Four Bad Bear Markets

11 Birds That Could Beat the Shit Out of You

11 Birds Who Could Beat the Shit Out of You: "When you think of birds, you most likely think of very docile, perhaps graceful creatures that present themselves in your backyard as you watch them peacefully go about their daily routines.

Perhaps you think of the larger birds such as a hawk or a falcon that you watch in the sky as they glide elegantly through the atmosphere. What you don’t think about is getting pounded by wings or legs or getting torn to shreds by beaks and getting your bones crushed by talons.

They look so harmless for the most part, but some birds are not only physically strong enough to kick your ass and in some cases cause death, but some species are aggressive enough to do it. Some of the these birds on the countdown you’re going to expect, while others will surely surprise you."

Visualizing the Most Frequented Subway Systems in the World

Gatorade Confirms What We All Knew: Bulk of its Drinkers Are Nursing Hangovers

Gatorade Confirms What We All Knew: Bulk of its Drinkers Are Nursing Hangovers: "A long time ago, in a county far, far away -- well, Alameda -- your humble narrator read the entire Associated Press style guide in one sitting. I laughed out loud once and only once -- at the example of when and when not to capitalize the 'o' in olympics: 'He went on a beer-drinking Olympics.'

That phrase is relevant now, regarding the redesigned and re-branded Gatorade bottles starting to hit San Francisco supermarkets. In short, a lot more of us are going on a beer-drinking Olympics than to the real Olympics, and Gatorade's latest rollout acknowledges this."

Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems

Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems - NYTimes.com: "BEHIND the cash register at Smoke Shop No. 2 in downtown San Francisco, Sam Azar swipes a customer’s credit card to ring up Turkish cigarettes. The store’s card reader fails to scan the card’s magnetic strip. Azar swipes again, and again. No luck."

As customers begin to queue, he reaches beneath the counter for a black plastic bag. He wraps one layer of the plastic around the card and swipes it again. Success. The sale is rung up.

“I don’t know how it works, it just does,” says Mr. Azar, who learned the trick years ago from another clerk. Verifone, the company that makes the store’s card reader, would not confirm or deny that the plastic bag trick works. But it’s one of many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures that people without engineering degrees have discovered, often out of desperation, and shared.

How the Brain Makes Quick Decisions

How do You Make Snap Decisions?: "t's the last set at Wimbledon and Serena Williams needs a little magic to take the match. Her opponent makes an amazing shot, but Williams somehow knows where the ball is going, and she's there. How could she have read her opponent's mind?

She didn't. But she may have been helped by a kind of human memory that scientists have been struggling to understand. Using her 'implicit' memory, a short-term memory that people are not consciously aware they are using, Williams could have recognized her opponent's moves just before she hit that amazing shot, because she had had seen the same moves a few minutes earlier when her opponent made a similar shot.

Of course, that's not the only thing that got Williams to the finals. Athleticism, conditioning, hard work and talent were the main reasons. But she had something else at work, and the rest of us use it all the time even if we don't know it. Sometimes, when we have to make a quick decision, we may think we're guessing, but we may be basing that 'gut response' on real information, collected a few minutes earlier."

Madin Mohamed 6 Year Old New Zidane in the Making

The 27 Club: Musicians Who Died At The Age of 27

The 27 Club: Musicians Who Died At The Age of 27: "Kurt Cobain once quoted Neil Young who said “it’s better to burn out than to fade away” and then he (allegedly) shot himself in the face. Kurt, who would have turned 42 this coming Friday, is part of the unlucky group of musicians who died at the tender age of 27 when their careers were still in bloom (oh, bad pun). As homage to the Nirvana frontman, we take a scroll through memory lane and honor the five greatest musicians who are part of the cursed 27 club; May they rest in peace."

Amazing Basketball Shot

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey illuminates the site's founding document.

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey illuminates the site's founding document.: "Sitting in the Flickr archives is a nearly 10-year-old document uploaded a couple of years ago by its author, Jack Dorsey (@jack), who started Twitter in 2006 along with co-founders Evan Williams (@ev) and Biz Stone (@biz).

The legal-pad sketch of the idea that would become Twitter has been noticed before, but given all the recent hype, we thought we'd track down Dorsey and ask him about it in a little more detail. In the following interview, Dorsey uses the document to touch on aspects of the micromessaging service's history, including the inspirations and constraints that came to define one of the Web's most rapidly growing information channels."

A 224-Word Palindrome

Slate Magazine:
"'Dammit I'm Mad'

by

Demetri Martin"

Dammit I'm mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I'm in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level "Mad Dog".
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I'm a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I'm it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I'd assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
"Sir, I deliver. I'm a dog"
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I'm mad.

Varying Sweat Scents Are Noted by Women

Varying Sweat Scents Are Noted by Women: "Men’s sweat smells different when they are sexually aroused, and women can tell the difference, a new study finds — even though they are not conscious of it.

The sexual activity of animals is affected by odor, but little is known about the phenomenon in humans. Although all three types of sweat glands respond to emotion and sexual arousal, no one has ever convincingly established that body odor plays a significant role in human sexual relations or reproduction."

Nice Doggy

Possums in a Box!

"Go Girl" Lets Girls Go Standing Up

"Go Girl" Lets Girls Go Standing Up: "Ladies can now boldly go how no lady has gone before - standing up.

The 'Go-Girl' is a new device that lets women use the bathroom just like the guys - on their feet.

The product is targeted for 'on-the-go' women who don't have time to waste in the bathroom or on the porcelain throne.

The small, pink canister was developed for women with hip or knee replacements who couldn't physically use the bathroom sitting down, WCCO-CBS reports.

Creator Sarah Dillon quickly realized that it could be marketed to active women who needed to go, and fast.

'It's an edgy product,' Dillon said.

She encouraged women to 'have fun with' the product, which comes with a funnel attachment for mess-free relief.

The Go-Girls retail on www.gogirl.com for $4.99 per device, or $11.99 for three."

This cat is an a-hole!

Men View Bikini-Clad Women As Objects -- Literally

Men View Bikini-Clad Women As Objects -- Literally: "Not only did the half-dressed women trigger activity in the part of the sexist male noggin that is generally reserved for recognizing the inanimate, but some of the men displayed absolutely no activity in the region of the brain which processes the intentions and thoughts of the person they are looking at."

Management Styles of the Rich and Fictional

Management Styles of the Rich and Fictional: "Believe it or not, you can learn a lot from some successful moguls who just happen to be completely made up. Here’s a look at the management strategies of some of our favorite fictional leaders."

Out of tragedy, sportsmanship has a shining moment

Out of tragedy, sportsmanship has a shining moment - JSOnline: "At first, Johntell Franklin just wanted to watch his friends play basketball.

'I wanted to go and support my team,' said Franklin, an 18-year-old senior at Milwaukee Madison High School. 'I'm a captain. I set an example.'

As it turned out, Franklin wound up teaching everyone in the Madison gymnasium a lesson - about friendship, about the value of sports, about themselves.

A somber cloud hung over the Knights as they played DeKalb, Ill., High School on Saturday, Feb. 7. News spread quickly that Franklin's mother, Carlitha, had died earlier that day after a five-year battle with cervical cancer. She was 39."

Coffee Drinking Lowers Women's Stroke Risk

Coffee Drinking Lowers Women's Stroke Risk:

"Drinking coffee appears to lower the risk for stroke among women, with more consumption translating into more protection, Spanish and American researchers suggest."

The finding stems from the tracking of both coffee habits and stroke occurrence among tens of thousands of American women across nearly a quarter century. And it adds to earlier indications that coffee might also offer some protection against diabetes, while not raising the risk for heart trouble.

Heroes are born not made, scientists claim

Heroes are born not made, scientists claim - Telegraph:

"Professor Deane Aikins, a psychiatrist at Yale University, said a small minority of individuals remain cool even in the most stressful circumstances.

His findings, based on research with the military, found that some individuals did not panic because their body naturally protected them.

Unlike the majority of people who were flooded with a stress hormone, they had much lower levels and also showed signs of another hormone that actually calmed them down.

He referred to Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot of the aeroplane that was successfully landed on the Hudson River in New York last month, as an example.

'There are some individuals who when confronted with extreme stress their hormone profile is rather unique,' he said.

'It doesn't reach the same peak as the rest of us. So we're all ready to scream in our chairs, but there are certain individuals who just don't get as stressed."

'Wash by hand... in coleslaw': The hilarious examples of mangled English from around the world

'Wash by hand... in coleslaw': The hilarious examples of mangled English from around the world | Mail Online:

"It is the most widely spoken language on Earth and has produced some of the most wonderful literature known to man.

But for non-native speakers, the English language's inconsistencies in spelling and grammar mean that it is often frustratingly difficult to make yourself understood.

Found on everything from poorly translated signs and menus to bizarrely worded adverts and strange t-shirt slogans the mis-use of English can be found everywhere.

Scroll down to see the latest collection of amusingly 'creative' English from around the world."

Trilogy Meter

DAN METH - Trilogy Meter

The white bite: Meet the blue-eyed alligator

The white bite: Meet the blue-eyed alligator: "With his piercing blue eyes and pale skin this rare alligator stands out like a sore thumb.

Weighing over 500 pounds, Bouya Blan is one of only 12 white alligators in the world.

The 22-year-old, whose name means white fog, lives along with three other giant leucistic alligators at the world famous Gatorland theme park in Florida.

'People are awestruck when they see them, and just one look into those icy, blue eyes will give you chills,' says Mark McHugh, President & CEO of Gatorland."

Every Album Ever

"Winston Rowntree is the author of Subnormality, the popular webcomic which he describes as containing 'weird characters, endless opinions and occasionally huge walls of text.'"

Every Album Ever | Cracked.com:

Scientists stop the ageing process

Scientists stop the ageing process (ABC News in Science):

"Scientists have stopped the ageing process in an entire organ for the first time, a study released today says.

Published in today's online edition of Nature Medicine, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York City also say the older organs function as well as they did when the host animal was younger.

The researchers, led by Associate Professor Ana Maria Cuervo, blocked the ageing process in mice livers by stopping the build-up of harmful proteins inside the organ's cells."

Super Villain

Missing: About 150 bowling balls

Missing: About 150 bowling balls - UPI.com: "FRANKFORT, N.Y., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The owner of a New York state restaurant with its own bowling alley said all but one of the establishment's bowling balls have disappeared without a trace.

Alicia Gatto, owner of Thurston's Restaurant in Frankfort, N.Y., said the bowling alley had been closed for repairs and was last used -- with all balls intact -- Feb. 7, the (Utica, N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch reported Monday."

Gatto said some men from the restaurant went into the bowling alley Friday night and discovered all but one of the estimated 150 bowling balls were missing.

"There's one left in the front, but the rest are all gone," she said. "I'm lost."

She said she has no idea how the ball thieves worked around the locked doors, daytime security cameras and nighttime motion detector security alarms.

Gatto said police have been notified of the theft.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Monkeys have a sense of morality, say scientists

Monkeys have a sense of morality, say scientists: "MONKEYS and apes have a sense of morality and the rudimentary ability to tell right from wrong, according to new research.

In a series of studies scientists have found that monkeys and apes can make judgments about fairness, offer altruistic help and empathise when a fellow animal is ill or in difficulties. They even appear to have consciences and the ability to remember obligations.

The research implies that morality is not a uniquely human quality and suggests it arose through evolution. That could mean the strength of our consciences is partly determined by our genes.

Such findings are likely to antagonise fundamentalist religious groups. Some believe the ability to form moral judgments is a God-given quality that sets humans apart."

Burgeoning bourgeoisie

A special report on the new middle classes in emerging markets: "For the first time in history more than half the world is middle-class—thanks to rapid growth in emerging countries.

The Scientifically Engineered Worst Song in the World

The Scientifically Engineered Worst Song in the World: "The Scientifically Engineered Worst Song in the World
By Craig Hlavaty in WTF Island

Crazy science, will you ever learn? Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. Sure, we could start transplanting monkey heads on humans, but you shouldn't. The atom bomb sure as hell ended World War II, but it began an era of atomic fear and guilt. We ended up with all kinds of hassles, like communism and bad Schwarzenegger movies.

This brings us to the crack team of Dave Soldier and Komar & Melamid, who scientifically created the world's worst song"

Facial scars can help win a woman's heart

Facial scars can help win a woman's heart: "A facial scar, preferably one that looks like it was inflicted in anger rather than the aftermath of chickenpox or acne, increases men's attractiveness to a woman for a short-term relationship, according to researchers."

The Simpsons - New Intro

7 Urban Wonders of the Modern World

7 Urban Wonders of the Modern World: "You might find an urban wonder right around the corner - from the narrowest and most windy streets of the world (respectively) to the biggest building moving project and the most profound rich/poor divide on the planet. Someone has even put the world’s largest urban bat colony on the map. Here are seven profoundly strange recording-setting wonders of the modern world."

Manu Dibango

Manu Dibango: "OK, now to the case of Mama Say Mama Sa Mama Makossa. Here's the story: in 1972, Cameroonian pop star and sax man Manu Dibango recorded what would become a top forty hit a year later: 'Soul Makossa.'

By the way, Makossa means dance in Cameroon's Duala language. In 1983, Michael Jackson recorded 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' on his 'Thriller' album.

It also had that 'Soul Makossa' chant in it. Manu Dibango sued Jackson over the copyright infringement. Jackson admitted he borrowed the line -- although allegedly HIS chant was in Swahili, not Duala -- and the two artists settled out of court.

Now Dibango has brought another 'Soul Makossa' case against Michael Jackson and Rihanna. It seems that the king of pop gave permission to R & B singer Rihanna to use his version of the chant in her big hit 'Don't Stop the Music.'"

Galaxy has 'billions of Earths'

Galaxy has 'billions of Earths': "There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard."

"Not only are they probably habitable but they probably are also going to be inhabited," Dr Boss told BBC News. "But I think that most likely the nearby 'Earths' are going to be inhabited with things which are perhaps more common to what Earth was like three or four billion years ago." That means bacterial lifeforms.

Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies

Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies: "Facebook is five. Maybe you didn't get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:"

Study takes step toward erasing bad memories

Study takes step toward erasing bad memories - Reuters Health: "A widely available blood pressure pill could one day help people erase bad memories, perhaps treating some anxiety disorders and phobias, according to a Dutch study published on Sunday.

The generic beta-blocker propranolol significantly weakened people's fearful memories of spiders among a group of healthy volunteers who took it, said Merel Kindt, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, who led the study.

'We could show that the fear response went away, which suggests the memory was weakened,' Kindt said in a telephone interview."

The Downfall of Plasma?

The Downfall of Plasma? | Popular Science

Rome was neither built nor disassembled in a day. While historians point to September 4, 476—the overthrow of the last empero—as the date it all fell apart, the fall really began decades earlier and continued for decades afterwards.

Likewise, tech historians may point to February 12, 2009 as the official fall of the plasma empire—even though new models have just been announced. That’s the day that Pioneer—arguable the maker of the best plasmas ever—announced its complete exit from the TV business and that Vizio—the number-three plasma retailer in the US—gave up on the tech in favor of LCD.