Bored with the protocol and need a recipe instead? Let these two hardcore hammer wielding home candy-making women show you the ropes. All using common or easily acquirable equipment.
comment posted at 4:35 AM on Nov-2-11

Population to Reach 7 Billion This Week. As experts wait for the human population to reach 7 billion this week, some estimates claim even larger growth by the end of the century. One forthcoming United Nations report estimates that the number of humans on the planet may reach 15 billion -- more than double current levels, according to The Observer.
comment posted at 12:28 PM on Oct-25-11

Threadless has created a t-shirt line for UNICEF in which the shirts cost the same as what's depicted on them. So this one, of a cargo flight, costs $300,000. This one, for insecticide-treated mosquito nets, might be more in your price range.
comment posted at 10:09 AM on Oct-25-11