World’s Strangest

Placebo buttons are buttons that actually do nothing except give the user an illusion of control. The advent of computer-controlled traffic signals make the walk buttons at pedestrian crossings on heavily trafficked streets obsolete. By the late 1980s, most (but not all) walk buttons in New York City have been deactivated yet people push them anyhow, [...]

Editor’s Note: Reader Andrea recently asked if we could cover the history of traffic lights. Here’s what we had in the archives. –Jason We’re still stumped on that whole chicken vs. egg question, but there’s one thing we do know for sure—traffic congestion predates the automobile. Long before the invention of the internal combustion engine, horses [...]

how to take drugs safelyIf you live in New York City, you may find some very controversial fliers which provide the details on how to shoot heroin complete all the tips on how to prep the dope and inject it into your arm. In other words, they released a Junkie’s Guide. I can even picture [...]

President Obama is slated to let Congress (and the rest of us) know how the country’s doing in his first State of the Union address on Wednesday night. Here are the answers to a few questions that might come up when the address storms every channel of your television. Why does the President give a State [...]

Editor’s Note: Last fall, Kara Kovalchik wrote a story titled ‘8 Not-So-Famous Firsts,’ which covered such topics as the first auto insurance policy and the first wet t-shirt contest. This year, in our newest semi-regular feature, she’ll be teaching us about all sorts of underappreciated firsts. This week’s topic: aviation. Enjoy! Stewardess The term seems hopelessly outdated [...]

In comparison to the worldwide murder rate, cases of cannibalism are rare, but they stand out because of the horror they instill in the rest of us. In addition to the six cases featured in the post 6 Horrifying Modern Cannibals, I found these six cannibal stories from all over the world. 1. Nikolai Dzhurmongaliev Nikolai Dzhurmongaliev [...]

I like to think that I’ve picked up a lot of random trivia as a writer. I often blurt out trivia at really inappropriate moments in casual conversation. I like to think that I would rock on Jeopardy!, but I have taken the show’s sample audition quizzes before, and the fact is… I suck. However, [...]

I was driving around my neighborhood recently and discovered this creepy looking house that the city is getting ready to move across town. Still not exactly sure why (seems demolishing it would be better), but it got me thinking: what other big structures have been moved and why? Here are five that have interesting histories. [...]

A bit of nerdy interactive fun for you today: the New York Times has an Interactive Map of Netflix Queues covering 100 “frequently rented” titles from 2009, including very heavily-rented titles like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and less-rented titles like Happy-Go-Lucky and Adventureland. The map is interactive, allowing you to slide or step through [...]

The experimental Quest to Learn School in New York City opened last September. In the hopes of preparing students for high-tech careers, it teaches students almost entirely though video games: This year’s 72-student class is split into four groups that rotate through five courses during the day: Codeworlds (math/English), Being, Space and Place (social studies/English), The [...]