Matthew Hickman

Matthew Hickman

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Matthew was born and raised near Savannah, Georgia. After graduating from UGA he made several questionable career decisions. One of these included a plan meticulously outlined on yellow legal pad to buy the dive bar where he and his best friend feigned employment. The other was an equally ill-advised foray into law school, which he briefly attended in 2009. In 2010 he moved to Los Angeles and became a writer. His mother is still coming to terms with the decision. You can follow him at missfitpictures.com.

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8 Academy Award Nominees and Winners Who Snubbed the Oscars

Stacie Stauff Smith Photography / Shutterstock.com During the first lines of Annie Hall, Alvy Singer explains his failed relationships with women through an old joke he attributes to Groucho Marx and Freud: "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." When the movie took home four Oscars the following year, Woody Allen was nowhere in sight on the dais. Although he has more nominations than any writer in history (fourteen — or twenty-three when you include... READ ON

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11 Daredevil Stunts That Pushed Human Limits

An Austrian daredevil named Felix Baumgartner plans to break the world record for highest skydive in August. After taking an air balloon to 120,000 feet, he'll step out of his helium cocoon at the edge of space and break the sound barrier on his way back to earth. Sound exciting? It's already been done. Here's a list of eleven impossible stunts pulled off by very real human beings. 1. Joseph Kittinger Kittinger was Baumgartner's inspiration and the current record holder. As the head of an Air Force... READ ON

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Remembering Christopher Hitchens

by Matthew Hickman and Andrew... READ ON

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The Lesser-Known Military Careers of 11 U.S. Presidents

We know the good ones: Washington coaxing his tattered troops through the winter at Valley Forge, Andrew Jackson bidding the Redcoats adieu in New Orleans, Ike masterminding the invasion of Normandy. Throughout history, American presidents have more often than not been former leaders of the military. Here's a list of eleven presidents and their service records you might not have known about. 1. James... READ ON

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6 Questions About North Dakota's Oil Boom

Oil Drilling Rig on Badlands; © Lowell Georgia/Corbis Millions of Americans would do almost anything for a job right now. Our bloated deficit has become the central issue in our political discourse. Yet in a far-flung prairie town less than a hundred miles from the Canadian border, a revolution is happening. Unemployment is less than 2%. The state budget has a surplus of $1 billion. Job openings can’t be filled quickly enough, and for many the pay is above $50,000. Welcome to Williston, North Dakota.... READ ON

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The Ancient Websites of 8 Republican Presidential Candidates

The race for the 2012 Republican nomination is in full swing. During the last few months, we’ve spent a lot of time learning about the candidates' records, their personal histories, and the qualities that make them fit to be America’s commander in chief. But there’s a far more important issue we haven’t perused: Their websites. Their OLD websites. With the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, we can see what the candidates were doing online long before this election cycle. Most of the links... READ ON

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11 Other Big Events That Also Occurred on September 11th

Even before the tragic attacks of 2001, some pretty noteworthy events had occurred on September 11th. While our brains will forever link the calendar date to the 2001 attacks - and rightly so - let's take a look at some other notable September 11th happenings from previous years. 1297 William Wallace defeats forces of the English crown in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. As anyone who's seen Braveheart knows, the party doesn't last long for Wallace, but the Scots do regain their independence in 1328.... READ ON

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How Military Operations Get Their Code Names

© Hannibal Hanschke/dpa/Corbis Last month the world watched rebel forces pour into Tripoli under the banner of Operation Mermaid Dawn. While watching the news, I was struck by a curiosity many of you might have shared: just where exactly do these names come from? It’s a relatively new practice, actually—less than a hundred years old. The Germans pioneered it during World War I, and the idea took hold in the interwar period, especially as radio became a predominant means of communication.... READ ON

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