The Plaid Zebra
The Plaid Zebra
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The Plaid Zebra is an alternative news and entertainment website for the curious and inquiring focusing on the independent lifestyle. Broadening the horizons of possible lifestyle choices.

Oculus Rift Is Now Being Used to Treat PTSD, Addictions, Anxiety Disorders and Phobias

BY: LISA CUMMING Despite being the brainchild of a teenage boy with no background in engineering, the Oculus Rift has sent the tech world into a tailspin. Hailed as the “holy grail of virtual reality gaming”, the system’s reach doesn’t…

Auras: Maybe We Can All Feel Them And They Are Trying To Tell Us Something

BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS This has probably happened at least once in your life: you meet someone for the first time and take an instant dislike to their presence. Or you get a bad feeling from a room you’ve just walked…

The World’s Biggest Species of Snake Has Virgin Birth

BY: SINEAD MULHERN Thelma the snake’s mysterious pregnancy is prompting scientists to dig deeper into yet another of Mother Nature’s well kept secrets. The Kentucky reticulated python gave birth to six baby snakes without ever mating with a male, says…

Microloans Could Save Tired Starving Artists. How ROSCAs Can Save Music, Art And Film.

BY: JUNE OWATARI  $2400 for a Conveyer Dryer for screen-printing + $2000 for a film output printer with colour separation software plus a 6-pack of ink cartridges + $600 for micro-registration attachments for the 6-colour press + $150 for supplies…

School Image Over Student Safety: America’s Ivy League Are Among The Worst For Rape Survivors

BY: LISA CUMMING From the perches of the ivory towers of academic elitism, administrations are more concerned with protecting their image than protecting their students. Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford are considered by many to be the top universities in America.…

In A Decade, Windowless Planes Will Give You Panoramic Views Of The Sky

BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS Bad news for those afraid of flying; good news for those wanting more adventure in their plane travel. A UK-based technology company is developing a plane without windows that’s a little more stylish than the white windowless…

4chan Turned Me Gay

BY: AL DONATO Two guys in horse masks fucking on webcam. Someone gushing about places to buy binders online. Several people sharing their experiences in gay bars. Everyone, anonymous and faceless. This used to be my typical Friday night. As…

These Five Savants Show The Mind Is Limitless With Talents That Are Superhuman

BY: PILGRIM Savant syndrome is a rare condition in which extraordinarily capabilities accompany a massive memory creating an endowment of talent that is seemingly superhuman. The syndrome is often accompanied by disabilities in cognitive functions, motor skills and social dexterity.…

Stella Ella Ola Says “We Are Not Giving F*cks Where No F*cks Should Be Given”.

BY: VANESSA NIGRO Since drunkenly deciding to start a band one fated New Year’s Eve night two and half years ago, Stella Ella Ola has since toured around Southern Ontario playing shows for their beloved fans, and produced their first…

The Future of Virtual Reality Is In Your Cellphone

BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS Want to go to Paris, travel back in time or ride a rollercoaster? Now you can, and it only costs $25. The future of virtual reality is here, and it’s called the Virtual Reality Cardboard Toolkit. San…

BASE Jumper Explains The Importance Of Accepting Death To Appreciating Life

BY: ROB HOFFMAN No matter how hard we try to live vicariously through their first-person footage, a GoPro simply cannot capture the feeling of participating in a sport where your primary competition is death. To some it seems crazy to…

Can Empathy be Taught Through Toys? This Toy Company Thinks So.

BY: LUC RINALDI How do you teach empathy? Is it, like other skills, disseminated in schools? Does it breed in ethics classes or religious environments? Or is the product of caring, considerate child rearing? Ilana Ben-Ari, for one, is putting…

There’s more to the Netherlands than weed, wooden shoes and prostitutes

BY: CASPER VAN ES ‘Hey there, Mountie, sorry to disturb you during your hockey, but how aboot that maple syrup eh?’ As someone from the Netherlands, that about sums up all the stereotypes about the Great White North for me.…

Don’t Get It Backwards: Harvard Professor Proves The Quickest Road To Success Is Happiness.

BY: PILGRIM The belief that success is the predecessor of happiness is the carrot-on-a-stick which dangles at the forefronts of many of our lives. The old thought reverberating in our minds, “If I could only achieve ______, I would be…

This modern nomad has worked everywhere from Manhattan to Madagascar

BY: LAURA ROJAS Marianne Cantwell, as you may know is the liberated world traveler behind Free Range Humans– a project dedicated to helping people escape their unsatisfying careers for a more unshackling lifestyle. The idea of free-ranging is exactly what…

Facebook Offers Employees Up to $20,000 to Freeze Their Eggs And Postpone Pregnancy

BY: PILGRIM Facebook and Apple have decided to foot the bill for any female staff that would like to freeze their eggs. This procedure allows one to have children in their later years, without gambling with the increasing risks of…

This Guy Turned His House Into A Concert Venue To Revive The Starving All-Ages Music Scene

BY: ALEX DOWNHAM After a “slump” in London, Ontario’s music scene, local Preston Ell has morphed his own house into Satan’s Cove, the city’s smallest all-ages venue. Inspired by the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) movement, Ell’s bungalow – home to three others…

Introducing Raw Chicken Alcohol… And You Thought Bacon Vodka Was Disgusting?

BY: SINÉAD MULHERN Prepare your stomachs: Pechuga Mezcal is giving meat lovers and tequila worm warriors a whole new kind of party-challenge. This Mexican spirit is somewhat similar to tequila in that the agave plant is a primary ingredient in…

We Carve Pumpkins At Halloween Because Of A Guy Who Hung Out With Satan

BY: AL DONATO At some point in your life, you might find yourself arms-deep in pumpkin guts, seeds falling out of your hair and resisting the urge to carve something phallic into the offending squash. The tradition of carving jack-o’-lanterns…

My First Time In A Sensory Deprivation Tank

BY: DANIEL KORN I’m on the phone with Jesse Ratner-Decle, the owner of Float Toronto, a sensory-deprivation-tank centre on the west end of the city. Customers pay to go into an enclosed, pitch-black, completely soundproof tank and float on their…