1. FRED PHELPS ABOUT TO DISCOVER WHAT GOD HATES Fred Phelps, notorious (former) leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, is dying in a hospice in Topeka. According to his son Nathan, who now works with LGBTQ organizations, Phelps was excommunicated from the church in 2013. Now he’s dying alone, without family or the organization he once led.
2. LET’S GET DRUNK IN A HOUSE HAUNTED BY GUILT The Winchester Mystery House, a crazy California mansion built expressly to confound ghosts, is now open for overnight . Sarah Winchester built the 6-acre, 160-room maze of false doors and staircases in order to confuse the spirits of people killed by Winchester guns. And now you can hang there! And get loaded! Truly we live in an age of wonders.
3. AND TAKE SOME DEAD SOLDIERS’ DIARIES FOR READING MATERIAL You may recall from last week’s Reckoning that 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the Great War. To commemorate the occasion, the UK National Archive and Imperial War Museum released the diaries of nearly 4,000 soldiers.
4. ANOTHER CREEP BRAVELY SORT OF DENIES HIS CREEPHOOD The predatory and altogether horrible photographer Terry Richardson, noted for his porny photos of celebrities and hilarious hijinks like ejaculating on his models, has taken a stand against the young women who’ve called him out on his behaviour. Good for you, Terry. Don’t let the haters who know the difference between provocative portraiture and masturbating on your subjects get you down.
5. THE FAILURE OF FACEBOOK “Facebook gets worse the more you use it.” And in one sentence, the author nails the intractable problem with Facebook: that it becomes spammier and less useful as you continue to use it, and that it’s not a bug but an inherent property of the service. I feel that you can get a decent Facebook experience if you manage it carefully, but the piece describes something about the network that I’ve been trying to formulate for a while.