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 picked up in the past week.
On Wednesday morning, three heavily armed radicals stormed the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and murdered 12 cartoonists, editors and other innocent passers-by. The former editor of The Onion, Joe Randazzo points out that these people were killed for doing nothing more than their jobs: identifying and skewering hypocrisy and hatred in the world. "You cannot kill an idea by murdering innocent people — though you can nudge it toward suicide," he writes in this heartfelt piece.
Nearly Half Of Americans Didn't Take A Day Off In 2014
The average American worker is granted about 10 paid work days each year in addition to six federal holidays according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Not that it matters, because an astounding number of those vacation days go completely wasted. 41% of Americans didn't take a single one in 2014 and 63% of Americans didn't travel at all.
This Is The Video CNN Will Play When The World Ends
2015 began just nine days ago, but barring the discovery of a cure for cancer, HIV/AIDS or the hangover, we are fully prepared to declare Ted Turner's batshit insane apocalypse sign-off for CNN the best thing that will happen this year. The tape, which is to be played by the last living CNN employee in the event of DOOM is absolutely perfect. We want it played at our funerals.
Why The Military Insists On Saluting
Tl;dr: Even the military isn't sure, but orders are orders.
How To Season A Cast Iron Skillet
If you own one piece of kitchenware, it should be a proper chef's knife. If you own two pieces of kitchenware, they should be a proper chef's knife and a cast iron skillet. There is absolutely nothing you can't cook in a properly maintained cast iron skillet. Do not be afraid. Do not be intimidated by its daunting weight, decades of baked-on food grime or sketchy prior history of use as a concussive weapon. All it takes is some oil, heat and time to set yourself on the path to skillet nirvana. Namaste.
No Booze January Might Actually Be Good For You
Ever gone to a bar with a friend in January and had to leave that bar because this soon-to-be-former friend enthusiastically starts explaining to you that they're not drinking for the first month of the new year in a misguided attempt to atone for whatever they did at their office holiday party? Until now, there was absolutely no scientific evidence that this ridiculous new age custom had any health benefits. But the staff of New Scientist donated their bodies to science and found that by staying sober for a month, they reduced their liver fat by an average of 15%. It's time to make a phone call and apologize to that friend.
The Best Time To Buy Airline Tickets
The best time to buy airline tickets is in the middle of the night with your parents' credit card number that you totally shouldn't have, but totally did memorize.
This Is Why College Kickers Are Kickers
This kicker was already having a bad down. His field goal attempt had just been blocked. Then things got worse.
Why You Hate Pictures Of Yourself
Once, someone asked us if we had a good side. They never asked us anything again. If you also despise seeing yourself on film, it's probably because of an effect called mere-exposure. Essentially, people react more favorably to things they see more often. Since we see ourselves most often in our bathroom mirror, this becomes our preferred self-image.
Breeding Nazi Cows Was A Terrible Idea
A British farmer was forced to reduce the size of his herd of "super cows" descended from Heck cattle created in the '20s by German zoologists trying to recreate a beast from Teutonic mythology. "They would try to kill anyone," the farmer told the press. We hear they tried to annex the chicken coop and were somewhat morbidly obsessed with leather.
Your Family Name Was Not A Mistake At Ellis Island
In the old country, as the story goes, you came from a family of noble whiskey distillers with a beautifully lyrical family name and the crest to boot. Then some bored and malicious immigration officer at Ellis Island got fed up with your great-great-great grandfather's brogue and welcomed him to America with the name of Timothy O'Godthisguyisannoying. It's a great story, but it's completely false. Nobody's name was changed at Ellis Island because inspectors there "did not create records of immigration; rather they checked the names of the people moving through Ellis Island against those recorded in the ship's passenger list, or manifest."
Reddit's New Love Affair With 'Thug Life'
There's little rhyme or reason to what takes off on Reddit and what languishes in obscurity. Over the past three months the confluence of a years-old meme, a viral vine, a somewhat failed political movement, and a Dr. Dre track have resulted in a 145k-strong community. Welcome to the story of r/unexpectedthuglife.
How Nonemployed Americans Spend Their Weekdays
The annual American Time Use Survey asks thousands of people to record a minute-by-minute account of a single day of their lives. For most people, a large amount of this time is spent working. But for the 30 million Americans between the ages of 25 and 54 without a job, the typical weekday looks very different. On average, the unemployed of both sexes spend more time sleeping, watching TV or movies and doing housework than their employed counterparts.
Dude Challenges Gaston To A Push-Up Contest At Disney World
Don't come at Gaston unless you're in beast mode.
Personality Matters More Than Intelligence At School
The sub-head for this study was "Why We Were Never Allowed To Sit At The Cool Table In The Cafeteria During Middle School."
The Science Behind Turning Boiling Water Into 'Snow' On A Frigid Day
Every winter, YouTube is filled with another wave of bored people throwing boiling water into the freezing cold air and yelling with glee as it turns into a sort of "snow." (Inevitably, some of these people get it wrong and then YouTube is also filled with clips of people throwing boiling water onto themselves, but that's a topic for another time.) It's a neat trick, but it's not actually "snow." What you're witnessing is the rapid evaporation of small water droplets.
Why So Many Countries End In -Stan
Central Asia is full of lands whose names end in -stan. A certain powerful North American country has a related name. How? It's not your standard explanation.