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Trust no one—not even yourself Ever wonder what happens to a cult when its doomsday prediction fails? Or why certain people fail upwards? And what's this got to do with you?
It is December 20th, 1954. There are 16 people sitting in a small house on the outskirts of Chicago. The majority of them are waiting for the clock to strike midnight, because that’s when they expect the arrival of Sananda, the alien from the planet Clarion coming to rescue them before a giant flood kills every living thing on the planet. Some of them are not expecting Sananda, however. Social psychologist Leon Festinger and two research assistants are in the crowd to study what happens when prophecy fails, and they’re logging the apocalyptic event into their notebooks on a minute to minute basis. Let’s read Festinger’s notes as we transition…
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Meet the Yugo: the worst car ever made How do you double a Yugo's value? Just fill the tank.
The Christmas party that stopped a world war They defied the orders of their superiors, laid down their rifles, and celebrated Christmas with the enemy in No Man's Land.
The dark origins of our favorite Disney stories The fairytales Disney based their classics on certainly weren't PG-13.
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The best of ’80s action movie power ballads If they aren't about love, they at least feature giant choruses that'll have you pumping away in the gym at 254% efficiency.
Have you noticed how nearly every action movie of the ’80s combined high body counts and tough guy quipping with some of the most romantic, uplifting soft rock ever put to record? Beefcake stars fire machine guns with one hand and ram faces on giant meathooks with the other, and then all this intestine-ripping action suddenly explodes into a reverb-heavy slice of John Parr crooning about how he’s going to have “no more lonely nights” because his girl “hits the right spot.” If these power ballads aren’t going on about love, and warming your heart quicker than a microwave, it’s at least got a giant chorus that’ll have you pumping…
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Vampires have nothing on the sinister blood-drinking fairies who inspired them Long before Dracula ever hit the shelves, Scottish folklore painted the first image of a vampire-like creature and it was terrifying.
8 incredibly bizarre postage stamp controversies You wouldn’t think that the little strips of paper your grandmother used to send you your birthday check could cause riots, but you would be wrong.
10 absurd inventions that prove you should never drink while inventing These are all real inventions and the illustrations are taken directly from their official patents.
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15 embarrassing “before they were famous” commercials From phone sex to bathroom products: vintage TV commercials featuring some of today’s biggest A-list celebrities.
“Before They Were Famous” posts are generally ten a penny. But we’re not interested in the “Oh look, Brad Pitt was still better looking than us even during those awkward teenage years” or “Wow, young Russell Brand has got a MASSIVE head!” photos. No, we’re after the commercial break’s equivalent of embarrassing family photos, which juxtaposition with later fame and manicured branding create a delicious effect. Evangeline Lilly for Live Links (phone sex) Before she was a Lost star, Evangeline Lilly was on G4TV. And before that, she was the model for this ad for some kind of phone sex thing. It’s even got that cheesy porn music. Oh my.…
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From ballet to nylon: the strangest things to cause riots Some riots will be leaving historians scratching their heads forevermore.
10 cryptid monsters that turned out to be hoaxes A lot of these are silly as hell, too.
Trust no one—not even yourself Ever wonder what happens to a cult when its doomsday prediction fails? Or why certain people fail upwards? And what's this got to do with you?
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The penny-pinching bible: 500 frugal tips guaranteed to save a fortune Twitter's frugality guru presents ingenious life hacks that will set you on track to possibly retire in the future.
Hi folks, Alec Parsimonious here. I am currently on track to retire (around 2076) and wanted to share some helpful money saving tips I have picked up along my journey to early retirement. As a quick background, I live in McAllen, Texas and have a current net worth of $9,835.34. My hobbies include watching Netflix all day. Stop using toilet paper Toilet paper is a really big expense. The average American spends over $350/year wiping their butt. A great way to cut these costs to the bone is by using washable rags instead of toilet paper. I detailed the economics of using washable rags instead of toilet paper in a…
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9 weirdest jobs held by celebrities before they became famous We all have to start somewhere, and sometimes that somewhere is Hike Master at an Indian burial ground.
The greatest bank heists in history The greatest bank robberies in history often involve complex plans and organization, and sometimes a good dose of sheer dumb luck.
Jamming with Elvis and toking with Dylan: what it was really like to tour with The Beatles Author and journalist Ivor Davis saw Beatlemania spread from coast to coast while on the road with The Fab Four in the mid 60s.
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9 weirdest jobs held by celebrities before they became famous We all have to start somewhere, and sometimes that somewhere is Hike Master at an Indian burial ground.
Most of us have had lousy jobs and famous people are no exception. Of course, there are your ordinary crappy jobs and then there are those jobs that are truly weird – either because you would feel kind of uncomfortable around anyone who did them, or they don’t fit what we know about the person at all. So let’s roll up 9 of the weirdest jobs held by celebrities before they became famous – because we all have to start somewhere. Tim Allen Watch this video on YouTube The job: Drug Dealer Yes, despite his wholesome every-man family guy persona, Tim Allen was once just a sleazy drug dealer. Hell,…
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A brief history of toilets Going to the bathroom used to be a lot weirder. And in some countries, it still is.
The lottery curse: 8 lottery winners who lost everything Explore the archetypal ways lottery winners end up down and out, through eight real stories.
True story: how I blew a 500k settlement on booze and prostitutes The story of how I got hit by a Dodge minivan and pissed away 500k on booze, whores, and designer furniture in an epic adventure.
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20 Sex Ed questions that prove kids are stupider than ever Either that or they've started teaching Sex Ed to toddlers.
Teachers like to whine online, and that includes the sex ed ones. At least we imagine they’re hot. But when they’re making fun of their students and we get to see the stupid questions they’re fielding, we have to wonder about the youth of today. Kids are either getting stupider or they’ve started teaching sex ed to 3-year-olds. How many sperm go in the vagina at a time? What did breasts ever do for us, any way. Get a job, breasts! The playcenter Condoms for GAY Can condom holes help let the STDs out and protect you? You don’t have a right to judge her – she has a job!…
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Does snuff porn actually exist? A look at the history of porn's most enduring legend.
The quest to put our sleeping brain to work New study suggesting we can do basic processing and, perhaps, even math in our sleep, is a big step forward.
11 unintentionally funny local TV commercials Whether it’s poor acting or ridiculous dialogue, local commercials are sometimes so bad they are unintentionally hilarious.
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How gambling and laziness led to the creation of the sandwich The tale of how a Georgian era British statesman became one of the first food influencers ever.
Everybody likes a good sandwich, right? Whether it’s a sky-high pile of pastrami between two pieces of fresh rye bread or the wonderful mashup of Vietnamese and French food in a banh mi, the sandwich remains a popular choice for hungry eaters around the world. What most people don’t know is the fascinating history behind the creation of the sandwich. It’s a tale of a British statesman’s obsession with gambling and drinking and how it led to one of modernity’s favorite foods. The British statesman who became a food influencer John Montagu was born in 1718, the son of Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke. His father died when John was four,…
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Does Trump have a time machine? Tesla's stolen research, and some freaky coincidences. Here's my theory.
How to make body language your superpower and get hired for any job Body language is more important than spoken words. We explain the science + demonstrate a hypothetical job interview.
By Jah was this man high: Bob Marley’s bizarre legacy Followers of his religion are "physical immortalists" and their bible is a rambling psychedelic dog's breakfast titled the "Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy."
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10 surprising movies you didn’t know were actually Westerns We challenged the movies to a duel and confirmed it: they may not look the part, but they are Westerns.
When we hear the word “Western,” certain images and storyline tropes come to mind: cowboys riding their trusty steeds, epic shootouts with rolling tumbleweeds in the background, and the fearless exploration of uncharted territory. We challenged the movies to a duel to identify movies that may not come to mind when you think of Westerns, but are significantly influenced by or are tributes to the gun-slinging films your grandpa can’t get enough of. From talking bugs to space pioneers discovering a mysterious native population, we present ten movies that take Western themes far away from the Wild West. A Bug’s Life Watch this video on YouTube How’s this for a…
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10 of the most memorable weapons from the movies From Chigurh's creepy farm equipment to one groovy chainsaw arm.
Are you being followed? How can you tell if you're being followed? Don't bother looking for men peering around corners. The secret to identifying a tail is all in the shoes...
Meet the “Virtuous Pedophile” network protected by Twitter The "Minor-Attracted Persons" movement is led by a Canadian doctor who demands a "P" in "LGBT," and Twitter is accommodating them.
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10 scary seafood facts that will make you rethink your diet There’s a whole lot of scary stuff that goes along with the seafood on your plate, and we're not just talking about the mercury.
Swordfish with a side of dead marine mammals? Shrimp with a little slave labor on top? A Sprinkling of a illegal poaching and habitat degradation over your caviar? There’s a whole lot of scary stuff that goes along with the seafood on your plate. Read on for some of the most shocking facts about seafood. Farm-raised salmon: dyed pink – and one of the most toxic foods in the world In the wild, salmon take on an almost red flesh because of the krill in their diet. When salmon is farm-raised, they don’t have access to that krill and their flesh is actually white or gray. Manufacturers therefore dye the…
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In the movies, only evil psychopaths listen to opera Cinema's most heartless bastards, gritty gangsters, and cruel sadists all have this one thing in common.
Smells like nostalgia: this is why smells trigger old memories You take a whiff and a flood of vivid memories from twenty years ago rush through you.
This 1950s science kit for kids came with real uranium What’s even better than a nice refreshing huff of DDT? Giving children uranium to play with to their heart's desire, of course.
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10 of the dumbest million dollar ideas of all time Completely useless ideas and inventions that still made a ton of money thanks to a gullible public and great marketing.
Not every product has to be useful or worthwhile to earn a ton of money. Sometimes, all you need is a really stupid idea and some great marketing to strike it rich. Below are 10 really terrible ideas that actually made a ton of money. Pet Rock Watch this video on YouTube Would you pay $4 for a rock that has googly eyes glued onto it? Well, if you were around in 1975 you just might have. Created by Gary Dahl, the pet rock was marketed as the perfect pet (no feeding, no walking, no grooming!). For some reason, this idea appealed to shoppers, and profits for the item topped…
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10 freaky animals with real super powers Many superheroes are based on things found in nature—for a reason.
7 scandals PornHub doesn’t want you to know about PornHub believes itself above all laws—including those against child pornography. No wonder 946k people have signed to shut it down.
6 incredibly stupid cons that actually worked You are being hunted by polish priests and need to pay the CIA $160k to protect you. These are the cons that make Nigerian 419 scammers look like Ocean's Eleven.
