No matter how you spin it, staring at a computer for most of your day can be pretty rough. Sometimes, you just need to clear your head, particularly if you've been going through some hard times — say, if your NCAA bracket got busted because who the bloody hell actually expected Harvard, of all teams, to make past New Mexico?!

If you need to sit back, relax, and think a spell, take a look at the Thoughts Room, from the Quiet Place Project, one of a few different "quiet places" that Amitay Tweeto designed to give people a place to breathe on the internet:

one day, i woke up and told myself, "it can't go on like this."
there was too much noise coming from all the social media, the loud city, work, home, etc.
so i created the quiet place, just for me and my friends. i published the link to my 400 friends on facebook and twitter and then...

...it exploded.

But as cool as the Quiet Place is, the Thought Room is where it's at — it's the place for free association, typing out stress, and watching as your words fall away into space. Literally.

• the thoughts room
• WHY NO I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING I NEED TO TALK ABOUT

Seriously, it's kinda cool. And layering the soothing background music of the Thoughts Room with Rainy Mood (which we covered on the Range two years ago, strangely enough) is almost enough to help you forget about all the money you lost when you were expecting New F—king Mexico to Cinderella their way through the tournament.

Ahh, peace.

If there's one blog whose posts get passed around among my friends, it's Black Girl Dangerous. I recommend you follow its incredibly insightful posts. A recent post on CNN's coverage of the Steubenville, Ohio, rape trial is particularly worth your time. You can read it in its entirety here.

A snippet:

Now, I'm no fan of CNN, and I wouldn't have expected much. But this is beyond the pale, even for them. And it's a continuation of the rape culture that exists in this country and in this world that has been so highlighted by the Steubenville case, a case which "polarized" Steubenville because, while many folks seem to know that rape is bad, many people there, and elsewhere, seem to think that football is more important than 16-year-old girls not getting sexually assaulted. Rape culture has us always blaming women for rape, whether it's because of how we're dressed or how much we drink or whatever. Somehow, underneath it all, it's always kinda the woman's fault. After all, men and boys have penises and those things are just so hard to control, it can't possibly be their fault. So, women and girls have to take on the responsibility of not getting raped. Because, you know, boys will be boys and stuff.

And while I'm thinking of the Steubenville verdict, why not share some perspective from Henry Rollins?:

I think to a great degree, we humans still divide ourselves into two species, even though we are monotypic. There are males and females. We see them as different and not equal. Things get better when women get more equality. That is a bit obvious but I think it leads to better results up the road. If it’s a man’s world as they say, then men, your world is a poorly run carnage fest.

You can get all of Rollin's POV right here.

Interim Pima Community College Provost Suzanne Miles sent an email out to the PCC governing board on the Higher Learning Commission's questions regarding the college's new admissions standards. She's coming to the board with recommendations and ask that that they reexamine the standards and how the college is preparing students:

From: Miles, Suzanne
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 11:52 AM
To:
Cc: Migler, Jerry
Subject: Recommendation on Placement Standards

Dear Members of the Board of Governors,

As you know, the Higher Learning Commission has raised serious questions regarding the College’s new admissions standards. The HLC report echoes concerns expressed by members of our community. These concerns persist, as we heard at the March 20, 2013 Board meeting.

Due to these circumstances, Provost Migler and I recommend suspension of the provisions in Admissions and Registration Standard Practice Guide 3501/AA requiring minimum levels on college assessment examinations.

At this time, we believe it would be in the best interests of the College to step back and re-examine how we ensure that our students are appropriately prepared for the rigors of college level work and equipped with the tools necessary to succeed. These goals were the primary motivations for revising the standards and we should take additional steps to make sure we are on the right track.

Prior to making this recommendation, the Provost and I consulted with the Faculty Senate earlier this week. Although the Faculty Senate unanimously supported the change to standards that were made, most Senators understand the wisdom of pausing to further consider this issue at this critical time.

We recommend the suspension remain in effect for the 2013-2014 academic year. This would allow sufficient time for the new Chancellor to get up to speed and weigh in on this important issue. We also feel that the work on the Prep Academy should continue because it provides a valuable service to our students and offers one means of improving student preparation, regardless of the admissions standard.

We are hoping to discuss these recommendations with you at your working session on March 25. In addition, we want to share a number of valuable suggestions from Faculty Senate, including the enforcement of pre-requisites and expanding access to our Student Success classes.

Respectfully, Suzanne & Jerry


Suzanne L. Miles, Ph.D.
Interim Chancellor

• This man will say horrible things to your friends for money.

Back? Okay. The reason this is even vaguely interesting is the link in the profile, which offers people the opportunity to purchase Tweets and have them broadcast to the followers of a particular account — in the case of YaBoyBillNye, that's about 450,000 new eyeballs who will see your purchased tweet.

YaBoyBillNye and other users of Pay4Tweet aren't the only folks in this "purchasing tweets" game — for one, you could look at the Twitter account of "the Greatest Iranian of All Time," professional wrestling legend, The Iron Sheik — and yes, this is among the least-offensive things I could find on his Twitter account, which is almost some kind of magical performance art:

I be in the New York in the April for the Wrestlemania you want to meet the legend let me know otherwise go fuck yourself forever

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) March 20, 2013

For the low, low price of $30, you can ask The Legend to humble a friend, old country way, via Twitter:

Sheik has expressed that he would like to share his humbling to his fans. He is asking for a $30 fee in which he will verbally abuse the patron of your choice. You will leave it to him based on gender and time of day to put out the perfect message.

Apparently, paying others to tweet for you appears to actually be something that is catching on, putting an interesting spin on the concepts of both Sponsored Tweets and regular ol' advertisement Tweets, which have existed as long as Twitter has been a thing.

I have nothing against advertising, and I'll admit that I love the idea of having a celebrity/terrifying figure such as the Iron Sheik tweeting terrible things at my friends. But in the case of accounts such as YaBoyBillNye, there seems to be a kind of recursion effect: parodies promoting parodies in order to get promoted again by said parodies to make money off of the parodies.

The most recent thing posted on YaBoyBillNye's timeline was from a Kate Upton parody account that sends people to a collection of her photos — and presumably, rakes in the advertising dollars one would get from having the keyword "kate upton nude" on their site. There's nothing obvious about whether or not YaBoyBillNye is making money off of those tweets, but one would be a fool to think that someone who makes their money on the internet isn't attempting to gain something from these postings.

Honestly, the one thing I'm taking from this entire experience, other than the dawning, terrible realization that the Internet appears to be populated by stupid people, more and more each day — and that someone (such as David Orr) will always find ways to make money off of these idiots.

God bless 'em.

Hey, do yourself a favor and head over to Rum, Romanism and Rebellion blog and read a sweet and true post on the sad passing of Hank Oyama:

He always remained a humble, very principled man who was always available to dispense wisdom, encouragement, or a joke. In my own career in politics, I was always thankful for his support during difficult times (we shared a taste in guayabera shirts), and I know that I am not alone in this sentiment. He was a hero and example to me and many others.

• Brad Poole
• Pre-race yoga from last year's Distance Classic

If you're looking for something to do Sunday, you might try getting off the couch and pounding some pavement for a good cause in the Arizona Distance Classic in Oro Valley.

Touted as the most scenic race event in Arizona, the Distance Classic winds through the Catalina Mountain foothills and includes something for pretty much everyone: a short kids run (for ages 9-14) sponsored by Oro Valley Parks and Recreation, 5k run/walk sponsored by Northwest Medical Center, quarter and half marathons and a 1 mile Champions Walk (for folks 65 and older). There is also a wheelchair division.

The race benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a non-profit that aims to fund a search for cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma; the Angola project, a local non-profit that is raising money to build a school in Angola; and the Christina-Taylor Green Foundation, which has given more than $250,000 mostly to local charities including Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona and Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson.

Every entrant gets a shirt — even in the kid's run, which only costs $5 — and a finisher's medal. A VIP upgrade entitles you to free pre-race breakfast and a race jacket in addition to the shirt. There will be free yoga and stretching before the race and free massages and snacks at the finish, and numerous vendors will be on hand for the race day expo. This is the ninth year for the USA Track and Field sanctioned race, which draws more than 2,000 participants.

If you're into celebrity sighting, you might look for Jessica Delfs, a Tucsonan who lost more than 200 pounds after becoming a contestant on NBC's The Biggest Loser. She's running the quarter marathon.

Here's the schedule and prices - there is no race-day registration:

6 a.m. - Stretch and yoga time (free). Limber up before you run. You'll thank yourself.

6:55 a.m. - Wheelchair half marathon ($80 through March 21; $85 thereafter)

7 a.m. - Half marathon ($80 through March 21; $85 thereafter)

7 a.m. - Quarter marathon ($55 through March 21, $65 thereafter)

7:15 a.m. - 5k run/walk ($45 through March 21; $50 thereafter)

10 a.m. - Kids fun run for ages 14 and under ($5; race-day registration until 8 a.m.)

All divisions start and end at Ventana Medical Systems, 1910 Innovation Park Drive in Oro Valley. For more information, see www.ArizonaDistanceClassic.com.

I'm not going to lie: I'm a sucker for a good animated movie every now and then. One of my favorites over the past few years was Despicable Me, and this summer, the sequel is coming out.

The new trailer for Despicable Me 2 came out on Tuesday by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, where the adorable yellow minions with a language all their own are back!

The new film, coming to theaters July 3, takes places right where the first left off. Steve Carell's character, Gru, is taking on his new found responsibility as a father when he is called by the Anti-Villain League to help them take down a new villain, voiced by Al Pacino.

When cute little Agnes, played by Elsie Fisher, asks Gru "are you really gonna save the world?" He responds, "That's right, baby! Gru's back in the game with cool cars, gadgets, and weapons!"

The first Despicable Me, released three years ago on July 9, 2010, made more than $540 million, according to CBS.

Below are the other trailer and teaser previously released for Despicable Me 2.

As if you didn’t already have enough nagging reminders out in the real world that you’re getting old, the Internet also has you covered: Twitter is celebrating its seventh anniversary this week, and shows no slowing of taking over the world, 140 characters at a time.

It all began on March 21, 2006, when Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent out this gem:

That twt - rather, tweet - birthed a social media revolution, pushing the site into top position as an online stream of consciousness for web-goers around the world. Now, for better or for worse, we’d be hard-pressed to envision a world free of inappropriate hashtags, passive-aggressive subtweets and wince-inducing interpretations of the verb “to tweet” (“What did you just twit?” is a frequent quote of older, Internet-challenged relatives).

• Photo by Russ Roca/PathLessPedaled.com

University and Park are now open following months long streetcar construction. Find out why it's a big improvement for riding through the UA.

Tucson's network of bicycle boulevards is getting a new name to make it appeal to more in the community. What do you think they should be called? Check it out.

Another Kidical Mass is on tap for this weekend. According to organizers, you don't have to have kids to join the ride, but you do have to have fun. Check out the details here.

Okay, Wildcat fans: if you're feeling a weird sense of deja vu right now, that's understandable. This is how you all felt on Jan. 1, 2000.

All the worry and agida surrounding Arizona's first-round NCAA tournament game against Belmont felt very similar to the fear and trepidation associated with Y2K: in other words, a waste of time.

Sixth-seeded Arizona (26-7) played one of its best games of the season Thursday evening, easily beating No. 11 Belmont 81-64 at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City.

Now, instead of all that angst, Wildcat fans are suddenly feeling giddy about the prospects of a Sweet Sixteen trip after seeing Harvard upset New Mexico in the late game Thursday.

Arizona and Harvard (20-9), which had never won an NCAA tourney game before this one, will play at 3:10 p.m. Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Against Belmont (26-7), Arizona dominated in nearly every facet of the game, most notably on the boards, finishing unofficially (read: via Yahoo! box score stats) with a 42-15 rebounding edge. Combine that with the UA shooting 57 percent overall and 53 percent from three-point range, and the game wasn't ever in doubt much.

Now, aren't you feeling silly about how much time was spent working on your will the last few days?

Oh, and bring on the Crimson. Which, according to my Twitter pals, is the Arizona of the Northeast.