I'd dig deeper into this, but I dished off Marshall Home coverage last week. Gibson, get right on this!

Science fiction blog io9 is tackling the tough issues of our day, literally researching two websites to find out whether you can urinate in a pool without consequence:

Most of us have heard, at some point during our childhood, that before we go in the pool there was something we should know. Everyone knew that sometimes people peed in a pool. Knowing that young children often took advantage of this — pool managers put a chemical in pool water that reacted to urine. If someone peed in a pool, they'd be surrounded by a cloud of colored water and publicly shamed. It's such a common belief that some pools put up signs saying that they treated their pool with such chemicals, and it was featured in a movie, Grown Ups, in which four adult men were found out in such a manner.

Recently in the comment section, someone remarked that a post I put up was "Christian bashing," because I made a joke at the expense of some dumb aspect of evangelical culture—in that case, a terrible Christian pop singer with a flair for terrible metaphors. The strange thing about that comment is that I would still consider myself a Christian (even if maybe some inside the culture wouldn't) and I spent nearly all my youth in the belly of the evangelical beast, attending summer camps, going to Christian rock shows, etc. It's not that I want to "bash" Christians, it's just that so much of the culture that Americans have attached to Christianity sucks.

So, along those lines, prepare yourself for Wear It Wednesday, a movement to have Evangelical Christians everywhere to put on some sort of T-shirt themed to their faith. I suppose the idea is to make Christianity seem like the sort of thing everyone is doing, through the medium of terribly designed shirts that tweak popular culture themes in some way. In fact, the movement's website dares to consider the radical social effect wearing Christian T-shirts might create:

Imagine if you will, walking into a school on a Wednesday and seeing over half of the population wearing their faith. Would everyone be kinder to each other? What would the conversations be like? How many would ask to go to church on Wednesday evening with their friends?

Just to throw an idea out there, maybe it might be a better idea to just project your faith in some way that isn't wildly judgmental, shameless derivative, but actually compassionate, reflecting the teachings of Jesus in a selfless, positive way, right? A social experiment of caring about the welfare of others more than your own personal comfort and contentment seems like a better way to get "everyone to be kinder to each other."

Wait, that sounds too hard. Stick to the T-shirt thing.

• Photo Ryn Gargulinski
• The American Dream sure isn't what it used to be.

His headline-making is not because he struck it big in the “Make Me Rich” contest last June, but rather because he still receives — and uses — food stamps.

While many across the nation are outraged at Fick’s refusal to give up his food-stamp allotment, none should be surprised. He has simply fallen in step with what this country has become: the Great Melting Pot of Moochers.

Besides, Fick’s lawyer says his client is doing nothing wrong by keeping his food stamps, handed out in Michigan in the form of a Bridge Card. Funny, Fick has no problem paying for a lawyer.

"He's not trying to cheat the state," Fick's attorney John Wilson was quoted in an ABC News article. "Based on his income, he's eligible."

Fick is unemployed with his only income from Social Security benefits. His income does not change after taking home lottery winnings of $850,000, because that money is an asset, not part of his income. Michigan law currently says assets have no bearing on a person’s eligibility for food stamps.

• I wouldn't mess with a guy who's in cahoots with the bees.

So if any cops or deputies read this, leave Bill the Honey Man alone! He just wants to sweeten our tea a little, that’s all. Is that so wrong?

You only thought you were happy living in America, but it turns out, you haven't known true nationalistic joy until you've lived in North Korea. This is, of course, according to a North Korean study, but I'm sure that's reliable:

A report floating around China’s websphere alleges that North Korea’s Chosun Central Television recently released a global happiness index compiled by North Korean researchers. Perhaps not surprisingly, it found China the happiest place in the world, with a perfect score of 100 points. Just two points behind, in second place, was North Korea; Cuba came in third with a rating of 93.

It has been difficult to find the full list online in Chinese media (usually a good source for North Korean news).
But the screen grab to the right from a Chinese website, Chaoxian, shows the supposed line-up. North Korea’s rival, South Korea, didn't fair too well, it scored just 18 points to come in at 152. And the “American Empire” was dead last in the rankings at number 203 with a measly two points.

Iran and Venezuela were the only other nations whose listing were shown by Chaoxian, coming in fourth and fifth respectively.

Criteria for the index ratings were not available nor was the source of the story immediately identifiable.

Sean Hannity's Great American Panel starts with the liberal influences of Elmo and takes that train straight to Paranoid Crazy Town:

Today in Tumblr sites that made me laugh at/weep for society, but I will likely forget about by tomorrow, presenting notracistbut.tumblr.com which collects Facebook posts including the phrase "not racist but..." by people who have clearly forgotten to change their privacy settings:

Robert Jackson has a Masters degree from Harvard and is a retired school superintendent. For some reason, he offers instructions on how to play the piano, take a shower, and use a toilet on YouTube. This is all very confusing. Also, I think videographer Vivian might want to pursue a new line of work.

[Videogum]

Take a moment to appreciate how far Justin Bieber will go to convey the "fruity gourmand" essence of his new fragrance, "Someday": the commercial was "filmed in a gravity-free cabin of a Boeing 737 NASA training jet", according to Us Weekly. The ad doesn't make any sense, but it was expensive, and that's all that matters.