What the F is Rolling Stone doing?

Pax Arcana
Mike Masnick of Techdirt points our attention to a week-old story in the New York Times that says some magazines are considering raising their prices.
This makes sense to me. I just paid $10 for a year’s worth of my second-favorite print publication on the planet (Wired). You can get a full year (47 issues) [...]

Teller will blind you with science

Pax Arcana
True story: Teller of Penn & Teller fame was once a teacher at my high school — The Central New Jersey Academy of IROC  and Invective.
Also true — he will literally blind you with science.
This month’s Wired features a cool interview with the silent, diminutive half of the avant garde magic duo. In the [...]

He shall be buried in a six-sided casket

Pax Arcana
Sad news from the realm of adult virgins and LARPers today, as we mourn the death of Dave Arneson, co-creator of the popular Dungeons & Dragons game.
According to Wired, Arneson and D&D were a key influence on the fantasy world:
It may not directly relate to the world of electronic videogames, but it’s impossible to [...]

Dinochicken is not a good idea

Pax Arcana
When the ashes have returned to ashes and the dust is dust, it will be known that humankind did not succumb to global warming or the aftereffects of nuclear war.
Rather, the people of earth were slowly pecked apart by dinochicken — the brainchild of an early 21st century paleontologist named Jack Horner — and [...]

Hey let’s all blame this guy!!

Pax Arcana
The worst parts of our accelerating economic depression are pretty obvious — joblessness, retirement insecurity, loss of national confidence, eating sawdust pancakes, etc… But there are bright spots, if only you look hard enough. For one thing, it gives us a sterling opportunity to BLAME THE SHIT OUT OF SOMEBODY for our misfortune. Lord [...]

The playmates are increasingly unreal

Pax Arcana
In the beginning, the appeal of Playboy Magazine was that it showcased the proverbial “girl next door” type — allowing men to drift into a world of fantasy where they could peek in on their attractive young neighbor lounging around in her boudoir.
But these days — thanks to cheap carbohydrates and an appalling lack [...]

So now it was the volcanoes

Pax Arcana
According to this article in Wired, many scientists now believe that massive volcanic eruptions in India are to blame for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Their findings contradict the prevailing cartoon theory that the dinosaurs really died of lung cancer and smoker’s breath.

The volcano theory rests on recent studies of huge lava flows in [...]

My army of sexy snipers has been discovered!

Pax Arcana
A whip-smart young reporter for Wired recently found something interesting in a Reuters report of Russian accounts of the recent border skirmish between that nation (full disclosure: a client of mine) and the nation of Georgia (also a client).
In the original report, a Russian general complains that the Georgians had used, in part, foreign [...]

This post is irritating

Pax Arcana
I personally believe — at this moment in time — that you shouldn’t of come to Pax Arcana to read this post. It’s fairly unique, but it’s not rocket science. At the end of the day, we strive for 24/7 hilarity and curiosity-piquing content. But sometimes it’s a nightmare. With all due respect, this [...]

The man who made things awesome

Pax Arcana
Have you ever seen this before?

OK, how about this one?

OK fine, but have you ever seen one of these before?

If you recognize these branding icons and dozens of others, then you’re already familiar with the life’s work of Raymond Loewy, French expatriate and creator of many of the world’s most influential industrial designs.
Wired celebrated [...]