Arts
"We have an even bigger venue lined up next year." That's what Pierce County Toy and Geek Fest cofounder Chris Fowler told me on the eve of Geek Fest's maiden voyage last year. More than double the size of last year's space at the Washington State Fair & Events Center,
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With a name like "House of Tattoo!," you know what to expect -- a museum dedicated to the diminutive assistant from Fantasy Island. Fine, it's a tattoo parlor, an amazingly awesome one. House of Tattoo! Has been inking up Tacoma residents for over 20 years now, garnering a reputation among their
Outdoors
The first-ever Pierce County Toy and Geek Festival opens this Saturday at the Washington State Fairgrounds. Sponsored by local businesses Toy Stable, Images and Events, Atomic Comics, and Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse, Geek Fest is an all-encompassing celebration of geek culture and the only South Sound convention of its kind. No
Military Life
Tart Cidery is a startup company, but co-founder Nick Timm is anything but a novice when it comes to turning apples into something amazing. Growing up on an apple and cherry orchard in central Washington, the Air Force veteran and current Reserve member learned how to brew hard cider at
News Front
Two local women connected to Joint Base Lewis-McChord were recognized by the Soroptimist International (SI) of Olympia June 3. The banquet honored 19 exceptional, yet unsung, women who've gone above and beyond the call to make their community a better place in their professional careers or personal volunteer efforts. Detectives,
Arts
Tacoma will become a "Super Bowl City" at the Washington State History Museum when "Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame" kicks off Saturday, May 27. The 6,000-square-foot multimedia exhibit is the largest, most comprehensive traveling exhibition ever created about the sport. The WSHM is the only
Features
It's usually just good common sense not to combine alcohol and zoo patronage. When was the last time you read a news story about a tipsy zoo patron deciding to test the hunting prowess of a polar bear, or go swimming in the shark tank that didn't have a predictably
News Front
What makes a hero? A question for the ages, debated by philosophers, scientists, artists and the other brilliant minds amongst us throughout recorded history. Are heroes born or are they made? George Washington had a mind for military strategy - but if he'd been a royalist, it's unlikely his face
Military Life
Being a military newspaper, the staff at The Ranger meets a lot of heroes, and we have more opportunities than most to ponder what the word "hero" really means. Our military servicemembers are heroes, of course. Anyone who willingly forfeits the relative comfort of being a civilian in order to
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The simple pleasure of a warm bath taken to its most lavish extreme, we've been enjoying hot tubs all over the world since 400 B.C. The volcanic hot springs of yore have since given way to fiberglass or acrylic shells encased in synthetic wooden frames, or sometimes embedded right into
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There are plenty of good reasons for military personnel to shop for a home in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe you just transferred from active-duty to the Reserves or the National Guard and want to put down some roots. Maybe you want to open a successful string of sandwich shops. Maybe
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For many of us, our first big break into the workforce was in a menial food service job. Our parents and our bosses all told us the same thing - "This is a great opportunity" - a sentence we all secretly suspected ended with, "to quit this place and find
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You know the commercials: "Just one weekend a month, two weeks a year ... money for college ... an extra paycheck." The Reserve and the National Guard suffer a misconception in the public consciousness as being the diet version of the Armed Forces, reserved for everyday people who only want to
News Front
Founded in 1950, the Association of United States Army (AUSA) is a nonprofit advocacy group for the men and women who want to "be all that they can be." With 119 chapters all over the world, AUSA bridges the gap between soldiers and civilians - membership is open to anyone
News
A nice planet is hard to find. That's why local author David Zink spent most of his life cherishing our little corner of the cosmos and working diligently to protect its environment for future generations. Zink's eco-friendliness owes in part to a childhood on his family's fishing resort in northern Minnesota. While
Military Life
From regular Atlas to Charles Atlas, the classic image of a powerlifter that endures in the public consciousness - the gigantic, muscular meathead - shares more in common with turn-of-the-century circus strongmen than it does with present-day reality. With all due respect to Atlas and his literal "world record", almost
News Front
Imagine you're the spouse of an active-duty servicemember and your family just transferred to a new state. (Some of our readers don't have to imagine. Welcome to Washington!) Moving is one of the most stressful and exhausting experiences in life, but it's par for the course in military life. Fortunately,
News Front
I've said before that we only sleep soundly at night because of "rough men (and women)" who watch over us, and the servicemembers of the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) based out of Joint-Base Lewis-McChord are a prime example of these brave people doing what they do best. WADS is the
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Lots of places could technically be in the running for the "best place to meet someone". Prisons, public transportation, a dark alley - these are all places where you're likely to meet someone, just not necessarily someone you'd like to meet. Even designated social hotspots like nightclubs and bars have
News Front
Like Starbucks, Microsoft and Bill Nye the Science Guy, PacMed is a Northwest fixture. Since its humble beginnings as a Marine Service Hospital operating out of Seattle's Pacific Tower in the 1930s, (when it was called - appropriately enough - the Pacific Medical Center), the not-for-profit, multi-specialty healthcare network expanded
