VOX: Sanitizer might feel like a modern-day, scientific, and more clinical upgrade to soap. But I’m here to tell you that soap — all sorts of it: liquid, solid, honeysuckle-scented, the versions inexplicably only marketed to men or women — is a badass, and even more routinely effective than hand sanitizer. We should be excited to use it, as much as possible. That’s because when you wash your hands with soap and water, you’re not just wiping viruses off your hands and sending them down the drain. You’re actually annihilating the viruses, rendering them harmless. Soap “is almost like a […]
WELCOME TO THE OCCUPATION: Foreign Policy’s Survival Guide To The Impending U.S. Lockdown
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ordinarily we would not post another media outlet’s content in full, usually just a few paragraphs and a link to the web site of origin for the complete article. However, the following information is too important, smartly-reasoned and elegantly rendered — in short, too essential — to remain locked behind a paywall in this moment of impending doom. So with all due apologies to Foreign Policy we are re-posting it here in full. Because sometimes looting is justifiable. Doomsday is one of those times. FOREIGN POLICY: Whether you are reading this in your living room in Vancouver, office […]
Q&A: With Online Privacy Expert Lori Andrews
The take away from I Know Who You Are And Saw What You Did is this: As an Internet user your rights are exactly none. Actually, that’s not true, you do have the right not to use it. But assuming you have waived that right, know that you are being watched, probed and profiled, your footprints are being tracked from your front door to the furthest reaches of the digital ether and back. They know who you are and what you did. Somewhere there is a file being kept on you. They know a thousand things about you. Preferences, locations, […]
REAL ESTATE: So You Want To Buy A Home Pt. 3
BY AARON STELLA I’m still not in the house I purchased last April. It was, livable when I bought it, albeit in need of some serious face lifting, which always has its snags and surprises. Like, throwing up some dry wall should be a relatively painless process—unless there’s three layers of petrified wallpaper covering what were once beautiful plaster walls which means you have to frame out the whole house before dry walling; or, tearing out water damaged dry wall in the kitchen only to find a larger-than-life brick Jenga puzzle teetering precariously overhead because some brain trust didn’t use […]
REAL ESTATE: So You Want To Buy A Home Pt. 2
BY AARON STELLA Never buy your first home for love; buy it for money. Embracing this maxim will maximize the considerable benefits of first-time home ownership. As I mentioned in our last edition, people don’t typically buy a home until they’re ready to settle down, and it’s this mindset that prevents many people from home owning and securing wealth until later in life. Your dream home doesn’t have to be your first; make it your fourth, and by that point you should be able to buy it in cash. After I got serious about buying my first home, I had […]
REAL ESTATE: So You Want To Buy A Home
BY AARON STELLA “Oh Osh magosh me? A house? Mortgages and mahogany? Brunches and backsplashes? Go pick on someone your own size!” Was what I told my broker/boss at CITYSPACE, a real estate agency, when she asked me if I was considering buying a house anytime soon. That was November 2009. I was 24-years-old and in my sixth month employed at CITYSPACE as their Web Content Associate. I possessed relatively little knowledge about real estate and home owning, and to me, people just didn’t purchase homes until they’re ready to settle down. A few weeks after my broker poked me […]
GAYDAR EXTRA: Taking The ‘Gay’ Out Of Gaming
BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR Hey pals and gals. Got a quick one here for ya. Editor-in-chief JV shot me an email the other day (thanks boss) alerting me to a new development in the Christian coteries: apparently, it’s not enough now to censor the sex (nudity), violence, substance abuse, and demonic images (oh lord) in video games, homosexual content is now on the chopping block. According to Tumeroks, a blog dedicated to covering the development and growth of online games (Warhammer online, World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, etc) a Christian conservative investment firm called The Timothy Plan has just […]
NOT SAFE AT ANY SPEED: Flaw In Internet Explorer Leaves All Users Vulnernable To Attack, Financial Ruin
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Users of all current versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer browser might be vulnerable to having their computers hijacked because of a serious security hole in the software that had yet to be fixed Monday. The flaw lets criminals commandeer victims’ machines merely by tricking them into visiting Web sites tainted with malicious programming code. As many as 10,000 sites have been compromised since last week to exploit the browser flaw, according to antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc. The sites are mostly Chinese and have been serving up programs that steal passwords for computer games, which can […]
EQUAL TIME: Letter From A Red State Mom
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a letter sent to Phawker Gaydar Editor Aaron Stella by his mother, explaining her decision to vote for McCain despite her son’s attempts to convince her otherwise. Both agreed to Phawker publishing it along with a rebuttal. Astute readers will recall Sylvia Stella’s proud mom remarks and constructive criticisms in the COMMENTS section of Aaron’s Gaydar columns. She currently resides in Cullman, Alabama. Dear Aaron, I have read quite a bit on both Obama and McCain. I am voting for McCain. People fought and died for our right to vote. A vote is not a […]
THE LINCOLN BITE: Fine Dining For Around $5
[Photo by SWEETIE PIE PRESS] BY COLLEEN REESE Almost every time I pass a cafe, it’s like there’s a magnet in there and my pockets are full of heavy metal. Usually I’m curious about brewing methods or about whether or not they bake their own pastries. I look for things that are memorable and exclusive. Seldom do I walk away surprised or intrigued. Too often they settle for corporate mediocrity, offering Pepsi products at their independent businesses, re-evaluating their menus to better appeal to the same people who drink Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee with extra cream and sugar. When I […]
MAILBAG: Mother Still Knows Best
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter is in response to this week’s episode of GAYDAR. DEAR AARON Very well-written! As all the great writers suggest, “Write what you know.” Well, you did! Let me tell you a little story my mother used to tell me… There was a young man who went off to work in the Peace Corps in the African jungle. He was there 2 years and finally would get to come home to his family on their farm in the mid-West. In anticipation of this, he wrote his parents telling them that he was bringing home with him […]
MAILBAG: Mother Knows Best
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is in response to Aaron Stella’s GAYDAR column last week. DEAR PHAWKER, Very colorful! Most of it quite true too! I must comment however that there were and, no doubt, still are many people there who attempt to live good Christian lives, as did your family. I particularly know of some children of members who are away at colleges around the country and are doing all they can to lead true Christian lives. They don’t have a clue about any ulterior motives, hidden agendas, or misguidance in the community and might be shocked and hurt by […]