Patrick Hruby

2012 was both dubious and wacky

It's official: From presidential campaign politics to a world gone "Gangnam Style," 2012 was the most dubious year yet.

December 30, 2012

The end is near — for Mayan calendar myth

Citizens of the world, exhale. Contrary to a ballyhooed ancient Mayan prophecy that has spawned everything from Chinese doomsday cults to Hollywood special effects extravaganzas to dire warnings that Earth is on a collision course with the mystery world of Nibiru, our planet will not come to an apocalyptic finale Friday.

December 19, 2012

‘Citizen Drone Warfare’: Hobbyist explores a frightening scenario

"Citizen Drone Warfare," a video posted to YouTube last week by an anonymous man calling himself "Milo Danger," shows a hobbyist drone equipped with a custom-mounted paintball pistol flying over a grassy field and peppering human-shaped shooting-range targets with pellets.

December 17, 2012

Experts’ predictions of the future have a history of being wrong

According to research on the psychology and efficacy of predictions, long-term expert predictions have been found to be about as accurate as monkeys tossing darts at a board labeled with potential future outcomes. And yet forecasting remains a growth industry, in both the intelligence community and televised political punditry.

December 12, 2012

Marines expanding use of meditation training

While preparing for overseas deployment with the U.S. Marines last year, Staff Sgt. Nathan Hampton participated in a series of training exercises at Camp Pendleton, Calif. There were weapons qualifications. Grueling physical workouts. High-stress squad counterinsurgency drills. And weekly meditation classes.

December 5, 2012

Why and how to design, build ‘Star Trek’s‘ Enterprise for real

BTE Dan is the person behind Build the Enterprise, a website devoted to building an actual, functional, space lasers 'n all version of the USS Enterprise, the venerable pop-culture starship featured in "Star Trek." Estimated time frame? Twenty years. Suggested cost? $1 trillion. Proposed missions? Dropping probes beneath the giant ice sheets of Jupiter's moon Europa, or maybe blasting asteroids before they can smash into Earth, "Armageddon"-style.

November 28, 2012

An open letter to Sir Paul McCartney, from America on Thanksgiving Day

"... You may not be aware of this, being a loyal subject of the queen and all, but the holiday was first celebrated by the Pilgrims — you know, those guys who dressed like oatmeal box models and crossed the Atlantic Ocean specifically to get away from English dudes trying to tell them what to do."

November 21, 2012

Hard-core libertarian strives to banish Democrats from his life

Eric Dondero refuses to speak to his brother. Not on Thanksgiving. Not over the holiday season. Not now, not ever. The reason? Mr. Dondero's brother, Alex, is a Democrat.

November 19, 2012

Liberals to distraught conservatives: It gets better

On the morning after the presidential election, David Goodfriend was crushed. Dumbfounded. He sat in his Toyota Corolla in a parking lot next to a hiking trail in Bethesda, listening to talk radio, alone and inert, wondering where it all went wrong.

November 14, 2012

ELECTION 2012: The race was on for independent women voters

First came the mail. Next came the neighborhood canvassers. Then there were the phone calls. So many calls. Three of them on the night before Election Day, all in the same hour, each from President Obama's campaign, asking to speak with Kristina Cartwright — and not her husband, Jamie.

November 6, 2012

Irrational voters: How everything from sports scores to shark attacks can tip close elections

As voters, we like to think of ourselves as, well, thoughtful. Careful. Essentially reasonable. Patriotic citizens making important ballot box decisions based on issues, candidates and political arguments. If a growing body of behavioral research is right, however, we may be flattering ourselves.

November 5, 2012

D.C. businesses staying open have difficulty staying busy

On a typical morning, the staff at the Happy Paws pet grooming and boarding salon in Northwest Washington washes, trims and cares for as many as 40 dogs. As Hurricane Sandy moved into the area Monday, however, the staffers who made it to work spent as much time playing cards as playing with pets.

October 29, 2012

Double speak: In bustling election season, voice actors put profession before personal politics

The voice on the line was warm, proud, reassuring, a voice that holds your hand and looks you in the eye. "Barack Obama," it said, "wants to be your president."

October 24, 2012

Debating for Dummies: How to survive a live debate without that defining blunder

With President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney set to square off at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., for their final debate, The Washington Times presents a guide to debate blunders — and how to avoid them.

October 21, 2012

Debating for Dummies: From Dukakis to Ford, some things are better left unsaid

If there's a lesson to be drawn from President Obama's lackluster performance in this year's first presidential debate, it's this: A whole lot can go wrong.

October 15, 2012

Tony Mendez, clandestine CIA hero of Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo,’ reveals the real story behind film smash

The situation was dire. Unbearably tense. Three months after the late-1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries, six American diplomats who had secretly escaped the compound were attempting to flee the country.

October 10, 2012

Where Are They Now? Frank Fahey

At a 1988 campaign event, Frank Fahey, a New Hampshire high school teacher, asked Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Delaware Democrat, about his law school performance. An irritated Mr. Biden responded that he probably had a higher IQ than Mr. Fahey and that he had earned three degrees as an undergraduate, gone to law school on a full academic scholarship and finished in the top half of his class — none of which turned out to be true. Mr. Biden later dropped out of the presidential race.

October 10, 2012

Where Are They Now? William Figueroa

A 12-year-old boy from New Jersey, William Figueroa, correctly spelled "potato" in a mock spelling bee in 1992 — only to have Vice President Dan Quayle urge him via flash card to add an "e" to the end of the word. The rest is late-night talk show monologue history.

October 9, 2012

Where Are They Now?: M1 Abrams Battle Tank

One of the most iconic — and, regardless of your politics, visually humorous — moments of the 1988 presidential race was video footage of Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis wearing a Marvin the Martian-shaming green helmet and riding around in Sterling Heights, Mich., in an Abrams M1-A-1 battle tank.

October 8, 2012

Where Are They Now?: Sister Souljah

A Rutgers graduate and House legislative intern-turned-Afrocentric rapper and social activist, Sister Souljah courted controversy via sharp-tongued criticism of racism and the federal government.

October 7, 2012