There’s a scientific reason New Year’s Eve is generally terrible

In the movies, New Year’s Eve is always full of excitement and intrigue, attractive people in sparkly outfits, and surprise kisses at midnight. So why does real-world New Year’s Eve always seem to consist of losing your friends in a crowded bar, standing in line forever for drinks, and waiting an hour in the cold for a ridiculously priced Uber?


-Washington Post

Basement stories: the underground shrines of Manhattan supers – in pictures

They manage everything that happens in their apartment buildings. But when these New York caretakers are off the clock, they hang out in subterranean lairs they’ve kitted out with paintings, plastic flowers and even budgies. Here are the best reno projects featured in Basement Sanctuaries.

-The Guardian

35 Ultimate Psychology Facts

Amazing Psychology facts which you don’t even find in google search.

These are psychology facts which are taken from the most experienced and top level psychologists.

 16. Almost 70,000 thoughts a day hit the average human mind.

-Psych Tronics

Albert Camus on Happiness, Despair, the Art of Awareness, and Why We Travel

 

“There is no love of life without despair of life.”

“Those who prefer their principles over their happiness,” Albert Camus (November 7, 1913–January 4, 1960) wrote in his notebook toward the end of his life, “they refuse to be happy outside the conditions they seem to have attached to their happiness.” Indeed, our principles tend to harden into habits and although habits give shape to our inner lives, they can mutate into the rigidity of routine and create a kind of momentum that, rather than expanding our capacity for happiness, contracts it. In the trance of routine and principled productivity, we end up showing up for our daily lives while being absent from them.

 

-Brain Pickings

Coolest Archaeological Discoveries of 2015

2015 has been a year of compelling discoveries. From sunken ships to megalithic stones, colorful mosaics to intact tombs, 2015 gave us a rich view into the past. Here are some of our favorite archaeology stories of this year.

-Discovery

The Village of Monsanto

At first glance, Monsanto certainly does not seem a fit representative of the entire country. For one thing, most Portuguese houses are not sandwiched between gigantic boulders. Defined by its landscape, Monsanto hangs off of a mountaintop overlooking the Portuguese countryside with views for miles. Monsanto has hardly changed in hundreds of years, and enjoys distinction in Portugal as a living museum. Due to this standing, Monsanto cannot be changed and has retained its classic village charm.

-Atlas Obscura

The Porn Business Isn't Anything Like You Think It Is

Midway through the second season of Silicon Valley, the HBO series that so skillfully spoofs the Bay Area tech scene, the plot turns to porn.
Inside the offices of Pied Piper, the fictional startup at the heart of the show, a shaggy-haired coder hacks into a rival company. The rival, he discovers, has landed a $15 million contract with a porn outfit called Intersite, also fictional, agreeing to build software that will compress Intersite’s videos and send them across the ‘net. Pied Piper’s CEO, Richard Hendricks, is bemused. “I don’t understand,” he says. “How does Intersite have all this money?” “It’s pornography,” says the guy with the highfalutin facial hair.

-Wired

Porno, femmes et libido

Non, porno ne rime pas qu'avec macho. Beaucoup de femmes - une sur quatre -, en consomment aussi, parfois en cachette, parfois pas. Pause en a rencontré cinq, pour faire le point sur une consommation taboue, méconnue et néanmoins bien réelle.

-La Presse

10 Books That Prove The Victorians Were Kinky

You probably think of Victorians as having been incredibly prude. But the truth is they could be just as depraved as the rest of us—they were just far better at hiding it. Once you get inside their books, you quickly find out what they were really up to behind closed doors.

-Listverse

20 Great Escapes that will make you feel small

Immense landscapes, huge mountain ranges, vast forests and massive waterfalls are all things in nature that can make you feel small, in a good way. That’s why we listed 20 great escapes that can make you feel small and let’s you fully absorb the surroundings of where you are standing.. pure solitude and peace...

-Where Cool Things Happen

10 Interesting Facts about Christmas and Its Traditions

It's the most wonderful time of the year, but have you ever wondered about some of the things we see and embrace at Christmas? Check out these 10 interesting facts about the December holiday have been gathered below...

-Vintage Everyday

Chasing Waves in Hawaii - Three Women Learn to Surf with the Masters

The early light showed Hanalei Bay Kauai to be a windswept jumble, with not one surfer out on dawn patrol. Looking through the glass doors of our beach side rental, I surveyed the frothy mess of ocean beyond the palm trees and rain soaked grass, wondering if we’d find any waves that day.

-Go Nomad

50 Things To Do Before You Die

From the new edition of Make the Most of Your Time on Earth, we’ve picked 50 absolutely unforgettable things to do before you die. These are experiences you’ll rush to tell your friends and family about, and will always remember yourself. It’s time to start ticking things off your bucket list…

-Rough Guides