From seat bels to crumple zones, cars have included an increasing number of safety features over time. But the arc of history is never a single, unbroken line, and Aaron Brown decided to take a look at some safety ideas that didn’t go anywhere:

• Pedestrian airbags (pictured). The idea was that a driver could hit a passerby and then go their merry way without losing too much sleep.
• Rocket brakes. These were jet rockets built into the hood of the car. If a vehicle had to brake in an emergency the rockets could be activated to generate reverse thrust.
• Headlight wipers. While popular in Europe they never caught on in the United States.
• Heartbeat sensor. This feature, announced by Volvo in 2007, would let a driver know before they got into the car, if somebody was already in there. The idea seemed to be that it would be a check against hidden axe murderers.
• Safety windshields. These were for those who weren’t wearing seatbelts and could possibly be ejected from the car. Instead of shattering the front windshield was designed to pop out.

The full list of ten is fascinating, and includes pictures and Youtube links so you can judge the abandoned safety features for yourself. Find it here.

Source: Jalopnik

Matt Slater took a look at the steps that the NFL is taking to reduce head injuries in American football:

• Kick-offs have been moved further up the field and helmet-first tackles have been banned.
• These and other measures have reduced the rate of concussions by 36%, but there are still multiple concerns about brain injuries resulting from play.
• One idea is to ban helmets which give a false sense of security to players.
• While paradoxical, the hope is that by doing so players would be more careful in the kinds of risks they took.
• It would, for example, require the end of the three-point stance where the player’s feet and a hand are on the ground, with the crown of their head pointed towards the opposition.
• Players would instead likely stand upright, and there would be fewer crunches that are trademarks of the game.

Read more about what the NFL is doing, and how helmets came about in the first place over here.

Source: BBC

The historians of Reddit discussed why French fries became such a common pairing with burgers:

• White Castle was the first fast food chain to serve french fries next to burgers in 1921.
• They may have gotten idea from WW1 soldiers returning from Europe who had gotten a taste for fried potatoes in Belgium.
• Fries had the advantage of being cheap to make, were not frequently made at home (since few deep fried), and had a taste that was neutral and complimented meat.
• Moreover they were both fast and cheap to make, and didn’t require cutlery to eat.
• By the time the MacDonalds brothers opened their first restaurant, getting a side of fries with a burger was expected by patrons.

Read more about the history of fast food and French fries over here.

Source: Reddit

Nikita Redkar wrote about the struggle to be a male model:

• Budding models are flown to New York where they’re given money to pay for expenses such as rent, food, and clothing.
• This money is offered to them as a loan and they are expected to pay it back. With interest.
• However most modelling jobs don’t pay anything – even high end ones such as being photographed on the cover of Vogue.
• The few times models are paid it may not be in cash, instead it maybe something like clothing.
• The debts that models enter into thus build up quickly and can be up to $20,000 after just a few months.
• Since the shelf life of most models is just a few years, they don’t have a lot of time to pay that debt down.
• A model’s success will depend, in part, on the trends of the day.
• These days models with a “relatable, boyfriend-handsome” look are popular as it is thought that they can appeal to both males and females.

You can read more about what it’s like to be in an industry and find a documentary about the subject here.

Source: Fusion

Jurassic World has done rather well at the box office. Jacob Bacharach provided his inputs into how the park was managed (spoilers):

• Park attendants chose not to kill the Indominus Rex because of the amount of money spent on it. Yet the $26 million it cost pales in comparison to the possible tort damages the park would be liable for.
• While the park staff claim they’ve hired the best structural engineers, it seems that the enclosures are easily damaged with typical day to day wear and tear.
• Jurassic World was a resort with hotels. Yet when guests were asked to take cover most stayed outside.
• Letting kids drive their own bubble cars around live dinosaurs seems inadvisable.
• Designing those bubble cars to withstand the force of a bullet rather than, say, the crushing jaws of a dinosaur, or even an inadvertent stomping by a dinosaur, seems ill-advised.
• The signals on the radio would often break up indicating a lack of repeater stations.
• There seemed to be no trash cans.

The full article has much more and is a very entertaining read. You should get to it here.

Source: Jacob Bacharach

Via: Marginal Revolution

Shawn Achor looked at the argument for taking more vacation:

• Americans are taking less vacation than ever before.
• This is a pity since research indicates that those who take all of their vacation are 7% more likely to get promoted than those who chose not to take 11 or more days of it.
• The type of vacation matters. Those that are badly planned and stressful don’t refresh employees as much.
• The ideal vacation is planned a month in advance, discussed with co-workers, and takes place far away from your home city.
• Your managers will thank you for it – most associate personal happiness with productivity, and 31% want employees to take vacation to be more happy.

You can read more about the research and what it shows here.

Source: Harvard Business Review

Wolves, like humans, are social creatures. The Economist took a look at the benefits that being group oriented had for wolves:

• One would think that those who live in larger social groups are more prone to getting sick from one another.
• However studies of the wolves of Yellowstone indicated that the size of a pack didn’t affect the likelihood of getting a disease.
• Moreover those in a larger pack were more likely to survive getting a disease, possibly because other wolves could help hunt.
• The researchers also found that age matters. Having an older wolf aged six or more increased the likelihood that a pack would win a fight against a rival pack.
• The effect was large. If two equal sized packs went to war, the side that had an aged wolf would have a 150% greater chance of surviving.
• Since the average wolf lives four years, having a six year old veteran probably means that the older wolf has more tactical combat experience, shepherding its pack-mates to fight better.

Read more about the wolves here.

Source: The Economist

Kathryn Vasel wrote that the legalization of marijuana in Colorado has led to a booming housing industry:

• House prices in Denver, Colorado, increased by 10% in March, the second best, behind San Francisco, out of cities across the United States.
• It’s not just tourists and patients coming for weed. The industry has created jobs in dispensaries, security, and electrician companies.
• Unsurprisingly those interested in technology have also been drawn to the state, causing Colorado to become a potential Silicon Valley like tech hotspot.
• There are some downsides. At least one seller had trouble selling their house because the neighbours grew an alarming amount of pot.
• And if more states begin to legalize it the boom might come to a halt.

Read more about the impact that the legalization is having on Colorado’s economy, and how it could potentially lead to a bust, here.

Source: CNN

Via: Marginal Revolution

On Reddit historians discussed the oldest debts still being paid:

• The loans that the British took out to fight Napoleon in the early 1800s are still being paid back.
• Debts related to the South Sea Company of the early 1700s – a British public/private partnership given monopoly over trade with South America – continue to be paid.
• But the oldest bonds still being serviced are likely those issued by a Dutch water board entrusted with maintaining the condition of local dykes in 1624, almost 400 years ago.
• The currency that this debt is paid in has changed from Carolus Guilders to Flemish Pounds to Dutch Guilders to Euros, tracing the rise and fall of empires.
• Many of these debts are set up as perpetuities – they will pay interest until the end of time – and so could continue to be paid for a long while yet.
• Usually such debts are taken out when the government can get abnormally low interest rates – for example when citizens buy war bonds in a patriotic fervour.
• In such cases inflation will quickly eat away at the value of the interest that has to be paid, making the debt a great deal for the government.

Find the full discussion here.

Source: Reddit

Jessica Hullinger looked into some of the design decisions that influence the way that airports are created:

• There is a “golden hour” – the first sixty minutes after a passenger clears security – when passengers are in a self-indulgent mood and are more likely to spend. Shops are arranged to take advantage of this.
• Every additional hour spent at an airport after that is worth $7 in additional sales per passenger.
• To increase the length of time that travelers spend shopping airports are trying to speed up the check in process. The number of monitors with flight information is also increasing to give flyers the confidence to shop without worrying about missing their flight.
• Happily this includes speeding up the process of security. Every 10 minutes spent waiting to be frisked by officers reduces a passenger’s spending by 30%.
• Carpets are used because they create a feeling of comfort. Comfortable shoppers spend 7% more on retail and 10% more on duty-free.
• Some airports will require passengers to walk-through duty free shops with multiple twists and turns to get more merchandise in front of them.
• But it’s not all about sales. To give passengers a sense of orientation, terminals try to provide a clear view of the runway the moment passengers get past security.
• Airport signs usually use Helvetica, Frutiger, or Clearview for their font because of how readable they are. The font is big because every additional inch to a letter increases its viewing distance by 40 feet (12 meters).
• The colour system of a sign may change in between terminals. For passengers trying to get to another terminal this is an indication that they’re headed the right way. For those who aren’t the sudden change will create a feeling of discomfort which will cause them to pause and see what’s wrong.
• Sculptures will be used as navigational elements. Passengers can say they’ll meet each other by certain statues or paintings.

The full article has more details and will change the way you look at your surroundings the next time you fly. Read it here.

Source: Mental Floss