As the academic year begins, so begins your hunt for the perfect back-to-school devices. To ease your search, TIME has put together a comprehensive shopping list for this year’s hottest gadgetry — from the best java fix to a pen that does the listening for you. Check out the list HERE.

How many times have you read one of our blog posts and said, "OH, BOY! I would really eviscerate these fuckers in the comments... except... except... GODDAMMIT, I'M NOT FUNNY!" Well take it from me, "funny" is a science and a craft, and if you want to learn more about it, here's a great opportunity sent over from my pal

By Associated Press - Thursday, September 2, 2010GRAND ISLE, La. —An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning today in the Gulf of Mexico about 102 miles south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast.The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the explosion, which was reported by a commercial helicopter

The folks at Disko Warp Records will bring their refined palates’ worth of Euro-dance, happy hardcore and beat-happy jams to Ground Kontrol tomorrow night for the official pre-party for Kumoricon 2010! In celebration of Oregon’s largest anime convention, Disko Warp is inviting Oregon’s sexy, nerdy, anime-l

Our annual fine art original print show, 6XA6 (6 by A6) opens today, Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 5pm! We hope you can join us!

Our annual fine art original print show, 6XA6 (6 by A6) opens today, Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 5pm! We hope you can join us!

Here we go again.

New York Post: Adrian Wojnarowski Sued Over Book Deal Bruce Golding of the New York Post

We noted last week the over-the-top behavior of the Federal Aviation Administration toward an air ambulance operator down in Medford. Now Greg Walden is helping the c

Spain finished Group D play at the basketball world championship with consecutive strong games, routing Canada 89-67 on Thursday.

Spain finished Group D play at the basketball world championship with consecutive strong games, routing Canada 89-67 on Thursday.

On Thursday, NPR offered a tour of the neighborhood around the proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan. But while Brian Reed offered a tour of the Starbucks, some Indian restaurants, a tobacconist, a strip club, a Christian Science Reading room,...

Dante's—Tumbledown, Michael Dean Damron, Mike Pike, 9 pm, $8-10 Ella Street Social Club—Cars & Trains, Ethernet, 9 pm, $5 The Knife Shop at Kelly's Olympian—Bombs Into You, Pinehurst Kids, The Oblik, 9 pm, $4 Mississippi Studio

Ah! A talking fucking robot! This must be the work of Skynet. KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!! Oh wait, put the fire away, it's just a teaser ad for the NW Hiphop Fest. Going doing next Friday and Saturday at Slabtown, the fest is two days of solid local hiphop that was book

If I have one pet peeve (well, actually, I have many...), it's when people screw up their apostrophes. In fact, I have lost (Facebook) friends over this issue. (A woman I know vaguely was always making apostrophe mistakes in her Facebook statuses, so I said that I thought she'd be the kind of person who'd want to

A few weeks ago, I got the chance to interview Mike Daisey, a TBA favorite who will be returning this year to perform

As expected, Alaska Airlines today announced it’s sponsorship of Portland Timbers, at the very least in the capacity of appearing on the 2011 kits. It does not appear that the Seattle-based airline will be using their name in what is currently known as PGE Park. Because of the current contract with Nike for kits, the

... the Eccentric Coffee Drinking Lady! Accepting her award is Wm. Steven Humphrey! "Hello and thanks to everyone who voted for Eccentric Coffee Drinking Lady, who I believe is a true pioneer in describing mini-mart robberies. Not only did Eccentric Coffee Drinking Lady describe her robbery fully and without reser

They are kind of freaky. Like the twin girls from The Shining.

EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS, LULACRUZA (Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) Having shot to fame a year ago with the release of their debut album Up from Below, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros return to Portland for two nights, with a c

Have been away and it's been a bit quiet here. Here are some photos from a trip to Central Oregon to tide you over.

“An offshore oil platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay, with some workers reported in the water.”

According to a recent paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, individuals who drink alcohol have a longer life expectancy on average than those who do not. From Time Magazine: But even after controlling for nearly all imaginable variables — socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, num

Sumner DilworthThat's the same outfit I wear t

Mike Stoklasa—AKA "Mr. Plinkett," AKA the guy behind the hilariously scathing breakdowns of the Star Wars prequels—has

“Lost a planet Master Obi-Wan has. How embarrassing.” – Yoda Yota, the Russian mobile broadband operator, has switched on its first LTE network in the Russian city of Kazan. It is thought to be the country’s first live LTE network. The firm said today that the trial network is up-and-running. Yota says it has in

The monthly queer cabaret Homomentum is set to return from a summer hiatus with a new night and venue. Max Voltage of Pants Off Productions announced Thursday that Homomentum will run November-April, every first Friday at the Fez Ballroom. Also new in Homomentum’s second season is compensation for performers. Ea

Congress Poll: Schrader losing over Bruun From Scott Bruun Campaign Yet another poll shows Congressman Kurt Schrader posting weak numbers and provides encouraging news for State Rep. Scott Bruun. The recent poll taken for the American Action Network shows voters in Oregon’s 5th distric

Saturday, my Aunt Arnelle will be 90 years old. Talk about a life well lived… A happy marriage, five great children, loved by everybody in her community, never met a stranger… made friends with everyone she ever sat beside. She … Conti

If you're skipping my First Thursday show tonight, you can learn more about beer, and hoppy beer at that, from the folks at Oregon Beer Odyssey.

Here's some news sent in from our friends at the Friends of the Salem Saturday Market. Friends of Salem Saturday Market (FSSM) will host its final "Chef @ the Market" of this season on Saturday, September 4 at 11 a.m. Prudence Uncorked's new chef, Mujib Simms, will demonstrate a recipe using local, seasonal ingr

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Um ... OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT! Meanwhile, North Carolina is chewing on a whiskey-soaked rope, hoping that

“Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” – a popular campfire and children’s song in Australia – has received a bit of an augmentation, at least in one school. Principal Garry Martin of Le Page Primary School in Melbourne said he instructed students to substitute the line “Fun your life mus

New York fashion week is right around the corner, starting September ninth and going through the 16th. Which means Spring/Summer 2011 will be hitting the runways in T-Minus 10 days! So lets take a stroll down memory lane and look back at the greats that are Fall 2010.Cute colors and cool

I have been chronicling the downward spiral of the Afghan war situation. And how Republicans like Dino Rossi and Jim Huffman have failed to call for America to remove ourselves from that black...

With so many great Oregon State videos on YouTube, I will be sharing one of them each day this week as we countdown until kickoff. Today's video highlights Oregon State's upset of USC in 2008. Enjoy! Oregon State highlights vs. USC (9.25.08) (via

Lane County Extension closes its doors today after 96 years of service.  We’re seeing this kind of thing happen all over the country because of the deterioration of the funding structure that requires financial commitments at the local, state, and federal levels.  It’s also happening because of deep, continuin

From The Underground Man (1971):He gave me the tricky look of a half-smart man who had never learned the limits of his own intelligence.She wasn't the sort of woman you confessed human weakness to.

As usual, my Apple nerd friends and I gathered around one of the big TVs in the “living room” area at work, so we could watch the Apple event and announcements live. Usually, it’s me flipping through all the liveblogs, seeing what tidbits we can glean as they dribble out. This time, since there was [...]

Yesterday, as I stood in the Fred Meyer beer aisle, my eye beheld a new arrival: MacTarnahan's Winter Humbug'r. Winter--what the? Much like Christmas decorations, it seems that winter beers arrive sooner and sooner on shelves every year. But September first? The autumn solstice is three weeks off; fruit yet ripens on t

Crystal Palace Baltimore vs. Portland Timbers.Sunday, August 29th, 2010.PGE Park; 6 p.m. Kickoff; Attendance: 15,418; Weather: Partly Cloudy. Crystal Palace Baltimore 0 - Portland Timbers 3. Scoring Summary:PDX: Ryan Pore; 15th minute. (assisted by Mamadou Danso)PDX:

When I was the director of the Honors Program at my university, the Honors Committee faculty put me through an inquisition led by a version of Torquemada--a psychology professor, in this case. What was my sin?  It had to do with one of th

2982 – Jamos – Milwaukee, Carl Corey, Archival pigment print, 35″ X 35″ Them #15, Danny Treacy, 2005, 215cm X 180cm Just when some of us (me) were about to forget why we moved to this soggy city, Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th) is opening a show with Wisconsin based artist Carl Corey and [...]

Remember the fable of the Emperor's New Clothes? A couple of guys told the king that they had magical cloth, which only the wise could see. Anyone who couldn't see the incredible suit of clothes the king was wearing was declared a fool. In this years race for governor, candidate Chris Dudley has his own wise men,

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