Ken Layne

Woman X: Snowden’s Acrobat Dancer Girlfriend Wears Guy Fawkes Mask

Edward Snowden and his acrobatic dancer girlfriend Lindsay Mills are the real-life protagonists of our paranoid era’s best spy thriller/graphic novel. With her art degree and wordy blog and burlesque stripper-pole YouTube videos and artsy lingerie shots, Mills couldn’t be more of a nerd dream girl unless she put on a Guy Fawkes mask—and she’s…

56% of Americans Just Fine With Constant Surveillance

Pew Research just released a new study that proves a majority of Americans are completely fine with having every part of their banal lives fed into the data-mining maw of the U.S. Government Technology Complex. If 56% of voters elected a president, we’d call it a landslide. But only 27% of Americans are paying close…

Hillary Clinton’s managers started a Twitter account for her, which apparently proves she’s running for president.

Journalism Is the Worst 4-Year College Investment—Be a Sailor Instead!

If the constant downsizing in the news-media industry hasn’t already convinced you to pick something else to do with your life, a new study shows the worst “return on investment” for a four-year degree is a job in journalism. It takes journalists nearly 32 years to pay off their college loans. With a median salary…

Want To Know Everything About Everyone? Work the Prism For Palantir!

“I applied for a writer job at Palantir,” a California journalist tells Front! “They specialize in using artificial intelligence to analyze data, something like that. My [Republican friend] works there. I have a few tidbits from the hiring process—they are sort of menacing, in retrospect.” It’s apparently a tough place to get a job. The…

Obama Administration Also Sticking It To Wolves Today

If you’re feeling like the U.S. government is only picking on American humans this week, consider the wolves hunted very nearly to extinction until federal endangered species protection brought them back from the brink. As of today, wolves are on their own again. The Obama Administration is bowing to pressure from Western ranchers and hunting…

Sneaky Kid In Stands Nabs Baseball From Kansas City Royals’ Fan (VIDEO)

A Kansas City Royals’ fan thought that ball was coming straight to her hands, but a crafty kid with quick reflexes hopped in front of her and took home the souvenir baseball. Watch how sad she looks in the video!

Dangerous San Onofre Nuclear Plant Finally Shutting Down

The long troubled oceanfront nuclear plant in Southern California will be shut down for good, Southern California Edison announced today. The doomed domes have been closed for multiple, outrageous safety and operating violations since January 2012. More than 7 million people live within a 50-mile radius of the dangerously mismanaged and unsafe nuclear plant. Sitting…

Earth Without Ice

Imagine our world without polar ice caps. The most dismal global warming predictions look something like this new imagery from NASA that shows the mountains of dry old Antarctica without the covering of ice we’ve come to expect. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-antarctica-will-look-like-without-all-that-452404119

Car Dealerships Make Tesla’s Elon Musk Cry In Frustration

America’s powerful car dealership lobby continues to block Tesla’s plans for direct-to-consumer purchase of automobiles. It’s starting to get to Elon Musk, the electric car company’s CEO. Musk is nearly driven to tears in this video. https://jalopnik.com/change-the-anti-tesla-law-argues-long-time-texas-car-485851184 [Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.]

Legal Gay Marriage “Inevitable,” 72% of Americans Say In New Poll

Even people who swear that gay marriage will somehow cause the collapse of society realize it’s “inevitable,” a new Pew study says. With 72% of Americans acknowledging the change in marriage reality, 42% of those questioned still say it’s wrong.

“Game of Thrones” Author Laughs At Audience Horror Over Red Wedding

George R. R. Martin appeared on Conan last night to enjoy the pain and horror of Game of Thrones viewers, after home video of their shocked reactions became a YouTube hit. The bloody wedding scene has also led to child-safe GIF versions and alternate endings. http://gawker.com/george-rr-martin-reacts-to-people-reacting-to-game-of-t-511614463

Tree Vs. Morons: Insane Losers Try Uprooting Massive Tree With Old Car

What happens when some American hicks try to destroy a beautiful old tree with a chain and a 1980s Oldsmobile? The tree wins, even after a half-dozen horrific attempts to yank it out of the ground. https://jalopnik.com/slack-jawed-yokels-attempt-tree-removal-with-car-fail-511514154

Facebook Outrage: Sex Slave Pages, Fired Do-Gooders and a Musical Too

Despite Facebook’s public promise to crack down on hate speech and misogyny, there’s still plenty of ugly stuff on the world’s most popular social network—this Facebook page about prostitutes in the brothels of Kolkata is the latest outrage. A do-gooder bus driver lost his job for mentioning a hungry student on Facebook, and a weird…

Will Global Warming Bring Back These Terrifying Lizard Kings?

A giant prehistoric lizard who feasted on huge mammals back when the world was broiling is a possible preview of what our world will look like when climate change melts the ice caps. The “Lizard King,” named for Jim Morrison’s reptilian alter ego, thrived upon the flesh of big animals during a warm age 36…

OK Marriage! Couples Who Meet Online Have Happier Marriages

With a third of all American marriages now starting with online dating, there’s some good news for all the Match.com and OkCupid couples planning to get married: People who meet on dating sites are less likely to separate or divorce, and they’re also happier than married couples who meet the old fashioned way. https://gizmodo.com/couples-who-meet-online-tend-to-have-better-marriages-511429018 [Photo…

Turkish Rioters Learned To Rumble From “Grand Theft Auto” Video Games

The college kids protesting in Istanbul are from Turkey’s first big video game generation, and the language they’re using on social media to describe the scuffles with police are straight out of Grand Theft Auto, the hyper-violent car crime game. http://gawker.com/what-is-going-on-in-turkey-and-do-i-really-need-to-care-511018243

Collapse: Downtown Philadelphia Buildings Fall, Killing Six

An apartment building and thrift store collapsed in downtown Philadelphia this morning, injuring 13 and the rubble. Just before 11 a.m., the four-story structures at 22nd and Market fell to the ground, killing six people. http://gawker.com/building-collapses-in-downtown-philadelphia-511433001

Paralyzed People Walk Again With Mind-Reading Cyborg Skeleton

A robotic exoskeleton that reads the wearer’s mind will make walking possible again for people who have lost the use of their legs. The Mindwalker Project, now being tested by European Commission researchers, combines a mind-reading EEG signal processor that controls a powerful musculo-skeletal system you wear over your legs.

Jason Kidd Became a Basketball Legend At This Tiny High School

This is “Saint Joe’s,” the tiny Catholic high school on the tiny San Francisco Bay island of Alameda where Jason Kidd became a legend. It was here, playing for the St. Joseph Pilots, that Kidd first took a team to the championships. By the time the Pilots won the state title in 1991, the team…