Rampaging Blog
The meat of our sandwich, the Rampaging Blog is dedicated to stories, research, and interviews. It may also contain rampant musings and uncontrollable tangents.
Rampaging Manifesto
Are you passionate about stories? Research? Facts? Are you interesting? Join the rampage! We have cards and secret handshakes and everything.
Writers and Storytellers
A list of all of our current authors, writers, researchers, and storytellers. For now.
Vitamins, the Scourge of Chemicals, and Magic Powder
Okay I'm going to sound like a shill for a moment, but bear with me: Multivitamins are freaking amazing. I've been pretty restrictive in my diet recently because I'm nearing the end of my Healthy Wage bet (been doing it for 6 months at this point) and I'm cutting...
Can your language affect the way you see the world?
Seems like a shocking idea- right? But as scholar William Gladstone noted in 1858, it seems like the color blue is a recent invention. He noted the classic “wine-dark sea” description from Homer’s Oddyssey and- when comparing it with other ancient Greek texts-...
Carrot Fries
Let me tell you about carrot fries. Goddamn, I love carrot fries. These things are the easiest shit to make, and they're goddamn delicious and low calorie. How did I never know about carrot fries? Maybe because they're usually sold as "healthy baked carrots" which,...
Austin Texas People Bingo!
In the interest of providing an interesting experience to the boyfriend and his co-workers on his work trip, I polled some friends, three thousand blogs, and a couple visitor guides and created... Austin Texas Bingo! Now, personally, I haven't been to Austin. So this...
On Aether and Aether Sinks
Reading old novels is a great way to immerse yourself in the myriad ways that human thought has changed throughout time. It only takes one quick lookup of what "laudanum" actually is, for example, to realize that the way we look at drugs, medicine, and even parenting...
Torredor Problems, Stendhal Syndrome
Just in case it wasn’t obvious, I am a humongous nerd. So humongous, in fact, that I’m going to start this article out with a reference to a specific race of creatures from a LARP I play in (a LARP?! Oh the humanity!). So, fair warning. Now on with the show… In the...
Can someone die from a belief? Nocebo effect part 2
Yesterday we discussed Nocebo responses, such as what happens when someone feels that they’ve been cursed or given a medical death sentence. But how can a feeling, a belief, cause your death? Surely that isn’t actually possible? Unfortunately it seems that it is....
Now I can’t stop humming the theme at work…
Totally worth it.
Voodoo, unintended consequences, and self-willed death – the Nocebo Effect
In the early 1960’s, a 53 year old man problems was admitted to hospital with a severe case of bronchial asthma. The attack was followed by two more, all of which resulted in semi-consciousness and epilepsy-like convulsions. Each time he was treated, given a medical...
Well I feel like a creeper
Today I started handing out my cards. See, the plan for this site is to have real stories – but my own experience is limited. Thus, I’m trying to find people who want to share their own stories. To do this, I made cards. On the front of each card is the line “You...
Rampaging Manifestos
Haha! Look what arrived at my office this morning: My Rampaging Dinosaur Manifesto cards have arrived! What are these, you might ask? Basically they’re handsome cards with the Manifesto printed out on them for you to sign and carry with you- so you can...
Names and conventions
I find that the more time I spend online the more I’m reminded of how I felt about my name in elementary school. See, at her birth my mother was graced with an unusually spelled name. And while Star Wars’ leading actress might have made Carrie common today, when she...
Protect yourself from evil spirits…. with ridiculous supersitions.
Protective superstitions probably came into being shortly after man first conceived of the idea of ghosts and evil spirits. After all, the terrifying is a great deal less so if you think that you have way of protecting yourself from it. It’s a safety blanket, a...
Sorry for the delay
A proper post will be up tomorrow or Thursday. Until then, enjoy the Oatmeal's view of Seattle's snow fest. Seattle snow
Now there’s an app… to let you sign your life away
Now, as I may have mentioned before, I'm all for electronic advancements. I love me some cyber punk and I look forward to the day where I get to be integrated into the net in a full-on, ghost in the shell type way. So it's with a strange mix of feelings...
Breaking up and losing your mind- transactive memory
One of the worst parts of breaking up is losing your mind. Literally. Maybe not quite that literally Source Let us back up for a second and discuss what happens when people form relationships. No matter what kind of relationship we’re talking about, whether...
Snow… it makes Seattle a little crazy
Right now Seattle is all a quiver at the thought that tonight is supposed to bring us snow. Not just the paltry inch or two that drives us crazy usually but 15 full inches. Something reputable- although it might not be considered such anywhere but here....
A real life Mos Eisley, Kowloon Walled City
“Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." ―Obi-Wan Kenobi One of the favored scenes of adventure stories, whether they exist in film or in print is the lawless city. Mos Eisley in Star Wars,...
I made a thing
So, I came across an adorable image on 9gag today.... And decided to meme-ify it using meme generator. Meet hypno kitten. Join in the fun, make your own Hypno Kitten.
Return of the Polar Bear Plunge
I love this event so much. Sure, the Alki Polar Bear Plunge was fun last year, but this year it was even better. Not only was it warmer (no ice on the beach this year to deal with), but there were more people. And while the water was still a nippy 46...
The wonderfully named Phantom Time Hypothesis
Conspiracy theories are fun sometimes. They give the reader a thrill, explaining as they do how the world is actually fundamentally different than what it seems. And that thrill, that feeling that you have discovered a secret truth that all of the smart people in the...
Cute Kitten will tide you over
Manic days
I feel like I'm going to explode. Now, not in a bad way. I just feel as if I'm full of five different kinds of energies that are pushing me in a multitude of directions until focus on any one thing becomes difficult. I crave the rush that comes with...
Letter to my Congressman against SOPA
Here's the letter I sent to Congressman Jim McDermott regarding the SOPA bill that is going through Congress tomorrow. I urge you to contact your Congress person as well. If you don't know anything about SOPA, please check out this open letter here. And...
The Christmas you never knew
Given our history of bringing up ancient traditions and interesting holidays we turn our attention this week to the strange underpinnings that make up a holiday that you probably thought you knew: Christmas. It’s all about the birth of Jesus, right? It’s...
Göbekli Tepe, mankind’s first step towards civilization
At first it seems like the perfect name for an ancient temple complex. Göbekli Tepe. It rolls off the tongue like the fading echoes of a chanted ritual, repetitive and exotic. Credit Then you find out that those seemingly mystical syllables translate to something as...
A little bit of cute to brighten your day
Don’t diss the doodlers
Goodness gracious. I flake out for two weeks and then I forget what my update schedule actually is. Well, time to get back on the horse. Credit Anyhow, today we're going to turn our backs on the gloomy winter weather and turn our attention...
Hahahahaha
NaNoWriMo owns my soul
Sorry lovelies, but my fingers, my brain, and my words are desperately needed in the battle of the word count. Updates will continue after November- and thus NaNoWriMo- are over. Deepest apologies. Might I suggest some world events to think about?...
Oh my goodness…
So with NaNoWriMo and getting ready for Thanksgiving I'm a little behind in my research. So instead of throwing together an article I'm going to leave you with this amazing graph by the ever awesome Randall Munroe of XKCD. He spent a lot of work putting...
The best 11-11 ever
Wow. There are performers that I enjoy seeing, and there is music that I like listening to. There are concerts that are perfectly enjoyable for their mix of both of these ingredients. And then there are concerts which amount to nothing less than a magical experience....
Horrible pickup lines
I'm busily writing up a description of the awesome concert I went to on Friday, but until then I give you the fruits of one of my more recent projects: horrible pickup lines! These are all real pickup lines, either used on or by my friends and most of them are...
Testing for personality
I love when I'm working on an idea and I can use one of the webcomics I read. Although, given the sheer number of them that I read I suppose it isn't all that surprising. Continued here So what does this XKCD have to do with anything? Well today we're...
Seattle Street Art!
It's that time again folks! That's right.. Seattle graffiti time! I have so many pictures this time... thank you to all my friends who put up with me stopping unexpectedly in the street and taking pictures. This one was huge, and looks like it was entirely done...
Always a good lesson to learn.
Source.
One week of Nano down, 40,000 words left
NaNoWriMo is upon us again, and honestly I can't remember how I got through November without it. What did I do before I associated Fall, not with blazing leaves or warm scarves, but with word counts? Did I ever have free time in the month when I wasn't mapping out...
Cool? Yes! Supervillains in the making? Maybe.
Sorting out what I'm going to write about each week can be a difficult situation. Sometimes none of the scribbled ideas in my commonplace book strike my fancy, and none of the normal hiding places of strangeness on the internet have anything new. The week...
More memes for you
Everyone knows the L'Oréal Paris slogan, right? And that means it's ripe to be made fun of. Like this. Or this. And the best of the bunch:
Earthquake lights- the warning before the storm?
Earthquakes are terrifying. We build our houses and our streets on the earth thinking that it’s immovable, that it’s made up of solid ground. The thought that everything could change at a moment’s notice, that the very earth could open up underneath our...
Just a note…
I'm going to begin the process of merging my Widdershins and my Comfy Fuzzy Ninjas blogs together. What does that mean? It means that updates that usually only show up on my Widdershins blog (Monday weirdness postings, essentially) will also show up here....
When I buy a house….
One day, far in the future, I will buy a house. I will buy said house not because of the financial benefit, or because I want to stop paying rent, but because once I physically own a property I can remodel it. I can build things. Some of it's my...
Conversion Disorder, or how your brain can decide to suddenly mess with you
We have been conditioned to believe that medical problems have causes. If a limb hurts it must be injured. If your stomach aches you’re probably sick. But what happens when you have symptoms that can’t be explained? Take the pregnant teenager...
Continued Bike Adventures
One of the Anne books famously said that "a house is not a real home until it had been consecrated by a birth, a wedding and a death." This last week has me wondering if there is a similar ritual necessary for a bike. Perhaps a bike isn't really yours...
Uncanny Valley… high octane nightmare fuel
Today, we're going to dive into the uncanny valley. The easiest way to explain it, unfortunately, is to demonstrate it. If you dislike slightly off-putting images I suggest you avoid this post all together. For the rest of you (brave souls that you are) I...
Top ten things I learned while riding my bike
Due to some monetary issues this month I found myself bike-commuting to work in earnest. I figured that I just hiked the Grand Canyon, biking shouldn't be any problem at all. Right? Well... it's a little different. The muscles I already had were all...
Hemp smoking super warriors? Conspiracy theories from the middle ages.
Sometimes rambling about on the internet can suddenly turn into a trapdoor-like sliding descent into troubling oubliettes, usually involving some sort of conspiracy perpetrated upon the common man by an all-powerful secret cabal. Who the cabal is, precisely, changes...
Photographing the Beyond part three
A lot of time has passed since the birth of photography. After the advent of Kodak's Brownie camera photography became part of the everyday realm, something that anyone could learn and afford to do. And as technology advanced so too did image manipulation,...
Adventure on a grand scale, part five, the final day!
Beginning Day Four Given our early ending to our hike the day before we got a start even earlier than we had on the other three days. Although maybe that was just because all of us knew the drill by now and could pack up the tents half asleep- or at least I...
Photographing the Beyond Part Two
To any modern viewer it seems obvious that the majority of these pictures are probably fake. But how do you fake a picture without the help of Photoshop?Well it turns out the equivalent of a tutorial was included in Sir David Brewster's 1856 book The...