Link of the day - Free $50 Kmart card.1. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
Why is it so difficult to sell a plummeting stock or end a doomed relationship? Why do we listen to advice just because it came from someone “important”? Why are we more likely to fall in love when there’s danger involved? In Sway, renowned organizational thinker Ori Brafman and his brother, psychologist Rom Brafman, answer all these questions and more.
Sway introduces us to the Harvard Business School professor who got his students to pay $204 for a $20 bill, the head of airline safety whose disregard for his years of training led to the transformation of an entire industry, and the football coach who turned conventional strategy on its head to lead his team to victory. We also learn the curse of the NBA draft, discover why interviews are a terrible way to gauge future job performance, and go inside a session with the Supreme Court to see how the world’s most powerful justices avoid the dangers of group dynamics.
2. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
What Ariely has done here is shift a lot of the thinking developed by such pioneers as Kahneman & Tversky who worked in behavioural economics, and moved it into the everyday sphere. And he’s done a great, insightful job. Where the behavioural economists are focused on financial decisions (why we buy high and sell low - and confound the assumptions of the classic economists who assume ‘the rational man,) Ariely eschews the technical language and walks us through everyday examples of our often fuzzy and quite irrational decision-making.
3. The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
I think “Paradox of Choice” does bring insight into shopping, but its range is actually much wider than that. Schwartz discusses people making difficult decisions about jobs, families, where to live, whether to have children, how to spend recreational time, choosing colleges, etc. He talks about why making these decisions today is much harder than it was 30 years ago, and he offers many practical suggestions for how to address decision-making so that it creates less stress and more happiness. He even discusses how so much additional choice affects children, and how parents can help make childhood (particularly young childhood) less stressful.
4. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
“Buy on apples, sell on cheese” is an old proverb among wine merchants. Taking a bite of an apple before tasting wine makes it easier to detect flaws in the wine, and the buyer who does so will not as easily make the mistake of paying more than the wine is worth. Cheese, on the other hand, pairs well with wine and enhances its flavor, so a seller who offers cheese may command a higher price for the wine (and may even deserve it, if the wine is intended to be drunk with cheese). The proverb captures important psychological nuances of choice. The same product - a bottle of wine or a risky medical procedure - may be perceived differently depending on its context, and it is often possible to arrange the context to influence a choice while still maintaining the decision maker’s autonomy.
5. Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things
Richard Wiseman is an experimental psychologist and professor of “public understanding of psychology.” In this book, he discusses dozens of experiments performed by himself and other psychologists around the world over the course of the last hundred years. All these experiments have in common is unusual research methodology or amusing results.
Topics include studies of personal ads and pickup lines, determining which are most effective, how to detect liars, manifestations of prejudice and hypocrisy (are religious people or priests more honest or generous than others? it has been tested). Wiseman even ran tests to see which experiments in the book are the most interesting, to help the reader know what would be the best conversation starters at parties.
6. Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things
Clinical psychologist Van Hecke has compiled a list of 10 mental glitches that have infiltrated contemporary society, afflicting even the smartest among us, limiting thought, success and relationships. Van Hecke devotes a chapter to each blind spot, including “Not stopping to think,” “Not noticing,” “Jumping to conclusions” and “Missing the big picture.” Examining each in detail, Van Hecke details the root causes of these unconscious habits (”information overload,” “our tendency to habituate”) and tactics for overcoming them, using humorous anecdotes and other real-life examples to drive her points; the key is remaining open to new ideas and taking a step back from our busy lives in order to process information, situations and people. Filling in “the big picture” herself, Van Hecke demonstrates how embracing and understanding our weaknesses can not only improve personal and professional relationships, but also entire communities; this self-help is a welcome, highly readable first step.
7. Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind
In “Kluge,” psychologist Gary Marcus looks to the many and varied foibles, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies of the human mind and concludes that our brains are not, in fact, models of brilliance and efficiency, but are rather cobbled-together systems, designed for one purpose and pressed into action for another - the classic definition of a kluge.
The most famous kluge is probably the case of the carbon scrubbers on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. Crunched for time, engineers managed to create a system out of duct tape and socks (seriously) that worked adequately enough to clean the air on the space module- even though none of the materials they used were designed for, or optimal for, the job at hand. The result was ugly and inefficient - but it kept the astronauts alive. Likewise, Marcus argues, evolution has endowed humans with a hodgepodge of genetic material - the DNA equivalent of duct tape - with which to build all the sophisticated systems that supposedly set us apart from other creatures, like language, memory, and reason. The result is, for example in the case of language, “a vocal apparatus more byzantine than a bagpipe made up entirely of pipe cleaners and cardboard dowels.”
8. The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
The author writes to the layman, making the language of statistics, probability, randomness a fascinating read. It’s clear that he’s well aware of the fallacies and delusions (and consequent harm) to which most of us are easy prey. But he leaves it to the reader to draw any philosophical-theological inferences about the need for greater humility. His immediate goal is to help the reader understand the distinction between 1. the “common-sense” logic employed by self-serving finite beings coping with problems in the material world and 2. a “scientific method” that takes nothing for granted in a universe of perpetual flux. More miraculous than either the accomplishments of the romantic hero or the intercessions of a supreme being (everyday stuff for most of us) is the rare discovery that two things (or “events” in the spatial-temporal order) suspected of being connected (a hypothesis) in fact cannot be shown “not” to have such a relationship (the proof).
9. Guesstimation: Solving the World’s Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin
Somehow, guessing at numbers is unsettling, even though I’ve done it all my life. John Adam is a professor of applied mathematics, with a degree in physics. Larry Weinstein is a nuclear physicist. Their book is devoted to proving that intelligent guessing is useful and fun. The book lays out some general principles but its great strength lies in the interesting problems, a series of hints to help you solve each problem, and an interesting discussion of the pitfalls and triumphs involved.
10. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Cialdini believes that influence is a science. This idea attracted me. As a rhetorician, I have always thought of persuasion as more of an art. Cialdini, however, makes a first-rate case for the science point of view. But maybe most importantly, he makes his case in a well-written, intelligent, and entertaining manner. Not only is this an important book to read, it is a fun book to read too.
He introduces you to six principles of ethical persuasion: reciprocity, scarcity, liking, authority, social proof, and commitment/consistency. A chapter is devoted to each and you quickly see why Cialdini looks at influence as a science. Each principle is backed by social scientific testing and restesting. Each chapter is also filled with interesting examples that help you see how each principle can be applied. By the end of the book, I had little doubt that these are six important dimensions of human interaction.
Fart Gene Isolated. Now, That’s A Breakthough!
Mariage Annulled, After Bride Turns Out To Be Not A Virgin.
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We seem to be bombarded constantly by doom and gloom tales of new animals becoming extinct and being told that we should be stopping it - something that is usually impossible for the average person. I thought it might be nice to show a positive list about extinct animals, so here is my list on the top 10 animals that were thought to be extinct but are actually still around!
10
New Holland Mouse
The New Holland Mouse is a rodent first described in 1843. It vanished from view after that and was presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in 1967. It is found only in Australia. The mouse is currently listed as endangered and a number of the populations are now considered extinct - some due to the Ash Wednesday Wildfires in 1983.
9
Terror Skink
The terror skink (Phoboscincus bocourti) was long thought extinct until a specimen was discovered in 2003 in New Caledonia. The skink measures around 50cm and has long sharp curved teeth - unusual for a skink as they are normally omnivores. The only other known example of the skink was also discovered in New Caledonia in 1876.
8
Giant Palouse Earthworm
The Giant Palouse Earthworm, from North America, was considered to be extinct in the 1980s but recently it has resurfaced. Little is known about the worm, but what is known is very strange. It can grow up to 3 feet in length and when handled, gives off a smell like lilies. The creature is believed to be able to spit in defense. It is albino in color.
7
Takahe
The Takahe is a flightless bird native to the South Island of New Zealand. It was thought to be extinct after the last four specimens were taken in 1898. After an extensive search for the bird, it was rediscovered near Lake Te Anau in 1948. The bird is currently endangered. Takahes have an unusual eating habit, in which they pluck grass with their beak, grasp it in one claw, and eat only the softest parts at the bottom of the leaf. They then throw away the rest.
6
Mountain Pygmy Possum
The Mountain Pygmy Possum was first described as a Pleistocene fossil in 1896. It was rediscovered alive in 1966 in a ski-hut on Mount Hotham, Australia. The possum is mouse-sized and is found in dense alpine rocks and boulders. The female possums live at the top of the mountain while the males live lower down. In order to mate, the males travel up to the females. Because they need to cross a road, their survival was in danger, so the Australian government built them a “tunnel of love” beneath the road.
Just paying the bills…
5
Gracilidris
Gracilidris is a genus of nocturnal ants that were only know through the fossil record - in fact the only known fossil existing of this ant is a specimen in amber. The ants were discovered alive and were described in 2006, but to this day very little is known about them. The ants live in small colonies and nest in soil.
4
Bermuda Petrel
The Bermuda Petrel, a nocturnal ground-nesting sea-bird, was thought extinct for 330 years. It is the national bird of Bermuda and was rediscovered in 1951 when 18 pairs were found. It was believed to have been made extinct after the English settled Bermuda and introduced cats, rats, and dogs. The bird has an eerie call that caused Spanish sailors to believe the isles were haunted by Devils. For that reason, they never settled there.
3
Laotian Rock Rat
The Laotian Rock Rat (also known as the rat squirrel) was first described in 2005 by a scientist who put it in to its own family of creatures (Laonastidae). One year later, the classification was disputed by others who believe that the rock rat is actually a member of the extinct family Diatomyidae which vanished in the late Miocene period. The animals are like large dark rats with tails like a squirrel. Surprisingly, the first specimens were found on sale as meat at a market in Laos.
2
La Palma Giant Lizard
The La Plama Giant Lizard was thought extinct from 1500. It lived in La Palma in the Canary Islands and it is believed that the introduction of cats caused its final downfall. In 2007 it was rediscovered in its original location despite the belief that the only lizards left in the Canary Islands were on Gran Canaria. An interesting sidenote is that the islands are named after dogs, not canaries - the name comes from the Latin Insula Canaria which means “Island of the Dogs”. Canary birds are actually named after the islands.
1
The Coelacanth
This entry is number one because it is the coolest - the Coelacanth was thought to be extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period. In 1938 it was rediscovered in various African nations, making it a Lazarus Taxon - one of a group of organisms that disappears from the fossil record only to come back to life later. Coelacanths first appear in the fossil record 410 million years ago. They normally live near the bottom of the ocean floor but have, on some occasions, been caught closer to the surface. They have been known to grow past fifteen feet long, but there isn’t a single attack record on a human as the fish live so deep.
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Source - Listverse.com
The New Homeless Of America - Middle Class
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The qualification for this list is that the people were notable in their own right, and not simply because they disappeared, so no Madeleine McCann and the crew of the Mary Celeste. Some were simply accidental. Some have attracted conspiracy theories. One was definitely foul play. In chronological order:
10
Steve Fossett
2007
Steve Fossett, American businessman, aviator and sailor. Disappeared on 3 September 2007 while flying over the Nevada desert. Fossett was the first man to fly solo around the world non-stop in an airballoon. No trace found yet.
9
Richey Edwards
1995
Richey Edwards, member of the Welsh rock band the Manic Street Preachers. Disappeared on 1 February 1995, the day that he and fellow MSP James Dean Bradfield were due to fly to the USA on a promotional tour. His car was found abandoned near the the Severn Bridge (a renowned suicide location), but there was evidence that the car had been lived in, and there have been unconfirmed sightings.
8
Jimmy Hoffa
1975
Jimmy Hoffa, US trade union leader. Disappeared on 30 July 1975 while on his way to meet two Mafia leaders. Many conspiracies abound his disappearance and final resting place, with the most popular claiming that he is buried beneath the Giants stadium. No confirmed trace ever found.
7
Harold Holt
1967
Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister. Disappeared on 17 December 1967 while swimming at a surf beach near Portsea, Victoria. Holt was controversial for expanding Australia’s role in the Vietnam War. No trace ever found.
6
Glenn Miller
1944
Glenn Miller, American jazz musician and bandleader. Disappeared on 15 December 1944 over the English Channel while en route from England to France to play for troops in recently liberated Paris. No trace ever found.
Just paying the bills…
5
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
1944
Antoine de Saint Exupéry, French aviator and author. Disappeared on the evening of 31 July 1944 over the Mediterranean Sea, while on a reconnaissance flight. An unidentifiable body wearing French colors was found soon after. In 1998 his identity bracelet was found. In 2000 the remains of the aeroplane were found. In March 2008 a former Luftwaffe pilot told a Marseille newspaper that he had engaged and downed a plane in the area where Saint Exupéry\’s plane was found. His story is unverifiable, and has met with criticism from some German and French investigators.
4
Amelia Earhart
1937
Amelia Earhart, American aviator and author. Disappeared on 2 July 1937 (along with her navigator) in the South Pacific, while attempting to circumnavigate the earth. No trace ever found.
3
Roald Amundsen
1928
Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer. Disappeared on 18 June 1928 with 5 others in a plane crash in the Barents Sea while searching for the team of a fellow-explorer Umberto Nobile. A pontoon improvised into a life raft was found, suggesting that at least some of the group had survived the crash.
2
Ambrose Bierce
1914
Ambrose Bierce, American journalist and author. Disappeared in Mexico some time after 26 December 1913 while travelling with rebel troops to gain a first-hand perspective of the Mexican Revolution. No trace ever found.
1
Joshua Slocum
1909
Joshua Slocum, Canadian/American sailor and author. Disappeared in the West Indies some time after 14 November 1909 aboard his boat Spray. No trace ever found.
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Source - Listverse.com
The New Homeless Of America - Middle Class
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Our heads sometimes need a little help and that calls for a hat. Looking for the top ten hats required a sense of style, a sense of history and sense of popularity. While most of the hats on the list aren’t in fashion today, they are all unmistakable in their design.
10. Fez
In the Western world, the fez occasionally serves as a symbol of relaxation. In cartoons, characters are shown wearing a fez often while lying in a hammock on vacation or just relaxing after a hard day of work. This curious imagery may be a throwback to the late 19th century English practice of men wearing a loose fitting smoking jacket and braided fez-like headdress when relaxing informally in the evenings. In any case a fez hat is sure to garner attention, especially if a man is driving a small car in a parade. 
9. Boater
Being made of straw, the boater was and is generally regarded as a warm-weather hat. In the days when men all wore hats when out of doors, “Straw Hat Day”, the day when men switched from wearing their winter hats to their summer hats, was seen as a sign of the beginning of summer. A fashion statement of barbershop quartets everywhere.
8. Bowler
The bowler became a cultural identifier, ironically with two completely different meanings: throughout most of England it was associated with professional servants, i.e. butlers, and so upon seeing a man wearing a bowler in a pub or on the street, it was fairly safe to assume he was a “gentleman’s gentleman,” meaning a valet or butler; in London itself, however, it was associated with professionals, and so a man wearing a bowler in “the City” could safely be assumed to be a lawyer, stock broker, banker or government official.
7. Gatsby (Newsboy Cap)
The Gatsby was popular in Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among both boys and adult men. As the name suggests, it is now associated with newspaper boys, and it is sometimes associated with wealthy golfers as well. Although traditionally a men’s cap, recently the cap has become popular with women.
6. Beret
The beret was once considered the national hat of France. It has diminished in popularity, just as hats for men all over the world have waned in popularity, since about 1960. Still considered a matter of French pride, it is worn by both women and men. The beret is also the stereotyped trademark of film directors, artists and Beatniks. Also made famous by Prince in his song, “Raspberry Beret.”
5. Sombrero
Sombreros usually have a somewhat high pointed crown and a very wide brim, which may be slightly upturned at the edge, used for protection from the hot sun in Mexico. Peasant sombreros are usually made of straw, while wealthier Hispanics wear sombreros made of felt. It is almost unseen in modern urban settings, except as part of a folkloric outfit worn in certain festivities. The Sombrero hat is very appealing and is often used in traditional Mexican celebrations.
4. Top Hat
The first top hats were made with felt, most commonly being beaver fur felt. Later, they would be made of silk. The structure underneath the felt or silk was made of a material called goss. This was made from layers of calico covered in a hard glue. When gently heated over a flame, the glue softens, allowing the hat to be molded to shape. A popular version, particularly in the United States in the 19th century, was the stovepipe hat, which was popularized by Abraham Lincoln during his presidency. Unlike many top-hats, this version was straight, like piping, and was not wider at the top and bottom. Often they were taller than the typical top-hat. It is said that Lincoln would keep important letters inside the hat. And lets not forget that rabbits often hide out in top hats and snowmen seem to like them
3. Fedora
In the early part of the twentieth century, the fedora was popular in cities for its stylishness, ability to protect the wearer’s head from the wind and weather, and the fact that it could be rolled up when not in use. The hat is sometimes associated with Prohibition-era gangsters and the detectives who sought to bring them to justice. In Hollywood movies of the 1940s, characters often wore a fedora, particularly when playing private detectives, gangsters, or other “tough guy” roles. A trench coat was frequently part of the costume, a notable example being Humphrey Bogart’s character in Casablanca. The fedora is widely recognized with the characters of The Blues Brothers and Indiana Jones. The fedora is closely associated with film noir characters.
2. Cowboy
In the early days, the cowboy hat was valued for being functional, with the wide brim protecting working cowboys from the sun and rain. It could be used to signal others, fan a campfire, or pull water out of a stream. Today, while the hats can still serve these purposes, most people wear them for aesthetic value as a part of Western lifestyle.
1. Baseball Cap
In many ways, the baseball cap is a symbol of the increase of the cultural aspects of sports in the late 20th century. This started, naturally, with baseball.
In 1860, the Brooklyn Excelsiors wore the ancestor of the modern, rounded-top baseball cap, and by 1900, the “Brooklyn style” cap became popular. During the 1940s, latex rubber became the stiffening material inside the hat and the modern baseball cap was born. The “bill” or “brim” was designed to protect a players eyes from the sun. Typically, the brim was much shorter in the earlier days of the baseball hat. Also, the hat has become more structured, versus the overall “floppy” cap of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
[Via - TopTenz]
Wall Street Exodus: Fear, Panic and Anger
The New Homeless Of America - Middle Class
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CrazyThoughts
Ever asked questions like these: Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle? Can you cry under water? Can bald people have Hairline fractures? You can find a number of such crazy and unanswered questions in this website.
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VeryGross.com
This website has a collection of many links of websites which allow you to send very gross stuff like virtual vomits, curses, burps, farts, boogers etc. to your family members, friends and enemies.
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Stupid.com
Considered by many as the most stupid website on the net (as its name suggests!), this site offers stupidity in many sections like pics, toys, gifts and even vintage stupidity. If you want to check how stupid can things get, this is the site for you.
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Rotten.com
With a caption of “Pure Evil Since 1996”, this website offers collection of most disgusting and gruesome pictures on the net, leaving the viewer with a “truly unpleasant experience” as they describe it. Just a word of caution: This site has a bit of adult oriented content as well.
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Not Mensa: Society of Idiots
This website has many tests which are designed to measure the stupidity of idiots. The members of this site have an IQ of less than 78.2 and can share point less hobbies.
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DirtySounding.com
This website has a huge list of names (of people) which sound dirty.
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Worst-Jobs.com
This website receives letters from people all around the world about their jobs and votes for the worst job. Just go and check the entries there and you find your job much better now.
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FunBureau.com
This is the first organization that solves the question of what happens to missing single socks. It offers support for the matching sock deprived.
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Om Nom Nom Nom
This website offers you some images to look at, and warns that you should keep saying “omnomnomnom” aloud while looking at these pictures. If not, it claims that you are doing it wrong! Completely crazy!
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SendInsults.com
““You’re so ugly, when you pass by the toilet, it flushes itself”. “Your mama is so stupid that when you were born, she looked at your umbilical cord and said, “Wow, it comes with cable too!””. “You are so dumb that you need a recipe to boil water”. You can send such humorous insults to your enemies, friends or family members through this website. Just choose the line you want to send and an image to be sent along with it, and give the mail ID of your friends/family members.
Source - WebUpon.Com
The New Homeless Of America - Middle Class