9 Notable Buildings With Secret Floors

Secret floors have long captured the imagination; conspiracy theorists love to imagine that government buildings keep their darkest secrets within sealed-off stories. In the 1960 Twilight Zone episode “The After Hours,” the ninth floor of a department store is where the mannequins mysteriously come to life. Meanwhile, the hidden 7th-and-a-half floor of the Mertin-Flemmer building in New York was a portal for John Cusack into the actual brain of John Malkovich in the movie Being John Malkovich.

While these mysteries may have come from a writer’s imagination, there are notable buildings that have whole secret floors right under your nose—if you know where to look.

-Mental Floss

We fear death, but what if dying isn't as bad as we think?

Research comparing perceptions of death with accounts of those imminently facing it suggest that maybe we shouldn’t worry so much about our own end.

“The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else,” wrote Earnest Becker in his book, The Denial of Death. It’s a fear strong enough to compel us to force kale down our throats, run sweatily on a treadmill at 7am on a Monday morning, and show our genitals to a stranger with cold hands and a white coat if we feel something’s a little off.

-The Guardian

What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

22 Facts About Ernest Hemingway

There is little dispute that Ernest "Papa" Hemingway is one of the most famous, beloved and influential writers in history.

Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, to Clarence and Grace Hemingway. He was the second of six children. In his lifetime, he penned seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additionally, three novels, four short story collections and three non-fiction works have been published posthumously.

-Neatorama

Ultra Rare Never Dream of Dying Bond Girls Cards

Pussy Galore is perhaps the finest example of a so-called “punny name” in pop culture. Not since Dickens has the punny name game been played so well…. and just when you think it can’t be repeated, they release a Bond movie called Octopussy.

Little did the public know, there was going to be a whole slew of double entrendre, nominally determined Bond Girls in a never-made Bond film called Never Dream of Dying. It was to be released in 1978, but it was scrapped and Moonraker was released the following year in its place. It’s a widely held belief that it never made it to theaters because of some hardcore sexual situations in the film. The director, Tinto Brass, sought to capitalize on the disco-sex culture of the late seventies, but perhaps went a bit too far.

EON Productions chalked it up as a loss. Lesson learned. All evidence that it was ever made never made it out of MGM studios; merchandising never had a chance to hit the shelves…. except these cards. I present to you the ultra rare Never Dream of Dying Bond Girls Cards. Stare in awe at the only remaining physical evidence of the Bond film that never was.

-Flashbak

People Feel Powerful With Wide Cars and Big Watches - Consumers want to feel dominant through their belongings

It turns out that drivers of aggressive sports cars and big trucks may be compensating for more than their physical anatomy: Scientists say people who buy cars with wide front ends could be expressing their desire to appear dominant.

Research published Tuesday in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that people like to buy products, such as cars and watches, with wide faces since those products convey some sense of dominance. The authors of this study found that consumers rated cars and watches with wide faces high in measures of dominance, which translated to high desirability.

-Inverse

TELS PÈRES TEL «VICE»

Le magazine contre-culturel canadien s’est mué en global media en se tournant vers la vidéo et le grand reportage, sacrifiant au passage son gourou viré facho.

En 1994, Vice n’est encore que Voice of Montreal, un fanzine gratuit rédigé par deux punks, Suroosh Alvi, toxicomane en sevrage, et Gavin McInnes, jardinier cartooniste, financés par un programme québécois de réinsertion sociale. Ce qui n’empêche pas Shane Smith, dit «Bullshiter Shane» (Shane l’Embrouille), troisième larron en charge du «marketing», d’appeler régulièrement ses deux compères au milieu de la nuit. «On va être riches, on va conquérir le monde», susurre-t-il dans le combiné.

-Libération

RÉJEAN DUCHARME, ÉCLIPSE DÉFINITIVE

«L’invisible Réjean Ducharme disparaît», titrait mardi le quotidien de Montréal le Devoir, rappelant combien l’écrivain et dramaturge québécois fuyait la lumière et les médias. L’insaisissable Réjean Ducharme est parti tout aussi discrètement, à 76 ans, dans la nuit de lundi à mardi, un peu plus d’un an après la disparition de sa compagne depuis près de cinquante ans, Claire Richard. On connaissait deux photos de lui en tout et pour tout : un vieux portrait d’identité et un peu récent Polaroid où on le voit debout dans la neige avec ses chiens, pris par sa compagne.

-Libération

Jusqu’au bout du monde avec Despentes - La trilogie «Vernon Subutex» trouve une fin brutale et magistrale

La France est sale, elle pue, elle s’effondre, se perd dans ses angoisses et ses contradictions, à en croire Virginie Despentes, romancière punk, chroniqueuse sur l’acide d’un présent qui s’enfonce, et qui poursuit son étude des moeurs d’une société en décrépitude avec le troisième et ultime chapitre de son Vernon Subutex. Une conclusion qui fait rimer brutal avec magistral. Forcément.

-Le Devoir

This teen stalker stole Queen Victoria’s panties and lived in Buckingham Palace chimneys for a year

One of the earliest celebrity stalkers in recorded history lived in the walls of Buckingham Palace by day and stole Queen Victoria’s panties by night.

-Timeline

Stephen King has spent half a century scaring us, but his legacy is so much more than horror

It’s nearly impossible to overstate how influential Stephen King is. For the past four decades, no single writer has dominated the landscape of genre writing like him. To date, he is the only author in history to have had more than 30 books become No. 1 best-sellers. He now has more than 70 published books, many of which have become cultural icons, and his achievements extend so far beyond a single genre at this point that it’s impossible to limit him to one — even though, as the world was reminded when the first trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of King’s It smashed records for most-watched trailer in a single day earlier this year, horror is still King’s calling card.

-Vox

The race to build the world’s first sex robot

The $30bn sex tech industry is about to unveil its biggest blockbuster: a $15,000 robot companion that talks, learns, and never says no.

In the brightly lit robotics workshop at Abyss Creations’ factory in San Marcos, California, a life-size humanoid was dangling from a stand, hooked between her shoulder blades. Her name was Harmony. She wore a white leotard, her chest was thrust forward and her French-manicured fingers were splayed across the tops of her slim thighs.

Harmony is a prototype, a robotic version of the company’s hyper-realistic silicone sex toy, the RealDoll. The Realbotix room where she was assembled was lined with varnished pine surfaces covered with wires and circuit boards, and a 3D printer whirred in the corner, spitting out tiny, intricate parts that will be inserted beneath her PVC skull. Her hazel eyes darted between me and her creator, Matt McMullen, as he described her accomplishments.

-The Guardian

Why female sex robots are more dangerous than you think

I was going to start this article about robots with a reference to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. But then I spoke to Blay Whitby, a philosopher concerned with the social impact of emerging technologies and the trivialisation of robots in the media - and I decided otherwise.

Because when it comes to robots, it’s simply no use discussing them through the lens of our favourite film or science fiction book. Cliched as it may be, the future is here; we can and should talk about reality. Within a matter of decades we’ve become entirely reliant on technology and robots are increasingly part of our everyday lives. Now it is estimated that realistic sex robots will become more common within a decade.

There are currently four manufacturers making life-like robotic dolls worldwide, but experts predict that in coming decades they could become widespread, used not just as a fetish, but for sexual therapy and as companions for lonely, disabled or older people.

-The Telegraph

Blank & Jones - I Love You (Late Night Mix) par bRu7-eXeC