"Zen" is much more than just the password to Caity Weaver's Paypal account; it is an ancient practice, dating back to an ancient time. A time of dirt, and rock, and earth. There were people too, obviously. Goes without saying. People making koans.

Earlier today a Reddit user posted a photo of a female coworker under the headline: "This employed (sic) at my University has five fingers per hand...but no thumbs."

International couple Eric Turner and Morné Coetzer are in a bit of a pickle: They have set a date to marry (January 4, 2014), but because the legalization of same-sex marriage remains globally sporadic, neither can do it where he lives now (Eric's in Houston, Morné is in London). They have decided on South Africa, where Morné grew up and gay marriage is legal. Morné's parents are already there, but Eric's are not. Now, they'd gladly pay for Eric's parents to fly there, but they'd more gladly use your money and so they have set up a gofundme page to e-panhandle $7,000 to cover Eric's parents' trip. Really, they have more important shit to buy. With their money. But not yours. Writes Eric:

A veteran New York librarian was stunned to learn this week that she was being fired after 41 years on the job — all because she defended a child whom her boss felt read too much.

As the October 1 enrollment date for the Affordable Care Act creeps closer each day, one had to expect some feeble pushback from conservatives upset that a black liberal passed a healthcare bill they actually kind of like. But did you expect Uncle Sam with a creepy rictus all up in your uterus and armed with a speculum? Probably not.

In a 12,000 word interview with Italian Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, Pope Francis furthered his reputation as World's Coolest Pope by correctly noting that the Roman Catholic Church has become “obsessed” with preaching against abortion, gay marriage, and contraception.

At Crossfit Gantry in Queens, kids "as young as 3" can learn quote-Crossfit-unquote for "$140 a month for class once a week, or $280 a month for classes twice a week." Ban Crossfit now. [DNAinfo. Photo: Shutterstock]

Here, from the Energy and Commerce Committee of the United States House of Representatives, is a roundup of generic reaction gifs presented for the sake of convincing you and your fellow citizens that the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline is sound public policy.

A Minnesota Dairy Queen employee is being praised around the country for refusing to serve a woman who stole a blind customer's $20 bill — and then replacing the man's twenty dollars with money out of his own pocket.

What if this most recent episode, stunning, shocking of Breaking Bad—the single greatest 60 minutes of television of all time, according to IMDB—was the very first one you watched?

Mysterious author-model James Franco is throwing food and dating... Miley Cyrus?! That's what his Instagram says! "#jamesfrancotv #throwsfood #paparazzipics#mileycyrus #huffingtonpost #gawker #justjared," he adds.

New research says that the Great Recession of 2008 ago caused 5,000 additional suicides in 2009 alone. It was worse for those who'd tasted prosperity, and lost it.

Bill Clinton's mistress is back! No, not that one—or that one. The other one! Gennifer Flowers has a new internet column, and to promote it she's there in the Daily Mail, the only appropriate outlet, giving away some ancient Hillary-is-a-lesbian "gems" and endorsing the de facto Democratic candidate for president:

September 19th, AKA International Talk Like a Pirate Day, is the one day a year that Chicago's WGN News lets one of its own dress up like a pirate and make the same tired "booty" jokes they made the year before.

The saga of Julie Chen's face continues. After revealing last week on The Talk that she got plastic surgery to appear less Chinese, because she was advised to do so by her boss and agent, the Big Brother host has now clarified that the work she had done was only on her eyes.

The state of Delaware is mailing application info and fee waivers for elite colleges to every single poor high school senior with good grades in the state. Social engineering at its finest.

The U.S. is recovering from yet another mass shooting, and the debate over gun control seems no closer to a satisfying resolution. But what if a stand-up comic already figured it out?

"When Marguerite Roza, the author of Educational Economics, analyzed the finances of one public high school ... she and her colleagues found that the school was spending $328 a student for math instruction and more than four times that much for cheerleading—$1,348 a cheerleader."

In his first interview with the Western press, recently elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke with NBC News' Ann Curry about nuclear weapons, Israel, President Obama, and Iran's desire for peace.

The terrifying clown that's been terrorizing an entire town for the last week has finally come forward to claim that he "just wanted to amuse people."