A shockingly large segment of the population suffers from the delusion that all artistic judgments are subjective. For instance, when confronted with a claim such as “John Singer Sargent is the greatest portrait painter of the 20th century,” they believe what is being presented is an assertion of opinion rather than a statement of fact. They do not realize that to agree is to be in possession of a correct judgment while to disagree is to simply be wrong. Similarly, some... Read more
The founder of online dating site OKCupid explains how his site’s love-matching algorithms work. Read more
Have you ever needed to catch a wild rabbit? Here’s how: Step #1 – Find a deadly snake . . . (Via: 22 Words) Read more
What are schools for? Here’s John Holt’s theory: society demands of schools, among other things, that they be a place where, for many hours of the day, many days of the year, children or young people can be shut up and so got out of everyone else’s way. Mom doesn’t want them hanging around the house, the citizens do not want them out in the streets, and workers do not want them in the labor force. What then do we... Read more
If you’ve waited until today to make plans you’ll find yourself at the Quik-E-Mart fighting other pathetic slobs for the last Whitman’s sampler or single-stem plucked-in-November rose. But I have an alternative to cheap candy and wilted flowers. It’s thoughtful. It’s romantic. And most importantly, it’s cheap. It’s the love letter. Follow these steps in writing your love letter and you just might be able to prevent your Valentine’s Day from becoming another massacre: Buy some stationery — You’re a big... Read more
In some states, a deer crossing sign serves as a warning. But if you live in South Dakota, Iowa, or Michigan, the signs serve as foreshadowing for your inevitable fate. Using its claims data and state licensed driver counts from the Federal Highway Administration, State Farm calculated the chances of a motorist striking a deer over the next 12 months. If you live in West Virginia you are pretty much guaranteed (1-40 chance a year) to have to pick a... Read more
Can you imagine a Lord of the Rings movie starring the Beatles and directed by Stanley Kubrick? No? Well, neither could J.R.R. Tolkien: Once upon a time, the Fab Four—having slain the pop charts—decided to set their sights on the Dark Lord Sauron by making a Lord of the Rings feature, starring themselves. One man dared stand in their way: J.R.R. Tolkien. According to Peter Jackson, who knows a little something about making Lord of the Rings movies, John Lennon... Read more
Film critic J.C. Maçek III examines the urban legend behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the real story of it’s inspiration, Ed Gein: Although Gein is sometimes referred to as a “serial killer”, he was only ever proven to have killed two people (his crimes were more of the “grave robbing” sort), there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Gein ever used a chainsaw in his crimes and there is no evidence whatsoever that Gein had ever set foot in the great... Read more
Elmwood Franklin School’s second grade students applied their lessons in proper sentence structure, noun and verb usage, spelling, and punctuation to correct the tweets of professional football players. Here’s an example of their useful lesson: Getting tackled by a 200 lb linebacker is probably not as painful as having your grammar corrected by a second grader. (Via: Neatorama) Read more
In what will likely go down as one of the most bizarre stories of 2013, a hatchet-wielding homeless hitchhiker saves the day by stopping an attack by a racist who thinks he’s Jesus Christ. Read more
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