Having a bad day? Or a worse yet, a bad week? Hey, we all have them. And that’s why it’s beneficial to seek out the wholesome stuff on social media so it’ll make you feel better.
These 5 riddles are designed to give the noggin a little challenge. Our brains can all use a stretch from time to time so grab your coffee, settle in, and get focused!
#5. If you have 12 fish and half of them drown, how many fish do you have left?
You get a flexible schedule, your students are all legal adults, so you don’t have to deal with parents, and you get longer holidays. I’ve long thought that being a college professor would be a pretty sweet gig.
And seriously, these 11 college professors totally confirm my assumption that their jobs are awesome more often than not, and that the profession attracts the best sort of people.
The extremely popular and highly watched television show Unsolved Mysteries debuted in January of 1987 and featured cold cases about things like missing persons, murders, and paranormal activity. Thanks to its wide and fervent viewership, many of the cold cases have actually been solved. They’ve even exonerated a few wrongfully-convicted inmates along the way.
Despite the attention, a number of the 1000 cases remain open. Below are 7 of the 10 that co-creators John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer told Mental Floss really stuck with them.
#1. Tupac Shakur
The puzzling details that led to the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur have fascinated the public since they came to light on this show and elsewhere. Tupac was in Vegas to watch a Mike Tyson boxing match. After the fight, it was rumored that he and fellow rapper Marion “Suge” Knight got into an altercation with the Crips — a notorious street gang — while they were at a stoplight, and a white Cadillac pulled up and opened fire.
Knight was injured and Shakur died from his wounds. A witness was later gunned down at his home in New Jersey. No one has ever been arrested for either crime.
#2. Dial H for Abduction
In 1991, Angela Hammond was talking to her boyfriend Rob on a pay phone and commented that a green Ford pickup had been circling the block, and that a “filthy, bearded man” had exited and was using the phone next to hers. They were still on the phone when Hammond screamed and stopped responding to Rob.
Rob hopped in his car and drove to the phones, passing the kidnappers in a pickup truck with Hammond inside screaming his name on the way there. He lost them when his transmission failed. The only clue he had to go on was the truck had a giant decal on the back window.
The boyfriend was originally a suspect, but was soon cleared, and there have been no leads since. Police do think that Hammond’s disappearance could be related to other abductions near Clinton, MO, where she lived.
#3. One Minute Million
On April 19, 1989, an armored car in Eden Prairie, MN, was stopped by a gang of armed robbers that got away with a million dollars in under a minute. It was the second of what would be three similar heists within a couple of years, but the case was never solved.
Police suspect that, because of the precise nature of the attacks, the gang might have been ex military.
#4. A.W.O.L.
This case followed Private Justin Burgwinkel, an Army man who aspired to become a Ranger and was committed to a career in the military. Then out of nowhere, he began to act oddly at home, abruptly leaving his girlfriend for meetings and telling her they were secret. After three years, Burgwinkel vanished. His car was found at a motel filled with all of his personal effects, and his dog tags were among them. He had once told his girlfriend that if they were found, “that means I’m dead.”
No one has seen or heard from him since June 12, 1993.
#5. D.B. Cooper
D.B. Cooper is an alias for a man or woman who successfully hijacked a plane bound for Seattle in November of 1971. Cooper told a stewardess he had a bomb and asked for $200k when the plane landed. When he got his money, he jumped out of the plane with a parachute. The police have never come up with a single suspect.
In 2018, an amateur sleuth named Rick Sherwood suggested that Cooper might be Robert Rackstraw, a Vietnam vet with parachuting experience, but the FBI hasn’t made any further comments.
#6. Dreamy Disappearance
Cynthia Anderson began having a recurring nightmare in which she let someone into her house who meant her harm. Around the same time, she began receiving threatening calls at work, to the point where her employers installed an emergency buzzer at her desk.
Then, in August of 1981, when the attorneys she worked for arrived at the office, she wasn’t behind her desk. The police later received two phone calls stating that Anderson was being held in a basement of an occupied house. However, without any more information to go on, the case has never been solved.
#7. The Kecksburg U.F.O. Incident
On December 9, 1965, thousands of people reported a strange light over the northeastern United States and Canada. Citizens of Kecksburg, PA, saw it too, but also saw a commotion around what seemed to be a crash site. There were reports of the crash being a meteor or space debris, but UFO researchers have insisted an extraterrestrial craft was to blame.
NASA and the Air Force have to this day declined to identify what landed in Kecksburg that night.
If you’re feeling a little sluggish this morning, these 4 riddles are tricky enough to pop open your eyelids and get you thinking. Putting your brain to work is a great way to get those neurons firing, so dig in!
#4. Jack’s photo.
Continue reading when you’re ready for the answer!
There are many reasons why people turn down doing the deed with someone they actually want to sleep with.
Maybe you knew it would mess up a good friendship? Maybe the person is a friend’s ex?
People on AskReddit admitted what stopped them from having sex with someone they were interested in.
1. Something stinks
“Ooooffff.
He was charming, funny, model-level good looks, smart, and a hard worker. I was counting my lucky stars. I never saw his home until we were on the verge of having sex. I walked in the door and it smelled like sh*t. Literally. He had no pets, and he lived alone. When he opened the door the smell came pouring out and practically hit me in the face. He asked me what was wrong because I started to gag before walking through the door.
Let me be clear: I am not exaggerating here. I’m not prissy or sensitive to smells. I worked part time in the baby room of a daycare and spent a good portion of my days at the time cleaning up baby shit. I worked my summers on a farm cleaning up shit every year.
This guy’s apartment smelled like a sewage processing plant, and when I tried to enter the doorway thinking “maybe he just has a plumbing problem” it was very evident that this guy had probably never cleaned a damn thing in his life because the living room was a disaster zone not fit for humans to occupy.
My vag sealed itself shut and I had to leave. I told him I couldn’t come in anymore and left. When we talked later I told him the mess was a problem and I couldn’t come over till he cleaned up, and he said that he was hoping I would “just take care of that now that we’re getting serious.” “
2. Nope
“She said :”it’s alright if you don’t wash yourself for a long time, because after 3 or 4 days the body start excreting a natural soap.”
Nope, nope, nope, motherf*kin’ nope!”
3. Heartbreaker
“He had a girlfriend, plus I was in love with him, and he was just drunk and probably didn’t even want me. Oh, and I was also a virgin. If I didn’t turn it down, I’m sure for him it would be just a one time thing he’d prefer to forget once he’s sober, but for me it would just break my heart.”
4. Can’t do that to a friend
“She’d just broken up with her boyfriend (my friend at the time).
She made her intentions well known when she invited me over to her house in front of everyone.
I was a virgin at the time and would have loved to but I couldn’t do that to a friend.”
5. Dirty talk
“We were getting hot and heavy on my couch, and as I was taking off her top getting ready to have sex with her she mentioned how she couldn’t wait to introduce me to her kids. I shrugged it off (I knew she was a single Mom). But, every time after that…she’d talk dirty, say something sexy, then she had to mention how I’d get along with her son. Or, she said that I could talk comic books with the boy when I came over. Yup. That killed my lust drive.”
6. Happy ending
“Same girl, 2 times. First time we were 19. I had just buried my father that day and was drinking myself into a coma. She kissed me and after a while go back to my room. I was too drunk to go through with it. For what ever reasons nothing went forward from that day. Skips a year or 2 into the future and we’re both at a bar drinking. We go back to my place and we’re making out. I step away to use the restroom before we start. 2min later I come back and she’s already asleep in my bed topless. I get her woken up enough to put her bra back on, and then tuck her in for the evening. Again, we go dark after that for a few years.
Well, 5 years ago she’s now separated from her abusive ex husband and living in the next state over. She comes to town for a week to watch her parents house while they go on vacation. Our old gang gets back together for an evening and the 2 of us are hitting it off once again. Except now we’re both more mature and stay sober enough to actually go through with it. We now have 2 daughters and I can’t Imagine a day without the 3 of them.”
7. You made the right choice
“The classic take a girl home from a bar without protection. She popped birth control in front of me and said let’s do it anyway. I remembered a wise reddit post once saying the girls that offer with no protection are the last girls you want to use no protection with. So I ubered home and smoked a bowl and made a hot pocket instead.”
8. Cray cray
“She was baby crazy.
Like flat out stating “I want to use you for your sperm and condoms are not an option” style.
I was twenty, and absolutely not looking to be a father, so I declined.
So she went and f*cked a random guy at a New Years Eve party.”
9. A shame…
“Bad breath, I think she had a dead tooth or something. A shame.”
10. Never heard that one before
“I met this guy in college and we’d flirted a lot for about 6 months and had electric chemistry, but we were never able to time a hook up. One night, we wound up at the same party and were talking a ton, but my friends got too drunk or something, so I wound up having to leave early. Guy texted me and asked if I wanted to hang out after he left the party, and I said yes. I was all excited, especially since I’d had a 1 year dry spell, but then, as I was waiting for him to show up, I wound up watching a documentary about 9/11. It was the 10 year anniversary, so it was basically nonstop coverage that weekend. I was definitely drunk, which definitely meant I started crying, so I wound up telling him not to bother coming over. So yes, I turned down sex with someone because I was too sad about 9/11.
We DID finally end up sealing the deal about a month later, and had a FWB situation for the months that followed. Then, we actually wound up trying to date about 2 years after that, which was a giant dumpster fire. I never told him why I flaked when we were supposed to hook up that first time.”
11. Taken
“Had a friend/coworker come on to me at her apartment. One day she texts me asking to come over to hang out, which I’d done before and mainly consisted of playing some Mario kart 64 or watching TV. When I get there she answers the door in just her panties and a shirt which totally caught me off guard.
While we were watching tv she says her and her boyfriend were in a rough patch of not having sex and she wasn’t too happy with that. She then asks if I can help end that problem for her and starts to rub herself through her panties while staring right at me. I start to freak because as much as I’d wanted to, I had a girlfriend. I tell her I can’t and it wouldn’t be right to both of our S/O’s, even though deep down I wanted to. We proceeded to watch tv for about 10 awkward minutes before I told her I had to leave. Drove home with the bluest of balls that night.”
12. Needed a friend
“She had a lot of issues and has medication for them. She asked me if she could come over one day because she was having a breakdown. She came over, sat down and just burst into tears. I calmed her down, held her close and did my usual stupid cheering up thing I do which made her feel better. Through all the cuddling and holding one thing led to another and before we knew it all our clothes were off.
I suddenly realized that she was on a new medication that she was just prescribed and was high as a kite. I have a rule that I don’t do stuff with someone new for the first time if they’re under the influence of anything so I said we should stop and called it a night. Just chilled. Became good friends and have been for over a year now. She’s a good friend and she may have a lot of issues but she powers through them one day at a time and I respect her immensely for it.”
13. Don’t listen to that
“He spent over an hour trying to convince me he didn’t need to use a condom. He complained about it so much that I didn’t trust him not to take it off when I was in a position not to notice.
So I told him the night was cancelled, dropped him off at his hotel (old friend driving through town), and haven’t talked to him since.”
14. Drunk
“I’d only recently met this girl, started dating and I was so super into her. We went to a fancy dress party (Halloween) and were both drinking loads and she came back to mine and started to get down to business, but she was way drunker than me. I thought we were getting on so incredibly well up to that night, I didn’t want our first time together to be a drunken blur.
So I stopped her in her tracks and she eventually, reluctantly agreed – room then went spinny for her, and she threw up shortly after… I managed to clean up the bed & bedsheets (well… took them off the bed immediately) and get her to bed. The following morning, she had zero recollection of any of it – she could remember being sick in my bathroom and I wasn’t gonna bring up the bedsheets and her not taking no for an answer.
That was almost seven years ago now. She’s currently 4 months pregnant with our first child. About a year ago (when the #metoo and consent/drunk consent was all the rage) the topic came up and I broke it to her that on that first night, she’d not taken no for an answer and had been sick on my bed sheets. She was mortified and embarrassed but it’s all fine, obviously.
The funniest part? She apologized for when she woke up the following morning in my bed and though she said nothing, she’d been silently judging me because my bedsheets were in the wash and I had no covers on my mattress or quilt and she was questioning what kind of a weirdo would have no bedsheets… Always makes me laugh thinking back on that night. Still love her to bits and delighted our first time together wasn’t a drunken blur.”
One person’s trash is another’s treasure. You know some occasional treasures turn up at Goodwill…but you gotta believe there’s also a lot of wacky stuff. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to work at a Goodwill place just to see all the strange things people get rid of. Weird clothes, knickknacks, books, etc.
AskReddit users share the weirdest things they’ve seen turn up at Goodwill stores.
1. Mice!
“Goodwill was my first job. My first day of working there, I opened a box and saw some yarn. It looked suspicious, so I poked it and a bunch of pinkies (baby mice) crawled out.
That was a pretty good indicator of what the next year of my employment was going to be like. The only thing I really learned was that people take “donation” to mean “free trash dump.” “
2. Bad timing
“During the Austin, TX serial bombings earlier this year, someone donated an artillery simulation device that ended up going off while being sorted and led to minor injuries to an employee and mass hysteria that the bomber had started to target donation drop offs.
Bad weird donation. Worse timing.”
3. No thanks
“A Blazer Vest with a LIVE BAT comfortably nestled inside it, cute little guy.
Never got pictures, was before the age of smartphones I’m afraid. Got the thickest pair of gloves to carefully grab him and release him outside.”
4. Quite a story
“This was 7 years ago now. Had a lady in her late thirties donate everything in her house. A whole moving truck full. I didn’t notice anything odd until it was almost empty. She was acting nostalgic, yet semi flippant about giving it all away. At the end she asked if she could pray for me and the co-worker that helped unload the truck. After she drove away I had a sinking feeling about this lady.
I told my boss that nothing about this lady seemed right. We ended up racing through some of the boxes to look for info, found a bunch of journals and things from therapists over the years. Turns out she’d been living with mental illness for most of her life, and was giving us all her stuff so she could go home and end her life.
I asked my boss to call the police, and an officer apparently contacted her sister. They prevented her from committing suicide that day. I’m unsure if she’s still alive today, but I hope she wasn’t mad at me for trying to help. :/”
5. Kind of gross
“Old porn DVD’s donated with a crock pot full of moldy bean water.”
6. Score!
“I used to work at Value Village and one day somebody brought in an entire truck load of machines used in a convenience store. Those hot dog rollers, slurpee machine, warming cases and surprisingly that ended up selling them.”
7. Hopefully it goes to a nice home
“A glass jar labeled “fart june. 1975” “
8. The Mystery Knitter
“The mystery knitter. So every so often, at various times of various days, a bag would appear. A nondescript white bag, full, with white tissue paper on top. In the bag would be beautiful knitted baby wear – cardigans, hats, bootees, all different sizes and colors.
All hand knitted, with the same talcum powder scent. We’d try to stake the front of shop out to find out who but we never did. I still go in for a chat and a rummage and the Mystery Knitter is still at it. We like to think of some wee old lady lurking around until the coast is clear then finagling the bag into the shop and leaving the scene unnoticed.”
9. That’s cool
“One time a guy came to the donation center and asked me, “do you guys take magazines?” I told him, “generally no, unless they’re old enough to potentially be collectable.” He said “why don’t you take a look at them and let me know what you think?”
So I open up the first box, and right on top is a Time Magazine with a picture of the Moon landing, dated July of 1969. So of course I tell the guy “yeah ok, we can take these.” He had two boxes of them, and most of them were pretty big stories, though I can’t remember any others he had off the top of my head.”
10. A whole smorgasbord
“I was a lead at a goodwill until about summer last year but man, the stuff we would see. Enjoy!
“Oh my god my time to shine.
“Peter Meter” -a really tall- “shot glass,” to measure wang size with
Fully loaded guns
Meth, at least three times
And my personal favorite, our poor dead guy Gregory. He’s a box of ashes that we have to keep in the cash room, because we have to wait for Loss Control (or whoever) to pick him up. He’s been with us for over a year now, because no one from Corporate ever takes him, and myself and quite a few coworkers are very fond of him. Any time we get a new cashier, we make sure to introduce them to Greg, and any time something weird happens, well, it was probably Gregory’s ghost.”
11. I hope nobody took them
“Bath salts
..the drug.”
12. What a deal!
“My friend had a summer job at a Goodwill in Sacramento. Someone ended up literally donating a greasy McDonald’s french fry wrapper. He was told to put it in the toys section. It was sold for 49 cents.”
13. Wear your gloves
“One of the weirder things I have found was a hard cover cardboard children’s book with a hole directly in the middle. Each page of the book had a unique background (e.g. a hot dog bun) and presumably the reader was supposed to stick their d*ck through the hole to see it in front of a specific background. Goes without saying that I made sure I had gloves on before I threw that one out.”
14. Two for one!
“When I worked there we got a
pink d*ldo with a taser on the other end.”
15. Poor guy
“It was my second week working in processing housewares. I opened a black trash bag to find a half stuffed raccoon…. it was like someone began the taxidermy process but didn’t finish. Poor lil trash panda.”
I am a sugar addict. Now, while I love diving into some tasty cake, I’ve never given much thought to how it might look if I ordered it in different countries all over the world (which I definitely would do, given the chance.)
This definitely looks like a cake to me, but it comes with a twist that I’d love to try. The bolo de cenoura com cobertura de chocolate is a carrot cake with chocolate icing, instead of cream cheese frosting.
If you love Danishes, you’re going to want to make a Kagemand for your next birthday. The “cake man” consists of a bunch of Danishes with candy sprinkled on top, plus marzipan spelling out the name and age of the birthday boy or girl. MmmMMMmmmm…
It may look like pie, but this Gewittertorte is totally a cake — a thunderstorm cake to be exact. The torte has a bunch of delicious layers — cake, meringue, slivered almonds, fresh raspberry filling, fresh whipped cream, and repeat. Yum!
If someone serves you a traditional kue lapis — a layer cake with each layer baked on an open flame or under a broiler — make sure and take a small piece. The amount of eggs and butter used make it is no joke, and it results in one rich slice of dessert.
The Prinsesstarta, or princess cake, is a 2-3 spongecake with vanilla cream, jam, and whipped cream between the layers. The frosting is a green marzipan, with a rose and optional powdered sugar on top.
The traditional bizcocho mojaditoa is a staple on the island. It’s a simple cake soaked in a sweet brandy syrup and frosted with buttercream. Decorations are typically just a simple white frosting.
College can be one of the best periods in most people’s lives. I mean you get to live on your own and make your own decisions, everyday, for probably the first time in your life. Freedom! Not to mention that, instead of following a prescribed high school curriculum, you’re allowed to study cool stuff that actually interests you. That said, it can be a bit of a rough transition for some.
These 12 kids might need more hand-holding than most.
#12. It’s a miracle more kids don’t hurt themselves on those lofted beds, tbh.
(@jordanshrinks) August 29, 2018
