According to redditor Wylde_Guitarist, his boss found a way to keep the wire cutters from being stolen. Attach them to something heavy -with a wire. Link -via Boing Boing

With four teenagers at home, I witness every day the strange thought processes they have. We've learned from recent research that the human brain undergoes immense changes during adolescence, which are often not finished until the mid-20s. National Geographic looks beyond that research into why the brain goes through such changes in adolescence, and finds it has to do with our evolutionary past. The risks teenagers take are in some ways very adaptive.

Let's start with the teen's love of the thrill. We all like new and exciting things, but we never value them more highly than we do during adolescence. Here we hit a high in what behavioral scientists call sensation seeking: the hunt for the neural buzz, the jolt of the unusual or unexpected.

Seeking sensation isn't necessarily impulsive. You might plan a sensation-seeking experience—a skydive or a fast drive—quite deliberately, as my son did. Impulsivity generally drops throughout life, starting at about age 10, but this love of the thrill peaks at around age 15. And although sensation seeking can lead to dangerous behaviors, it can also generate positive ones: The urge to meet more people, for instance, can create a wider circle of friends, which generally makes us healthier, happier, safer, and more successful.

The entire article is available now in the October issue of National Geographic magazine. Link

(Image credit: Kitra Cahana)

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It takes something special to make local TV ads stand out, and Ojai Valley Taxidermy has accomplished that. Chuck Testa doesn't mince words -he specializes in making dead animals appear lifelike. Even when they're in bed with you. If you have the stomach for taxidermy work, you can also check out Chuck's Tuesday Tips on YouTube. This ad was produced by Rhett and Link. -via The Daily What

How does a common garden slug bring traffic to a standstill? It happened in Darlington, England last Friday morning. Traffic lights went out and a contractor was brought in to repair the control box. They found that a slug had gotten into the controls and short-circuited them. Councillor Chris McEwan said he'd received many complaints about the traffic lights.

"A slug was certainly the last thing I was expecting to have caused the problem.

“We do not know how long the slug had been there.

Unfortunately, it was dead by the time we found it, so we were unable to question it.

“Sadly, you just can’t legislate for a rogue slug trying to take out Darlington’s traffic system.”

The control box will be sealed to keep other critters out. Link -via Arbroath

When Grover Cleveland contracted cancer, it didn't kill his career; it killed someone else's.

In early June of 1893, President Grover Cleveland discovered a large tumor on the roof of his mouth. The cancer was progressing quickly. Doctors determined that if the patient were to survive, the growth had to be removed. But the procedure was complicated, and Cleveland's doctors feared the surgery could trigger a stroke. There was also a 15 percent chance in those days that the president could die under the knife.

After weighing his options, Cleveland chose to have the tumor removed, under one condition: The operation had to be conducted in total secrecy. The president feared that Wall Street -already reeling from falling stock in the midst of a depression- would panic if news of his illness leaked. Even his vice president, Adlai Stevenson, was to be kept in the dark.

On the morning of June 30th, under the cover of night, President Cleveland and six of the nation's finest physicians assembled on board the Oneida, a yacht anchored in New York harbor. Sitting in a deck chair, the president smoked cigars and chatted amiably with the men as the boat set sail for Long Island Sound. The following morning, the doctors scrambled below deck to prepare for the surgery. In lieu of an operating table, a large chair was bound to the mast in the yacht's parlor. A single light bulb, connected to a portable battery, would provide all the light. The doctors boiled their instruments and pulled crisp white aprons over their dark suits. Shortly after noon, the president entered the parlor and took his seat.

Using nitrous oxide and ether as anesthetics, the doctors removed the tumor, along with five teeth and much of Cleveland's upper left palate and jawbone. The procedure lasted 90 minutes. It also took place wholly within the patient's mouth, so that no external scars would betray the clandestine operation. Four days later, on July 5, Cleveland was dropped off at his summer home on Cape Cod. He healed remarkably fast. By the middle of July, he was fitted with a vulcanized rubber prosthetic that plugged the hole in his mouth and restored his normal speaking voice. All the while, the public was told that the president had merely suffered a toothache.

THE HEALTH CARE CONTROVERSY

On August 29, The Philadelphia Press published an expose by Elisha Jay Edwards. The headline read, "The President a Very Sick Man." Edwards, the paper's Manhattan correspondent, had been tipped off by a New York doctor who's heard rumors of a secret surgery. After some additional digging, Edwards located Ferdinand Hasbrouck, the dentist who had administered the anesthetic to Cleveland, and verified the details.

The Philadelphia Press story was remarkably accurate. In fact, it still stands as one of the greatest scoops in the history of American journalism. But it wasn't perceived that way by the public. The Cleveland administration categorically denied the charges and launched a smear campaign to discredit and embarrass the reporter. Newspapers denounced Edwards as a "disgrace to journalism" and a "calamity liar."

The tactics were effective. The public sided with Cleveland, who'd built his reputation as the "Honest President." Meanwhile, Edwards' career was effectively ruined. For the next 15 years, the veteran reporter could barely find work. In 1909, he landed a job as a columnist for a struggling young newspaper called The Wall Street Journal. But Edwards' career was still tainted by the allegations that he'd faked the story about Grover Cleveland.

One of the doctors who performed the surgery, W.W. Keen, always regretted how Edwards had been so unjustly maligned. In 1917, a quarter-century after the operation and a decade after Cleveland's death, Keen finally decided to do something about it. He published a confessional in The Saturday Evening Post, hoping to "vindicate Mr. Edwards' character as a truthful correspondent."

The admission was successful. The old newspaperman was inundated with congratulatory letters and telegrams, and the outpouring deeply moved him. Edwards even wrote to Keen to thank him for restoring his reputation.

 

_______________________

The article above is reprinted with permission from the July-August 2011 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue! Be sure to visit mental_floss' website and blog for more fun stuff!

On the surface, it seems ridiculous that governments would try to ban things like video games, certain clothing and hairstyles, or reincarnation without government permission. Weird, huh? Every one of these bans has a reason behind it, whether it makes sense to us or not. For example, in China, the movie Avatar cannot be shown unless it is the 3D version.

While the army in Avatar is undoubtedly American, the idea of people siding with an indigenous population against an imperialistic force is something that China was not comfortable with. That's why shortly after the release of the movie in China, the authorities decided the movie could only be shown in 3D. Since there are very few 3D theaters in China, the move was effectively a ban on the film.

Read the reasoning behind the other bans at Oddee. Link

After a two-year absence, the site Damn Interesting is back, with a post about the notorious game show contestant Michael Larson. In 1984, Larson won $110,237 in cash and prizes on the show Press Your Luck -an amount far exceeding any previous winnings. That's because Larson had a system.

His demeanor alternated between intense concentration and jubilation. The strategy worked even better than he had anticipated due to the large number of Free Spin bonuses that appeared in his safe slots. Host Peter Tomarken became increasingly flabbergasted each time Larson made the “spin again” gesture. $30,000 was considered an extraordinary payoff for one day on any game show at that time, and the likelihood of missing the whammies for more than a dozen spins was considered to be vanishingly small. By his 13th spin Michael had $32,351 and nervous giggles. By his 21st spin he had $47,601 and conspicuous anxiety. But he pressed on.

The Press Your Luck control booth had grown silent as the show’s producers began to realize that Larson was consistently winning on the same two spaces. In a panic, the booth operators called Michael Brockman, CBS’s head of daytime programming. “Something was very wrong,” Brockman said in a TV Guide interview. “Here was this guy from nowhere, and he was hitting the bonus box every time. It was bedlam, I can tell you.” Producers asked if they should stop the show, but Larson did not appear to be breaking any rules so they were forced to allow the episode to play out.

The amount of game show money Larson won in one day was not eclipsed until 2006. Find out how he did it and what happened to Larson after his big win at Damn Interesting. Link

A team of doctors and medical researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tried a bold new experiment on three leukemia patients who seemed to have no hope left. One of them was 65-year-old William Ludwig.

Doctors removed a billion of his T-cells — a type of white blood cell that fights viruses and tumors — and gave them new genes that would program the cells to attack his cancer. Then the altered cells were dripped back into Mr. Ludwig’s veins.

At first, nothing happened. But after 10 days, hell broke loose in his hospital room. He began shaking with chills. His temperature shot up. His blood pressure shot down. He became so ill that doctors moved him into intensive care and warned that he might die. His family gathered at the hospital, fearing the worst.

A few weeks later, the fevers were gone. And so was the leukemia.

Another patient had a complete remission, and the third had a partial remission. What is surprising about the experimental treatment is that it uses diabled HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, to carry the new cancer-fighting genes to the patient's T-cells.

The University of Pennsylvania team seems to have hit all the targets at once. Inside the patients, the T-cells modified by the researchers multiplied to 1,000 to 10,000 times the number infused, wiped out the cancer and then gradually diminished, leaving a population of “memory” cells that can quickly proliferate again if needed.

The researchers remain cautious, because so few patients have been given the treatment, and because the therapy itself can be dangerous. But Mr. Ludwig has gained 40 pounds and a playing golf again. Read how they did it at the New York Times. Link -via Metafilter

This flash game will test your knowledge, or memory, of TV shows from the 1990s. Select from the 72 squares and you'll get a screenshot for each plus some theme music to jog your memory. The square will sprout a check mark if you are right. I must have missed the '90s, because I only got 22 of them! But if you are Generation Y, you'll get a real kick out this. Link

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Terry Border of Bent Objects presents his "first good sized" animation. It's a love story! Link -via Everlasting Blort

Previously: An interview with Terry Border.

South Africans Michael and Sunette Adendorff went to New Zealand, but had trouble finding the Majestic Hotel, where they had made reservations. They inquired at a chemist's shop for help, but found there is no hotel at all in the town of Eastborne! Shop assistant Linda Burke looked at their paperwork and realized the hotel they wanted was in the UK -on the other side of the globe!

Ms Burke rang around but discovered all the local bed and breakfast places were full, so she offered them a room for the night in her house.

The couple, who were exploring New Zealand while visiting the country to watch South Africa play in the Rugby World Cup, had mistakenly booked into the hotel in Eastbourne, Sussex, on the internet.

"I booked into the right hotel, just in the wrong country," Mr Adendorff told the Dominion Post newspaper.

Despite the good-natured ribbing they received, the couple said Eastbourne was very nice and the locals were friendly.

The Adendorffs were unable to get a refund on the hotel due to short notice. Link -via Arbroath

(Image credit: Wikipedia contributor NordNordWest)

Divorce Hotel is not a particular place, but a service available to splitting couples in the Netherlands, in which they can go to a hotel for three days to work out an agreement. It's the brainchild of Jim Halfens, who is not a lawyer.

Couples thinking about going through the Divorce Hotel process have to start with a set of extensive interviews. If they decide they can settle their differences quickly, with a mediator instead of lawyers, then they choose a four or five star hotel.

Over three days, the mediator and other specialists – notaries, even psychologists – are on hand to help the couple.

"If the marriage can be saved, we always tell people they are at the wrong address at the divorce hotel," said Marie-Louise Van As, a lawyer who works as a mediator at the Divorce Hotel.

She notes that the three-day hotel stays are not a vacation. There are checklists, homework she calls it, that the couples have to do ahead of time.

But, Van As says, it's worth it for many couples.

"In Holland to get divorced usually lasts six to nine months," Van As said. "A bad divorce, a fighting divorce, can last five to 10 years. And cost 50,000 Euros or more.

The Divorce Hotel process costs about 5% of that. So far, participating couples have booked separate rooms. Link -via Fortean Times

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This collage of 200 street portraits, taken by photographer Brandon Stanton, is combined with the song  "Empire State of Mind" to create a love note to the city.

The Humans of New York Project is an effort to create a photographic census of New York City. The project seeks to collect 10,000 street portraits, and plot them geographically on an interactive map.

Stanton has taken over 2,000 portraits so far. Find out more about the project, and read some of the stories of the people behind the portraits, at the Humans of New York website. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Excerpted from the book Food Journeys of a Lifetime, NatGeo Traveler's new food section brings us a list of the best places in the world to find chocolate -or should that be the places in the world to find the best chocolate? Either way, it's mouth-watering time. For example, you should know where to get chocolate at 4AM in Madrid.

Few institutions offer better evidence of Madrid’s insomnia than its perennially popular chocolaterías (also known as churrerías), typically abuzz with late-night revelers from 4 a.m. to breakfast time. Their trademark dish is the churro, a long waffle-like stick of savory fried dough, eaten dunked into very thick bittersweet hot chocolate. Stop in at the venerable Chocolatería San Ginés, an 1894 throwback. Expect entertainingly brusque service, bright lights, and a frenzied atmosphere.
Planning: Chocolatería San Ginés is downtown on Pasadizo San Ginés. It's open all night.

And that's just number eight on the list. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

(Image credit: Miguel Pereira)

What's so cute about a crocodile? Their babies! Believe it or not, mother crocodiles are caring and nurturing to their young, despite belonging to an ancient group of reptiles. Baby crocs even "talk" to their mothers before they hatch! Find out how at Environmental Graffiti. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Drew McLellan)