What We Learned This Week
Welcome to "What We Learned This Week," a regular feature where we share all the most interesting nuggets of information we gleaned from the past week.
Europe Hasn't Changed In 100 Years
World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars. But no matter how much time passes, thing have a funny way of staying pretty much the same in Europe. To illustrate this point, photographer Peter Macdiarmid overlaid WWI-era images on modern photographs. The results are striking.
Over the weekend, multiple vessels from multiple countries detected acoustic pings consistent with those from a modern airplane's black box, leading an Australian official to publicly hope that the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight Flight 370 would be found "within a matter of days." There's just one problem: the signals were detected at the extreme depth of 15,000 feet. That's more than three miles down. Here's how to put that in perspective.
Heartbleed Is The Worst Possible Bug
On Tuesday, a massive vulnerability was discovered in a widely used encryption software called OpenSSL. How bad is it? "On a scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11," writes cryptography expert Bruce Schneier. Up to 500,000 sites thought to be secure, including heavyweights such as Twitter and Tumblr, have in fact been vulnerable. While a patch is already available, you're going to be changing your passwords for pretty much everything.
The Perilous Attraction Of Owning Exotic Pets
Americans are crazy. You know how we know this? It's believed that more exotic animals live in American homes than in American zoos. And we're not talking about hermit crabs. It's estimated that there are at least 5,000 tigers held captive in private homes. Oh, and nobody is licensing or regulating these pet owners either.
Welcome To Hell, Here's A F*cking Awful Song About Social Media
This was the day the music died. We're sorry. We really are.
Al Sharpton Was An FBI Informant
For several years in the 1980s, the familiar MSNBC host Al Sharpton was known as "CI-7" and helped the joint FBI/NYPD task force the "Genovese Squad" target leaders of the country's largest and most feared Mafia organization. While admitting he did work with the FBI, Sharpton has tried to put a different spin on things. "If you're a victim of a threat, you're not an informant — you're a victim trying to protect yourself," he said.
People Are Naming Their Kids 'Khaleesi'
More people named their child "Khaleesi" in 2012 than "Betsy." Oh, and Khaleesi is a title, not a name. Sorry parents, her name is Daenerys.
Why Car Thieves Prefer Old Cars
Car theft is nearly a crime of the past in NYC. In fact, it's down 94% since the 1990s. But due to a quirk in New York law, the hottest targets for car thieves aren't late-model sports cars, but ancient Ford Econoline vans. Why? Older, nearly worthless cars can be sold as junk with barely any paperwork and heavier cars have more value at scrapyards.
The Bacteria That Gives Us The Newly Trendy 'Barnyard Flavor'
You know that guy you met at that craft beer bar last weekend who was drinking something he described as a Flemish sour but you would have described as a "liquid Sour Patch Kids with a hint of dirty sock?" That's the so-called "barnyard" flavor, and it's all the rage in ales and wines these days. But developing it requires the assistance of picky wild yeast strains called Brettanomyces.
Buying A Corporate Jet Pays For Itself
You know you've made it in life when you do the math and conclude that it's cheaper for your company to buy a corporate jet than to continue paying for commercial flights. Want to know the secret reason such a ridiculous luxury item is so affordable? For tax purposes, the U.S. government pretends a jet only lasts five years. In reality, they last decades.
What Happens When An Alligator Bites An Electric Eel
This is nature's way of reminding us that just because we're bigger than someone, it doesn't mean we should bite them. Or something like that.
It'll Cost You $5,000 To Have Someone Murdered In Baltimore
Derrick Lamont Smith is a business man. His business is illegal, but it's still a business. If you'd like to use his services, he and his network of "little goons" can be engaged for the reasonable sum of $5K. No, they do not offer a money-back guarantee.
Why It's So Hard To Hit A Wiffle Ball
The Wiffle ball has been embarrassing wannabe athletes since 1953, but nobody bothered to calculate the physics of its unpredictable flight path until recently. A mechanical engineer put the beloved plastic ball in a wind tunnel and concluded that it's the shifting balance of forces inside and outside the ball that makes us wiff.