HUMOR: This is for real! From my Groupon newsletter!

http://touch2.groupon.com/deals/drive-a-tank-5?c=deal_img&d=deal-page&date=20130225&division=des-moines&mobile=true&p=1&s=body&sid=1824b221-ec16-4283-a3d2-afe5983380cf&user=20ee0d91d9c8b8053b283ae3bfa0f6a2a695e30fdcee333691c84604f9daafb1&utm_campaign=drive-a-tank-5&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

ENTERTAINMENT: 'Star Wars' Needs a New Approach to Gender—Not Just More Women

Science fiction has a history of asking big questions about masculinity and femininity. It's time for Star Wars to take a few pointers from its genre.

http://m.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/star-wars-needs-a-new-approach-to-gender-not-just-more-women/273268/

ENTERTAINMENT: Man Of Tomorrow: Superman, Orson Scott Card And Me

If Card were writing any other character — Ant-Man, Matter-Eater Lad, Batroc the Leaper — even a high profile character like Iron Man, whom he did write for a while — you wouldn't see this reaction.

Because Superman is different.

Superman is not just a superhero. He's the superhero. He created the very concept of the superhero, and everything that's touched on that concept for the past 75 years — we are talking vast swaths of popular culture — exists because of him. Regardless of how you feel about Superman and superheroes, you can't deny the cultural impact the character has made, and continues to make.

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/17/172229592/man-of-tomorrow-superman-orson-scott-card-and-me

HUMOR: Librarians do it with Dewey!

HISTORY: Iowa's place in school desegregation

http://www.iptv.org/iowastories/detail.cfm/alexander_clark

POLITICS: Ha! This is why I'm so glad my wife didn't want a diamond ring for a wedding ring!

SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION: Paul Prather: How you tip a waitress speaks to your beliefs

I don't even know her, but the way she acted might be more the rule among overtly Christian diners rather than the exception. I've been hearing stories like this for years from past or present waiters and waitresses.

In the restaurant business, it's almost a truism: People who make a point of referring to their religion often prove to be the stingiest, crankiest customers.

This is not some vicious blasphemy propagated by heathens trying to defame the holy church.

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/08/2508148/paul-prather-how-you-tip-a-waitress.html

MY LIFE: Yeah, what the f*** does your family do?

POLITICS: Gay Pride In New York City: 1970-1979

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/gay-pride-in-new-york-city-1970-1979

ENTERTAINMENT: Let's Get All The Die Hard Sequel Titles Out Of The Way

http://m.collegehumor.com/article/6870341/lets-get-all-the-die-hard-sequel-titles-out-of-the-way

ENTERTAINMENT: Unicorns Are Jerks: a coloring book exposing the cold, hard, sparkly truth

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1477468528

HUMOR: Hilariously Ironic Newspaper Headlines

http://mommyhasapottymouth.com/hilariously-ironic-newspaper-headlines-6062/

CULTURE/SOCIETY: American woman gives domestic abuse a face, and voice, in China

"I made a conscious decision. I used a Chinese lawyer, I used Chinese courts," she says. "To be honest, a lot of my American friends did not understand this. They were like, 'You're crazy. You're American. Go to the embassy immediately.' But I did not want to teach my daughters, 'No one can beat you because you're American.' I wanted to teach them, 'No one can beat you because you're a person, you're a woman.' "

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171316582/american-woman-gives-domestic-abuse-a-face-and-voice-in-china

ENTERTAINMENT: Notes On Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend’s Last.fm Account

My ex-boyfriend, however, is never active enough on Facebook to justify excessive lurking of his page. Even if he were seeing someone else, I’d probably never know it, since I dated him for nearly a year and there isn’t a single photo of us tagged together on Facebook, nor did we write on one another’s walls. We just “weren’t like that.” Once, when our courtship was young, I posted a picture of a swan to his wall. Those were halcyon days, indeed.

This is all my way of saying that, in the wake of the relationship’s ending, rather than torturing myself by constantly reminding myself of all the social events my ex was attending without me and apparently enjoying all the more for my absence, I devised a far more effective way to torture myself with obsessive remembrance, painful emotions, and false hope: lurking my ex’s Last.fm page.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/notes-on-stalking-my-ex-boyfriends-last-fm-account/

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: 5 Bizarre Factors That Secretly Influence Your Opinions

In many ways, our opinions define us. We scream them from the mountaintops of social media and spend our coffee breaks getting into embarrassing slap fights with Vince from accounting because he prefers the wrong brand of phone. But salespeople and scientists both know that our opinions are not as constant as we believe. Every single day, scores of weird and seemingly insignificant things are twisting our preferences.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20223_5-bizarre-factors-that-secretly-influence-your-opinions.html

HUMOR: Living the dream?

HUMOR: "Shining" - movie for the whole family!

HUMOR: LINDSAY LOHAN TO GIVE BIRTH TO NEANDERTHAL

American geneticist George Templar said that he was ready to clone a Neanderthal, but he needed a woman for the project, who could bear and deliver the unusual baby.

Lindsay Lohan read about the idea and said she would do it. Templar was ecstatic that she wanted to take a change. Then, Lohan’s agent demanded seven figures for using her body – and the scientists agreed to pay her.

http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/54269/lindsay-lohan-to-give-birth-to-neanderthal/

ENTERTAINMENT: Dorothy and the Hitchcockian witch!

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: On Pins and Needles: Stylist Turns Ancient Hairdo Debate on Its Head

By day, Janet Stephens is a hairdresser at a Baltimore salon, trimming bobs and wispy bangs. By night she dwells in a different world. At home in her basement, with a mannequin head, she meticulously re-creates the hairstyles of ancient Rome and Greece.

Ms. Stephens is a hairdo archaeologist.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324900204578286272195339456.html

POLITICS: Why girls dig green guys!

Green singletons pucker up! It looks like you may not be flying solo for long.
Staying true to your eco-friendly values could pay off when it comes to attracting potential mates, according to a new survey.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/timberland-eco-love-survey_n_1260960.html

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: Checking Voicemail: The Newest Casualty Of Technology

When was the last time you checked your voicemail? I check my work messages often since leaving and checking voicemail is still the norm in daily business (along with antiquated email), but I admit, I have personal voicemails that have been sitting there for a month or two waiting for me. When I think about checking them, the first thing that goes through my mind is, “I have to set aside some time for that” because checking voicemail is an inefficient time sink.

http://www.bitrebels.com/technology/checking-voicemail-casualty-technology/

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: NASA knew Columbia crew could die but chose not to tell them

A NASA flight director has revealed that personnel on the ground knew in 2003 that the Space Shuttle Columbia would not likely survive re-entry, but chose not to inform the vessel’s crew. According to an ABC News report from Thursday, when faced with the choice of letting the astronauts die trying to come home or leaving them to orbit until their air ran out, high-ranking NASA officials chose to let the Columbia crew die in ignorance of what was to befall them.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/01/nasa-knew-columbia-crew-would-die-but-chose-not-to-tell-them/

ENTERTAINMENT: This sounds like fun!