[via iceicebabbies] 10. Big League Chew: Commonly known as the gateway drug, Big League Chew tactfully combined elements of both chewing tobacco and metabolic steroids. A half-ounce bag would usually run you about $2.99 at corner 7-11 but the sticky purple usually ran for $3.50 depending on whether or not it was little league season. Once the package was opened, the recommended 30 shred limit was frequently abused and you could get about three good wads in if your friends weren’t around to mooch. Quick flavor bursts and chewability score high marks with your pallete and within seconds your whole world goes pink as an enormous bubble bursts around face. Still, the flavor fades, and it fades fast. Soon one finds themselves with a normal glucose level and suddenly nothing is fun and bubbly anymore. Atleast, not until the next score.
Warning: May blow your brains out.
9. Mega Warheads:
The Mega Warhead drug primarily used to separate the boys from the men, er…slightly older boys. The Warhead was preceded by a mass underground marketing campaign that dared only the craziest, sick and tormented souls to hold a single dose in their mouth for more than 30 seconds while running the risk of having your head explode. This often lead to elementary level peer pressure in the playgrounds. I personally know a few people whose tastebuds were completely wiped out from overdoses and of course my friend Billy who died from mixing too many Sours and Hots (uppers and downers) at the same time. No this drug was not for the weak. Little girls ran away at the mere mention of people doing Mega Warheads. It would be many more years before the tagline: “Nuclear explosion in your mouth” would have any relevance whatsoever.
Hey, I’ll trade you three Pez for a Cig.
8. Candy Cigarettes: Adults were naive to think that cartoon images like Joe Camel had any influence on kids and smoking. It all boiled down to the fact that inhaling air and exhaling ”smoke” is obviously cool, and we didn’t learn that from a camel, we learned it from winter. Normal breathing is boring. Who wouldn’t want the ability to blow O’s especially if society permitted you more opportunities to go outside and take a break. The problem with Candy Cigs was that they didn’t last that long and the Cig itself tasted like flavored chalk. Still, the inner thrill of doing something adults thought was bad made the occasional pack worth it.
“Dude, I think I’m drunk.”
7. Jolt Cola- With the slogan “All the sugar and twice the caffeine,” Jolt cola was the original gangsta of liquid power. Since the term ”energy drinks” had not yet been deemed an acceptable category of beverage, Jolt remained a somewhat taboo indulgence, and certainly off limits for kids. I think it was the all the noise around how bad Jolt was that made it exciting. Unlike “how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop,” it was ”how many sips of Jolt until my body goes into convulsions.” I remember drinking a can with some friends outside the local Roller Rink and while I can’t prove it, I am pretty sure that day I set the world record for amount of laps skated to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” I probably had about three cans total until my mom told me it would stunt my growth and that was enough for me. I certainly didn’t want to grow up get older and be a midget.
Drink, and give praise to Allah.
6. The Suicide Slurpee: The picture above pretty much sums it up. To voluntarily mix every flavor of slurpee into one big gulp cup you had to be certifiably insane, yet everyone knows someone who would do it. I mean two or three flavors was one thing. You were just trying to get more variety for your buck, but mixing them all into one concoction ie… “Strawberry, Coconut, Coke, Blue Raspberry, Root Beer, Banana, Lime, Bubble Gum, Mountain Dew, Orange, Vanilla…” Well that’s just disgusting.
Who wants to do a line?
5. Pixie Stix- Out of the top 5 “Hard Core” drugs for kids, Pixie Stix were ( and still are) the most popular. Developed by Wacky Willy Wonka, the white powder pixie dust is composed of Dextrose and Citric Acid cut with 2% artificial flavors. The most common common way of doing Pixie was to pour the powder straight from the wrapper directly into the mouth, thus providing instant gratification and quick absorption into the blood stream. While snorting through a rolled dollar bill was definitely an option, most of the kids in my neighborhood were too concerned about getting boogers on their measly excuse of an allowance to warrant such measures. We didn’t have a lot of money and free-basing pixie powder was as close as we’d ever get to Ricky Schroeder’s Silver Spoons childhood.
4. Mysterious Wax Tubes of Juice (GHB Glow Sticks?) - There was always one or two houses in the neighborhood that would drop these wax tubes of sugar juice that closely resemble glow sticks into your pillow case on Halloween. Where they came from I have no idea. Still to this day I’ve never seen them for sale in stores and I’m not exactly sure what was inside those tubes. I always threw them away. Now that I’m older and proud owner of 5 Law and Order SVU DVD complete sets, I’m convinced that these were date rape glow sticks most commonly found at raves. I don’t know if they came from the houses of pedophiles who were secretly scouting out the kids who marched up their doorsteps asking for a “trick or treat,” or if they were meant as a gift from some college dude who figured a tube would help me get some over the shirt boob. (Hey that rhymed!)
3. Pop Rocks- Whitney Houston’s favorite childhood treat, Pop Rocks were not for recreational Kiddie Drug users. The second a rock is placed on your mouth its carbonized content reacts to the moisture of your tongue and the snap, cracklin, and popping begins. There is no sensation in the world like it. You find yourself pouring the whole package in your mouth to maximize the chemical reaction and for this very reason, your tolerance builds to the point where one package is simply not enough. Before you know it, you find yourself stealing quarters from your mom’s change purse to keep the habit going. Soon your behavior becomes so erratic you do the unthinkable and mix the rocks with soda (even though you know for a fact that your brother knew a guy whose cousin died by trying the very same thing.) By the time you find yourself regurgitating cherry flavored stomach lining it is too late.
Because nothing says “Party Time” like a Hypodermic Needle.
2. SWEET SHOTS- This was just wrong on so many levels. The only explanation I can think of is that some poor corporate creative executive was in charge of coming up with an unconventional way to market flavored sugar goo. After months of failed ideas he was days from losing his job, his family, and everything that mattered if he didn’t come through. So with no place to turn and life hanging in the balance he injected heroin to escape from the pain. Then, just as Dr. House pops a vicodin and comes up with a miraculous last minute cure for an ailing patient, the executive finds the answer to all of his problems thanks to shooting up. Quite an uplifting story if you ask me.
Breaking Bad. Breaking Very Very Bad.
1. Crystal (Meth) Pops- For most of us, being a Kiddie Drug Addict just meant being a little wild from time to time form over indulging in too much sugar. At the very worst you developed type 2 diabetes. Unfortunatey there were some children that stumbled upon candy that were actually highly potent narcotics. Keep that in mind the next time you view someone as being mentally deranged, cause if the wrong candy fell into our hands it very well could have been one of us.
At age 11, Vince “Sham Wow” Shlomi became addicted to his mom’s ”lollipops” that happened to be actual sticks of chrystal meth amphetamines. Poor guy.
Ok, that wasn’t so hard right? Who has comments to share with the group?
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Call it an unexpected consequence of the bad economy: A recent round of staff reductions at Disneyland could result in the return of embarrassing episodes of public nudity at the Happiest Place on Earth. [via latimes]
Way back in 1997, a front-page story in the Los Angeles Times chronicled a scintillating Internet phenomenon involving the Anaheim theme park’s Splash Mountain log ride: Photos of women flashing their breasts at an automatic camera that snapped souvenir photographs during the final 50-foot drop were “unzip-a-dee-doo-dahing” their way around cyberspace, earning the ride the dubious nickname “Flash Mountain.”
At the time, Disneyland officials blamed a rogue employee for leaking the obscene pictures of topless women onto the Web and instituted tighter photo editing procedures to prevent further breaches. (NSFW websites dedicated to Flash Mountain still exist — we’ll let you do your own Google search.)
Now, flash forward to 2009. Starting in May, the Splash Mountain photo editor positions will be eliminated as part of cost-cutting measures at Disneyland, according to MiceAge columnist Al Lutz.
“Admittedly the numbers of young ladies (term used loosely in this case) who lift their tops for the cameras for their shot at Flash Mountain infamy has lessened over the years,” wrote Lutz, who reports that the photo editing positions were eliminated months ago at the Splash Mountain ride in Florida.
Of course, a lot has changed since 1997. The advent of Internet-enabled camera phones means theme park visitors who snap photos of the souvenir pictures on the preview screens can now spread the lewd and obscene images instantly across the Web at the speed of Twitter.
“Once word gets around that naughty photos are once again popping up on the projection screens, more guests will want to see what they can get away with,” Koenig said.
Disneyland officials confirmed that Splash Mountain photo screeners would be redeployed to other positions as of May 3.
“In evaluating the ride photo moderation role and process, we have determined that actual inappropriate behaviors by guests are rare,” Disneyland spokesperson Betsy Sanchez said in a written statement. “Ride photos will continue to be monitored by cast members at the point of sale. In addition, the current screening system will remain intact to provide the option for management to initiate image monitoring if necessary.”
As always, Disneyland reserves the right to remove any visitor from the park who exhibits offensive or inappropriate behavior, Sanchez said. Did you like this post? Leave your comments below! Found this Post interesting? Receive new posts via RSS(What is RSS?) or Subscribe to CR by Email
For a disease epidemic to achieve the illustrious status of being pandemic, it needs to do a little globetrotting. It needs to spread from person to person, from country to country. Well, with cases of Swine flu, which originated in Mexico, turning up in the U.S., Canada, Spain, New Zealand, the U.K. and the Middle East, the World Health Organization has raised the global pandemic alarm to 4 out of a 6 phase system. Phase 4 is described as: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic. [via highestfive]
The Swine flu is a descendant of the Spanish flu, a worldwide spread of influenza which killed millions. Health officials are doing everything they can to prepare for any advances the Swine flu makes towards a level 6 pandemic, and while casualties have only reached 150 people, let’s have a look at five of the deadliest pandemics this planet has ever witnessed.
Smallpox
They were brave warriors who vastly outnumbered their European invaders. They were no match however, for Old World diseases like smallpox, which wiped out 90 to 95% of the native population inhabiting the Americas. In the last hundred years, smallpox has caused the deaths of over 300 million people across the globe. Throughout the 18th century it killed over 60 million people in Europe alone. And according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 15 million contracted the disease and two million died as recently as 1967 (source).
Smallpox, which only exists in humans, has been decimating populations for thousands of years. It is said to have begun in Egypt nearly four thousand years ago, and as people began to travel the world they began to spread the disease to India, China, Japan, Europe, America, and even Australia. It causes sufferers to have fluid filled blisters in their throats, mouths, and on their skin. Depending on the constitutions of the carrier, smallpox would lead to blindness, disfigurement, and death. Of the two types of smallpox, Variola major and Variola minor, the former causes most of the casualties as the rashes are more extreme and the fever much higher.
In 1796, Dr. Edward Jenner in England discovered that by inoculating a young boy with the fluid from a cowpox lesion, the young boy became immune to smallpox. He is credited with the world’s first “vaccination,” as the word comes from the Latin word “vacca” meaning cow. Smallpox was declared eradicated on May 8th, 1980.
Cholera
When a human eats food or drinks water that has been infected with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, he or she can be dead in less than 4 hours without the proper treatment. The cholera disease attacks the lining of the small intestine and causes incredible amounts of diarrhea, vomiting, fever, dehydration, a critical drop in blood pressure, exhaustion and death.
The first outbreak of cholera reared its nasty head in 1817 in Calcutta, after the great Kumbh festival at Hardwar in the Upper Ganges of India. The festival attracted thousands of people from all over the country. Pilgrims from the Lower Bengal brought the bacterium to the party, and as they relieved themselves in the Ganges River, which was shared by everybody during the three month festival, they started a pandemic which would spread to the four corners of the earth. Travellers were literally bringing boatloads of the disease from port to port as they sailed the oceans from country to country. During the 19th century alone Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America all reported death tolls from the hundreds of thousands, to the millions as a result of cholera. India got hit the hardest however, with estimated deaths of nearly 40 million people.
Influenza
The prize for the Most Globally Devastating Epidemic goes to the influenza or Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919. Just as World War I was coming to an end, thousands of people around the world were suddenly getting sick with what they believed at the time to be a common cold. In less than two years, an estimated 20-100 million people around the world were dead from type A influenza, wiping out 2.5% to 5% of the world’s population. It was widely believed that this was mother nature’s response to the death and destruction which occurred during the Great War. The end of the war certainly helped to spread the disease, as millions of infected soldiers brought it back to their home countries when the fighting was over. By 1919, 25% of Americans were infected with influenza.
The disease was widely spread in the air from coughing and sneezing, from contact with saliva, feces and blood. Symptoms included fever, muscle aches (especially in the back and legs), headaches, coughing, and overall weakness. As was mentioned earlier, it is for these reasons that many people perished without any treatment. They thought they had a common cold, and in less than a day, they’d be gone. Severe pneumonia was also a symptom of influenza infection, which would easily claim the lives of the already weakened victims.
Black Death
In the four years between 1347 and 1351, 75 million people died as the result of a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, or the plague. Stories vary as to where the disease started, but some believe that it began in the lungs of the bobac variety of marmot in China. Fleas would then bite the marmots, and would subsequently infect every animal they would bite afterwards, especially rats. These diseased rats and fleas would follow merchants in ships as they sailed along trade routes across Asia and into Europe.
One group sailing towards Europe was a Tartar army from central Asia, who in their attempts to conquer a small city in the Crimea, were all but wiped out from some mysterious disease. As they departed in defeat they hurled the corpses of their infected soldiers into the heart of the city via catapults. A group of Italian merchants who were living in the city at the time quickly left the city and made their way back home in twelve vessels. Not only were most of the sailors dead or dying by the time they reached Sicily, but they had brought enough infected fleas and rate to spread the plague throughout Europe and into Northern Africa. Out of 40 million people living in Europe at the time, 25 million perished.
The plague manifested itself in three forms: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. Sufferers of the bubonic plague would develop swollen lymph nodes or buboes on their necks, armpits, and groin. These skin bubbles would ooze blood, puss, and would turn black as the skin decays. Sufferers would usually die within a week. Pneumonic plague would infect the lungs causing victims to suffocate or drown, and the septicemic plague is a form of blood poisoning which rots the extremities and turns the skin black.
Malaria
As far as the animal kingdom is concerned, mosquitoes kill more humans than all the others combined. A tiny bite from this tiny f$%&er is all it takes to infect someone with Plasmodium, a nasty little parasite which multiplies in the liver and then goes on to infect the red blood cells. If gone untreated, malaria can kill its victim in less than two weeks, disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. While the malaria pandemic has spread to the Americas and various parts of Asia, 85-90% of the fatalities occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where the parasite kills over one million people per year. Plasmodium has co-existed with humans for over 10,000 years, but President Obama has declared that the United States, along with its world partners, will work to eradicate malaria by 2015.
Additional: AIDS
In the 30 years scientists first discovered the existence of the AIDS virus, more than 25 million people worldwide have died from AIDS infections. According to World Health Organization (WHO), close to 40 million people are currently infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) which is the virus that causes AIDS.
Although the number of people infected with AIDS continues to rise around the world, parts of Africa maintain the highest number of HIV infected. Sub-Sahara Africa accounts for over 60% of all HIV positive cases for the entire world.
Human Immunodeficiency virus is passed from person to person when infected blood, semen, or vaginal secretions come in contact with an uninfected person’s broken skin or mucous membranes.
Since this article was first written, there has only been one swine flu related death outside of Mexico. A 23-month-old toddler passed away in Houston, Texas this week, the family of which has received the “thoughts and prayers” from President Obama. The child was a resident of Mexico, and of the 66 cases of the flu in the U.S. and 13 in Canada, all can be traced back to Mexican visits. If you or anyone you know has been to Mexico recently or has come into contact with someone who has, and you’re experiencing respiratory problems, fever, sever coughing, headaches, vomiting and or diarrhea, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible. If caught early, the swine flu is treatable, it can be stopped from spreading to others, and will hopefully never reach the levels of casualties of pandemics past.
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This animated map provides a striking visual of employment trends over the last business cycle using net change in jobs from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on a rolling 12-month basis. Read more…
The animated map makes clear that this recession has not treated all regions equally. But no matter where you are in the country, these trying times require a response. Read more…
It's hard to say, exactly, what the worst part about stress is. Is it the tightness that starts somewhere around your solar plexus, then extends out to your toenails, earlobes, and cerebellum? Is it randomly snapping at innocent and, occasionally, quite guilty coworkers and loved ones? Is it sobbing quietly behind the closed door of a men's-room stall? [via menshealth]
Uh, sorry, did we say that last one out loud?
The point is, stress attacks in all sorts of ways which means that if you want to control it, contain it, conquer it, you need to fire back in kind. That's why we've spent the past several months devouring studies and cross-examining experts to find the 31 best stress-busting tips of all time. We won't lie it was a bear of a job, and there were desperate moments when we thought we actually smelled smoke coming from the old cerebellum (see quiet sobbing in men's room, above). But when we sat down and read the advice we'd compiled and then started following it we suddenly felt much, much better.
Soon you will, too.
1. Drink More OJ Researchers at the University of Alabama fed rats 200 milligrams of vitamin C twice a day and found that it nearly stopped the secretion of stress hormones. If it relaxes a rat, why not you? Two 8-ounce glasses of orange juice daily gives you the vitamin C you need.
2. Put a Green Dot on Your Phone This is your secret reminder to take one deep breath before you answer a call, says Susan Siegel, of the Program on Integrative Medicine at the University of North Carolina school of medicine. Not only will you feel better, but you'll sound more confident.
3. Spend Quality Time with a Canine Yours or someone else's. According to research at the State University of New York at Buffalo, being around a pet provides more stress relief than being around a two-legged companion. As if we needed a study to determine that.
4. Go to Starbucks with Your Coworkers Researchers at the University of Bristol in England discovered that when stressed-out men consumed caffeine by themselves, they remained nervous and jittery. But when anxious men caffeine-loaded as part of a group, their feelings of stress subsided.
5. Shake It Out When you're facing that big-money putt, shake out your fingers, relieving the tension in your forearms, hands, and wrists and shifting your focus to the only thing you can control: your preshot routine. You won't think about making or missing the shot, says Alan Goldberg, Ed.D., a sports-psychology consultant in Amherst, Massachusetts.
6. Listen to Music at Work And make it the blandest playlist you can create. According to a study at Pennsylvania's Wilkes University, Muzak lowers your stress levels at work, while also reducing the risk of the common cold. We knew Celine Dion had a purpose.
7. Shut Up and Smile Freaking out about a speech? Smile, look at the audience, and keep quiet for 2 seconds, says T.J. Walker, president of Media Training Worldwide. It'll slow you down and create the impression that you're relaxed and in control. The audience will then feel more comfortable, leading you to actually be relaxed and in control. Now start talking. Unless you're a mime. In that case, as you were.
8. Talk with Your Hands To keep calm in a job interview, rest your arms on your lap, with your elbows bent slightly, and have your fingers almost touching, says Walker. This will keep your body relaxed, which will keep your tone conversational.
9. Run Fast Bike hard. Punch the heavy bag. And we don't mean your mother-in-law. A University of Missouri at Columbia study found that 33 minutes of high-intensity exercise helps lower stress levels more than working out at a moderate pace. What's more, the benefits last as long as 90 minutes afterward.
10. Hit the Sauna After Your Workout In an Oklahoma State University study, those who combined sauna use with group counseling had greater stress relief, feelings of relaxation, and sense of accomplishment compared with those who only had their heads shrunk.
11. Remember the Lyrics to Your Favorite Song . . . . . . name at least 30 states, or assemble the All-Time Band of Guys Named James (the James Gang doesn't count). In other words, give your mind any all-consuming challenge, as long as it has a definite finish ”unending problems cause more stress, says Toby Haslam-Hopwood, Psy.D., a psychologist at the Menninger Clinic in Houston.
12. Lay The Journey to Wild Divine It's a CD-ROM game that works like this: Three biofeedback sensors worn on your fingers sense your stress level and translate it into your ability to perform tasks such as levitating virtual balls or controlling birds in flight. The more you play, the more mastery you gain over your emotions. Go to wilddivine.com for more information. It sells for about $300.
13. Find a Breathtaking View Now take a breath and a good long look. You'll walk away from the brink with a sense of context and a bigger perspective, which will make the 5,000 things on your to-do list seem less daunting, says Allen Elkin, Ph.D., director of the Stress Management & Counseling Center in New York City.
14. Imagine You're on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire When dealing with a screaming child in a car or any other acutely stressful situation, ask yourself how long you could listen to it if someone gave you $100,000, suggests Elkin. Suddenly, it's not so awful, is it?
15. Say You're Sorry What, now the kid is screaming on a crowded airplane? Immediately apologize to everyone around you. By acknowledging that you may have made a mistake or hurt someone else, you can help clear the air, and that will reduce your stress level, says Charles Emery, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
16. Forgive Now someone else's kid is screaming on a crowded airplane? And the mom is too wrapped up in this week's People to do a thing about it? Let it go, says Carl Thoresen, Ph.D., a psychologist at Stanford University. Realizing that you can't control someone else's behavior is difficult, but it's one of the best ways to destress.
17. Add Trees to Your Commute Even if it takes you out of your way, it may make your ride less stressful. An Ohio State University study found that scenic drives were more calming than those involving strip malls and endless, disheartening asphalt.
18. Water a Plant It's nurturing, it doesn't take up much space, and for 10 seconds, the world is not about you, which can be a huge psychological relief, says Elkin.
19. Ditch the Dingy Shower Curtain And hang up something in a cool color like green or blue. According to Leonard Perry, Ph.D., an extension professor at the University of Vermont, cool hues are more soothing.
20. Schedule Medical Tests for Early Morning Rather than spend the entire day anxious about an afternoon DRE, get fingered first thing in the a.m., when your cortisol levels are already naturally elevated, says David Spiegel, M.D., medical director of the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine.
21. Meditate Researchers at West Virginia University found that 35 participants who underwent "mindfulness meditation" saw a 44 percent reduction in psychological distress over 3 months. Just sit quietly for 10 minutes a day and focus on your breathing.
22. Find a Shoe-Shine Guy When Your Flight's Delayed Walking lessens the frustration, and having a destination keeps your mind busy, says Michael Nuccitelli, Psy.D., a psychologist in Brewster, New York. You'll also have fine-looking shoes. And if this magazine has taught you anything, it's that ladies notice fine-looking shoes.
23. Call Your Travel Agent When the Boss Calls You on the Carpet Not only will you see the calming light at the end of a stressful tunnel, but your work will improve, says Srini Pillay, M.D., director of the Panic Disorders Research Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Schedule the trip far enough ahead so it doesn't look like a reaction to the blowup.
24. Put a Hole in a Tennis Ball and Squeeze Let the tension build up in your hand and the rest of your body, then release. This increases relaxation, Elkin says. Tennis balls are those yellowy things people hit around in the '70s and '80s.
25. Have Sex Either with or without a partner. An orgasm releases beta-endorphins, the body's natural, less punk-rock version of heroin, so you'll definitely be feeling no pain, says Nuccitelli.
26. Play in the Dirt Want to be the MVP of your softball league? When you're batting with the winning run on base, step into the box, pick out a mark in the dirt, and rub it out with your foot, says Goldberg. By symbolically "rubbing out" the past, you'll focus on the now and not the last three times you struck out.
27. Stop Checking Your Portfolio A study of Hong Kong investors found that those who keep a close eye on their stocks are more likely to be stressed out. Instead, get educated at a site like fool.com. Those who saw the bigger financial picture felt better.
28. Call a Friend on the First Day of a New Job And take several brief breaks throughout the day. By slowing things down, you'll feel as if you have more control in the new work environment, and that will ultimately reduce your stress level, says Emery.
29. Add 10 Minutes to Your ETA When you're stuck in traffic, call whomever you need to and tell them you'll be late but add 10 minutes to your revised arrival time, says Dr. Pillay. Missing deadlines is stressful. Avoid missing another one.
30. Hold Your Girlfriend's Hand for 10 Minutes A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study found that loving contact lowers blood-pressure and heart-rate responses in stressful situations. In the study, those who experienced contact were nearly twice as relaxed as the unloved, untouched group.
31. Give Up the Butts Researchers on the European Board for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco found that nicotine suppresses the stress-fighting hormone serotonin. It also triggers the release of the chemical dopamine, which stimulates pleasure centers in the brain. The problem: Dopamine levels soon drop and leave the body craving more, making you incredibly anxious—and jonesing another smoke.
32. Remember, It's Not About You Before you fire someone, depersonalize the situation. He's getting axed because he screwed up or the company has to shed weight. It's not your fault, Nuccitelli says. Give yourself 15 minutes beforehand to say this, until it becomes foremost in your thoughts.
33. Eat a Small Bowl of Whole-Wheat Pasta 1 to 2 Hours Before a First Date A study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research shows that taking in complex carbohydrates can help boost the brain's levels of the hormone serotonin. Impaired serotonin levels can lead to depression, anxiety, and aggression none of which is attractive on a date.
34. Resand that Old Dresser Harness your excess stress by tackling a large project that requires a lot of physical energy. "Next time you start thinking, I'm stressed, replace that thought with I have a high energy level then use the energy," says Jay Winner, M.D., author of Stress Management Made Simple. Note: Foreplay counts as a large project requiring a lot of physical energy.
35. Press Your Dress Shirts The repetitive motions of ironing can send you into a trancelike state, which puts your brain on autopilot and helps block out stressful thoughts, says Dr. Winner. And no more unsightly wrinkles!
36. Turn It into a Game When you sense customer service/human resources/the insurance company starting to screw you, say, "Oh, I get it. They're trying to screw me. Let's see what happens." Now it's a game, not a personal attack. Your stress will go down with the shift in perspective, says Reef Karim, M.D., a psychiatrist at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.
37. Predict the Future Whether it's a woman you have to dump or a coworker you have to confront, anticipate all the outcomes—tears, screaming, excuses. Familiarity prevents surprises, and that slashes stress, Dr. Karim says.
38. Make a Schedule If the boss suddenly dumps a big project on you, try not to say, "I can't do this. I'm gonna get fired." (Try particularly not to say this in front of your boss.) Instead, present him with a schedule outlining when things can be done. What was overwhelming is now under control and open to negotiation, says James Blumenthal, Ph.D., a psychologist at Duke University.
39. Stay Awake Till 3 a.m Too stressed to sleep? Vow to stay awake for 30 minutes. You've removed the stress of not being able to fall asleep which may relax you enough that you will fall asleep, says Bill Roedel, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington.
40. Get Out of Debt Denial Maxed-out MasterCard? Do the no-duh obvious: Meet with a financial planner. According to a Virginia Tech study, those who received credit counseling saw their overall stress level move from "severe" or "overwhelming" to "moderate" or "low" 1 year later.
41. Drive Like Keith Moon Not drunk, but drumming on your dashboard. A study in Advances in Mind Body Medicine showed that group drumming alleviated stress. A drum solo may bring similar benefits.
42. Find the Good Missed a deadline? Appreciate what you learned about planning ahead. Kids kept you up with a stomach flu? Be grateful this is the only health woe facing your family. By finding the good in a stressor, you reduce the intensity, says Dr. Winner.
43. Buy the Right Kind of Christmas Tree That is, not an artificial one. When the holidays approach, pick up a real Norway spruce or Scotch pine. The natural scent of pine is calming, says Janis Burke, an aromatherapist at Washington State University's college of nursing.
44. Rest Between Workouts Overtraining can actually cause stress. According to a report in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, excessive training elevates cytokine levels in the blood, which tells the brain to raise cortisol levels, which tells you to freak out!
45. Climb a Mountain Unless you're afraid of heights. According to a Texas A&M study, rock climbers and hikers have lower stress levels than their less rugged peers. The same skills that help people navigate successfully through the wilderness may help them keep calm when navigating the office.
46. Hike the High Country High-altitude air is charged with negative ions. "When you breathe them in, it's relaxing and rejuvenating," says Mark Liponis, M.D., medical director at the Canyon Ranch Spa in Lenox, Massachusetts.
47. Go for a Swim During the day, your legs collect pools of lymphatic fluid, an excess of which can make you uncomfortable and irritable until you take a dip, says Dr. Liponis. "It squeezes all the lymphatic fluid back into your heart and out through your kidneys," he says. Think of the postswim pee as liquid stress leaving your body.
48. Hold Your Tongue When your annoying colleague decides to be annoying once again, tell yourself, I choose to be calm, says Siegel. Ah, now it's a choice, and you choose to be master and commander of the ship.
49. Unwind Online Instead of surfing for porn at work, stay employed and go to stressremedy.com. Shut your door, turn up your speakers, and click on "Relax Now" for a 6-minute, audio-guided relaxation exercise based on deep breathing and meditation.
50. Grab Your Ears Tug your lobes (lightly) and move them in circles in opposite directions for a count of 10, says Elizabeth Cornell, of the Muscular Therapy Center in New York City. The motion moves the tentorium membrane in your head, which can relieve stress. You'll also be in fighting shape for charades.
51. Chug a Big Glass of Cold Water Because? Not sure, says Nuccitelli. "I have no idea why it works, but I've seen it be effective." Besides, when is it bad to be hydrated?
52. Find Your Smell Aromas trigger strong connections to good memories, says Haslam-Hopwood. Unless you were forced to work in a bakery as a child, fresh bread works. Vanilla and orange are other options. Did you like this post? Leave your comments below! Found this Post interesting? Receive new posts via RSS(What is RSS?) or Subscribe to CR by Email
Remember the classic video games? The 8-bit masterpieces of our sweaty-palmed youth. Inviting some friends over for a Maniac Mansion all-nighter, huffing asthmatically into a cartridge to clear out the dust, or the thrill and crushing disappointment of rescuing a princess, only to discover you’ve really just saved a fungus. [via amog]
These games aren’t lost forever. You can still play many of them online. If you love the old classics, this list should have you busy for months. Below is a list of 95oldschool video games that you can play online. Click on each title to link directly to the game. Also, we’ve reviewed and rated each game for you, our loyal AMOG readers.
(1 through 4) 1941: Counter Attack, 1942, 1943 Kai, and 1943: The Battle of Midway
Perhaps kicking off gamedom’s WWII fetish, this series drops you in the pilot’s seat of a fighter jet. Your job is to shoot down all the enemy aircraft without getting shot down. None of these game really differ much and the gameplay is relatively the same.
I recommend checking out all four of these games, but don’t try to wrap your mind around the titles (1941 came out after 1942 and 1943? And why would the counter attack be the first game, chronologically speaking? Shouldn’t there be an attack first?) If it gets too confusing, try to think of it as the Temple of Doom of video games. Came out after Raiders, but takes place beforehand.
Get from one house to another by jumping onto the moving platforms. Since you are a cat, you have– you guessed it– nine lives. Beware of the dog. If it catches you, you lose a life. However, if you catch a mouse, you get extra points. Also, watch out for the creepy old lady. If she grabs you, she’ll declaw you and make you have a tea party with the dozens of other rescues she adopts, even though her lease clearly says no pets. HIGHLIGHT FOR A SPOILER ALERT: THERE’S NO OLD LADY IN THIS GAME. But it’d be awesome if there was, right?
For “Arkanoid”, the game play is simple. You move your paddle at the bottom of the screen so the ball bounces off you and destroys each brick of the barricade. There are certain bricks that will fall toward your paddle, and if you catch them, you get extra points. But be careful not to lose your ball at the same time.
This game’s been released under a slew of other names. I had it on my oldschool cinderblock-sized Gameboy under the name Alleyway. If you’ve heard of any other clones, drop them in the comments.
This game puts the old in “oldschool gaming.” It came out the same year Margaret Thatcher came to power, and inspired one of the best lines in “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
If you’ve never played “Asteroids,” (that is, if you’re Amish and on rumspringa,) the object is to score as many points as you can by shooting and destroying asteroids and enemy spaceships. However, when you shoot a large asteroid, it breaks into two smaller asteroids and they change direction and move faster than the larger asteroid. “Asteroids” is one of the first video games where it appeared that your ship was actually moving in space.
No, this isn’t the Ben Bernanke story. The towns people need your help because bank robbers are trying to rob a bank. Your job as the sheriff is to shoot them. It’s okay to shoot before they draw their weapons, but you get more points for shooting after they draw. Just like the real police!
The object of “Battle City” is to destroy all your enemy’s tanks while protecting your base. There are a total of 35 stages, each getting progressively more difficult, with different obstacles and terrain. The game play is extremely slow, but the moves on the controls are also slow, so the game is still challenging. The first few stages aren’t too challenging, but it’s very difficult to beat the entire game.
In “Black Tiger,” your mission is to save the villagers by defeating the monsters. A fairly straightforward concept, this is the game that built the foundation for all RPGs. A platformer with eight levels, you search for keys, magic potions, and treasure chests throughout the game.
Not to be confused with a midget riding a mutant in “Beyond The Thunderdome,” “Blaster Master” was a popular game from the late ’80s where you used a futuristic tank to destroy your enemies. Each level had a different layout that you had to navigate. Your tank could jump in addition to firing weapons, which came in handy in the game’s difficult terrain.
The object of this platform game is to defuse all of the bombs while avoiding the enemies. You get extra bonus points if you defuse the bombs in a certain sequence.
The goal of this very simplistic, yet extremely addicting platform game is to conquer all of the enemies by shooting bubbles at them. That’s really it. There’s nothing more to it, but once you start playing it, it’s difficult to stop. This was a fantastic two-player NES game, and my brother and I would play until we passed out from pixel overload.
Destroy the bubbles by shooting them. When you shoot the large bubble, two smaller bubbles bounce around and you must shoot them without getting hit by them. The higher the level, the more difficult it becomes. If it sounds easy, try. You’ll be surprised how challenging it really is. But it begs the question: What did these balloons ever do to you? If you know (or just feel like making something up,) drop a line in the comments.
This is another early 80s platform game. In “Burgertime,” you’re a chef. Your mission: to build burgers by running over each item on the burger before the enemies attack. It’s a silly concept (a tiny chef trying to make gigantic burgers while being attacked by pickles? And why can’t you toast those buns?) But you can’t help but be amused when you play “Burgertime”. Once you play it, you’ll realize why it was one of the most popular games of the early 1980s.
“Centipede” is my favorite game of this era. It goes like this: a centipede walks the top of the screen and while you try to shoot it from the bottom. The object is to eliminate every section of the centipede before it reaches you. There are mushroom-looking obstacles in the way that you can also shoot. A spider periodically comes across the bottom of the screen in a random pattern, and you can shoot it for points or it die when it hits you. On each level, the centipede would go faster.
“Millipede” is the sequel to “Centipede.” It’s essentially the same game, but with new enemies and a longer insect. The game play is the same, so you basically have more of the same video fun.
“Circus Charlie” is a platform video game with a very simple concept. Charlie is a clown, and you have him perform stunts without making mistakes. There are only 6 stages in the game.
In Stage 1, Charlie rides a lion and jumps through hoops of fire.
In Stage 2, Charlie walks across a tightrope– which would be a lot easier if monkeys weren’t trying to knock him off. Your job in this stage is to maneuver around the monkeys without allowing them to knock you off the rope.
Stage 3 is where Charlie jumps from one trampoline to another. The difficulty comes in when the other circus performers throw knives and fire at him (what kind of workplace is this, where your co-workers throw knives while you’re trying to simply entertain some children? Come on, Charlie! Just get fired and collect unemployment already.) You must avoid these flying objects while helping Charlie jump on each trampoline.
In Stage 4, Charlie must avoid obstacles while walking atop a rubber ball and in Stage 5, Charlie must avoid obstacles while riding on a horse.
In the final stage, Stage 6, Charlie swings on the trapeze while avoiding obstacles.
This was one of Capcom’s first games for the NES. The setting is World War II, and it’s jsut you against hordes of Nazi troops. You’re given a limited number of grenades, but an unlimited amount of ammunition for your gun. Some wander around in the open, but others hide out behind bunkers or on bridges. You can find extra grenades, and you’ll need ‘em as they have a greater range than the rifle.
If you like role playing games, then you’ll love one of the originals, “Conan” by Mindscape, Inc. You fight skeletons, demons, and a huge fire breathing dog that will kick your ass nine times out of ten. You mainly use hand to hand combat by kicking or punching the enemy. However, you can also use a sword, but keep in mind that this game was released in 1990, so the sword is about as effective as kicking and punching. Though the graphics suck, if you like the classics, then you should check out “Conan” .
“Contra” is to shoot ‘em up platformers as “Lethal Weapon” is to buddy cop movies. Which is to say, it’s the homoerotic original that spawned a genre. You are a (shirtless) warrior and must defeat the enemy on land and in water by — no points for originality — shooting them. Why couldn’t any NES games involve diplomatic sanctions? You also have a jumping capability to try to maneuver around the enemy. But beware of the tanks and cannons stationed in different areas. “Contra” is known for its difficulty and speed. But don’t worry, you’ve got The Konami Code.
“Super Contra” has the same gameplay as “Contra”. However, the graphics are better and pretty impressive for its time. If you want a challenge, play these two games by Konami.
Like “Space Invaders”, only a platformer. You’re the pilot of a space ship and shoot enemy aliens in hopes to defend your planet’s people below. The object is to shoot all of the aliens before they abduct all of the people. The game play is rather simple, but the game is a blast to play.
If you grew up in the 1980s, you’ll definitely remember “Dig Dug”. The object of this maze-like game is to get rid of all of the monsters underneath the ground by either dropping rocks on them or inflating them until they pop. Just describing it puts a smile on my face. This is another silly game from the early 1980s, but personally I like the silly games because it takes you far away from reality and lightens your mood. Also, with such shitty graphics, there’s no chance of an Uncanny Valley effect.
“Dig Dug II” wasn’t as successful as the original, but was no less fun. Instead of a side view, it was overhead, and you have a jackhammer in addition to your pump that you can use to cut away at your island and send monsters into the ocean.But be careful– if you’re on the wrong side of the fault line, you’ll fall in too.
(26 through 28) Donkey King, Donkey Kong Jr., and Donkey Kong 3
You must be from another planet if you’ve never heard of Donkey Kong. In this game, Donkey Kong makes his debut as a kidnapper/barrel throwing enthusiast. You play as Mario and the goal is to rescue the girl while jumping over DK’s barrels. Bonus points go to anyone who knows the rationale behind naming a gorilla “Donkey.”
How’s this for a change of pace? In “Donkey Kong Junior”, Mario is the villain. He’s captured Donkey Kong and his son, Donkey Kong Junior must rescue him by climbing jungle vines while sharp-toothed predators attack him.
“Donkey Kong 3″ was even more simplistic than its two predecessors, but far less successful. You’re a bugman, and DK has taken up residence in your greenhouse. You want to spray Donkey Kong while protecting yourself and your flowers from insects. It’s basically “Galaxian” with gorillas.
In “Dragon’s Lair”, your play as Dirk the Daring as you attempt to rescue Princess Daphne. But first, you must slay creatures like bats and a huge dragon. The gameplay is slow and fairly easy, but your character also moves very slowly, so it kind of balances out. This game had some of the best graphics seen in a videogame up until then, thanks to laserdiscs and the involvement of veteran Diseney animator Don Bluth. It’s kind of a cute game now, but was a major hit in the ’80s– so much so that many machines broke from overuse.
This simple maze-like game was one of the hundreds of Pac-Man clones. The gameplay is easy. All you have to do is get to the center bonus square before your enemies attack you. When you get to the center, numbers are exposed in each square. You want to try to “run” across the highest numbers possible. This also triggers an attack mode for your enemies but, just like Pac-Man, it doesn’t last long. This wasn’t a really popular game in the 1980s, but it is a little like Pac-Man, so it’s worth giving it a try.
If you’ve never played “Duck Hunt”, you’re really missing out. This was unbelievable fun with the NES Zapper, but I don’t know how it translates to the web. But in this game, your hunting dog hides in the grass. When you successfully shoot down a duck, your dog grabs it and show his approval. If you miss and ducks fly away, your dog laughs at you, mostly just to be a dick. This is a video game that everyone should try.
This early 1980s video game, like most from the time period, has a simple concept. You are on an elevator of a building. There are men dressed in black that open doors, jump out, and try to shoot you. You’ll want to shoot them first. The elevator goes up and down and you can stay in the elevator, leave the elevator, ride on top of the elevator, or use the stairs. It’s a cute platform type game from the 1980s that is unbelievably addicting.
We first saw this cute little frog in 1981. All the little amphibian wanted was to cross the street or stream safely. However, it must’ve been rush hour because there are tons of vehicles driving on this busy road and Frogger must cross without getting hit. Then he encounters streams with flowing logs, lily pads, turtles, and alligators, which he must jump on to cross the stream without getting wet. Why? Because this is the first frog in history who can’t swim.
The first several levels are pretty easy, but then the game gets quite challenging. “Frogger” is one of those old time gaming staples that everyone should experience. Side Note: It’s George Costanza’s favorite game.
(NOTE FOR ONLINE USE: Use the arrow keys to control the direction of your ship and the “Control” key to fire.)
Released: 1979
Popularity around release date: 5/5
Difficulty: 2/5
Fun: 5/5
Uniqueness: 2/5
Sound: 3/5
Graphics: 2/5
“Galaxian” is a game from the late 1970s in an outer space setting, like a lot of games from back then. Your ship is at the bottom of the screen, and you can only move left or right. Like “Space Invaders,” the object is to shoot all of the alien ships. But unlike “Invaders,” these ships occasionally dive bomb you. “Galaxian” was a pioneering game for many reasons. It was first with multi-colored animated sprites and explosions, a crude theme song, different colored fonts for the score and high score, and more prominent background music and graphic icons that showed the number of ships left and how many rounds the player had completed. How did people play games before this?
The graphics are better in “Galaga”, the sequel to “Galaxian”, but the game play is really no different. So, if you love “Galaxian”, then you’ll also love “Galaga”.
RED WARRIOR NEEDS FOOD BADLY! “Gauntlet” is one of the original fantasy video games. You can play as a Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, or Elf, and if you can round up three friends, you can all play at once. This game set the stage for the MMORPGs of today.
Throughout the game, you find potions that you can use to destroy all of the ghosts at once. Otherwise, you must shoot them one by one. There are skull and crossbones that spawn ghosts located throughout each level that you can destroy. You’ll also find food for energy and treasures, which give you extra points. If you want to see what the early fantasy games were like, try “Gauntlet”.
“Goemon” is based on a legendary ninja warrior named Ishikawa Goemon. In this platform game, you go through as many screens as you can while fighting enemies in hand-to-hand combat and collecting as many items (for points) as possible.
Feasting on the banquet of mid ’80s Cold War paranoia, your mission in this game is to rescue several POWs from a Russian (that is, Rush N’) camp. Of course, this is easier said than done since you must fight in hand-to-hand combat with several pinko bastards. It’s a jingoistic, Regan-era game, so if you’re feeling nostalgic for the red scare, this is the game for you.
In this game, your character is Billy Bob, a big time bounty hunter after ten of the most dangerous men you would never want to meet. Of course, along the way, there are a lot of bad men trying to protect the dangerous criminals and trying to kill Billy Bob. To help you along your way, you may be able to find special items such as a horse (for extra protection against bullets), boots (for speed), a rifle (for longer shots), and bullets (for faster shots).
Instead of a platform game, “Gunsmoke” is an overhead scrolling game, so it’s a little more interesting. Try “Gunsmoke” — it’s quite a challenge.
This is another outer space game from the 1980s, but unlike “Galaga” and “Space Invaders”, you’re not confined to the bottom of the screen. Your ship can move in a circular motion along the outer edge. It’s different, but once you get used to it, you can work up a pretty good strategy. “Gyruss” is a fast-paced game with a lot of challenges.
(NOTE FOR ONLINE USE: The writing is in Japanese, so just click on the second box with your mouse to play. The arrow keys control your movement in the game.)
Released: 1990
Popularity around release date: 2/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Fun: 4/5
Uniqueness: 1/5
Sound: 2/5
Graphics: 4/5
Hexa is a cute little mindless puzzler. Pieces made up of three colors fall into the grid, and you can control their descent. The object is to clear out the grid by matching three or more of the same colors either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
(42 through 44) Track and Field, Hyper Sports, and Track and Field II
This game’s title pretty much sums up the concept. Before moving on to the next event, you must first get a qualifying score. The events in this game are:
There are quite a few enhancements to this game compared to its predecessors. First, there are three modes of play: Training (which tests the abilities of a player,) Olympic (where a player competes against the computer) and Versus (which is where two players compete against one another.)
In addition, there were a lot more events, including some repeats from the previous games in the series like:
Fencing
Triple jump
Freestyle swimming
High dive
Clay pigeon shooting
Hammer throw
Tae Kwan Do
Pole vault
Canoeing
Archery
Hurdles
Horizontal bar
Hang gliding
Arm wrestling (for versus mode only)
Since the play is the same in all three games and there are different events in each, I recommend that you check them all out. If you like one of these games, it’s a pretty safe bet that you will like them all.
“Joust” is a simple game in which your character is a knight who rides an ostrich (player 1) or a stork (player 2). The object of the game is to destroy all of the buzzards, their eggs, and their hatchlings. When you destroy a buzzard, you generate an egg, which can be destroyed for extra points. Otherwise, you must contend with the hatchlings. The game is cute, but not too challenging.
“Kung Fu” is an easy but awesome video game. The whole idea is to kick everyone’s ass before they kick yours. People will come up to you, sometimes more than one at a time and from either the right or the left of the screen. The more asses you kick, the more points you get. The controls are simple and it’s only somewhat challenging, but it’s an awesome game from the past.
“Lizard Wizard” or “How I thought up an awesome title but blew it on a lame game.” It rhymes, and it implies two of the greatest things in the world right there in the name! Dinosaurs! Sorcerers! What could go wrong? As it turns out, a lot.
You play as a lizard who must avoid hitting dragons and fireballs. You get points for shooting rocks, fireballs, and dragons. The game is on a static screen and your character can move up, down, left, or right. “Lizard Wizard” is good for a laugh and to try something ancient and cute, but it’s not challenging at all and you WILL (and I say that with 100% confidence) get bored.
Though the graphics on “Lunar Lander” leave a lot to be desired, this is a challenging game and it’s a lot of fun. The goal is to safely land on the landing pad. This is easier said than done, because the Lunar Lander is controlled using sensitive thrusters. You’ll use up quite a bit of fuel just after your first landing, so before going to the next one, you must land for refueling before continuing. You really have to experience it to fully understand how fun this game is.
Before they were super! We first met Mario in the “Donkey Kong” series. “Mario Brothers” is actually a spin-off from “Donkey Kong,” and marks the first time that we see Mario’s brother, Luigi. The object of the game is simple: eliminate all of the enemies that flow out of the pipes. It’s your regular standard platform game from the 1980s. You can jump to avoid the enemies and to bump the floor above your character’s head. If the enemy is above when you bump the floor, they flip onto their back and wait to be destroyed. This is an awesome game and was one of the most popular of its time.
The goal of “Mega Man” is to destroy the evil robots and stop their master, Dr. Wily, from world domination. There are 7 stages in this platform game and the play is pretty much like any standard platformer of its time — fight through a level, beat the boss, rinse and repeat. However, in this game you earn the boss’s special ability after defeating him. Half the game was deciding the order to take the levels on, as you simply couldn’t beat certain levels without other boss’s powers. What was your method?
“Metroid” is a cool platform game that combines action and adventure with shooting. Though the graphics suck, they weren’t too bad for the time period. The music may be a little cheesy, but I think it’s catchy and it puts you in that 1980s game mode. The end of this game sent thousands of players into a downward spiral of gender confusion as they collectively shrieked, “What do you mean I’ve been playing as a girl this whole time?!”
In “Missile Command”, you must protect your city by shooting at missiles and bombs that drop in around you. To add to the complexity of the game, you have three missile stations form which you have to choose. To play, you must move the crosshairs where you want them, choose which missile station you wish to use, and fire. The game play is challenging and very addicting.
Since “Moon Patrol” was released in the early 1980’s, you’ll need to look past the plain graphics, the simple concept, and the corny music. Instead, focus on the gameplay and you’ll have a blast. Your game character is a tank and the game play is to simply jump over pot holes and destroy obstacles and enemies in your path. It may not be very challenging, but it’s funny when your tank hits a hole in the road.
(56 through 60) Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Jr. Pac-Man, and Pac-Land
“Pac-man” is synonymous with 1980s arcade and video games. When the original “Pac-Man” was released in 1980, it ignited a new craze. A relatively simple game with a static screen, it was, and still is, addicting. There was even a song called “Pac-Man Fever”.
I’ll do us all a favor and not explain how to play. If you’ve never played, come out of your cave and try it. You’ll figure it out right after learning such skills as “not staring directly at the sun” and “how to operate indoor plumbing.”
Sequels were quickly rolled out for this game. There are actually more than just these six in the series, but these are the ones you can play online. All of them, with the exception of “Pac-Land”, have the same basic game play. There are some differences, but the basic principles are the same.
“Pac-land” is the odd-man-out among the Pac games. The objective is for Pac-Man to get the fairy (hiding under his hat, natch) back to “Fairyland”. Of course, along the way there are various obstacles including the infamous ghosts from the original “Pac-Man” video game.
Like a lot of games from the early 1980s, “Phoenix” is outer space-themed. In each level, there are 5 rounds.
In rounds 1 and 2, you must destroy alien birds. Some periodically fly out of formation and attack your ship.
In round two, you have the ability to fire your weapons quicker, but the birds fly more unpredictably.
In rounds 3 and 4, floating eggs quickly hatch into birds that swoop down and attack your ship. The only way to destroy them is by shooting them in the belly.
The fifth and final round of each level consists of you destroying the mother ship, which is very difficult to do.
This game is challenging fun and also challenging and worth checking out.
“Pipe Dream” requires you to lay some pipe (wait for it…) in different shapes in a way that will let the slime ooze through. With each level, you need to have a certain amount of pipes put together within a certain time frame to move on to the next level. With each level, you have to connect more pipe pieces in less time. This should looks familiar to fans of the mini-games in “Bio Shock.” If you like puzzle games, you’ll love “Pipe Dream”.
Whether you were around in the 1980s or not, you should already know that “Pole Position” is a racing game. In the first race, you’re attempting to qualify for a professional race. If you qualify, the next race is the big show– Formula 1 (The NASCAR of the 80s.)
Released: 1772 (Not a typo. This game predates the Revolutionary War. ) Popularity around release date: 4/5 Difficulty: 2/5 Fun: 2/5 Uniqueness: 2/5 Sound: 3/5 Graphics: 2/5
Everyone knows about “Pong”. This game is about as old as you can get on video games, but it’s a classic. It’s very basic, of course. The game play is the same as in tennis, ping pong, volley ball, or badminton. It might be boring to play for hours, but it’s a great game to play while reminiscing about the past or to see where gaming began.
“Ponpoko” is a platform game from the 1980s in which the object is to collect fruits and vegetables while climbing ladders, jumping over gaps in the floor, and avoiding the enemies. Also, there are gold baskets located throughout each level that will contain either fruits, vegetables, or a snake. It’s necessary to open the baskets, because you must collect all of the fruits and vegetables to advance to the next level.
Released: 1982 Popularity around release date: 4/5 Difficulty: 2/5 Fun: 4/5 Uniqueness: 5/5 Sound: (no sound online) Graphics: 4/5
In “Pooyan,” your character is a mother pig who’s trying to protect her babies from wolves. Your character (”Mama”) is in a little elevator car that moves on a pulley. Two of her babies control the pulley. The wolves traveling by going up or down (depending on the level) via balloons (as their species is known to do). The object is to pop their balloons by shooting arrows at them. If you’re unsuccessful, the wolves move up to your area and climb the ladder to get to Mama and her babies.
Oh no! Bluto has kidnapped Olive Oil again! Your mission (as Popeye) is to catch all of the items that Olive Oil drops from above (hearts, musical notes, and the word “help”) without letting Bluto catch you. If you can get a can of spinach, then you can chase after Bluto and beat him up (for extra points, of course). If you’re from the 1980s, you’re sure to remember and love this game. If you’re not, check it out anyway. I think you’ll enjoy it.
The object in “Q*bert” is to hop onto cubes to make them all a certain color while also avoiding any enemies that are attempting to attack you.
In the earlier levels, once you hop on a cube once, the cube stays that color. In later levels, the cube changes colors each time you hop on it, so most of the challenge is the puzzle of how to travel to each cube while making sure the colors are all the same. If it sounds confusing, that’s just because it doesn’t make any sense. Just try it, you’ll see what I mean.
The object of “Qix” is to claim as much of the board as possible. Your enemy in this game is a stick that travels quickly and unpredictably around the screen. Your character is simply a dot. That’s right, nothing fancy - just a dot. Move the dot to draw rectangular shapes before the stick can hit the line that you’re drawing. The edges of the screen are safe, but you must enter the center to score points. You can draw as many rectangles as you need and will only get penalized by losing a life (do dots have lives?) if the entity touches the line that you’re in the process of drawing.
Yep. Another racing game from the ’80s. In this one, you must finish the course before the time is up. Of course, if you hit other cars, you’ll spin out and it slows you down. Also, you’ll run out of gas unless you find the multi-colored cars and run into them. It’s really that basic.
This game is really awesome and is geared more towards the hard core gamers. I’m not sure why “Robotron 2084″ wasn’t more popular upon its release. The objective is to protect and rescue a human family from a swarm of robots. The gameplay is simple but very fast paced. You can shoot the robots or just simply avoid them. Highly recommended.
“Rolling Thunder” is a spy/shooter/platformer. Your mission is to find and rescue a kidnapped female agent by shooting the enemies as you travel through the game. It has basic game play, but it’s still fun. You can definitely see how some the spy games of today evolved from ones like “Rolling Thunder”.
“Scramble” is a side scrolling shoot ‘em up space game where the object is to shoot down the enemy rockets. If one hits you, you lose a life. Also, beware of mountains as the land isn’t flat. This game is okay and I vaguely recall playing it in the 1980s, but it wasn’t a game of choice. Rather something different once in a while.
Released: 1986 Popularity around release date: 4/5 Difficulty: 4/5 Fun: 4/5 Uniqueness: 4/5 Sound: no sound online Graphics: 5/5
One of the classic puzzlers, “Solomon’s Key” requires you to build or knock down stones to climb to retrieve keys. What makes it tricky is that some stones are static and can’t be knocked down. Try it– It’s more difficult than it looks.
The reason I rated “Sonson” so low is that it’s just like a lot of video and arcade games from this era, but doesn’t really have anything special or unique about it. It’s a platform game where you must shoot the enemy while collecting items. Moving from floor to floor is easier than in most games of its type, which just makes this game seem unchallenging. However, if you like ’80s games, it’s worth a try.
“Space Ace” has a simple gameplay, but it’s still very challenging. The object of the game is to travel the “space course” without bumping into any barriers. The tricky part is that the controls are very sensitive, so it takes some practice to get the hang of making the space ship go where you want it to. Anyone that has a good bit of patience and loves a challenge will love this game.
Okay, here’s a classic that everyone should already know. Of course, it’s “Space Invaders”. Who didn’t love this game back in its day? This is a static screen game in which the object is to shoot down all of the enemies as they march across the screen. If you’ve played “Space Invaders” before, and who hasn’t, you’ll certainly want to play it again. If you’ve never played it, you haven’t truly lived, so give it a try.
If you ask me, this is one of the best games of its time. Sure, it’s another driving game, but it’s not really about racing. You’re a spy and you have to maneuver your spymobile around other cars and obstacles. Some cars you can push off the road and others you can shoot, but beware of the enemy’s cars– they will shoot at you. This game is awesome, and makes me wish my own car had an “Oil Slick” button. You have to try it!
There’s not a lot movement in “Star Castle.” It’s on a static screen and your character is a static space ship. You can rotate, but not move. The object is to shoot the enemy ship. Sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? There’s a catch, of course. The enemy ship is protected by rings of barriers that you must shoot through before you can get to the ship. There are missiles within the barriers that intermittently fly toward your ship at random moments and from different angles. Remember, your ship can’t move, so you have to shoot down these missiles before they shoot you.
The game is pretty fun, though basic in nature. The graphics are also very basic, but clear and not boxy like many games of this era.
(80 through 83) Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers 2, Super Mario Borthers 3, Super Mario World
It’s the “Super Mario Brothers” craze! These games all have about the same type of game play. The “worlds” are a little different in each as are some of the characters, enemies, and items. Unless you’ve been on another planet (or the Mushroom Kingdom,) you know that the Mario games in general are still in high demand. I’m sure you’ve all tried these and if not, you really need to!
“Super Pitfall” is an action adventure game with an “Indiana Jones”-like theme in a platform format. Your character is Pitfall Harry, whose niece and friend have both been lost in the cavern. Just like in a lot of platform games, you can avoid or shoot enemies and can collect objects for extra points. Also, one added feature is that you’re actually in a maze and may need to reenter certain areas again, so memorization is a key factor.
(85 and 86) Tapper and Root Beer Tapper
“Tapper” and “Root Beer Tapper” put you in a Bartender’s position as you attempt to serve people their drinks (though I wonder what bar these game programmers went to where the bartender actually tried to serve everyone, rather than just serve the girls with the nice racks.)
You must serve the drinks in an allotted amount of time before the customers get angry. You can tell how must time you have left with each customer by how close they are to the bar. The closer the customer is to your end of the bar, the less time you have to complete the order. The faster you serve the drinks, the happier the customers and the more tips and points you receive.
The original game, “Tapper,” advertised Budweiser beer, but it wasn’t appropriate for minors. So in 1984 an arcade game called “Root Beer Tapper” came out. Both of these games have the same type of play, just a different beverage. In both games, there are different bar settings depending on the level you’re in:
2 levels have a country western theme with cowboys and cowgirls for customers.
3 levels have a sports theme with athletes as the patrons.
4 levels have a rock theme and punk rockers are the barflies
and 4 levels have a space theme with aliens trying to get their drink on.
If you like action and/or time management games, you’ll love these two. If you’ve never tried a time management type game, try one of these.
Though basic, “Tempest” is a lot of fun and very entertaining. This game is a fixed shooter, where you must blast at the space object coming toward the center. There are different sections in which you may shoot from, so you can move your shooter all around the screen. The first few levels are very simple, but the game gets more challenging as you go. Don’t let the simple graphics and year of release turn you off. It’s not like today’s games, but still a lot of fun.
I’m sure everyone’s heard of “Tetris”. It’s that famous and popular puzzle game where you can manipulate the position and location of random shapes so they fit in the playing area. You obtain points for each line that is filled and the line then dissipates. Of course, you get extra points for clearing out the entire playing area.
“Hatris” is of the same principal, but instead of shapes dropping, hat drop and you must place five identical hats on a person. The game play is similar to “Tetris”, but is different enough to make the game interesting and original in its own right. I highly recommend both of these games.
Released: 1983 Popularity around release date: 2/5 Difficulty: 2/5 Fun: 3/5 Uniqueness: 4/5 Sound: no sound online Graphics: 4/5
In “Tropical Angel”, your character is a girl in a bikini riding on water skis who, by all indications, spends a lot of time on the stair master. The goal of this game is to marry a doctor and retire to the suburbs. Failing that, you must get through each course in the allotted time without bumping into the buoys or falling off. The game has some novel ideas, but they don’t come together in any sort of interesting way.
(NOTE: To start the game, press the number 5 and then press the number 1. Be sure to use the main part of the keypad and not the number keypad to the side. Use the arrow keys for the directional controls and the ‘Control’ key to jump.)
Released: 1983 Popularity around release date: 1/5 Difficulty: 3/5 Fun: 2/5 Uniqueness: 2/5 Sound: no sound online Graphics: 2/5
The goal in this game is to collect balloons before the cars on the screen can catch up with you. You can also jump onto another track or over the cars to keep from being attacked. Different color balloons are worth a different amount of points.
Released: 1982 Popularity around release date: 2/5 Difficulty: 4/5 Fun: 3/5 Uniqueness: 3/5 Sound: 3/5 Graphics: 3/5 (Image by Press The Buttons)
“Xevious” is an overhead shooting game from the early 1980s. Your plane flies simply by the screen scrolling upward. The goal is to shoot down all of the enemies. There are a total of 16 levels and though you may be able to get through the first few levels with ease, it’s very difficult to beat the game!
Though the graphics aren’t the greatest, this is an awesome early fighting game. The main character is Oolong, which is Japanese for “black dragon,” and Chinese for “complimentary tea served to white people.” Oolong fights martial arts masters. If you defeat all of the masters, you will receive the title of “Grand Master”.
“Zaxxon” was a completely original game in its time with graphics and a layout that we had never seen before. The goal of the game is to shoot down as many enemies as you can without your getting shot down yourself. You also need to be careful not to run out of fuel, but you can refuel by simply shooting fuel tanks.
Due to the immense popularity of “Zaxxon”, “Super Zaxxon” was released in 1984. The game play is the same with a few enhancements and it’s just as fun.
Now that you’ve seen the glorified side of these games, let’s look at reality. When you play these games, this could and will happen to you.
Classic Video Game Deaths
Warning! These games are addicting - and deadly! Check out this video.
Comedy writer Andrea Wachner hated the idea of going to her 10-year high school reunion so much that she hired a stripper to go instead, and what followed, she says, was a comical study in human nature. [via reuters]
Her story is detailed in a nearly 40-minute documentary directed by Wachner that, because of issues surrounding its length and getting approval to show it from former classmates, may never be seen -- not even by her parents.
But the 31-year-old Los Angeles resident said on Friday she hopes it will someday and even if not, Hollywood already has come knocking on her door.
She has written a feature film script based on her story, is trying to sell a reality TV show from it, has appeared on cable news channel CNN, and is scheduled to be on ABC's morning chat show "Good Morning America" next week.
"I've been so lucky throughout this whole experience. Everything that could go wrong, went right," she told Reuters. "I love the way it all turned out."
But some of her classmates don't.
"There have been a few people that were pretty vitriolic, and I have received some angry letters," she said.
In 1995, Wachner graduated from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in an upscale Los Angeles-area neighborhood and never looked back. She left for New York City, where she attended New York University, graduating in 2000.
When she received the invitation to attend her 10-year reunion, she said she would not have dreamed of going because she hated her years at the school, where BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars were prized possessions.
DRINKING, DRAMA AND DANCE
She claims that at school, fellow students' drinking alcohol was a problem and eating disorders were common. She said academic competition was tight and the overall environment was "a pressure cooker."
Wachner didn't want to go back to all that, but she did want to see how people would react if the self-described "drama geek" showed up a changed woman -- a stripper, no less.
So, she hired Amy Bernadette "Cricket" Russell, whom she met at a Los Angeles strip club, to impersonate her. Cricket showed up in a slinky dress, fishnet hose and spike heels.
As the drinks flowed, Cricket's clothes came off, and Wachner watched from a hotel room above the event, linked to her impersonator via wireless radio, TV cameras and a monitor.
Wachner coached Cricket through the night, telling her the names of people she met and providing her with little secrets that only Wachner and her former classmates would know.
Judging from the film's promotional trailer, which can be seen here a few people may have been fooled and a few were not. Andrea -- make that Cricket -- got one invitation for a private performance.
Wachner said she did not set out to embarrass or make fun of classmates. Rather, she wanted to see how they would react if their old stereotype of Wachner as a "drama geek" was turned upside down, when she emerged from the cocoon of high school as an uninhibited artist and exotic dancer.
"I love taking things that exist in the world as given -- things that are mainstream, notions that people take for granted -- and making people re-think them," she said.
While she may not be as big a name as Web sensation Susan Boyle, who skyrocketed to fame this month after a video of her appearance on "Britain's Got Talent" went viral online, Wachner is nevertheless overjoyed with the outcome.
And why not? Palos Verdes Peninsula High is a distant memory, and now Hollywood beckons.
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It's nice to know that we're just a Chien-Ming Wang or a Dick Trickle away from a memorable sports headline. Here are 12 headlines from mainstream newspapers and websites that could easily be found in the gutter. [via holytaco]
12. Bartolo Colon
That must be one giant bidet.
11. Kerry Wood
Whoa, buddy. Isn’t that for her to decide?
10. Chien-Ming Wang/Alex Rodriguez
In the long and illustrious history of the New York Times, I can safely say this is the best headline they’ve ever printed.
9. Damarus Johnson
Hmmm, would a yardstick help?
8. Notah Begay
You hear that, Jake Gyllenhaal? Just relax and everything will be fine.
7. Houston Nutt
Should they hang low? Should they swing to and fro'? Should I tie them in a knot or should I tie them in a bow?
6. Randy "Big Unit" Johnson
I wonder if this "comeback" will also be "bareback."
5. Bartolo Colon (Part 2)
Considering Tuesday was White Castle Crave Case night, I’m guessing it fails.
4. Rusty Kuntz
Maybe the Pirates should hire some nicer coaches and they would be able to sign some better free agents.
3. Luther Head
Never underestimate the calming effect of a little oral sex.
2. Dick Trickle
OK, this one was too easy.
1. Dick Pole
So…many…double…entendres...
--Written by friend of HolyTaco, Paul Ulane. He is also a noted eater.
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The current Swine Flu pandemic headlines read like those flashing through the intro sequence of a post-apocalyptical movie. Now you can see the cases spreading in real time—as the WHO declares them—in Google Maps. Updated [via gizmodo]
In case you have not been paying attention to the news during the last few days, there's a pandemia going on. A spike of infections of the H1N1 Swine Flu—a mutation of a pork virus that jumped from pigs to humans—happened in the city of Mexico (103 dead already) and it is quickly spreading through the world now, thanks to airline connections.
Reading the map is very simple: We are all going to dieThe pink markers are suspect, the purple markers are confirmed, and deaths don't have a black dot in the marker. The yellow markers are negative, but I don't see any.
Have fun watching. While you can (added another map, which is getting updated faster.)
When we emerge from a supermarket laden down with bags and faced with a sea of vehicles, how do we remember where we've parked our car and translate the memory into the correct action to get back there? New research identifies the specific parts of the brain responsible for solving this everyday problem. The results could have implications for understanding the functional significance of a prominent brain abnormality observed in neuropsychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia. [via sciencedaily]
Different types of memory are formed in different parts of the brain. The repetitive drive to work or to the supermarket requires well-learnt place memory and involves different brain mechanisms than returning to your car in a car park which requires rapidly-learnt memory of a novel place.
AuthorTobias Bast of The University of Nottingham, teamed with Iain Wilson and Richard Morris at the University of Edinburgh, and Menno Witter at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology, set out to investigate how such rapid place-learning is translated into appropriate behaviour.
They focused on the hippocampus- an elongated, banana-shaped structure beneath the brain's temporal lobe. The hippocampus contributes to conscious memory. It is especially important for the rapid learning of the ever-changing aspects of our everyday experiences. How the hippocampus mediates such rapid learning has received a lot of attention. A much-studied property of individual hippocampal neurons in rats is their striking ability to hone activity to certain places – known as place-cell firing.
In other words, when rats move about in an environment, electrophysiological recordings from the hippocampus show that within seconds to minutes, many hippocampal neurons come to fire when — and only when — the animal passes a specific place. This means that the hippocampus rapidly 'learns' and then codes for specific places. But, until now, the way this rapid place learning is translated into behaviour has received less attention.
In the new study, the researchers identified the part of the hippocampus that is responsible for this learning-behaviour translation. They found that the critical part is the 'intermediate' or middle part of the hippocampus, which combines links to accurate visuo-spatial information — like the position of a car in a car park — with links to behavioural control necessary for returning to that car after a period of time.
To do this the researchers tested rats in a water maze experiment. The rats located and then returned to a platform in the water, with the platform location changing every day. Different parts of the rat's hippocampus were selectively 'lesioned,' or disabled, using a neurotoxin. The effects on the rats' behaviour were then measured.
The study found that if roughly 30-40 percent of neuronal tissue in the middle of the hippocampus — the intermediate region — was spared by the neurotoxin lesions, the rats could carry out the task with similar efficiency as with a fully intact hippocampus. But when the intermediate hippocampus, or a substantial part of it, was disabled, sparing 30-40 percent of tissue at the two ends of the hippocampus – the so-called 'septal' and 'temporal' hippocampus – the rats struggled with the task.
The researchers also found that the septal end of the hippocampus, featuring links to precise visuo-spatial information, can still rapidly form an accurate place memory — as reflected by the place-related firing of neurons in this region after the rest of the hippocampus was disabled. However, it cannot translate this memory into behaviour because without the intermediate hippocampus, it lacks the relevant links to behavioural control.
Dr. Bast plans to expand on these discoveries with research into how aberrant hippocampal activity that characterises many neuropsychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, contributes to symptoms.
"People often focus on memory deficits when thinking about the significance of aberrant hippocampal function," he said. "But our new findings highlight the important hippocampal links to behavioural control. We plan to build on these findings and examine the possibility that aberrant hippocampal function — depending on where in the structure it occurs and to which extent — may give rise to selective memory deficits, as well as to more profound disruptions of behavioural control."
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Watching TV might not make you happy, but it apparently beats being alone.[via thrfeed]
Four new studies by the University at Buffalo and Miami University of Ohio found that watching TV can drive away feeling of loneliness and rejection. The studies are reported in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and suggest that watching TV provides viewers with the illusion that their social needs are being met.
"The research provides evidence for the 'social surrogacy hypothesis,' which holds that humans can use technologies, like television, to provide the experience of belonging when no real belongingness has been experienced," said one of the study's authors, Shira Gabriel. "We also argue that other commonplace technologies such as movies, music or interactive video games, as well as television, can fulfill this need."
The first study found that subjects felt less lonely when viewing their favored TV shows. Study 2 found subjects whose "belongingness needs were aroused" wrote longer essays about their favored TV programs. The third study found that thinking about favored TV programs buffered subjects against drops in self-esteem, increases in negative mood and feelings of rejection. And study 4 found that subjects verbally expressed fewer feelings of loneliness after writing essays about their preferred TV programs.
Researchers concluded that a viewer's fictional bond with TV characters can help ease their need to connect with others. The study authors note, however, "it remains an open question whether social surrogacy suppresses belongingness needs or actually fulfills them, and they acknowledge that the kind of social surrogacy provoked by these programs can be a poor substitution for 'real' human-to-human experience."
"Turning one's back on family and friends for the solace of television may be maladaptive and leave a person with fewer resources over time," says UB's Derrick, "but for those who have difficulty experiencing social interaction because of physical or environmental constraints, technologically induced belongingness may offer comfort."
A previous study found that unhappy people watch more TV, while those who consider themselves happy spend more time reading and socializing.
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An Oregon City man just couldn't catch a break Friday -- first he lost his job and then he returned home to find his house on fire. [via kptv]
Victor Gonzalez said there was a silver lining to getting fired Friday.
"If I hadn’t gotten fired from work, I wouldn’t have come home, and I don’t know how far the fire would’ve gotten. So I guess that’s a good thing," he said.The single father lost his job and his house in a matter of two hours Friday morning.
The fire broke out just after 9 a.m. at the house on Canyon Ridge Drive. Luckily, everyone got out safely thanks in part to Gonzalez's 12-year-old daughter.
He said he knew everything would be OK with his daughter there to help out.
Gonzalez said he worked as an emergency department social worker, helping people deal with traumatic situations like fires. His past work with emergency situations is helping him to deal with the situation.
“You can choose to laugh or you can choose to cry and I’m choosing to laugh because I don’t want to know what’s going to happen if I cry,” he said.Now half of his roof is gone, his top floor is charred and firefighters soaked every inch of his house. Gonzalez isn’t sure what his insurance will cover or if the house can even be repaired.
For now, he’s just grateful everyone’s OK and proud to have his daughter Audriana in his corner.“She’s been my partner in raising the family since we went through a divorce, and we couldn’t be where we are without her,” he said.Gonzalez said it all started at about 7 a.m. when he started a fire in his wood stove to keep his two daughters and his niece cozy.
He was called into work unexpectedly, but then was told he was let go.When he returned home, he saw smoke on the roof. Gonzalez made sure to get everyone out of the home and then told his oldest daughter, Audriana, to call 911.Listen To The 911 CallGonzalez tried to fight the fire with his garden hose, but it grew too big, too fast.
Even when fire crews arrived, it took them 30 minutes to get the fire under control.Fire investigators are still trying to figure out what caused the fire, but they believe it may have started from embers coming out of the wood stove chimney.Man Fired, Returns Home To Find House Burning Did you like this post? Leave your comments below! Found this Post interesting? Receive new posts via RSS(What is RSS?) or Subscribe to CR by Email
General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs. [via nytimes]
The storage advance, which G.E. is announcing on Monday, is just a laboratory success at this stage. The new technology must be made to work in products that can be mass-produced at affordable prices.
But optical storage experts and industry analysts who were told of the development said it held the promise of being a big step forward in digital storage with a wide range of potential uses in commercial, scientific and consumer markets.
“This could be the next generation of low-cost storage,” said Richard Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering, a technology research firm.
The promising work by the G.E. researchers is in the field of holographic storage. Holography is an optical process that stores not only three-dimensional images like the ones placed on many credit cards for security purposes, but the 1’s and 0’s of digital data as well.
The data is encoded in light patterns that are stored in light-sensitive material. The holograms act like microscopic mirrors that refract light patterns when a laser shines on them, and so each hologram’s recorded data can then be retrieved and deciphered.
Holographic storage has the potential to pack data far more densely than conventional optical technology, used in DVDs and the newer, high-capacity Blu-ray discs, in which information is stored as a pattern of laser-etched marks across the surface of a disc. The potential of holographic technology has long been known. The first research papers were published in the early 1960s.
Many advances have been made over the years in the materials science, optics and applied physics needed to make holographic storage a practical, cost-effective technology. And this year, InPhase Technologies, a spinoff of Bell Labs of Alcatel-Lucent, plans to introduce a holographic storage system, using $18,000 machines and expensive discs, for specialized markets like video production and storing medical images.
To date, holographic storage has not been on a path to mainstream use. The G.E. development, however, could be that pioneering step, according to analysts and experts. The G.E. researchers have used a different approach than past efforts. It relies on smaller, less complex holograms — a technique called microholographic storage.
A crucial challenge for the team, which has been working on this project since 2003, has been to find the materials and techniques so that smaller holograms reflect enough light for their data patterns to be detected and retrieved.
The recent breakthrough by the team, working at the G.E. lab in Niskayuna, N.Y., north of Albany, was a 200-fold increase in the reflective power of their holograms, putting them at the bottom range of light reflections readable by current Blu-ray machines.
In G.E.’s approach, the holograms are scattered across a disc in a way that is similar to the formats used in today’s CDs, conventional DVDs and Blu-ray discs. So a player that could read microholographic storage discs could also read CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs. But holographic discs, with the technology G.E. has attained, could hold 500 gigabytes of data. Blu-ray is available in 25-gigabyte and 50-gigabyte discs, and a standard DVD holds 5 gigabytes.
The G.E. team plans to present its research data and lab results at an optical data storage conference in Orlando next month.
Yet, analysts say, the feasibility of G.E.’s technology remains unproved and the economics uncertain. “It’s always well to remember that the most important technical specification in any storage device, however impressive the science behind it, is price,” said James N. Porter, an independent analyst of the storage market.
When Blu-ray was introduced in late 2006, a 25-gigabyte disc cost nearly $1 a gigabyte, though it is about half that now. G.E. expects that when they are introduced, perhaps in 2011 or 2012, holographic discs using its technology will be less than 10 cents a gigabyte — and fall in the future.
“The price of storage per gigabyte is going to drop precipitously,” Mr. Lawrence said.
G.E. will first focus on selling the technology to commercial markets like movie studios, television networks, medical researchers and hospitals for holding data-intensive images like Hollywood films and brain scans. But selling to the broader corporate and consumer market is the larger goal.
To do that, G.E. will have to work with partners to license its holographic storage technology and expertise, and the company is already talking with major electronics and optical storage producers, said Bill Kernick, who leads G.E.’s technology sales unit. The holographic research was originally related to G.E.’s plastics business, which it sold two years ago to the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation for $11.6 billion. Did you like this post? Leave your comments below! Found this Post interesting? Receive new posts via RSS(What is RSS?) or Subscribe to CR by Email
The lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries . All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries . Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields, revealing recurrent ‘whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons.[via dailygalaxy]
The creators, Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt of Semiconductor, ask: are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?.
Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt were artists-in-residence at SSL. Combining their in-house lab culture experience with formidable artistic instincts in sound, animation and programming, they have created a magnetic magnum opus in nuce, a tour de force of equisite beauty of a massive invisible force brought down to human scale.
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For many years, people believed that the brain, like the body, rested during sleep. After all, we are rendered unconscious by sleep. Perhaps, it was thought, the brain just needs to stop thinking for a few hours every day. Wrong. During sleep, our brain—the organ that directs us to sleep—is itself extraordinarily active. And much of that activity helps the brain to learn, to remember and to make connections. [via newsweek]
It wasn't so long ago that the rueful joke in research circles was that everyone knew sleep had something to do with memory—except for the people who study sleep and the people who study memory. Then, in 1994, Israeli researchers reported that the average performance for a group of people on a memory test improved when the test was repeated after a break of many hours—during which some subjects slept and others did not. In 2000, a Harvard team demonstrated that this improvement occurred only during sleep.
There are several different types of memory—including declarative (retrievable, fact-based information), episodic (events from your life) and procedural (how to do something)—and researchers have designed ways to test each of them. In almost every case, whether the test involves remembering pairs of words, tapping numbered keys in a certain order or figuring out the rules in a weather-prediction game, "sleeping on it" after first learning the task improves performance. It's as if our brains squeeze in some extra practice time while we're asleep.
This isn't to say that we can't form memories when we're awake. If someone tells you his name, you don't need to fall asleep to remember it. But sleep will make it more likely that you do. Sleep-deprivation experiments have shown that a tired brain has a difficult time capturing memories of all sorts. Interestingly, sleep deprivation is more likely to cause us to forget information associated with positive emotion than information linked to negative emotion. This could explain, at least in part, why sleep deprivation can trigger depression in some people: memories tainted with negative emotions are more likely than positive ones to "stick" in the sleep-deprived brain.
Sleep also seems to be the time when the brain's two memory systems—the hippocampus and the neocortex—"talk" with one other. Experiences that become memories are laid down first in the hippocampus, obliterating whatever is underneath. If a memory is to be retained, it must be shipped from the hippocampus to a place where it will endure—the neocortex, the wrinkled outer layer of the brain where higher thinking takes place. Unlike the hippocampus, the neocortex is a master at weaving the old with the new. And partly because it keeps incoming information at bay, sleep is the best time for the "undistracted" hippocampus to shuttle memories to the neocortex, and for the neocortex to link them to related memories.
How sleep helps us consolidate memories is still largely a mystery. A recent study from the University of Lübeck, in Germany, offers one clue. Subjects were given a list of 46 word pairs to memorize, just before sleep. Shortly after they fell asleep, as they reached the deepest stages of sleep, electrical currents were sent through electrodes on their heads to induce very slow brain waves. Such slow waves were induced at random in the brains of one group of subjects, but not another. The next morning, the slow-wave group had better recall of the words. Other types of memory were not improved, and inducing the slow waves later in the night did not have the same effect. Why and how the slow waves improved memory is not yet understood, but they are thought to alter the strengths of chemical connections, or synapses, between specific pairs of nerve cells in the brain. Memories are "stored" in these synapses: changing the strength of the synapses increases the strength of the memories they store.
It's not just memory that is improved by sleep. Recent studies indicate that sleep not only helps store facts, it also helps make connections between them. Scientific history is replete with tales of scientists with nocturnal "aha!" experiences. Dmitri Mendeleev awakened from a dream that gave him the idea for the periodic table of elements—a landmark in chemistry. Such anecdotes don't prove that sleep can produce insights, but a recent study by Ullrich Wagner and colleagues in Germany does. Wagner used a puzzle in which players were given a string of numbers, and required to make a series of seven calculations based on these numbers. The seventh calculation (which depended on the preceding six) was the "answer." Participants repeatedly played the same game with the same rules, but different sets of numbers. Some of the players played the game in the morning, then did other things for eight hours or so, then played the game again. Others played the game first in the evening, then slept, then played it again after awakening.
The players who slept did somewhat better—but that was not the important result. Cleverly, the researchers structured the game such that the second calculation always gave the same answer as the seventh calculation—the final answer. If players recognized this "hidden rule," they could get to the final answer much faster—and speed was a part of the game. The players who slept were almost three times more likely to have the insight that allowed them to spot the hidden rule—even though none of the players had been told there was a hidden rule to spot. Sleeping had allowed them to connect the dots.
Why is this important? Some sleep researchers believe that for every two hours we spend awake, the brain needs an hour of sleep to figure out what all these experiences mean, and that sleep plays a crucial role in constructing the meaning our lives come to hold. Breakdowns in such sleep-dependent processing may contribute to the development of depression, and may explain why some people who experience horrific traumas go on to develop PTSD.
A better understanding of how sleep knits our memories together could lead to new technologies that improve learning, memory and creativity, and even help treat some psychiatric disease. But perhaps the most important reason for studying sleep is simply this: we are a curious species; we spend about a third of our lives asleep; and we realize how little we understand about that third of our lives. So we continue experimenting, hoping to understand sleep better. And perhaps someday we will. After we've slept on it.
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There are a lot of online resources available where You can change, enhance and make funny photo editing without knowing and program like Photoshop. Maybe You want to be on magazine cover, want Your own personalized dollar or maybe just want to change Your mood? Now You can do it with just few mouse clicks and in few seconds. [via 1st web designer]
I collected all the best free photo editing services, which will keep You busy for quite a while and You will receive amazing results - maybe funny, maybe silly - but You’ll get original photos and few more reasons to smile
BeFunky Photo Effects allow everyday people to easily create photographically rich and artistic results from their digital images without the need for any technical knowledge. These “one-click” photo effect options produce desired results effortlessly and each effect comes with the option to make simple adjustments.
The FunPhotoBox site is a place where you can create funny pictures from your photos. FunPhotoBox is a free photo editing online service. FunPhotoBox allows you to add special effects to your photos.
PhotoFunia is an online photo editing tool that gives you a fun filled experience. You upload any photo and just wait to see the magic. Our proprietary technology automatically identifies the face in the photo and let’s you add cool photo effects and create funny face photo montages.
PhotoFunia is free and very easy to use. Just select an effect you like from over 100 different effects, upload your photo, and PhotoFunia will handle the rest for you.
Here you can easily create your fake pictures, captions and fake magazines (Wired, Playboy, Playgirl, Glamour, Time) and other funny jokes for you and your friends.
There are 30 different magazines to choose from for now. You can select any of them and make an impressive, unique, custom fake magazine with ease and Your own picture - it’s simple as that!
With FACEinHOLE.com you can easily and in a matter of seconds create a totally “new look” for you and your friends. You just have to select a scenario, upload and adjust a photo (or use your webcam) and there you have it; a great FACEinHOLE that you can send to your friends, post in your blog or make available to the world.
Here you can personalize magazine covers online (no software applications to install, just use your web browser) by uploading digital photos you have on your computer.
MyHeritage.com is one of the world’s first services to apply advanced face recognition technology to personal photos and family history; and it’s free!
Upload a digital photo to add fun effects and novelty layouts. FotoTrix have over 2,500 templates for your digital photographs! Make it look like you had your photograph taken with a celebrity or add some goofy props to spice up your photos.
Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It’s fast, easy, and fun.
Jpgfun is an easy-to-use free online service to edit Your photos! You can improve Your photo with different interesting and funny effects or put Your photo on a magazine cover. Mention that it is ABSOLUTELY FREE and easy as one, two, three! One more photo template resource.
You can change the text on this image to whatever you like. Change the text in the form below, then click on “preview image”. The text in the image will change accordingly. You can align the text with spaces and enters.
Ever wanted to be on Wired magazine cover? This is Your chance! You can customize cover headlines, borders, color palette, background - fully customizable!
Pizap is a fun free photo editor that lets people easily create wacky images with their digital pictures. PiZap was created as a tool primarily for social networking users who want to post their images to their favorite social networking sites
That’s what Saanich police found out early Friday, while following up on a call of “suspicious persons.” [via the theprovince]
A Saanich police officer arrived at a parking lot where he heard noises coming from a large garbage dumpster.
The officer called out to the people in the dumpster, but no one responded. When he looked inside, he was surprised to see two naked adults intertwined and oblivious to his presence.
The two adults, a 30-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man, were ordered to put their clothes on and get out of the dumpster, police said in a news release.
The man was arrested on an unrelated matter and the woman was told to go home.
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A teacher in Kersey was treated for illness earlier this week after she apparently ate a marijuana-laced brownie given to her by a student. [via greeleytribute]
The student, 18-year-old senior Christopher Archer, is now out of jail on $50,000 bond. He was charged with distribution of marijuana, after Kersey police investigated the incident.
Police asked to withhold the name of the teacher who was a victim in the incident, although the student — Archer — said the teacher had earlier given him $50 to buy some prescription pain killers. Court records state Archer told police he couldn’t get the drug, so he made the marijuana brownies.
But, an affidavit also states that Archer said he tried to give them to the teacher and she refused.
About 11 a.m. Monday, police and paramedics were called to the Platte Valley High School where the teacher became “very sick” after eating the brownie. She was taken to North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, where she was later released after treatment.
Kersey police investigated the case and found she had eaten a “large amount of marijuana” baked into a brownie. Two other students said they’d taken brownies from Archer that day, but one said his tasted funny and he spit it out, and the other student said he ate his without any effect.
The case has been turned over to the Weld District Attorney’s Office to determine if charges will be brought against the teacher. They have not been able to corroborate Archer’s statement that the teacher asked him to buy drugs. Did you like this post? Leave your comments below! Found this Post interesting? Receive new posts via RSS(What is RSS?) or Subscribe to CR by Email
In 2005, the average American consumed 64kg of added sugar, a sizeable proportion of which came through drinking soft drinks. Now, in a 10-week study, Peter Havel and colleagues, at the University of California at Davis, Davis, have provided evidence that human consumption of fructose-sweetened but not glucose-sweetened beverages can adversely affect both sensitivity to the hormone insulin and how the body handles fats, creating medical conditions that increase susceptibility to heart attack and stroke. [via sciencedaily]
In the study, overweight and obese individuals consumed glucose- or fructose-sweetened beverages that provided 25% of their energy requirements for 10 weeks. During this period, individuals in both groups put on about the same amount of weight, but only those consuming fructose-sweetened beverages exhibited an increase in intraabdominal fat.
Further, only these individuals became less sensitive to the hormone insulin (which controls glucose levels in the blood) and showed signs of dyslipidemia (increased levels of fat-soluble molecules known as lipids in the blood).
As discussed in an accompanying commentary by Susanna Hofmann and Matthias Tschöp, although these are signs of the metabolic syndrome, which increases an individual's risk of heart attack, the long-term affects of fructose over-consumption on susceptibility to heart attack remain unknown.
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Like zombies, spiders in a lab twitched back to life hours after "drowning"—and the scientists were as surprised as anyone. The spiders, it seems, enter comas to survive for hours underwater, according to a new study. [via nationalgeographic]
The unexpected discovery was made during experiments intended to find out exactly how long spiders can survive underwater—a number of spiders and insects have long been known to be resistant to drowning.
In particular, researchers wanted to determine whether spiders in flood-prone marshes had evolved to survive longer underwater than forest-dwelling spiders can.
Scientists at the University of Rennes in France collected three species of wolf spider—two from salt marshes, one from a forest. The team immersed 120 females of each species in seawater, jostling the spiders with brushes every two hours to see if they responded.
As expected, all the forest wolf spiders (Pardosa lugubris) apparently died after 24 hours. The two salt marsh-dwelling species took longer—28 hours for Pardosa purbeckensis and 36 hours for Arctosa fulvolineata.
After the "drownings," the researchers, hoping to weigh the spiders later, left them out to dry. That's when things began to get weird.
Good as New
Hours later, the spiders began twitching and were soon back on their eight feet.
Marsh-dwelling A. fulvolineata, which took longest to "die," typically requires about two hours to recover, the researchers discovered.
In the wild, the species doesn't avoid water during flooding, while the other salt marsh species generally climbs onto vegetation to avoid advancing water.
The spiders' survival trick depends on a switch to metabolic processes—the processes that provide energy for vital functions in the body—that do not require air, the researchers speculate.
[via pinktenacle] “Fairy tales and legends” is the theme of this year’s World Sand Sculpture Festival now underway at the Tottori Sand Dunes in Tottori prefecture. On display (until May 31) are 19 massive works crafted by world-class sculptors from ten nations. The artists used around 2,700 tons of sand and took about two weeks to complete their works. Can you identify the fairy tales and legends depicted in these sand sculptures?
A 5-year-old student at Apple Valley Elementary in Yakima headed home on the bus with more than books in his backpack. Inside was a smelly package his father never imagined he'd be toting around. [via komonews]
"I'm still kind of in shock over this, because why would somebody do this? It's disgusting!" said the boy's father, who wished to be identified only as "Jason."
Jason says his son's kindergarten teacher had bagged up a piece of human feces and stuck it in his son's backpack. His wife found the stinky mess.
"She found a clear plastic bag with a piece of fecal matter wrapped up in a brown paper towel with the note on it," he said.
The note read, "This little turd was on the floor in my room."
Jason says his son's teacher, Mrs. Graham, called last Friday and said her classroom was "stinky." She asked if the boy could have had an accident.
Jason acknowledged the possibility, as his son had had a couple of accidents in the classroom in the past. He told Mrs. Graham there were extra clothes in his backpack.
Jason never imagined the teacher would send his son home with evidence of his accident.
After his wife found the bagged mess, Jason e-mailed school officials. Days later, he received a response apologizing for the delay in dealing with the issue. On Tuesday, he was still waiting for a chance to speak to school officials about the incident.
"What would have happened if it had stayed in there and she hadn't checked the bag? And other kids were playing on the bus and it got out? And it's a very hazardous thing. It's disgusting!"
The school's superintendent said the boy's teacher and the school principal are being questioned. School officials said they'll meet with Jason and his wife next week.
In the meantime, Jason wants his son placed in a different teacher's classroom for the remainder of the school year. Did you like this post? Leave your comments below! Found this Post interesting? Receive new posts via RSS(What is RSS?) or Subscribe to CR by Email
[via techcrunch] A new 20% time Google project has just launched called Google Similar Images. It’s pretty self-explanatory — when you search for an image and find one close to what you’re looking for, Google can now find ones that it believes to be the same, or similar. This type of visual search is similar to what like.com has been doing for a while, but is potentially much more powerful with Google, as the search giant currently looks at hundreds of millions of pictures of just about anything you can imagine, across the web.
But it’s interesting that this is not done by way of optical recognition. That technology is what Apple, for example, is using in the newest version of iPhoto to look at faces in images and determine if other images contain the same people. Because Google already has its vast database of web images and a lot of metadata thanks to projects like the game in which you tag photos, and more recently, sorting images by color, it has a bunch of different data points it can work with to make Similar Images work.
Let’s take this new toy for a spin. “Apple” is a good query to test this because there is the aforementioned company Apple, as well as the fruit. When you find an image you are looking for after the initial query, it’s easy to click on “Similar images” and get more of the same. This is where Google really takes over and uses its technology to search for images it believes to be similar. For example, if I decide I want the silver version of the Apple logo, I’ll see this:
But maybe I want another version of the Apple logo shown on the initial page. In that case, I may see this:
Or maybe I decide that I don’t want an Apple logo at all. Maybe I just want a picture of an apple, the fruit. Then I may see this:
As you can see, the filtering works very well. Here’s an interview with Radhika Malpani, the director of engineering working on this project.
Watch more in the video from Google below:
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In the search for Earth-like planets, astronomers zeroed in Tuesday on two places that look awfully familiar to home. One is close to the right size. The other is in the right place. European researchers said they not only found the smallest exoplanet ever, called Gliese 581 e, but realized that a neighboring planet discovered earlier, Gliese 581 d, was in the prime habitable zone for potential life. [via yahoo]
"The Holy Grail of current exoplanet research is the detection of a rocky, Earth-like planet in the 'habitable zone,'" said Michel Mayor, an astrophysicist at Geneva University in Switzerland.
An American expert called the discovery of the tiny planet "extraordinary."
Gliese 581 e is only 1.9 times the size of Earth — while previous planets found outside our solar system are closer to the size of massive Jupiter, which NASA says could swallow more than 1,000 Earths.
Gliese 581 e sits close to the nearest star, making it too hot to support life. Still, Mayor said its discovery in a solar system 20 1/2 light years away from Earth is a "good example that we are progressing in the detection of Earth-like planets."
Scientists also discovered that the orbit of planet Gliese 581 d, which was found in 2007, was located within the "habitable zone" — a region around a sun-like star that would allow water to be liquid on the planet's surface, Mayor said.
He spoke at a news conference Tuesday at the University of Hertfordshire during the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science.
Gliese 581 d is probably too large to be made only of rocky material, fellow astronomer and team member Stephane Udry said, adding it was possible the planet had a "large and deep" ocean.
"It is the first serious 'water-world' candidate," Udry said.
Mayor's main planet-hunting competitor, Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, praised the find of Gliese 581 e as "the most exciting discovery" so far of exoplanets — planets outside our solar system.
"This discovery is absolutely extraordinary," Marcy told The Associated Press by e-mail, calling the discoveries a significant step in the search for Earth-like planets.
While Gliese 581 e is too hot for life "it shows that nature makes such small planets, probably in large numbers," Marcy commented. "Surely the galaxy contains tens of billions of planets like the small, Earth-mass one announced here."
Nearly 350 planets have been found outside our solar system, but so far nearly every one of them was found to be extremely unlikely to harbor life.
Most were too close or too far from their sun, making them too hot or too cold for life. Others were too big and likely to be uninhabitable gas giants like Jupiter. Those that are too small are highly difficult to detect in the first place.
Both Gliese 581 d and Gliese 581 e are located in constellation Libra and orbit around Gliese 581.
Like other planets circling that star — scientists have discovered four so far — Gliese 581 e was found using the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile.
The telescope has a special instrument which splits light to find wobbles in different wavelengths. Those wobbles can reveal the existence of other worlds.
"It is great work and shows the potential of this detection method," said Lisa Kaltenegger, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
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If you consider yourself a geek, or aspire to the honor of geekhood, here's an essential checklist of must-have geek skills.
[via laptoplogic] The term 'geek', once used to label a circus freak, has morphed in meaning over the years. What was once an unusual profession transferred into a word indicating social awkwardness. As time has gone on, the word has yet again morphed to indicate a new type of individual: someone who is obsessive over one (or more) particular subjects, whether it be science, photography, electronics, computers, media, or any other field. A geek is one who isn't satisfied knowing only the surface facts, but instead has a visceral desire to learn everything possible about a particular subject.
A techie geek is usually one who knows a little about everything, and is thus the person family and friends turn to whenever they have a question. If you're that type of person and are looking for a few extra skills to pick up, or if you're a newbie aiming to get a handhold on the honor that is geekhood, read on to find out what skills you need to know.
1. The Meaning of Technical Acronyms
USB - Universal Serial Bus
GPU - Graphics Processing Unit
CPU - Central Processing Unit
SATA - Serial ATA
HTML - Hyper-text Markup Language
HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol
FTP - File Transfer Protocol
P2P - Person to Person data sharing
2. How to Reset RAM
If you rolled your eyes here, that is a good thing. If not, you have many things to learn, young padawan. It's amazing how few people know how to do this. If you're unsure, hit up the link below to find out how:
Internet cafes are the most likely place you'll find them, followed by library, perhaps, and maybe even you own house if you've some unscrupulous friends/family. Identity theft groups warn about keyloggers and advocate checking out the keyboard yourself before continuing. Can you identify a keylogger, however, if one is plugged into the back of the system?
Here's what one looks like:
Hit up this link for excellent info on keyloggers on public computers and how to protect yourself:
We won't make any assumptions about why you may need this particular skill, but the fact remains that every geek should know how to traverse the Internet with the highest amount of security possible.
Aside from the safest method--which is using a connection that is not yours--you will need the ultimate in proxies...Tor. Tor is an onion-routing system which makes it 'impossible' for someone to find out who you actually are.
5. Bypass a Computer Password on All Major Operating Systems
Obviously you shouldn't use this to gain unlawful access to a computer. If you're a geek, however, you'll eventually end up in a situation where someone forgets their password, you acquire a machine with an operating system you cannot access, or similar situation.
See this tutorial for info on how to bypass the password on the three major operating systems: Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Knowing someones IP address is actually pretty useless in this case, but most people don't realize that. If someone is harassing you via AIM and you can't get them to stop, discovering their IP and sending it to them--with a nicely worded threat of law enforcement involvement should they not stop--is likely enough to send them scamping away with tail between legs.
So you need a nice spot to hide your blackmail personal files. You could, of course, bury them deeply within a series of random, useless folders, but there's always the chance of them being discovered. A password protected RAR is the best choice, but it's a bit obvious despite the most boring title you could give it.
A sneaky person would hide the important file behind a completely random and boring family reunion photo, where no person in their right mind would shift through.
This is one of those things you don't need to do (hopefully), but that you still need to know just for the sake of knowledge. A strong WPA password is very secure, but most people don't want to bother learning a convoluted series of letters, numbers, and symbols, instead opting for random everyday words.
The Internet is a vast place with a bit of everything. Whether you're curious about what your roommate is downloading, your kid is getting into, or any leeches living around you who've unscrupulously breached your wifi, knowing how to analyze network traffic is an invaluable skill.
A virus or other problem can lead to an MBR error, which will make it impossible to access install. Many users would simply become frustrated and reinstall, but not you! Every geek should know how to recover the master book record.
There will come some point in your life when a hard drive craps out sans warning. It could be due to a number of reasons--physical damage, file corruption, etc. There are computer service centers that would be happy to extract the data for a (hefty) fee; a true geek would be the one working at center, not taking his or her drive there.
The firmware that comes on your average mp3 player is intended for those who are scared of advanced features; often, the only audio settings available are a few prearranged EQs. If you're an audiophile--or simply frustrated with the lack of control over your music settings--Rockbox is the firmware for you. Open source and free, it can be installed on several different types of players and enables full control over what you listen to.
No geek can resist the allure of flashing the newest beta firmware onto their shiny smartphone. The byproduct of that is sometimes a bricked phone, which would leave many sobbing into their pillow at night. To avoid rendering your $400 gadget into a door stopper, learn the fine art of unbricking and then flash away.
As the method used to fix a phone will vary, this is the best place to start looking for answers: http://www.howardforums.com/
14. Replace a Laptop Keyboard
Keyboards get gummy after awhile. If you use yours a lot (aka: all day), then you probably eat over it at some point. Crumbs get into the keys and things are sticking, and before you know it, you need a new keyboard.
Streaming videos are officially in vogue. We're not going to make any assumptions about what type of videos you are streaming and may want to keep, but no matter what it is, any geek could rip them while sipping a Red Bull and watching the latest episode of BSG.
DRM is incredibly annoying. With many online stores now offering DRM-free mp3 audio files, it would seem it's not as big of an issue as it used to be. That is not not the case, however, with all videos bearing a DRM as well as music of a higher-quality than MP3.
Gaming consoles are notorious for having features you can't use simply because the manufacturer decided to lock them down. As a geek, you can't just be satisfied with the features they decided to give you. No, you have to crack that case open and take a peek inside. Every geek should know how to homebrew hack their system and unlock it's full potential.
18. Find a Website IP Address Without Web/Command Prompt Access
Some school admins think they're being sneaky when they lock down the command prompt and block all major IP search websites and block all the websites you actually want to visit. Of course, that is child's play for any geek.
First, to get a new command prompt, open Notepad and type: command.com. Then, save as "cmd.bat". You now have a command prompt.
Now, open the command prompt and type "ping http://www.website.com/" to find the IP address of that website.
Enter the website into the browser and you will officially have impressed all your friends.
19. Bypass School or Work Website Blocks
What is a horrific situation for an average computer user is a simple irritation for an everyday geek. To bypass a website block/filter, simply enter that websites IP address in instead of the actual site address.
20. Screw with Wifi Leeches
Nobody likes a wifi leech. At best, they're simply using up your valuable bandwidth. At the worst--and far more likely, they're stealing your identity and watching your activities. After watching your network and identifying the leech, use this trick to flip their browser upside down and let them know you don't appreciate the intrusion.
Everyone knows the normal, everyday digit system used. It takes a special--possibly psychotic person--to also know hexadecimal and binary number systems.
If your family always turns to you any time their computer hiccups, their DVD player needs fixed, or their home security system doesn't activate, it's only a matter of time before someone asks you how to hot wire a car. Wouldn't it be great to be able to answer them?
With so many small portable gadgets gaining more and more sophisticated web browsers, in addition to gaming systems like the PSP and DS, getting the most use out of your wifi is practically a geek necessity.
24. Carrying a Computer Cleaning Arsenal on Your USB Drive
A good geek prepares for their friends stupidity. No matter how many times you tell them to stop downloading porn, they keep doing it until their machine is so infected it can't drag itself into a grave. An arsenal of portable malware cleaners, a portable task manager, anti-virus, etc, will make those impromptu purging sessions all the easier.
25. Running an Operating System from a USB Thumb Drive
Most people don't even understand what the magical operating system is. As a geek, you should transcend that basic knowledge and have a small operating system on your thumb drive handy for those times you need computer access but don't know the password to a nearby computer.
26. Understand What "There's no Place Like 127.0.0.1" Means
A lot of geeks wear this shirt as a short hand code for their computer finesse--or maybe just to screw with other people who stare but cannot figure out what it means. No matter the reason, if you'd like an answer, check out the link below.
Sure, everyone knows about it and it's no longer cool, but if you're going to proclaim yourself as a geek, you should be able to read it full speed. Who wants to choke in front of the wannabe that learned to read it full speed and flaunts it in your face?
Linux is gaining an all around higher standing in the geeksphere, and it's bound to enter a conversation at some point (which will invariably end up turning into an argument). If you want to keep up, you'll need to understand the basic points of Linux, as well as the general info of all basic things.
For those times you venture from the air-conditioned, computer filled basement of your parents house (or something like that), look up at the stars and have yourself a Galileo moment. The stars may just be dots to many people, but with the handy website below, you'll be stopping man-belts and lions in no time.
Sure, you could just use auto mode like everyone else too afraid to learn what some letters and numbers mean, but then you wouldn't be much of a geek, would you? The oft-ignored dial on a camera is the key that unleashes the best quality photos possible, and every geek should be a whiz at using one.
It seems that in the plethora of geek websites, there always appears a joke about Mulder and Scully, the two main characters from the X-Files. If you don't know who they are, you'll be left in the dark, alone, contemplating what exactly it was you were doing in the 90's that you wouldn't understand the joke.
HTML is running the world (not really). Everyone knows some HTML and it makes them feel empowered. As a geek, you want to transcend that basic knowledge others share and know a little more. JavaScript is the answer--it is easy to learn if you're not actually interested in web programming, but simply curious, and it looks scary to anyone who doesn't know it.
Sure, most geeks wouldn't be caught dead with an iPhone, but what about your friends? You're the smart techie, they'll expect your to know how to unlock it.
Just because you don't want Mac on your PC doesn't mean you shouldn't know how to do it. Knowledge is power, right? Go ahead, use this to stump your friends and family.
If you purchase a ready-made PC, you can be sure of one thing--you're paying more than you should. Assembling your own PC isn't too hard, and is the first thing you should be aiming to accomplish as a geek.
Nothing like a little wifi on the move, eh? Tethering a smartphone means using the Internet on your laptop/netbook via your cell phone. Of course, the method to do this depends on your phone, but here's an article to get your started:
Home theater systems used to consist of a TV and a chair. Gone are those days of simplicity, however, and setting up a modern system can be pure mind-boggling horror. Where does the modulator go, why does the DVD player have no video and the cable box no sound?
Laptop LCDs are vulnerable to many different mishaps: accidental pressure spots, shadows, airsoft pellets.... No matter, there will come a point when you need to swap your LCD for a new one. Now, as a geek, you probably don't have an extended warranty. If that's the case, here are some excellent pages and pictures on replacing the display:
Can you believe these cost $50?! A geek will need one, because data crunching/DVD ripping/videos playing/rendering at the same times tends to cause excess heat. Instead of shelling out your hard earned dollars, make your own like so: http://www.instructables.com/id/Lazy-mans-laptop-cooler/
41. Unleash a Laser Pointer's full potential
A normal person uses a laser pointer to drive their dog crazy. A geek uses it to melt butter for their grilled cheese sandwich. To unless a laser pointer's full strength, crack open the case, fry the resistor with a hot soldering iron, then snap it back together and keep it away from flesh/eyes/airplanes. The pointer will burn out after a few hours, but what a fun few hours they will be.
Note: this is dangerous. Don't do anything stupid.
42. Keyboard Shortcuts
This will depend on your operating system and the apps you use, so there's no tutorial available. However, that is irrelevant--you're a geek, you can find them yourself. Shortcuts are the difference between a slow computer user and a geek. The geek will always will out in a speed contest, because they do practically everything from their keyboard.
43. Soldering Glasses Together
Nerds use tape on broken glasses; geeks use solder. 'Nuff said.
44. How to Execute a Shell Script
If you're a true geek, you'll need to do this at some point. Below are instructions on how to do so. Remember: always be cautious when running a script, you don't want your computer to turn into a door stop, now do ya?
Okay, so stealing isn't cool. Still, hacking is simply a misunderstood art, right? So hacking a pop machine isn't really stealing, because it's not about the pop, it about the pleasure of getting your way. Or something like that. (Newsflash, it is illegal, don't do it.) If you want to try your fingers at getting a free Coke, check out this link:
So you want to show off pictures of your dog and that girl you once met, but you want to do it in an uber geeky way. Any schmuck can go to Walmart and buy a digital picture frame for a grossly inflated price. But you...oh, you're too smart for that. No, instead you'll find an old laptop on eBay for $5 and turn it into a true work of art.
All the geeks are doing it.... Whatever. The case your flash drive came in is probably weak and most certainly plain. Why not jazz it up with your own unique style?
People are obsessed with these things. Altoids tins are durable, small, and just begging to be filled with LEDs, mp3 players, audio amps, and maybe some snuff. A good geek will find millions of uses for these little metal wonders. If you need a mental boost, however, here's some interesting links:
If your geekhood started in the 90's, then you probably have a least a few (dozen) cassette tapes still sitting around. Why not breathe digital life into them before they fall ill to mortal fate?
You don't want anyone getting into your files while you're gone. A normal password would be enough to keep most people out, but what if you got super-secret X files on your computer? You can lock your machine down with a USB drive via these instructions:
Wifi has taken the place of a wired connection in many homes, and with good reasons--you can go anywhere, no cables necessary. What about those...sensitive...activities that you'd rather the neighborhood script kiddie didn't see on your wifi? An Ethernet cable is your solution.
With digital files becoming the ultimate medium, many people have hundreds of gigabytes worth of music, videos, and pictures. You could keep them on a portable hard drive, but then you're have to take it everywhere, and only one person could use it at a time. The solution is a streaming media server, something no geek can live without.
If you're like most geeks, you can't live without your computers. They store your life in some poetic fashion, holding files you feel a personal connection with.... Anyway, if you are at work and suddenly realize you left an important picture at home (or you need blackmail material pronto), having a VPN ready to go will save you big time.
Is someone stealing your Netflix DVDs? Do you suspect it is a fat hairy man in his boxers taking them each morning? If so, you can get your proof using a couple webcams and a bit of software.
Controlling the lights in your house via computer is a great way to freak out the neighborhood kids ding-dong-ditching (assuming you wire up a Halloween scream motion sensor, also). If you reasons are less nefarious, you simply use it to turn on and off lights without having to life ye butt from thy seat, which is a good reason in itself.
This applies to the geeks who enjoy gaming. Setting up an emulation PC on your TV is a great way to relive those games of old.
57. Put LEDs Inside a Lightbulb
The days of hot incandescent and mercury-laden fluorescent are gone, and in are the days of long lasting, low heat, low consumption LEDs. As any good geek, you want to be able to say "I was doing X long before it became mainstream." Here's your chance--the following link will show you how to put an LED inside a lightbulb, something sure to stump your friends the same way Grandpa's ship-in-a-wine-bottle used to stump you.
How awesome is KeyBored? This little app gives all of your QWERTY keys a piano note. When you type, it sounds like an infant monkey punching a keyboard. If you've got some musical chops, it won't take you long to figure out the Star Wars theme or find a hidden musical message in Counter Strike control buttons.
Face it--you spend a lot of time at your desk. You might even have a few extra pounds and pallid skin to show for it. While those things are temporary, far to common and more serious is the carpal tunnel, eye strain, and back problems you'll develop from having a poor workspace.
Studies show that dual monitor increase work productivity by 30%. As a geek, you'll need a third monitor to equal the dual setup of a layman (if that makes sense). While any hack with a VGA port can add a second monitor, it takes a true geek to add a third (or more). This will vary based on graphics/OS, so hit up Google for a tutorial or two.
61. How to Convert a DVD to x264 (or XviD or DivX)
It might seem like child's play to you, but many individuals do not understand the fine art of converting a DVD into a digital file, let alone the careful skills it takes to achieve a happy balance between size and quality.
Ya gotta do it some time, so stop putting it off and man up. Flashing the BIOS on your laptop might seem scary (as it should--fear keeps you on your toes and prevents mistakes), but it's not (actually, it is, but if you even understand why you need to do this, you've gotta have at least a few chops by now). Warning--you can seriously bork your computer doing this!
TrueCrypt, my friends. Learn to use TrueCrypt. If you have ask why, you don't need it.
64. The Fastest way to Kill a Computer
It's said that you have to get into a killers mind to understand their weaknesses, right? Same goes for the unfortunate boobs who always kill their laptops. Here's a list of all the different ways you can accidentally kill a computer--arm your family and friends, and save yourself grief (because it's surely you they will call when something goes horribly, horribly wrong).
These days Pizza is as American as Apple pie. When a food becomes American you have to be prepared for some extremely unhealthy variations to rear their ugly heads and Pizza is no exception. Below I will exhibit 14 pizzas that many people would not hesitate to stuff down their gullet. [via thispiggy]
Want to combine hot dog day and pizza day at school all into one tasty glorious day? Eat a Hot Dog & French fry pizza!
Turkish Kebab Pizza
I love Kebabs and I also love pizza, who knew they would go together so well. Too bad the presentation was horrible; they need to learn a lesson or two from the fast food giants!
Snack Bomb Pizza
Feel like a pizza, but aren’t in the mood for traditional toppings? Why not covere your pizza with your favorite snacks and combine snacking with well, getting fat. This pizza features french fries, sliced corn dogs, Doritos and KFC Popcorn Chicken.
Happy Meal Pizza Since McDonalds no longer offers pizza, I guess we will have to take it upon ourselves to make a ‘Happy Meal McPizza’.
The Corn Dog Pizza Every time I take a road trip any where in the USA, I always stop at random gas stations and stuff my face with corn dogs. For some reason the idea of placing full sized corn dogs on my pizza has always evaded me… until today that is.
Junk Food Pizza This guy reminds me a lot of the Snack Bomb pizza but some of thee toppings are a little more appetizing to me than Doritos. The Junk food pizza is a large pizza packing potato skins, mini tacos, Jalapeno poppers, onion rings and Mozza Stick.
Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza You’ve heard of deep dish pan fried stuffed pizza, but have you EVER seen anything this deep dish and juicy? This Chicago style stuffed pizza is so thick you should almost call it lasagna.
Pizza Roll Up
Ever since somebody decided to pour ranch dressing all over their pizza and turned salad dressing into the McChicken Sauce of the pizza world, I’ve been steadily watching my stomach take over the space previously occupied by my weiner. This pizza takes an all meat pizza, soaks it in Ranch dressing then rolls it up like a fruit roll up.
Deep Fried Pepperoni Pizza One of my favorite pizza’s in the world is a New York style slice of Pepperoni pizza dripping with oil. I always wondered who would top it, that was until I found these pictures. Let me introduce to you, a deep fried pepperoni pizza. Yumm!
How to Make Deep Fried Pizza
The Meta Pizza Awww how cute, this pizza gave birth to little baby pizzas and is offering them to us as a topping on itself. How selfless.
Hamburger Crust Pizza
At first I thought this pizza was just burnt, but after further investigation, some genius created a pizza that had a complete ground beef burger crust. Bring on the Atkins dieters!
Gravy Pizza What do you do when you get sick of using Ranch dressing as dipping sauce for your pizza? Step it up a notch and soak that grub in gravy, that’s what.
The Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger This Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger is pure genius. Take two meat pizzas and squash a ton of beef, bacon, and cheese in between those two pizzas and pack in probably 2000 calories of heart exploding goodness per slice.
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Google me? I'll Google you! Google has become the de facto public record these days but most people remain in relative obscurity there and/or fear of what past indiscretions Google will expose to people who search for them. [via readwriteweb]
Today Google released a product, called Google Me, that aims to change all of that. For a price - though not a monetary one.
Starting today, searchers who enter only the word "me" in the search box will be given an opportunity to set up or edit their Google Profile.
When someone searches for a name that matches a Google Profile, that profile may now be displayed at the bottom of the search results page.
Google Profiles have a lot of potential as big, standardized online identities. They are tied to online accounts on other websites and they contain lots of interesting information about people. There's a lot of potential for outside developers to build interesting things on top of these profiles. See, for example, Glenn Jones's awesome project Identify, something we wrote about this weekend.
We're a little concerned, though, about yet another way that Google is going to gather more information about us as individuals.
A Deal With the Devil?
Ask almost anyone if they would like to be able to change the Google results for their name and you'll get a hearty "Yes." What would they mean by that? Probably that they would like to have the ability to remove unsavory information about themselves from the Google index.
That is certainly not what Google Me offers! The program offers people control over their search appearance only in as much as they are willing to give Google more information about themselves. Google's Joe Kraus explained to us that up to four Google Profiles will appear at the bottom of a results page. For people with common names, the more information you've filled out in your Google Profile - the more likely your profile will be selected for display.
Thus the offer of more control over your Google persona is an illusion - you only get to hope to influence it by giving up even more information about yourself to Google. "You don't like how much we know about and tell other people about you? Well you can change that...by telling us more about you."
The offer isn't even that exciting so far. By placing the Profiles at the bottom of search results pages Google leaves the primary source of information about us, the top 5 results on the page, unchanged.
We'll probably take this opportunity to spruce up our Google Profiles, in large part in hopes that the data will prove useful for future data-centric innovation. When asked about that, Google's Kraus told us that "Google doesn't do a lot of forward looking things; we serve our users' needs and then we iterate."
We simply don't believe that. We think that a discussion of Google's long-term interests in accessing personal data and our interest in letting them do so would be a good idea.
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Time and money are two things Americans can't afford to waste. So it's not surprising (though slightly disappointing) that the drive-thru is considered one of the greatest inventions of all time. There's even a study to prove it. In 2005 and 2006, researchers asked 600 adults and teens why they eat so much fast food. Three of the top four responses? It's quick, easy, and affordable. Taste came in third, with only 69 percent of respondents listing flavor as a factor in their fast-food love. [via yahoo]
Drive-thru foods may be convenient and easy on the wallet, but they're loaded with unhealthy fats, added sugars, carbohydrates, and sodium. Translation: They're no bargain at all when it comes to your health.
But jam-packed schedules and a dismal economy make the occasional drive-thru meal a part of life. That's why Eat This, Not That!studied the open-air menu boards and compiled a list of the worst items out there, plus better alternatives. Avoid these dietary land mines and save more than a few minutes and a couple of bucks—how does up to 20 pounds in a year sound?
WORST MILKSHAKE McDonald's Large Triple Thick Chocolate Milkshake 1160 calories 27 g fat (16 g saturated fat) 168 g sugar 510 mg sodium
You'd be better off eating two Quarter Pounders than sucking down one of these belt-breaking shakes. Steer clear of milkshakes at the golden arches. If you have to have a frozen dessert, order a vanilla ice cream cone to save more than 1,000 calories. Make swaps like that every week and watch the pounds melt off!
Eat This Instead! Vanilla Reduced-Fat Ice Cream Cone 150 calories 3.5 g fat (2 g saturated fat) 18 g sugars 60 mg sodium
Check out our list of the 20 worst drinks in America to see other equally atrocious beverages. It's possible to lose more than 30 pounds of fat a year--just by focusing on what you drink!
WORST VALUE-MENU ITEM Burger King Spicy Chick'n Crisp Sandwich 450 calories 30 g fat (5 g saturated fat) 810 mg sodium
Lean economic times make the value menu more appealing than ever. And that's fine—most dollar menus have a few sensible items. But if you eat this sandwich often, saving a few bucks will quickly result in a surplus around your waistline.
Eat This Instead! Whopper Jr. without mayo 290 calories 12 g fat (4.5 g saturated fat) 500 mg sodium
WORST MEXICAN ENTRÉE Taco Bell Grilled Stuft Beef Burrito 680 calories 30 g fat (10 g saturated fat) 2120 mg sodium
Ditch this and order two grilled steak soft tacos (or any menu item) "fresco" style, and the Bell boys will replace cheese and sauces with a chunky tomato salsa, helping to cut calories in half and fat by at least 25 percent.
Eat This Instead! Two Grilled Steak Soft Tacos, Fresco Style 320 calories 9 g fat (3 g saturated fat) 1100 mg sodium
WORST HOT SANDWICH Sonic Chicken Club TOASTER Sandwich 742 calories 46 g fat (11 g saturated, 0.5 g trans) 1,742 mg sodium
How can a chicken sandwich pack so much fat? Start with a fried chicken breast, add bacon, cheese, and mayo, and you're there. Add to that the sodium equivalent of 53 saltine crackers, and you're looking at a serious dietary disaster. Ditch the chicken for beef and save 10 grams of fat.
Eat This Instead! Sonic Burger with Mustard 540 calories 25 g fat (9 g saturated fat) 730 mg sodium
WORST CRISPY CHICKEN SANDWICH Hardee's Big Chicken Fillet Sandwich 800 calories 37 g fat (6 g saturated fat) 1890 mg sodium
A general rule: Avoid sandwiches with words like "big" and "monster" in the name. Hardee's Monster Thickburger is another example—it comes in at 1,420 calories, 108 grams of fat, and more saturated fat than you want in 2 days.
Eat This Instead! Charbroiled BBQ Chicken Sandwich 415 calories 5 g fat (1 g saturated fat) 1175 mg sodium
WORST ROAST BEEF SANDWICH Arby's Roast Beef and Swiss Market Fresh Sandwich 810 calories 42 g fat (13 g saturated fat) 1780 mg sodium
The unwholesome trinity of mayo, Italian sub sauce, and processed Swiss cheese make this sandwich the clear loser in the battle of the beef. The Super Roast Beef replaces mayo with a low-cal spicy pepper sauce and totals 370 fewer calories.
Eat This Instead! Super Roast Beef 440 calories 19 g fat (7 g saturated fat) 1061 mg sodium
WORST DRIVE-THRU KIDS MEAL Burger King Kids Double Cheeseburger and Kids Fries with Small Coke 950 calories 42 g fat (17 g saturated fat, 4.5 g trans fats) 1,410 mg sodium
BK's dubious double burger earns the distinction of being the fattiest meal for an on-the-go kid, with nearly a day's worth of saturated fat for the average 8-year-old.
Eat This Instead! 4-piece Chicken Tenders with Strawberry-Flavored Applesauce and unlimited water 280 calories 11 g fat (3 g saturated fat) 440 mg sodium
These strips deliver more grams of fat than four DQ Homestyle Burgers, and nearly 300 more calories than a Large Strawberry CheeseQuake Blizzard.
Eat This Instead! Grilled Chicken Salad with Fat-Free Italian Dressing 280 calories 11 g fat (5 g saturated) 1,550 mg sodium
WORST DRIVE-THRU BREAKFAST SANDWICH Jack in the Box Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit 740 calories 55 g fat (17 g saturated fat) 1430 mg sodium
Skip biscuits at all costs. This one contains nearly a full day's worth of saturated fat (check out the 12 worst breakfast foods in the supermarket for other must-have tips on starting your morning right--rather than with a rude awakening!). Instead try the Bacon Breakfast Jack--16 grams of protein makes it a surprisingly good way to start your day.
Eat This Instead! Bacon Breakfast Jack 300 calories 14 g fat (5 g saturated fat) 730 mg sodium
WORST SIDE Arby's Large Mozzarella Sticks 849 calories 56 g fat (26 g saturated fat) 2730 mg sodium
Anything with as much saturated fat as a Triple Whopper should not be called a side. If it's cheese you crave, order the French Dip ‘N Swiss or Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwich instead to save more than 500 calories.
Eat This Instead! Martha's Vineyard Salad with Light Buttermilk Ranch Dressing 389 calories 14 g fat (5 g saturated) 923 mg sodium
WORST POTATO SIDE Jack in the Box Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges 720 calories 48 g fat (15 g saturated fat, 12 g trans fats) 1,360 mg sodium 48 g carbohydrates
You probably don't need us to tell you that bacon, cheese, and fried potatoes are not a healthful trio. What's worse, though, is that Jack in the Box cooks in trans-fatty vegetable shortening, which has been linked to heart disease. It's no secret that French fries can ruin an otherwise sensible meal, but these things take destruction to another level entirely.
Eat This Instead! Mozzarella Cheese Sticks (3) 240 calories 12 g fat (5 g saturated fat, 2 g trans fats) 420 mg sodium
WORST SALAD Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips Salad with Buttermilk Ranch Dressing 800 calories 60 g fat (12 g saturated fat) 1745 mg sodium
With 17 more grams of fat than Taco Bell's Fiesta Taco Salad, this is the worst salad from any drive-thru. The dressing alone sets you back 42.5 grams of fat.
Eat This Instead! Chick-fil-A Southwest Chargrilled Salad with Fat-Free Honey Mustard Dressing 360 calories 8 g fat (3.5 g saturated fat) 1170 mg sodium
WORST DESSERT Dairy Queen Large Strawberry CheeseQuake Blizzard 990 calories 39 g fat (24 g saturated fat) 114 g sugars
This creation combines ice cream, strawberry syrup, and hunks of cheesecake for a high-fat dairy dessert. If you're set on a Blizzard, go bananas. A small Banana Split Blizzard has 7 fewer fat grams than the small Oreo, Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter Cup, or Strawberry Cheesequake flavors. Or stray from the Blizzard and satisfy your sweet tooth with a small chocolate sundae instead to save major calories and fat.
Eat This Instead! Small Chocolate Sundae 280 calories 7 g fat (4.5 g saturated fat) 42 g sugars
WORST FISH SANDWICH Burger King BIG FISH Sandwich with Tartar Sauce 640 calories 32 g fat (5 g saturated fat) 1540 mg sodium
Fish is only healthy when it's not breaded and fried in partially hydrogenated oil. Here, the fry treatment translates into a bunch of unhealthy fat and 108 grams of carbohydrates.
Eat This Instead! Whopper Jr. without mayo and Garden Salad 365 calories 12 g fat (4.5 g saturated fat) 1230 mg sodium
WORST CHEESEBURGER Hardee's Monster Thickburger 1,420 calories 108 g fat (43 g saturated fat) 2,770 mg sodium 230 mg cholesterol
This burger is called "Monster" for a reason. It's got the caloric equivalent of almost six McDonald's hamburgers, the saturated fat equivalent of 43 strips of Oscar Mayer bacon, and the sodium equivalent of 84 saltine crackers. You'll almost satisfy your entire day's worth of calories in one sitting, so opt for the significantly less monstrous Low-Carb Thickburger, instead, and save 1,000 calories that you can allocate to more deserving and nutritious fare.
Eat This Instead! Low Carb Thickburger 420 calories 32 g fat (12 g saturated fat) 1.010 mg sodium
WORST "HEALTHY" FOOD Arby's Roast Turkey and Swiss Market Fresh Sandwich 708 calories 29 g fat (8 g saturated fat) 1,676 mg sodium
Avoid any sandwich made on honey wheat bread: Two slices contain a staggering 361 calories and 68 grams of carbs. Cut those in half by sticking to a sesame bun.
Eat This Instead! Chicken Cordon Blue Sandwich (grilled) 488 calories 18 g fat (4 g saturated fat) 1,560 mg sodium
WORST GRILLED CHICKEN Jack in the Box Chipotle Chicken Ciabatta 690 calories 28 g fat (9 g saturated fat) 1850 mg sodium
Unlike many other fast food restaurants that have made the shift away from trans fats, Jack in the Box's menu has a number of items with more than 5 grams of the stuff—and some with up to 13 grams of it! There's no"safe" level of trans fats, but the recommendation is that you don't eat more than 2 grams of the heart-harming junk per day. Add fries to this sandwich, and you'll take in three and a half times your daily limit.
Eat This Instead! Chicken Fajita Pita 300 calories 9 g fat (3.5 g saturated fat) 1090 mg sodium
THE WORST DRIVE-THRU MEAL IN AMERICA Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger with Medium Natural cut Fries and 32 oz Coke 2,618 Calories 144 g fat (51.5 g saturated fat) 2892 mg sodium
Of all the gut-growing, heart-stopping, life-threatening burgers in the fast food world, there is none whose damage to your general well-being is as catastrophic as this. Consider these heart-stopping comparisons: This meal has the caloric equivalent of 13 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Donuts; the saturated fat equivalent of 52 strips of bacon; and the salt equivalent of seven and a half large orders of McDonald's French fries!
Eat This Instead! Famous Star with Side Salad with Low Fat Balsamic Dressing and 32 oz Iced Tea 685 calories 38 g fat (10.5 g saturated fat) 1520 mg sodium
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Science has proven that much of the universe is made up of badassery. You can find it all around you, including in something as simple as water. You just need to know the tricks to unleash it.
So here are some badass things you can do with water that seem to cross the line between science and magic. And best of all, they're all completely safe! [via cracked]
#5.
Water Can Explode, With No Explosives
OK, this one is incredibly dangerous.
This involves "superheating" water, by getting it way beyond the boiling point without having it actually boil. It's easier than you think, since actual boiling, that is bubbles escaping hot water, can only be achieved with a "seed" (say a point, preferably sharp, where bubbles can form). Normally, minerals in the water and imperfections in the surface of the container are more than enough for this to happen.
However, distilled water has no such minerals, and if you put it in a relatively smooth container and stick it in the microwave, the water can be heated beyond the normal boiling point and will remain perfectly still.
Then, you toss in an object in and watch it explode:
You're watching the boiling process happen all at once, in a fraction of a second, in a way that will result in boiling water flying back into your face. Do we need to tell you that if you must try this at home, to only do it with adult supervision and proper safety equipment? Do we really?
Because we have a feeling that no matter what we say, some of your are going to try this, and that at least one of you, for some reason, will do it nude.
#4.
Water Can Climb Walls and make Bridges
Yeah, this one is also pretty dangerous. We're off to a terrible start here.
Remember that creature from The Abyss that was made of sentient, free-moving water? Well you can create a little version of that thing, and all you need is two adjacent containers of water and a bunch of electricity.
While this may sound far fetched, its actually quite simple. You see, to get the water from the cathode beaker to the anode beaker... actually, it's completely bizarre and we think the guys who discovered this aren't really sure why it works either. It seems to have something to do with electrical fields and the "unique structure of water."
But it does work, and apparently requires some mellow music in the background:
A guy with the chick-magnet name Elmar Fuchs, from the Graz University of Technology in Austria, discovered the phenomena. This was presumably while bored and playing with electricity and water, right down the hall from the "Fork and Light Socket" testing room. They found that he could create a free-standing bridge of water that could be stretched to a whopping 25 millimeters--not quite an inch (so don't be expecting water bridges to be the new rage in sky-walks any time soon).
Since electricity and water generally don't mix, in addition to the two beakers and water you may also need some balls as big as a bull elephant's. Or the brain of a garden slug. Either way we figure it's just a few years until scientists can make a water sculpture of Ed Harris.
#3.
The Water and Whiskey Anti-Gravity Switcheroo
Speaking of learning the magic of science via alcohol, here's the kind of trick they teach in Bartender School.
This one happens with the help of the only liquid in the known universe with more magical properties than water: whiskey. Pour a shot glass full of whiskey, and another full of water. Slap a playing card over the water, and turn it over on top of the whiskey, like so.
Pull the card aside slightly, and the water and whiskey, instead of mixing, will neatly switch places:
This does require some patience though, since the whole thing can take 10 minutes or more.
It works because whiskey is 40 percent alcohol, which is less dense than water. When the water glass is inverted and the card is moved to allow a tiny gap, the water trickles through, unseen. The whiskey, being lighter, is forced out of the lower glass into the upper. Scientists compare it to the jocks kicking the nerds out of the dorm in Revenge of the Nerds.
#2.
Make Instant Snow From Boiling Water
This one requires it to be really, really freaking cold outside. Like way colder than it probably gets where you live. But get a day way below zero, boil a cup of water, and toss it into the air. The results are as cool as shit:
If it gets to be 30 degrees Fahrenheit or so below zero, the water vapor will freeze instantly. That's why the water has to be boiling, as the vapor has a much higher surface-to-mass ratio (the same reason you will freeze to death slower than say, a mouse).
All of those little heated particles of water cool very rapidly when exposed to super cold air, forming ice crystals in an instant. BUT ONLY IF IT IS COLD ENOUGH.
We do the all caps there because once again we fear somebody going out on what's considered a cold day in California (say, 60 degrees) and tossing a pot of boiling water toward their friends. And then suing us.
#1.
Instant Ice
Here is a trick that works on the same principle but doesn't require you to live in Minnesota. And the results are actually just as bizarre.
You may have even seen this principle in action before, if you have ever felt the gut-wrenching sadness associated with putting a beer in the freezer to cool it down quickly, only to forget it for three hours. It looks fine when you pull it out, but when you open it you find flat-beer flavored slush has instantly formed inside.
Now imagine how pissed we'd be if it wasn't just a shitty Heineken Light.
The deal is that super-cooled water works just like superheated; unless there is a "seed," no ice crystals will form, so the water stays liquid beyond the normal freezing point. With water, the "seed" can be introduced just by tapping the side of the container (or in the case of the beer, creating the delicious bubbles). Behold as the water freezes solid in seconds, like you're the damned Iceman from X-Men:
This actually works better with beer, especially Corona (because it comes in a clear bottle, so is easier to see). Put the bottle in the freezer either in the morning or overnight. Once it has been in there for hours, all you have to do is open it. As soon as the bubbles begin to form, the water in the beer will immediately crystallize. Break the bottle and you'll have a delicious beercicle that will last for hours!
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A lack of sunspots and solar flares has made the Sun its dimmest for nearly a century, claim scientists.
The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. [via telegraph]
At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period.
Last year, it was expected that it would have been hotting up after a quiet spell. But instead it hit a 50-year low in solar wind pressure, a 55-year low in radio emissions, and a 100-year low in sunspot activity.
Evidence from tree trunks and ice cores suggest that the Sun is calming down after an unusually high point in its activity.
Professor Mike Lockwood, of Southampton University, believes that as well as the Sun's 11-year cycle, there is an underlying solar oscillation lasting hundreds of years.
He suggests that 1985 marked the "grand maximum" in this long-term cycle and the Maunder Minimum in the 17th century marked its low point.
"We are re-entering the middle ground after a period which has seen the Sun in its top 10% of activity," said Professor Lockwood.
"We would expect it to be more than a hundred years before we get down to the levels of the Maunder Minimum."
He added that the current slight dimming of the Sun is not going to reverse the rise in global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
"What we are seeing is consistent with a global temperature rise, not that the Sun is coming to our aid," he said.
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Want a job? Investment banks aren’t hiring right now, but if you’re interested in the new wave of energy exploration (underwater or on wind-swept ridges), in digital tech (like game design and 3D sportscasts) or even in building spaceships, we have some leads for you. Welcome to the PM job fair. [via popularmechanics]
1. Undersea Welder
Wet welders work in offshore oil fields as deep as 400 feet, building and repairing undersea infrastructure. (Sorry, kids, you can’t buy this exclusive PM action figure, devised by Jeremy Madl at Mad Toy Design. It’s ours.)
Arc welding underwater with electrodes carrying 185 amps might seem unwise, but deep-diving wet welders do it every day. They build and repair pipelines and oil platforms—in January 2009 there were 313 new bids worth $484 million in the western Gulf of Mexico alone. Dusty Harrison, placement director for a Florida school called the Commercial Diving Academy, says, “There’s no telling how much work there is,” thanks to a decade of hurricanes and a boom in oil exploration. During the Gulf ’s hurricane season, some welders work in West Africa and Asia.
How to Do It: Oil companies hire dive outfits with welders certified by the Association of Commercial Diving Educators. Schools such as the Commercial Diving Academy and New Jersey’s Divers Academy International have four- to five-month certification courses. Swimming ability and a high school diploma are prerequisites; scuba diving isn’t.
Earning Potential:Right out of school, you’ll pull in $17 to $20 an hour. “After two and a half or three years, that typically doubles,” Harrison says.
2. Zero-Energy Home Architect
Some houses now being built make as much energy as they consume. They rely on equipment such as solar cells to generate power, while using efficient design to keep consumption down. Michelle Kaufmann, an architect in Oakland, Calif., is bringing the zero-energy idea and other forms of sustainable design to prefab houses such as her mkLotus, a small, one-bedroom home. (Kaufmann worked for architecture legend Frank Gehry before founding her own firm in 2002.) Kermit Baker, an economist for the American Institute of Architects (AIA), says, “Sustainability and architecture are now intertwined.” In a recent AIA survey, architects reported that 47 percent of their clients in 2008 used green building elements. Despite the housing slump, Kaufmann says her 15-person staff is swamped: “We have more projects than ever before.”
How to Do It: Earn a master’s from one of the 61 U.S. architecture programs that offer classes with a green bent. (Yale has a joint degree in architecture and environmental management.)
Earning Potential:Nationally, staff architects earn about $45,000 to $100,000. Architects who own their firms can make much more.
3. Combined Heat and Power Mechanic
Jim Bondi is an old-school electrician who embraces new-school energy production. After eight years working on projects that included solar installations, he joined Pennsylvania-based E-Finity, designing combined heat and power (CHP) plants. A CHP unit saves energy by burning fuel to produce electricity and using the excess heat for climate control and producing hot water. “With the nation’s rising energy demand and the increase in environmental stewardship, CHP is an economic and environmental no-brainer,” Bondi says. The Department of Energy hopes the industry will grow enough to add a million workers by 2030.
How to Do It: CHP suppliers provide training. Electricians and mechanics with experience on jet and helicopter engines, which are similar to CHP turbines, find their skills are a natural fit.
Earning Potential:Salaries are $30,000 out of the gate; they top out at $75,000.
4. Energy Engineer
When the Coronado naval base in San Diego wanted to shrink its energy consumption, it turned to the consulting firm Tetra Tech, whose energy-efficiency staff has grown sixtyfold in the past decade. “The naval base is like a small city, with office buildings, a supermarket, bowling alleys,” says Linda Hunter, a Tetra Tech energy engineer who was brought in to boost efficiency on the base and its two aircraft carriers. Energy engineers may recommend new air-conditioning equipment or solar-powered streetlights, or they may design entire renewable-energy systems, such as harnessing methane from a landfill to generate electricity.
How to Do It: Earn a degree in chemical, mechanical, electrical or civil engineering—or a newer specialty called energy resources engineering. A Certified Energy Manager (CEM) certification is useful; it demands expertise in subjects like indoor air quality codes and standards, thermal energy storage systems and energy economics.
Earning Potential:Salaries start in the $50,000 range; with a master’s, you’ll get bumped up to around $70,000. Managers can pull in more than $100,000.
5. Digital Detective
Red teamers focused on digital security are hired to hack into computer systems to uncover vulnerabilities. The Department of Homeland Security plans to quadruple its cyber-security staff this year. Mark Mateski, a red teamer and the managing editor of Red Team Journal, says, “You’ll find a lot of red teamers working in war gaming and cyber security in the government-contracting world.” Even bigger growth may be coming in the private sector: “If your business’s survival depends on cyber security, you’re going to start looking for unconventional answers,” he says.
How to Do It: Programming skills are a must; a degree in computer science is helpful in landing a job. The Center for Cyber Defenders Program at New Mexico’s Sandia National Laboratories offers specific red-team training.
Earning Potential: $60,000 to start on the government and government-contract side; six-figure salaries are common in the private sector.
6. 3D Sports Tech
3ality TS3 Camera Rig
Many fans already say they get a better view of sports events watching TV than sitting near the action, but 3D cements the argument. At least, that’s the view of Steve Schklair, CEO of Burbank-based 3ality Digital Systems, a company specializing in 3D technology and production. “If you’ve got a camera down low next to the green and the golfer is putting uphill, you can actually see the roll of the green while he’s putting,” he says. Ray Hannisian, the company’s lead stereographer, uses software running complex sets of algorithms to fine-tune and synchronize the depth readings of as many as 10 cameras during events. The technology raised its profile during this year’s national college football championships, which 3ality shot and broadcast live to 63 movie theaters in January. Such broadcasts will soon be coming to a living room near you: American consumers have already bought 1.4 million 3D-compatible televisions, and every major electronics manufacturer is now producing such sets. Of course, the best-known 3D arena remains moviemaking. More than a dozen 3D movies are scheduled for release in 2009.
How to Do It: You can master 3D still photography on your own using a program like HumanEyes Capture 3D Software. Also, take classes in digital videography (art schools and university film programs offer them), then look for a job as a 2D cameraman. “With digital technology, you can learn a lot about 3D while you’re actually shooting,” Hannisian says.
Earning Potential:Salaries start at $50,000 and can go as high as $150,000 for television work. For the elite earners in 3D movie production, Schklair says, “There is no limit.”
7. Wind Explorer
Siting a wind farm takes engineering chops, anemometers, GPS skills and, sometimes, zinc oxide on your nose.
When civil and environmental engineer Mathias Craig arrived in Nicaragua in 2004, he found a stretch of Caribbean coastline where transportation consisted of horses and boats and there wasn’t a single light bulb. “It was like the Wild West 200 years ago,” he says. As founders of the nonprofit Blue Energy Group, Craig and his brother organized volunteers to build wind turbines to catch the Caribbean trade winds and supply several com-munities with electricity. Hugh Piggott, a Scotland-based wind-energy pioneer, has worked on similar projects in Zimbabwe, Peru and Sri Lanka. “One of the places wind energy is expanding most rapidly is the developing world,” he says. “The number of people in the world who don’t have utility power is actually increasing.” That’s because the population in many regions is growing faster than grid lines and new power plants can be constructed. Craig and his staff of 32 have already installed nine turbines in Nicaragua. They’ve also scouted sites in West Africa, and they’re in talks to expand into Honduras and Guatemala.
How to Do It: Texas Tech University’s Wind Science and Engineering Research Center offers a summer internship for undergrads and has one of the country’s few Ph.D. programs in the field. However, it’s possible to jump in without an advanced degree. Piggott teaches turbine-building seminars worldwide; Blue Energy has an apprenticeship program in Nicaragua.
Earning Potential:Nonprofit firms based in developing countries pay from $1000 to $4000 per month. Annual salaries in the U.S. currently range from $35,000 to $55,000.
8. Fabricator of Carbon-Fiber Spaceships and Planes
“We’re like the shipbuilders of the modern era,” Reuben Garcia says. As head composite fabricator at XCOR, an aerospace company in Mojave, Calif., Garcia is deeply engaged in the race to make ships capable of carrying tourists into space. Garcia and his team take the plans drawn by XCOR’s engineers and make them real, using lightweight carbon composites similar to the materials used everywhere from Formula One race cars to high-end fishing rods. Composite structures are built up layer by layer, and Garcia’s high-tech creations are shaped largely with such low-tech tools as squeegees filled with epoxy resin. XCOR, which plans to conduct test flights to space by 2011, is situated in a tiny town that has become a hotbed for spaceship and small-airplane construction. “You can walk into any of the 20 or so companies here and have a job in an hour,” says Jon Sharp, owner of Nemesis Air Racing, which builds racing planes.
How to Do It: Many companies will train newbies. However, community colleges can offer a head start with introductory courses in composite fabrication.
Earning Potential:Pay starts low but can climb to $20 per hour. Managers who go on to earn engineering degrees can make up to $100,000 a year.
9. Battery Engineer
Will Gardner was a freshly minted college graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering when he was hired by Duracell. “I had no idea what a battery company could want with a mechanical engineer,” Gardner says, but he was drawn to the field, which combines elements of electrical engineering, chemistry, materials science and, yes, mechanical engineering. “You need to know something about each of them in order to succeed,” he says. Today, Gardner leads a team that designs, builds and tests batteries for hybrid electric cars at A123 Systems, a fast-growing firm based in Watertown, Mass. A123’s clients include Chrysler, GM and automotive upstarts Think and Better Place, and the company’s staff has jumped from 150 to 2000 in the past three years. Ann Marie Sastry, who directs the University of Michigan’s master’s program in energy systems engineering, says, “The DNA of the automobile is changing, which means the composition of the workforce has to change.” Sastry also runs her own battery company, called Sakti3. “We’re hiring,” she says. “It’s a great time to be a battery guy.”
How to Do It: A bachelor’s in math, materials science or engineering is essential. Sastry’s program is very highly regarded: “Students are getting jobs even before they finish their studies,” she says.
Earning Potential:To start, $50,000 to $60,000; at the senior level, $95,000.
10. Independent Video-Game Designer
It took Kyle Gabler just four days to come up with the concept for his first video game, and, frankly, it didn’t seem like a blockbuster waiting to happen: The protagonists are gobs of goo. But in the growing world of independent game design, execution is key—and Gabler created a look that has drawn comparisons to filmmaker Tim Burton, supporting a story filled with intrigue and humor. The prototype became an indie hit, and in October 2008 Gabler launched the Nintendo Wii game World of Goo (above). In an era of sequels (a dozen Medal of Honor games, eight iterations of Grand Theft Auto), the industry needs fresh ideas—and supplying them has traditionally been a designer’s main job. But as Simon Carless, publisher of the industry website Gamasutra and a former lead designer, says, “Now designers also need practical skills. You need to be able to make the game.”
How to Do It: More than 200 schools offer game-design degrees, including the Art Institute of Portland, which graduates students with a B.S. in Visual and Game Programming. But consumer tech is so good now that you may be able to go it alone. “You can make stuff in your bedroom that’s as good as what people are making professionally,” Carless says. Art, music and coding skills are all critical.
Earning Potential:Staff designers start at an average of $62,000, according to a survey by gamecareerguide.com. On your own, it’s feast or famine. Gabler was incomeless while designing World of Goo. In January, it became the 10th-best-selling PC game on the market.
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Have you ever wondered what foods have the highest Caloric counts? Have you ever wondered what they foods had the highest calorie count per $1? Well, for the most part these are synonymous. The following is a list of some of the worst foods in the world for you - in health terms - as well as a breakdown of exactly how you get what you are paying for. After reading this, you ‘ll mostly likely vow to never eat these menu items again. [via manolith]
This menu item was long-considered the most unhealthy thing you could eat at in an American restaraunt, until after tons of bad press, Chili’s removed it permanently from their menu. We felt compelled to add it to this list, because what American can rightfully said they’ve never had at least one whole Awesome Blossom in their life?
The ‘Crisper Tacos, while relatively low in the saturated fat department, make up for this by having an extremely high calorie and sodium count. Probably best avoided, in favor of a water and some raw veggies…
This “aussie-tizer” features more sodium and more fat than any other item still known to be featured on a menu. It is also offers more calories per $1, than any other food we could find.
Named by Men’s Health as the worst food item in the world, this shake is embarrassingly unhealthy. You can expect BR to remove it from their menu by year’s end.
Cold Stone Creamery’s Gotta Have it Founder’s Favorite
While relatively better than the Oreo shake, this desert is still ridiculously high in saturated fat: 42grams! Don’t give into this tasty treat’s subliminally advertised name; it actually ought be avoided.
Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce
These beer-battered tacos are bad on so many levels. They constitute more than an individual’s daily caloric intake, more than 2x the suggested daily fat intake, and over 2x as much sodium as a healthy adult should consume in a day.
“Fresh Chicken and Broccoli” sound like adjectives to describe a healthy meal. It is however, the dubious name of a pasta dish at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain. And they all but fail to mention the overwhelming layer of cheese on the dish - read the fine print!
Talk about pulling the wool over the public’s eyes; tuna melts are supposed to be healthy. At Quizno’s they are not. But somehow this is featured on the brand’s healthy eating menu. Questionable…
In terms of grams of fat, this is one of the worst items for you in America. If you are going to eat this, try to share it with some friends…about 6-8 of them.
The Cheesecake Factory Chris’ Outrageous Chocolate Cake
What is more outrageous about this cake: the price, or how bad it is for you? Much like Outback, The Cheesecake Factory is not open about the nutritional information for many of their food items. A good rule of thumb is do not eat something if you do not know how bad it is for you.
Chili’s Smokehouse Bacon Triple-the-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressin
One of the best indicators that something is bad for you, is when in the name are these three words in succession:”triple” and “the cheese”. With that said, it’s no wonder this item has more than double what The American Heart Association recommends for daily sodium intake (2400).
“I want my ‘baby back, baby back, baby back…”, is most likely what you’ll be signing if you find yourself eating this on a regular basis. The only problem, is that it will be in reference to your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse that left you due to your gaining a ton of weight. When I spoke to an Outback manager about the nutritional data, all he could do was advise against ordering the ribs if I was concerned about my diet.
This is one of the fattiest food items on this list. Although the pizza referenced in this study is meant for two people, it is not uncommon for an individual to have a ‘personal’ pizza to their self. So, it’s not just a clever name. This ‘pie definitely scores scores extremely high in fat, saturated fat, and sodium: eat at your own peril.
Even though these sandwiches now typically go for more than $6.00 - even though the original burger’s name a stab at ‘expensive burgers’ a few years ago - it packs quite the caloric bang for your buck. At 234 calories per $1, it is towards the higher end of the spectrum. Unfortunately for many, because of the negative publicity this sandwich has received in the last year or so, it has been largely pulled from Carls Jr. menus.
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The Mystery: On December 5, 1945, five torpedo bombers took off from a US Naval base in Florida for a routine training flight and were never seen again. That's just one of about 70 such incidents that have fueled the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, a roughly
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Listen To The 911 Call
