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Beaux-Arts architecture (pronounced boks-a:ts) is a broad term given to a number of building styles with similar characteristics, primarily the simplification of form and the elimination of ornament, that first arose in the late 1940s. By the 1960s these styles had been consolidated and identified as the "Beaux-Arts" style and became the dominant way of building new high-rise slums and dreary structures for several decades in the twentieth century.
Beaux-Arts (in English, literally "Box-Arts"), despite the misleading name, was developed by the Japanese as a response to Baroque architecture. In the early 20th century, Japan's cities had a mix of traditional wooden structures, as well as some Western neoclassical designs. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, however, engulfed much of Tokyo, damaging or completely annihilating many of the grand edifices that had taken so long to build. (more...)
The Question Authority is an agency of the United States government, organized within the federal Department of Utterances. The Question Authority has general responsibility for all questions asked and answered in the United States, including its territories and possessions. Notably, when customs agents of the Department of Homeland Security interrogate persons wishing to enter the U.S., they do so through questions vetted by the Question Authority.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects Americans "against unreasonable searches and seizures." It would seem, then, that the government would need a "reasonable" basis to ask anyone any question at all. Well, Buster, "it would seem" wrong! There is ample precedent for the government to ask a wide variety of questions, including:
- Have you bought health insurance that pays the full cost of smoking cessation counseling?
- Are you the nigger who robbed the gas station, or do you just look like him?
- May I rummage through the trunk of your car, or do you feel like waiting here for three hours for me to get a warrant?
- What was that noise? Did you hear that?
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Did you know...
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- ...that the classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel was blamed for hundreds of accidental deaths involving elderly women being pushed into ovens by children? (pictured)
- ...that your birth certificate is an apology letter from condom factory?
- ...that a simile is like a metaphor?
- ...that many children in third world countries don't have enough to eat, but most have access to the Food Network?
- ...that every time you shoot yourself in the head, someone somewhere in the world dies?
- ...that Kitten Huffing is a popular, though controversial, alternative to street drugs such as skag and crank?
- ...the muffin man?
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In the news
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On this day...
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May 22: Sit Around and Watch Old Movies Day
- 100000 B.C. - First May 22 recorded by Che Guevara
- 1888 - Start your own Reich day, in Germany
- 1936 - Joseph Stalin enters tye dye phase. It lasts one day.
- 1976 - The death toll from an accident at yesterday's Annual Fart Lighting Festival in Natchez, Mississippi rises to 103.
- 1984 - (10:00 am) Soviet Forces invade Colorado, US lets them because nobody cares about Colorado.
- 1984 - (10:05 am) Soviet Forces return Colorado to American control and retreats after realizing there's nothing in Colorado. Again nobody cares.
- 1999 - First AOL cd sent back in time.
- 2001 - Clustered Bonbons in a freezer briefly develop sentience, first thing they see is Gigli, commit suicide.
- 2007 - Emeril Lagasi gives up on cooking, decides to become demolition expert.
- 2011 - Life continues as if it didn't just end the day before.
- 2034 - Walt Disney utters anti semetic remark in his grave.
- 3026 - Che Guevara finds the All Spark and brags to all the decepticons. The decepticons later shred him.
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