Watching a tragedy movie caused people to think about their own close relationships, which in turn boosted their life happiness.
People enjoy watching tragedy movies like “Titanic” because they deliver what may seem to be an unlikely benefit: tragedies actually make people happier in the short-term.
Continue reading… “Watching tearjerkers actually makes people happier: Study”
Fandango
“The Hunger Games” set the highest opening weekend for a non-sequel over this past weekend, raking in an estimated $155 million at the box office. That’s a ton of tickets and a chunk of them were sold online and on smartphones. Fandango, one of the first movie ticket sales sites, shared data from the weekend as “The Hunger Games” pushed its platform to new heights.
Continue reading… “Mobile ticket sales set another record for ‘The Hunger Games’”
In June 2010, this custom Cadillac baby stroller won first place in the Open Car class at the Monthly Muscle Car Show in Plano, Texas. Macomber Fiberglass Bodies in Santa Paula, California sells unfinished fiberglass shells on Ebay to make this or other custom pedal cars or strollers at home…
Continue reading… “Tricked-out Cadillac baby stroller has fire coming out of the tailpipes”
Unhealthy thanks to bad food.
USDA data shows that in 2010 Americans spent 9.4 percent of their disposable income on food, which equals 5.5 percent at home and 3.9 percent eating out. As a nation, we spend far less of a percentage on our food than we ever have before. For example, in 1929 we spent 23.4 percent of our disposable income on food, which equaled 20.3 percent at home and 3.1 percent eating out.
Not only are we spending much less of our money on the foods we eat, we eat out far more than ever before, buying fatty processed and fast foods laden with saturated fats, sodium, and added sugars. When compared to other countries, our food is by far the cheapest…
Continue reading… “Americans eat the cheapest food in the world.”
Tweet-friendly media can now be shared by musicians.
As South by Southwest transforms from a massive tech party to a massive music festival, Twitter has unveiled Twitter for Musicians and Artists, a page offering tips on how musicians can use the service to connect with their fans.
Even if you’re not a world-famous musician, many of the suggestions will be pretty familiar…
Continue reading… “Twitter to musicians: share Tweet-friendly media, and skip the publicists”
This may just be the best TED Talk video I’ve seen: listen.com/Rhapsody founder and extremely funny person (and soon-to-be debut science fiction author) Rob Reid examines the math behind the claims made by the copyright lobby and explains the mindbending awesomeness of the sums used to justify SOPA, PIPA, ACTA and the like. Here’s Ars Technica’s Ken Fisher discussing Reid’s philosophy…
Continue reading… “Copyright Math: the best TED Talk you’ll watch all year”
Linus the Long Haired Wonder Horse put on quite a show!
Have you ever seen a horse with such a luxurious mane? Linus the Wonder Horse was born in 1884, the result of careful breeding for long hair. Linus was exhibited with a circus act, with promotional materials declaring he was of the “Oregon Long-Haired Wild Wonder horse” breed. His mane was 14 feet long, and his tail 12 feet long!
Continue reading… “Linus the long haired wonder horse”
Joe Engressia Jr.
Joe Engressia Jr. was the father of phone phreaking. In the 1950s, the blind 7-year-old realized that his high-pitched whistle could control the phone system. Over the years, he learned the electronic language of clicks and tones and tapped into a network of phone freaks around the country, most of whom had previously phreaked in solitude…
Continue reading… “Story of the first phone phreak”
From YouTube user FONentertainment comes a performance of what Alex Santoso calls “…the best piece of music ever written in the history of mankind.”
Continue reading… ““Dueling Banjos” on Tesla Coils”
SXSW 4G Hot Spot-a-go-go Clarence.
Treading a thin line between totally unethical/wrong and gainful temporary employment, companies at SXSW Music Festival are hiring homeless people to act as WiFi hotspots. Here’s how it works:…
Continue reading… “Homeless People Hired To Act As 4G Hotspots”
Are you working for the fastest shrinking industry in the United States? You are, if you’re working for a newspaper according to this study by LinkedIn and the Council of Economic Advisors.
The fastest-growing industries include renewables (+49.2%), internet (+24.6%), online publishing (+24.3%), and e-learning (+15.9%). Fastest-shrinking industries were newspapers (-28.4%), retail (-15.5%), building materials (-14.2%), and automotive (-12.8%)…
Continue reading… “Newspaper: America’s Fastest Shrinking Industry”
New Mars photos show amazing activity.
For such a dead planet, Mars sure has got a lot of things going on. LIke this mini tornado, as captured by camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:..
Continue reading… “Dust Devil on Mars”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.