America Tortured Lots Of People After 9/11
A five-year investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee found that the CIA’s secret interrogations of 119 terrorism suspects in the years after 9/11 did not work. Severe tactics, including waterboarding, rectal rehydration, light and sound deprivation, stress positions and seemingly arbitrary violence did nothing to make our nation more secure. At least 26 people interrogated by the agency were held because of mistaken identities or simply bad intelligence. Delivering the report, Senator Dianne Feinstein said it should serve as “a warning for the future” and that “we cannot again allow history to be forgotten and grievous past mistakes to be repeated.” Predictably, Fox News had a very different reaction.
Inside A CIA Torture Dungeon
Probably located in Afghanistan, a CIA site code-named “Cobalt” housed nearly half of the 119 detainees identified in the Senate’s report. The lights were never turned on. Detainees lived naked, shackled to walls in rooms as cold as 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Loud music was played at all times. At least one prisoner died. In interviews, top CIA leadership claimed they weren’t “familiar” with the site.
Every On-Screen Death In The ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Trilogy In One Video
In which we discovered that the two things that did most of the killing in Peter Jackson’s trilogy were water and ghosts.
There’s A Mountain-Sized Asteroid Heading Towards Earth
The headline makes us think we should have led with this, but the asteroid known as “2014 UR116” has been crossing paths with the Earth every three years and poses no immediate threat. Back to your normally scheduled paranoia.
Is Venmo Really The Best Way To Stalk People?
Venmo is the one place on the social web where people aren’t performing for an audience. They’re genuinely giving their money — and themselves — away.
The Dot-Com Bust’s Worst Flops Were Actually Great IdeasA pet food and supply delivery service. A grocery delivery service. An Internet-based digital currency. Same-day shopping delivery. Today, the web’s hottest companies do all of these things, but back in the early aughts, companies attempting to do the same exact things flamed out in spectacular fashion.
Up To Half Of Web Traffic Isn’t Real
There’s a 50% chance that if you’re reading this you’re a bot. If you are, welcome! We’re happy to have you. But businesses pay around $43.8 billion per year to show you ads on the web and since you might be a bot that has no interest in changing cable companies or buying a new immersion blender, the Interactive Advertising Bureau says about $6.3 billion of that is totally wasted.
The Story Behind AOL’s Iconic Yellow Running Man
If you remember one thing about your days using AOL, you remember the screeching noise it made as you attempted to log on. If you remember two things, you remember the screeching noise and the running man logo that popped up while you were listening to said screeching noise. In 1997, the running man looked quite modern, but he’s actually based on mid-century American logos and trademarks.
If Demographics Are Destiny, Football Is Fucked
The NFL may be dealing with a few PR problems, but it’s still a $10 billion tax-exempt business. People just won’t stop watching no matter how horrified we are. But what if people stopped playing football? A new Bloomberg poll finds that half of Americans wouldn’t want their child to play the sport and just 17% think it’ll grow in popularity in the next 20 years. Maybe they’d be more bullish if they knew about all the free shit college football players get.
The Only Thing Worse Than Promising A Man Will Be Eaten Alive By A Snake Is For A Man Not To Be Eaten Alive By A Snake
Discovery Channel promised us that Paul Rosolie would don chain mail, a crush-proof suit, cover himself in pig’s blood and allow a 25-foot anaconda to eat him. Then, after almost two hours of buildup, Rosolie tapped out almost immediately after the snake began to coil around him. Predictably, THE INTERNET BECAME ANGRY.
Departing Members Of Congress Get Shoved Into Basement Cubicles
Thank you for your years of service/disservice to our nation. Immediately pack your shit and get out of your luxuriously appointed office that you’ve inhabited for the last 30 years. Lame duck lawmakers have been shoved into a single room in the basement of the Rayburn building. The entire thing is about the size of Nancy Pelosi’s private office. Don’t feel too bad for them. The private sector certainly won’t make them work in a basement cubicle.
Why Retailers Keep Sending You Catalogs
The death of print is, as always, highly exaggerated. Though people stopped ordering from them years ago with the rise of eCommerce, people still enjoy the sensation of physically browsing through catalogs. In 2013, companies sent 11.9 billion catalogs to people in the U.S. alone. We use ours as coasters.
Watch The U.S. Navy’s Laser Turret Blow Stuff Up
Here's a demonstration of the Navy's Laser Weapon System (LaWS). Fittingly, it seems to be controlled by a highly-modified Xbox controller.
Explaining The Web’s Worst Journalist
Charles C. Johnson has at different times attempted to expose the identity of a rape victim, ended the career of a foreign policy analyst, falsely accused a New York Times reporter of posing for Playgirl, wrongly reported that Newark mayor Cory Booker didn’t live in Newark, accused President Obama of being gay and blamed the victim in police shootings. He’s a generally racist, sexist and sloppy reporter. He also probably shit on the floor of his college dorm.
Corn Is — Literally — Killing People
The good obese people of these here United States of saturated fat consume corn in 25% of supermarket products. Corn syrup is killing us slowly, but sometimes corn kills much more quickly. In 2010, 31 people died in grain-bin entrapments. This year is expected to be the deadliest ever. A few years ago, Will Piper was nearly drowned when he and his best friend jumped into a corn silo to try to save another boy. For two hours, he battled 250,000 bushels of corn kernels. They got stuck in his ears, crushed his chest, and nearly suffocated him. Luckily, he survived. The other two did not.
The History Of The Penny
Everything you wanted to know about that useless coin you don't even care to scoop out from the bottom of your sofa.
Get Ready For The Year Of The Root Vegetable
2014 was the year of kale, avocado toast, sriracha, and ugh… still with the fucking bacon. Thankfully we can burn all these things to a crisp and start feeding them as scrap to farm animals. The 2015 food trend report calls for root vegetables, oysters, “savory waffles and waffle sandwiches,” whiskey punches and fermented foods. We’re pretty pleased about this change. Unfortunately the forecast also calls for insect and plant-based proteins. Ok, how about this: we hold off on the insects and keep kale for another year? No? Please? We’re just not ready to deal with eating roaches.
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