HASH HOUSE HARRIERS
Hey, its Wednesday and I'm all riled up for a jog, but sweatin' it solo 'round town is boring. Well then, check out the Hash House Harriers in your neighborhood. This fast-paced posse, self-dubbed "a drinking club with a running problem" have been a weekly tradition since the 30's. The group starts at a designated location and sets off in pursuit of the week's "hare", who leaves chalk sidewalk markings indicating the direction to go. Runs are generally 3-5 miles, with beer stops half way through and a bar at the end.
Check out the Hashers in your town
It's a fun, social, adventurous way to spend an evening.
Adam

WWW.IABOLISH.COM
Slavery exists today: millions of people around the world are forced to work
with no pay under the threat of violence with little or no chance of escape.
Get involved to raise awareness so that one day enslaved people will be able
to live their lives in freedom. Available for purchase on the website is the
riveting autobiography of Francis Bok, who was kidnapped at the age of seven
and forced to work as a slave in Sudan for ten years before he managed to
escape ("Escape from Slavery" $15 paperback).
Ron Avni

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY
You haven't read it yet? What are you waiting for? Me to read it to
you? Well I'm busy. I can't. I simply don't have time. No. I said no.
Okay, fine. I'll read it to you. No. You know what? No. I'm very busy,
as I said. You...do know HOW to read, right? Ok, good. I wasn't sure
for a second. You don't, do you? But I've SEEN you read. Off the menu
that time. You DID just point. Oh man. I don't know how you've gotten
so far without knowing how to read!
Ben Acker

SURVIVORMAN
I just caught an episode of this Science Channel program about a guy named Les Stroud who spends a week completely on his own in the wild with nothing but a jug of water and a knife (he lugs around the cameras and sets them on tripods). This particular venture I watched was in the Sonora Desert, where he showed us at home what plants are edible, the best technique for stick-rubbing fire starting, how to properly eat grasshoppers, "bathing in smoke of certain burning leaves, and how to pull out a needle and thread from an agave cactus. What made this program stick out, as much as it can resemble so many "eat gross things" or outplaying outcasts for money or "let's wrestle gators," is the lack of punchline. The series is genuinely about being resourceful and living away from all the comforts we're dependent on. I can't help but compare him to Julia Child meets Tyler Durden (more so for his knowledge of applicable facts than cooking or fighting skills. Though I did only see one episode). He also gets credit for his comfortable, articulate narration in the face of actual hardship. He's not just theorizing, he's doing it. Now I know its not the end of the world just yet, but next time it couldn't hurt to take a few notes.
Adam

ESCAPISM:
I'm for it.

TUNNELLING OUT
Only if you have time. This one takes years to do right. You have to
drop bits of the wall in the yard without anyone noticing. And unless
you can do all the guards' taxes or something, those years are going
to be full of vicous anal rape, and let's face it, you're going to be
on the bad end of that business.

EXCAPE
Sometimes mispronounciations are cute and charming. Sometimes they are
cloying. Sometimes they are pitiable things indicitive of ignorance or
stupidity. Sometimes they are regional or ethnic dialect issues.
"Excape" is one of those rare mispronounciations that could be any of
these. Kudos "excape" for walking the line so successfully.
Ben Acker