terror alert warnings: brown people edition

They all need a good scrubbingWell, to be fair let’s open it right up to everybody brown, black, or off-white. Affleck, you’re lucky you’re off the Mystic Tan, that’s all I’m saying.

We here at the ol’ raincoaster blog are constantly scanning the pixelsphere, looking for the most relevant and important stories to bring you. In the absence of breaking Giant Squid news, we offer this, even though we live in Vancouver and the only persons of melanin ’round these parts have (as we have noted) been fighting terrorists since 1492. Still, on the Internet nobody can tell you’re an octoroon.

From McSweeney’s.Terror Ist Is Lamb

Whatever the case may be, you probably have the same worries that any other good American has in these troubled times. Such as “How do I properly show my love for my country?” and “How do I assure people that I don’t want to kill them?”

With these questions in mind, the Department of Homeland Security has formulated the following guidelines for you and your people based on the United States Terror Alert Levels. If you follow the simple advice below, you will significantly decrease your chances of being arrested or deported.

Terror Alert Level: Low (Green)

To be honest, this level is really just a placeholder. We needed to have a “low” level in order to have the higher levels. If we ever do hit the green level, be aware that this probably means the rest of the world has been destroyed by man-made (e.g., nuclear) or supernatural (e.g., meteor or alien death ray) forces. Whatever the case may be, take the opportunity to live it up, because as soon as Mexico gets repopulated we’ll be back up to the blue level.

and so on

halloween costume of the year

Alex P. Keaton and his dream dateThere was a lot of competition for this year’s top spot. The Malcolm Gladwell, being Canadian, enjoyed home team advantage, as did the Alex P. Keaton. The Tara Reid, we imagine, was popular with a certain set (an unmatched, lopsided set), and looking around the Downtown Eastside it seemed clear to me that the most popular costumes by far were the Novelty Whore and the Hipster. Unfortunately, as this is the Downtown EastSide, nobody looked as if they were in costume; everyone here dresses like an extra from Hedwig and the Angry Inch anyway. Boys, if you’re dressed like Bing Crosby, you’re not in costume. Girls, if you’re dressed like the girl in a Benny Hill sketch and you’re on East Hastings, you’re not in costume, you’re in mufti (muff-ti?). But it certainly was amusing to watch the confused looks on all those women’s faces when the guys in the cars would try to strike a deal. That’ll teach you to wait for the light at Cordova and Columbia, missy!

But finally, we have a winner. Here, via BoingBoing, is the bestest little Halloween costume ever.

a tadpole of the Elder Gods

the revenge of Socrates

 the death of Socrates. It ain't over yet!

After an apparently-peaceful slumber of some millennia, it appears that the legended philosopher Socrates has returned to wreak vengence on his killers. ABC via Fark.

The only thing standing in the way of safeguarding Kentucky hemlocks is the lack of funding, said Tim McClure, a state forest health environmental scientist.

“If we don’t act on this and put some resources to it, we’re looking at a major problem,” McClure said at Pine Mountain State Park, the latest site to report infested [haunted, ghoul-ridden] trees… Large-scale destruction in neighboring states has cost millions.

McClure said it’s not a matter of “if” more Plato. Yeah, I'd duck if I were you.Kentucky hemlocks will be under attack, “it’s a matter of when.”

So far, the bug [revenant] has attacked at least 100 trees at Pine Mountain and Rebel Rock in Harlan County.

Plato better watch his ass.

Vicarious Halloween Vid

Stolen from Gawker. Not as much fun as my Halloween,  but theirs apparently doesn’t take several days of bed rest afterwards.

Gawker cover’s an event that needs no introduction, the Greenwich Village Halloween Day Parade. Watch as “hundreds of artists, 53 bands of different types of music, dancers and artists, and thousands of other New Yorkers in costumes of their own creation” take to the streets to celebrate this year’s theme “The Village Hearth.” If you’ve never been then this is a definite must-go event at least once in your life.

the history of tentacle porn

I freely admit this doesn’t do it for me, but there must be millions out there it DOES do it for, and for those millions I freely post the History of Tentacle Porn. I do find it fascinating that most of this is a response to overly-specific porn definitions.

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