Cracked took a look at things that we don’t realize are actually mass produced:

• Two songwriters are responsible for many hit pop songs. Songs such as Kesha’s Tik Tok, Taio Cruz’s Dynamite, Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl and many, many more were written by just one person.
• For several popular young adult novels, a committee comes together to determine what young people may like. A writer is then brought in to write the book from an outline. The committee then alters it to maximize its chances of success. Even movie studios sometimes get to edit books to make for easier theatrical adaptions.
• Famous celebrity personalities are sometimes determined by “reputation managers”. After Miley Cyrus hired Larry Rudolph she did a sexually charged performance at the VMAs which included a phallic object that was safe to show on TV and ignite discussions. This is exactly what Britney Spears did after she hired the same person a few years ago.
• Online reviews are sometimes mass produced by companies that are hired to manage the online perceptions of restaurants, authors, and products.

The full article covers more surprising items, and is an entertaining read. Find it here.

Source: Cracked

See those unrecognizable people sitting with the elite at the Oscars? Ever wonder who they are? Julie Miller has your back:

• Some of them are nominees for the technical categories as well as friends and families of the celebrities.
• However the organizers also hire about 300 ‘seat fillers’ whose sole purpose is to fill empty seats when guests go to the bar or washroom, or if there’s an unappealing seat behind technical equipment.
• To become a seat filler one must submit a passport and job application with photos of the evening wear they have purchased and will wear to the event.
• It’s mostly those who have connections with somebody at the Oscars who get the position.
• Unlike the real guests, seat fillers have to show up for the evening ceremony at 9 am.
• Seat fillers aren’t allowed to talk to any of the stars, and aren’t allowed to use the open bar.
• If the camera happens to pan to them then seat fillers must be stoic and there must be no indication that the stars surrounding them don’t know them.
• The 14 hour experience is considered volunteer work and thus is unpaid.

Read more about the experience of one fake guest, why some seat fillers can be abusive, and how the rules are bent over here.

Source: Vanity Fair

All you can eat restaurants make you unhappy writes Alice Robb:

• In one experiment economists found that the higher the price that people pay for the same food at an all you can eat restaurant, the more they eat.
• However since all you can eat restaurants charge an upfront flat fee the amount of consumption shouldn’t vary by the price paid for entry.
• But people are susceptible to the ‘sunk cost’ fallacy, where they feel that if they pay more they somehow have to make it ‘worth’ more.
• In fact those who ate more ultimately enjoyed their meal less as they overstuffed themselves.
• Thus at all you can eat restaurants it’s possible the more you pay the less happy you’ll be with your food.

Read more about the study, its methodology, and its implications over here.

Source: New Republic

Cracked runs Photoshop contests where readers are invited to send in funny submissions based on various prompts. Yesterday’s prompt was “Shocking Comparisons That Change How You Think of Money”. Some of the more interesting entries included:

• German hyper-inflation meant that in mid-1922 it cost 2 marks to send a domestic letter. At the end of 1923 it cost 100,000,000,000 to send the same letter.
• Russia spent $8.7 billion to build a highway to a mountain in Sochi. This was more than the budget of the entire 2010 winter Olympics.
• The band Aerosmith made more money from Guitar Hero royalties than it did from any of its albums or world tours.
• Producing a gram of anti-matter costs $62.5 trillion dollars.
• One drug lord was smuggling so much money he had to spend $2,500 a month on rubber bands for his cash.

The full article has 23 of these facts and includes points about Bill Gates’ incredible philanthropy, thoughts about the richest sports person in history, and more over here.

Source: Cracked

The verdict seems to be that Glass is a fun toy for the pretentious. But Google’s wearable tech has nothing on what one US military contractor is developing:

• Q-Warrior is a helmet mounted heads up display for combat soldiers.
• The helmet highlights allied forces in blue and enemy forces in red.
• It can help soldiers navigate by showing digital waypoints, areas of interest, and targets.
• Through the helm soldiers will be able to see video feeds from nearby drones.
• The height, altitude and speed of allied aircraft can be marked on screen to increase situational awareness.

Read more about the technology, what it can do, how it works, and its possible future over here.

Source: Wired

Max Nisen reported on the principles that Google uses to hire employees:

• Ivy League graduates are overrated. They lack intellectual humility and don’t know how to deal with failure.
• In fact graduates in general are overrated. Those who can make it without college really know how to be successful.
• Intelligence is overrated. It’s not about what potential hires know, rather, it’s about how fast they can learn.
• This is why behavioural interviews are popular. By asking about past experiences through questions such as how an individual dealt with difficult circumstances, they provide insights into the individual’s ability to react to new circumstances.

Read more over here.

Source: Quartz

The Economist covered in flight apps:

• Virgin Atlantic is launching what it calls the world’s first airline social networking app.
• The app allows individuals to connect with their social media accounts and see if any of their contacts are on the same gate or plane – or even another Virgin Atlantic flight.
• The app allows business travelers seated far from one another to chat with each other through instant messaging.
• Attendees to a conference could get to know each other before they arrive at their destination.
• Travelers could also send a message to passengers in the flight ahead of them and ask how long they’ve been delayed by weather.
• Other apps allow passengers interested in midair romances to find each other.
• Younger travelers might soon have apps they can use to play games with others on their flight.
• Airlines may use all the data they gather from this to improve their marketing.

You can read more about the app, why Virgin Atlantic is leading the way, and more over here.

Source: The Economist

Sarah Zhang went behind the scenes at The Olympics and looked at how timekeeping was done:

• Omega, best known for its watches, is responsible for timekeeping at The Olympics – and most other major international sporting events.
• Omega deploys teams to Olympic venues several years in advance. There are already a couple of experts preparing for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil.
• Instead of a starting pistol an electron start system is used which sends out a flash of light and transmits a bang via speakers so all athletes hear it at the same time.
• Some athletes are fitted with small devices that track their time statistics and even any false starts.
• During a race experts monitor the key statistics, using numbers instead of player names to ensure impartiality.
• Different sports decide how they want to measure time. Speed-skating measures time to thousands of a second whereas Alpine Skiing only measures it to the hundredths of a second.
• However Omega still measures all sports to the same precision. Therefore while the Olympics registered the first ever tie for Alpine Skiing this year, Omega knows who the true winner was.
• All of this required heavy duty equipment. 50 miles of optical fiber alone is required.

Read more about the history of timekeeping, who we can credit for modern timekeeping techniques, infographics and more over here.

Source: Gizmodo

Richard Rubin wrote about the battle to determine the tax treatment of sperm and egg donations in the United States:

• An individual who donated $20,000 worth of eggs feels that she shouldn’t be taxed on the income since she had to undergo injections and medical exams, making the money compensation for her suffering and thus untaxable.
• The tax agency on the other hand points out that the eggs were donated voluntarily and that many people have to go through suffering for their earnings – such as athletes – and they still have to pay taxes.
• It’s possible the donation will be ruled as a “sale of property” that the donor owned since birth, and thus be subjected to the capital gains tax which is lower than the standard income tax.

Read more about the court’s thinking, what legal experts have to say, and more over here.

Source: Bloomberg

Via: Marginal Revolution

The kind folks at The Economist took a look at the economics of Tuk Tuks:

• The popular three wheeled vehicles are a common sight in developing countries.
• India is the market leader, producing 530,000 a year for its own use and 300,000 for export.
• Cities often try to restrain their use. In Mumbai they’re banned from the central business district to keep the streets clear. Egypt is also imposing restrictions on them.
• However they seem to be a hit with the wealthy. High end hotels are increasingly purchasing them to transport their guests.
• One company is taking advantage of this demand by designing a tuk-tuk stretch limo that can hold six people.
• Another is trying to improve the vehicle’s image by releasing a solar powered version.

Read more about how India became the market leader, why Egypt is placing limits on Tuk-Tuk and more over here.

Source: The Economist