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."