4 Evolutionary Explanations for Modern Annoyances. Soren Bowie is on assignment in the jungles of South America. Filling in for him today is Los Angeles based writer Joe Donatelli. At some point, your appendix was vital to your survival. Well, not yours in particular. Yours is useless. But humanity's collective appendix was an evolutionary advancement that kept the species alive.
The trouble with evolution, however, is that it's painfully slow. Sometimes long after the threat is gone the solution still lingers, wasting space and getting in the way. . #4. Let me preface this by saying that it comes from first-hand experience. Getty"Wait, there might be someone in the bathroom I haven't said goodbye to.
" Women say goodbye to the host, to their friends, to people they've met that night and even to strangers. With her friends, it's not enough to say goodbye. Getty"My boyfriend is already in the car. When I'm at a party with my friends, I do the polite thing: I thank the host and leave. I then drive home safely. #3. Of course. The 6 Most Creative Abuses of Loopholes. The best way to get away with cheating isn't to avoid getting caught... it's to technically not do anything wrong, and still get all the rewards. That's where you find the line between lawbreakers and those who simply think outside the box... and that line is very thin indeed. Bar Declares Everyone to be Actors to Circumvent Smoking Ban Back in 2007, Minnesota followed a national trend by passing an anti-smoking law that banned smoking in pretty much every public building, including bars.
Unfortunately, that was bad news for the bars, because if you're going to get good and drunk to fight off the depression manual labor and seasonal affective disorder brings, you want to get your smoke on, too. Nobody wants to go stand outside to smoke, since in Minnesota it gets cold enough at night that neurons stick open and thoughts freeze in your head. So, that winter, the customers stayed home. "...or, we could get stoned and play Xbox. " "Now can I fucking smoke? " Man Flies Free Thanks to Pudding. The 6 Weirdest Cities People Actually Live In. Look, we're idiots: None of us knows what, exactly, goes into city planning, but we assume it's probably a lot of distinguished gentlemen emailing each other about math, statistics and blueprints.
But somewhere along the line, somebody accidentally CC'ed the insane asylum, and we wound up with the following civilizations that simply should not be: #6. Neft Dashlari: A Hacked Together City in the Middle of the Sea Via Skyscraper.talkwhat.com Back in 1945, the USSR discovered oil just off the coast of Azerbaijan. Via Skyscraper.talkwhat.com"If you find yourself plummeting into the sea, you've gone too far. " Five thousand people live and work on Neft Dashlari, right there in the face of logic and Poseidon alike. Via Skyscraper.talkwhat.comThey went a little crazy on the swimming pool, though. Via Skyscraper.talkwhat.comOur guess? #5. Via Acontecimientos2012 Manshiyat Naser is a city with zero unemployment, extremely cheap housing and a populace that mostly describe themselves as "happy.
" #4. 6 People Who Gained Amazing Skills from Brain Injuries. McHugh's mania only got more pronounced. He'd finish a painting and then have to start another, then follow that up with a poem, then maybe sculpt himself a little something, then write, then paint, then do it all the hell over again. The man who previously couldn't string two words together on a piece of paper began to fill notebooks with poems and make sculptures like they were going out of style. And like Michelangelo on speed, the dude used his own walls to paint murals on, covering every inch of his house with his art, floors and ceilings included. Via Wirralart.com"Honey, could you take the out the trash and -- You have GOT to stop this! " McHugh sent letters out to doctors -- written in verse, of course -- so they could come look at him. Via Tommymchugh.comThough, hey, if life gives you visions of freaky skinless couples with extra faces on their backs, why not share them with the world?
The 7 Most Elaborate Dick Moves in Online Gaming History. Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a psychological test we pay to fail. We've looked at the biggest dick moves in online gaming before, but multiplayer games are just like the rest of the Internet -- no matter how big a dick you've seen, somewhere there's an even bigger one doing unspeakable things to people.
Runescape is a free MMPORG that anyone can access through a browser. Lowering the barrier to entry means that they have to create conditions to keep their game from devolving into a wasteland of constant murder and anarchy. There are various controls around combat -- players can fight each other, but only in designated places or as part of combat mini-games. The system has worked so well that the only real problem is people trying to pay real money for in-game accomplishments, rather than earning them through good old fashioned hard work.
She's just so clingy they stop breathing. runescape.wikia.comAny discovery requires repeated trials. 5 Ways You Know It's Time to Get Married. I've talked about my often-disastrous relationships in a number of my columns, and every time I do, I get dozens of messages from people asking me to elaborate. Not that I'm an expert -- it's more like how you see a guy come screaming out of the woods covered in bees and you ask him where he found the hive, so you can avoid it. So, the most common question I get (besides "Will you please stop sending me pictures of your penis? ") is "How do I know if this is the one? " which I think is a stealth way of asking me, "How can I avoid the hellish divorce that haunts your memories? " Well, if you want to avoid the bees, I say you should always keep in mind ... #5.
You Don't Have to Impress Each Other Photos.com If you try to pet 49 stray cats, and all of them embed their claws in your forearm, you're going to assume that the 50th will, too. Photos.comWorks every time, baby. Every woman I dated since my divorce several years ago felt the cold, dead disconnection behind my witty banter. Try This: #4. 6 Mind-Blowing Ways Zombies and Vampires Explain America. Here's the weirdest graph you'll see all week. It's graphing the popularity of zombie movies versus vampire movies, split out by whether the president at the time was a Republican or a Democrat.
There are exceptions, but in general when a Republican is in office, it's all about zombies. When it's a Democrat, it's all about vampires: Via mrscienceshowAnd apparently all our apocalypses started with Eisenhower. Night of the Living Dead shambled into cinemas during the Nixon era. Carter gave us two adaptations of Dracula. See that massive red spike in the '80s? Actually, it makes perfect sense. . #6. Vampires represent a combination of all the things the right fears about the left -- a breakdown of traditional morality and sexuality, a rejection of religion (there's a reason you can ward off a vampire with a cross), and the seduction and corruption of the innocent. They're really afraid of this: Via TimeTo be fair, we're pretty sure this crew could whoop the cast of Twilight hard. #5. ...
7 Questions You Didn't Know Could Be Answered With Math. Nine out of 10 of you have probably used some variation of the term "I'll never need any of this in the real world" when you were studying math in high school. True, the mechanics of long division and PEMDAS don't seem as important in day to day life as, say, knowing how to change a tire. But according to science, a lot of the problems you face every day can be quantified with a single equation.
Like ... #7. The Thickness of Beer Goggles Getty "Beer goggles," or the idea that alcohol makes you find people more attractive, sounds like a convenient excuse invented by douchebags who don't want to admit that they will simply have sex with anything that moves. GettyFor proof, spend more than 10 minutes in any college town bar.
It is, however, more complicated than "Alcohol = Boner. " The Formula: Professors at the University of Manchester, England, worked out that the effect isn't really beer goggles, but bar goggles (or dance club goggles). S is the smokiness of the room, rated between 0 and 10. 5 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Make Kids Smarter. There is an endless debate about why school kids in the Western world are falling behind everyone else. Some say it's a shameful lack of funding; others say kids these days are too lazy and too busy Twittering on their iPads about the Justin Biebers to learn calculus. But there are actually things you can do to help kids learn that cost next to nothing.
For instance, studies show that kids do better if you ... Start the School Day Later (By Just One Hour) Here's something every kid knows, and that parents have been ignoring since the beginning of time. Sneak a quick peek around your office/classroom/rodeo clown school. GettyAnd our emotional problems. And for those kids, particularly teenagers, sleep deprivation can mean failure at school. Getty"He's still terrible at art, but at least the cat's alive in this one. " Why Does This Work? Because of a hormonal switch in the natural body clock, teens are often not sleepy late at night, unlike most adults and small children, so they stay up late. 5 Ways Stores Use Science to Trick You Into Buying Crap. A big chunk of the world economy runs on human weakness.
Peer pressure, vanity, insecurity, the fact that we just cannot resist the sight of melted cheese -- all of these will make us fork over our cash. And really, we're fine with that. But what you may not know is that there are some other, much weirder scientific principles that factor into what you buy. You might not know about them, but the people selling you things sure as hell do. You Move in Predictable Patterns You step in the front door of your nearest chain grocery store. This is the only sheep-based image we'll use this article. This is because, after years of analysis of how humans move in a store, they've found that we're as easy to predict as animal migrations. Grocery stores are laid out to lead you around a set path you didn't even know you were following.
"Boy, those fresh carrots sure did help me forget that everything in this aisle has been dead for weeks. " And sweet lady Boxed Wine. Why It Works: Freaking barbarians. 5 Reasons Life Actually Does Get Better. In the last year you've probably heard "It gets better" used as a motto to encourage gay teens who've been the victims of bullying. This is not a rebuttal of that, because I am not an asshole. What I do want to do is expand that message to everyone that age, whether you have a bully problem or not. I figure it's time, as I tend to write about dark and often brutally depressing subjects, like how I was a smoldering drunk for over half of my life and how much my parents sucked at being parents. But I do it for a reason. I figure there are a lot of people in the same situation who feel like they're alone.
That's always the worst part about having a shitty life in your teens or 20s, feeling like everyone else in the world has it figured out but you. So, as a man with a truly shitty past, let me say that it's not just a slogan. The Money Situation Will Improve (Even if it Doesn't) I'm not saying you'll be rich when you grow up. GettyAbove, a stray one scouts the wild for its next victim. Getty. The 5 Least Romantic Keys to a Happy Relationship. Any old talk show psychologist can give you the business about date nights and fetish gear to keep the spark alive.
That's Talk Show Psychologist Tips For Romance 101. But it takes a ballsy renegade to have the guts to let you know that saving a relationship might be about imagining the most romantic solutions possible -- then doing the opposite. That ballsy renegade is us. #5. So it's been a long week at work, both of you are stressed out and when you do see each other, you end up fighting like rabid monkeys. GettyNo line to the women's toilets will ever come between you! Or not.
Wait, What? This one sounds painfully obvious when explained, but we'll be damned if we can't think of a couple who doesn't make this mistake. Studies show that it is actually better to keep your fun time separate, especially when it involves a hobby that one partner likes and the other just tolerates. GettyLike sleeping with other people. Getty"Wait, how did I get on this boat? Getty"Hey, honey. . #4. . #3.
6 Intimate Details You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone. You Can Tell Someone's Sexuality by Their Hands and Hair (Usually) Getty Contrary to what 1980s sex comedies taught you, coming out of the closet as gay doesn't automatically give one a raging case of flamboyant. Nor does it guarantee that you're going to wear an ascot at all times or punctuate every sentence with "girlfriend" or a sassy "mmmm hmmm. " So, if you're a person who really needs to know the sexuality of the strangers you run into, figuring it out usually isn't as easy as a quick once-over. GettyIf he performs his own manicures, he probably isn't all that into vagina. How? Look at their hands and hair. We've previously mentioned one indicator of likely homosexuality -- the digit ratio theory.
But what if all of your fingers are ring fingers? So there are some studies that suggest a reversal of the typical male/female finger lengths is one good indicator of sexuality. Here's an easier one: see which hand they write with. Getty"So that's why she didn't respond to my advances. " The 5 Craziest Buildings Ever Proposed With a Straight Face. Sometimes, the line between a brilliant idea and a psychotically suicidal one is so fine that it practically doesn't exist. Other times, the line is so wide it would take a transcontinental railroad and an entire week to cross it. Had they actually been built, these buildings could have probably gone either way. The Palace of the Soviets Picture the Empire State Building. Joseph Stalin, during his "crazy stage" (1870-1953), had a big problem. Via Dan IggersAnd something to keep King Kong away, too, we suspect. So Stalin came up with a plan. Via Wikipedia Second, he held a contest allowing the best architects in the world to compete for the winning monument design.
Via northwestern.eduIf there's anything the Statue of Liberty has taught us, it's always to be in the best position to set fire to a communist's crotch. After receiving widespread praise from architects worldwide, the Soviets started construction on their Lenin monster house in 1937, spending two years on the foundation alone. The 5 Most Extravagant Ways Cities Have Been Wiped Out. Every city will eventually go away. Usually they'll be abandoned or paved over to build a professional sports stadium for the bigger neighboring city. And then there are the cities that die hard. One morning they're there and the next, nothing. What happens in between is often so spectacular and fast you wouldn't believe it if you saw it happen in a disaster movie. Here are cities nature sacrificed so that we may appreciate the fact that as of right now, she has not yet murdered us.
Ubar -- The Atlantis of the Sands Deep in the recesses of Islamic legend, there was once a region so corrupt that God smote it, not with fire and brimstone, but with sand. "Anything but sand. It wasn't until the 1980s that archaeologists, using NASA satellites and super-radars, located a network of camel roads leading to the remains of Ubar situated deep in the Rub' al Khali desert in the Arabian Peninsula. The Horror: Getty"Well at least there's plenty of Fraggles to eat down here. " Just saying. And later: