Writer and illustrator Aubrey Hirsch jokingly asked her followers on Twitter what’s a “universal thing that most men like?” because she was writing a comic and “just realized I don’t actually know any men in real life." The tweet inspired an avalanche of funny responses.Hirsch is the author of “Why We Never Talk About Sugar,” a collection of short stories, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Child, American Short Fiction and Time.The interesting thing about the responses is that they weren’t the typical stereotypes about men. She didn’t get a ton of people talking about sex, sports or toxic masculinity. Instead, there were a lot of folks that mentioned very specific male behaviors as if they were talking about a bizarre species they discovered in the wild.There were two things that got the most comments on her post. First, men enjoy throwing heavy objects into bodies of water. Preferably, the larger the rock, the deeper the body of water and from the highest vantage point possible.The other is watching construction sites. Evidently, the phenomenon is so popular in Italy that there is a specific word for this type of person in Italian.Here are 19 of the best responses to the question, “What’s a universal thing that most men like?” What\u2019s a universal thing that most men like? I\u2019m making a comic but I just realized I don\u2019t actually know any men in real life. — Aubrey Hirsch (@Aubrey Hirsch) 1647902733 1. It's so common in Italy that there's a name for ithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umarell — James Billot (@James Billot) 1647938793 When asked why men enjoy watching construction sites so much, a poster on Reddit named justdaps had the perfect response. "I just find it really satisfying and interesting to see the process behind things being built," he wrote.2.https://t.co/SpjqBiViFr— Daniel Larkin ?? (@larkin721) March 22, 2022 3. Me: Thinking intently trying to come up with a good answer.\nAlso me seeing this tweet: Ooh, yeah, this is a good one. A good deep sounding sploosh with a big splash. Yeah, this is a good one.\nWe aren't complicated. — Michael Miller (@Michael Miller) 1647967400 pic.twitter.com/33W9wqOYP4— Uhtred Ragnarson (@Iskander861) March 22, 2022 4.I have seen dudes do this and I have done it plenty of times myself. I usually stand while watching TV when I want to really focus on what’s happening and do not want to be distracted. This usually happens while watching sporting events or the news. It's also a great way to use your body language to let other people know that there is something very important happening on the television. 5. If a guy walks under a low hanging sign he will jump up and try to tap the bottom of the sign as he passes.Guys like being asked to open jars.Power tools. Give a guy a new drill and he'll wander around looking for stuff that needs holes.— Alan Morgan (@lettersndigits) March 21, 2022 When we do this 99% of the time we’re pretending that the sign is 10 feet high and that we have the ability to dunk a basketball. There are two types of men, those that can dunk and mere mortals.6.Memorizing favorite lines from their favorite movies, then reciting them with their friends (or even strangers) who’ve also memorized them, doing entire scenes. Extra points for using accents. A true source of unparalleled amusement & male bonding.— cautiously optimistic ??✌? (@BethCal84918882) March 22, 2022 As a man, this one is near and dear to my heart. I can’t tell you the number of hours I have spent with my friends just throwing lines from “The Big Lebowski” back and forth.“Nice marmot.”“The Dude abides.”“Say what you want about the tenets of national socialism, Dude. At least it’s an ethos.”A movie that's running up the ranks of being among the most quotable is another dude buddy pic, "Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood.""All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?" ... "Rick, it's a flamethrower.”7.Right, no-one else has posted this yet, I know my duty: pic.twitter.com/HPwd8qwgUP— Katie (@ZiziFothSi) March 22, 2022 8.Talking about their athletic glory days pic.twitter.com/9LmaG2oEiD— Ben Ross (@BenRossTweets) March 21, 2022 9.Dining tables made with resin pic.twitter.com/3WQOjEjvcK— ?Robin Isomaa? (@RobinIsomaa) March 22, 2022 10.Using tie down straps to secure a load in the back of a truck, then twanging the straps and going "that's not going anywhere"— Gom Jabbarjaw (@SensitiveWigi) March 22, 2022 11.When shopping at a grocery store, leaning forward with your forearms on the handle of the carriage, while you walk up and down the aisles— Joe DellaGatta (@JoeDellaGatta) March 23, 2022 Evidently, after reading the responses, Hirsch knew what was going to happen next. No need to feel ashamed about going viral. It just means you created something that people love.This story originally appeared two years ago.

One of the biggest problems with coffee production is that it generates an incredible amount of waste. Once coffee beans are separated from cherries, about 45% of the entire biomass is discarded. So for every pound of roasted coffee we enjoy, an equivalent amount of coffee pulp is discarded into massive landfills across the globe. That means that approximately 10 million tons of coffee pulp is discarded into the environment every year.When disposed of improperly, the waste can cause serious damage soil and water sources.However, a new study published in the British Ecological Society journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence has found that coffee pulp isn't just a nuisance to be discarded. It can have an incredibly positive impact on regrowing deforested areas of the planet.In 2018, researchers from ETH-Zurich and the University of Hawaii spread 30 dump trucks worth of coffee pulp over a roughly 100' x 130' area of degraded land in Costa Rica. The experiment took place on a former coffee farm that underwent rapid deforestation in the 1950s.The coffee pulp was spread three-feet thick over the entire area.Another plot of land near the coffee pulp dump was left alone to act as a control for the experiment."The results were dramatic." Dr. Rebecca Cole, lead author of the study, said. "The area treated with a thick layer of coffee pulp turned into a small forest in only two years while the control plot remained dominated by non-native pasture grasses."In just two years, the area treated with coffee pulp had an 80% canopy cover, compared to just 20% of the control area. So, the coffee-pulp-treated area grew four times more rapidly. Like a jolt of caffeine, it reinvigorated biological activity in the area.The canopy was also four times taller than that of the control.The coffee-treated area also eliminated an invasive species of grass that took over the land and prevented forest succession. Its elimination allowed for other native species to take over and recolonize the area."This case study suggests that agricultural by-products can be used to speed up forest recovery on degraded tropical lands. In situations where processing these by-products incurs a cost to agricultural industries, using them for restoration to meet global reforestation objectives can represent a 'win-win' scenario," Dr. Cole said.If the results are repeatable it's a win-win for coffee drinkers and the environment.Researchers believe that coffee treatments can be a cost-effective way to reforest degraded land. They may also work to reverse the effects of climate change by supporting the growth of forests across the globe.The 2016 Paris Agreement made reforestation an important part of the fight against climate change. The agreement incentivizes developing countries to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, promote forest conservation and sustainable management, and enhance forest carbon stocks in developing countries."We hope our study is a jumping off point for other researchers and industries to take a look at how they might make their production more efficient by creating links to the global restoration movement," Dr. Cole said.This article originally appeared three years ago.

Why should a superintendent get a raise while teachers in the same district struggling to make ends meet see their paychecks flatline — year after year after year?Teacher Deyshia Hargrave begged the question. Minutes later, she was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a cop car. The scene was captured below by YouTube user Chris Rosa, who attended a board meeting for Vermilion Parish Schools in Louisiana. You can watch Hargrave begin speaking about 33 seconds in. The situation starts becoming contentious around 6:35 minutes. Hargrave is arrested at 8:35, and then walked outside in handcuffs and placed in the back of police vehicle.Teacher Deyshia Hargrave was questioning the school board how they can vote to give the superintendent a raise when school employees have not gotten a raise ..."We work very hard with very little to maintain the salaries that we have," Hargrave, who teaches middle school language arts, said during a public comment portion of the meeting, stating that she's seen classroom sizes balloon during her time at the school with no increased compensation. "We're meeting those goals, while someone in that position of leadership [the superintendent] is getting raise? It's a sad, sad day to be a teacher in Vermilion Parish."According to comments Hargrave made to BuzzFeed News, she believes Superintendent Jerome Puyau was already making $110,000 before the board voted to give him a raise of $38,000. The raise alone is roughly the salary of "a teacher, or two cafeteria workers, or two janitors," Hargrave told the outlet.After Hargrave spoke out again later in the meeting, a city marshal on duty asked her to leave — even though the school board was still addressing her."You're going to leave, or I'm going to remove you," the officer told her, as seen in the video. Many people in attendance seemed shocked. "Are you serious?" someone asked, aghast, in the crowd.Hargrave leaves the room, followed by the officer. But moments later, someone chimed in, "he's putting her in handcuffs" — and the room erupts in disarray."I am not [resisting], you just pushed me to the floor!" Hargrave is heard screaming at the officer, as he forcibly removes her down the hallway and out the building in handcuffs. "Sir, hold on! I am way smaller than you!"Teacher removed from Vermilion school board meeting in handcuffsAccording to KATV News, Hargrave was booked in the city jail for resisting an officer — a fact that left many commenters online flabbergasted. School officials are reportedly not pressing charges. "Umm ... what charges could they possibly make?" one Redditor noted.With help from the Reddit community, Rosa's video has gone viral, garnering more than 600,000 views in less than 24 hours. Clearly, Hargrave's earnest question about inequality in our education system — met with a grotesque abuse of power — has clearly touched a nerve with people across the country."I don't know how this teacher could have been more polite and patient in her earnest desire to find out why the superintendent deserves a raise while the teachers work harder with less," YouTube commenter Scott Wells chimed in. "She continued to press because they refused to come up with an answer. Seems like a good question to me."We agree.This article originally appeared six years ago.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.The map may not subvert one's intuitive assumptions, but it nonetheless quantities and presents the cost of living by geography in a brilliantly simple way. For instance, if you're looking for a beach lifestyle but don't want to pay California prices, try Florida, which is about as close to "average" — in terms of purchasing power, anyway — as any state in the Union. If you happen to find yourself in a "Brewster's Millions"-type situation, head to Hawaii, D.C., or New York. You'll burn through your money in no time.If you're quite fond of your cash and would prefer to keep it, get to Mississippi, which boasts a 16.1% premium on your cash from the national average.The Tax Foundation notes that if you're using this map for a practical purpose, bear in mind that incomes also tend to rise in similar fashion, so one could safely assume that wages in these states are roughly inverse to the purchasing power $100 represents.This article originally appeared seven years ago.

"I have all the records mentioned in it!" The post “I have all the records”: Robert Smith names the perfect book for music fans first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

The beginning of the iconic years. The post “Without a doubt”: The gig that made Jimmy Page choose Robert Plant first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

A rock and roll fantasy. The post “See ya later”: The band Dave Grohl would pause Foo Fighters to play with first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

Frozen dinner rolls are a convenient choice when time is limited. However, not all are as good as homemade. We ranked nine popular brands to find the best.

Privatize Agencies & Make American Goods Tax-Free!

by Jon Forrest Little, Silver Seek: China Plans, USA Reacts While the United States is preoccupied with distractions—be it the latest Netflix fight, celebrity gossip, or political squabbles—China is methodically executing a long-term strategy to bolster its gold reserves. This deliberate approach is evident in several key initiatives: the establishment of the Shanghai Gold Exchange […]