We Are Connected to Each Other On Some Emotional Level

The human brain is wired to connect with others so strongly that it experiences what they experience as if it's happening to us.



It's kind of just empathy, but it goes even deeper. A new study from University of Virginia researchers supports the idea.



Results from this latest study shows that we care when things happen to other people, but if someone is close enough to us (as a loved one), the brain doesn't differentiate between it happening to someone else or it happening to us, it's the same thing. But, the brain is almost incapable of doing that with strangers.

And, the way they tested this was kind of crazy. They had participants undergoing magnetic resonance imaging.



During this MRI, they threaten to shock the person in the machine, then taking a break from that, to threaten a friend of theirs; then taking a break from that, to threaten a stranger. The results showed that the regions at the brain for threat response reacted much the same, in a very similar fashion, whether it be to that person, or to one of their friends. But, with a stranger, there was virtually no activity.



There's an evolutionary psychologist by the name of Robin Dunbar...



...and through his research, he has come up with Dunbar's number. This number which is 150 or less people (beyond that number, our brains begin to strain to sync with others).

Basically, we may be much closer to the people we keep around us, than those we let on.

Cheating Creates Emotional Boosts

According to a new study called:



The aforementioned article was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. And it suggests that when people cheat (and it hurts nobody), people actually feel good.

Many of the participants, before they actually took part in this experiment, said that they would feel badly if they cheated. But, it turned out that the majority felt the direct opposite of bad.

The way they came to this conclusion, is they gave participants word-unscrambling tests. For every correct answer, they would get one dollar. After they finished, they were given an answer key to check their answers and report the number of correct answers they had.



The thing is, participants didn't realize that if they corrected their wrong answers, the researchers would know. And, unsurprisingly, 41% of them did.

Additionally, the follow-up assessment showed that on average, the cheaters felt an emotional boost that the honest participants did not.

Alternatively, taking the money out of the situation...



...participants were told that if they saw a pop-up message that said they got the wrong answer and offered the correct answer, they should ignore it, and continue working. Consequently, with no monetary incentive (really just ego), 68% of the people cheated at least once, clicking the button for a correct answer.

Also, in the follow-up assessment, just like the group previously, they had upbeat emotions.

After these studies, the researchers said they were a little appalled at these results.

Proportionally, there is some truth to the saying that when you cheat, the only person you're really cheating, is yourself. So, if you're in school right now, and you cheat your way through tests, you're just screwing yourself (up) for the future.



On the other hand, regardless of how terrible it sounds, lying is very human. It's one of the first things children pick up. Granted, they suck at it.



It could be also argued that it might make sense (or not) to say that lying is a tool to life-hack. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way saying lie to and cheat on everyone. No way! Don't get that idea. I don't do lies, and I can't stand liars either. I'm just using those thoughts to try and excavate explanations on why the loudest liars have (or at least tend to have) joy and the sense of survival by lying.

Quite frankly, by lying, you manipulate perception, thus defeating reality. With all of that typed, if these studies are in fact true, lying is still (and always will be) one of the things I don't recommend doing. There's no substitute for the truth; either it is, or it isn't.

America's Top Ten Crime Cities

Hello, everybody seeking entertainment and/or information on the internet. Welcome to jellyjerryjugs. I've got both of those things sometimes. I'm Jειιy Jεяяy, and you're pretty much up to date ☺.

For the past twenty years, violent crimes on a national scale (in the U.S.), "for the most part", has been on the decline. It was like a tiny, one percent jump in 2012, but we can overlook that, right? Yeah? No? Well, at least the Americans will.

Anyhoo, 24/7 Wall Street gathered violent crime data like murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, from the FBI, and determined what are the top ten, most dangerous states in Americus (intentional verbal mishap); so strap on your bulletproof vests because we're going to jump right in.

#10. Oklahoma



Violent crimes per one hundred thousand, 469.3 (per 100k). A lot of the blame here falls on the poverty and gangs of Tulsa and Oklahoma City.



#09. Maryland



Violent crimes per one hundred thousand, 476.8; this is all on Baltimore. There were 369 homicides in all of Maryland last year, and all of those 217 of them were in Baltimore. 115 of them were Ray Lewis.

#08. Florida



Violent crimes per 100k, 487.1; Florida's inclusion on this list makes sense for a state that produced over one thousand murders in 2012, and this maniac...



#07. Louisiana



Violent crimes per 100k, 496.9; third highest poverty rate, and highest murder rate in the U.S., at a 10.8 per 100,000 people. 495 murders in 2012, with 40% of those, happening in New Orleans.

#06. Delaware



Violent crimes per 100k, 547.4; the bulk of the crime occurs in Delaware's largest city, which is...

� � �

...Delawareville. Lol, of course not. Wilmington ☺. Don't worry, everyone reading this the same time as you had no idea either. Stop feeling embarrassed, and ashamed, I know you know most things. Or maybe not ☺.

#05. South Carolina



Violent crimes per 100k, 555.8; North Carolinians rejoice! There's probably some sort of state rivalry thing going on over there.

#04. New Mexico



The violent crimes per one hundred thousand is 559.1; the fault falls on the fact that it's a very poor state, with the fourth highest crime, and forceful rape rates. But, there's also a lot of drugs actually. Yeah, there's that too.

#03. Alaska



Violent crimes per 100k, 603.2; the most disturbing stat exported from the last frontier is their forcible rape stat, which is the highest in the U.S., at 79.7 per one hundred thousand residents. Drop some perspective here, Alaska's population in 2012 was 731,000, so that is a disturbingly high percentage for the population in that state. But, here's a little bit of a fun fact about Alaska: they pay you to live there. So, there's that. Silver lining ☺.

#02. Nevada



Violent crimes per one hundred thousand is 607.6; what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

And finally...the number one bad boy, most dangerous state, is...I can almost hear New York, New York...you're wrong...Tennessee...who knew ☺...



Violent crimes per 100,000 people, 643.6; top ten in the U.S. for murder, and robbery, and property crime. Number one for aggravated assault, and let's not forget the atrocities coming out of Nashville: country music ☺. Which I immediately regret because I actually like a lot of country. Jason Aldean is so so good!!

Esquire Magazine Crowns Scarlett Johansson as the Sexiest Woman Alive

Honestly, if you really wanted to, you could nitpick that title, because there are so many sexy, beautiful women in the world.



Really, if anything, the crown should be "Really Sexy Lady Who Has Really Good PR People, and a Movie and/or Album to Promote".



That being typed, Scarlett Johansson is all sorts of young...



...whether it was 2006 sexiest woman alive Scarlett Johansson...



...or 2013's sexiest woman alive Scarlett Johansson.



Regardless, I haven't the vaguest idea what it is about her that makes me really into her.



I don't know, I can't put my fingers on her. I mean, she's curvy in all of my favorite places. I imagine it's probably down to the fact that she oozes confidence.

Ctrl + Alt + Delete = Mistake?

As the world's richest man, Bill Gates funds tons and tons of world betterment projects, because he obviously wants to do something positive with his billions and billions of dollars.



Lately, one of the most recent ones is that he wants to take a product that comes out of the process of a nuclear power plant, and then use that to make his own power plant.



Moving on, in a recent interview, he came out that the code: Ctrl + Alt + Delete, to like close programs and restart, was actually a mistake. Previously, David Bradley, an engineer that worked at IBM PC, claimed that he created Ctrl + Alt + Delete, but Bill Gates made it famous.



Bill Gates came out to retort the insult, saying that Ctrl + Alt + Delete was his original idea of stopping a program from making a fake log in an attempt to steal a password, and ultimately, quote:



Bottom line, nobody's above making mistakes, not even the world's richest man. Consequently, if Bill Gates can own up to his mistakes, then you should too.

Personally, I use the command: Ctrl + Alt + Delete, to bring up a login screen, or open up to a task manager. What other computer functions do you use it for? Leave your interesting and creative responses in the comments section down below. And while you're at it, hit the share button.

A Miss America Contestant Who Warmed Her Way Into My Heart

She was a Miss America contestant in this year's edition of the critically competitive beauty pageant. She is Theresa Vail.



She's also a military sergeant and an archery expert.





And, while many people who were looking at her (during Miss America) saw her as a sexy lady from Kansas...



...I saw her as a badass!



She's a member of the Kansas Army National Guard's Medical Detachment; as well as a skydiver, boxer, and an advocate for young women.



She's fluent in Chinese, she used to race motorcycles, and she didn't cover her tattoos up. Most of the contestants usually cover up their tats, but she said she's proud of them (a little serenity prayer and a military medical insignia).



Basically, the principal point of blogging about Theresa Vail today, is that while looks can make you sexy (and she's sexy in her own right), I think confidence, and just knowing who you are and not apologizing, it's kind of the sexiest thing ever!



Nothing turns me on more than that.

The Dramatic Rescue of Harrison Okene, a Nigerian Cook Who Survived for 3 Days Trapped 100 Feet Underwater, in an Overturned Tugboat.

I need to share one of the most WTF/AWESOME stories making the rounds at the moment.

It starts off sad because a vessel sunk off the coast of Nigeria. It was believed that twelve people were killed. Three days later, SA divers go through this vessel for body retrieval. There's a fourteen minute video: the diver's going through, everything's upside down, he's trying to find his way, and out of the darkness, you'll see a hand, one of the crew, who is actually alive! He grabs the other man's hand, and it turns out the cook of the ship, Harrison Okene, was still alive!



He survived three days in the pitch black; no water, no food. And, this body retrieval then turns into a rescue for this man. Miraculous how he survived. I'm literally looking at my mind wandering, trying to put me in his shoes. Three agonizingly long, slow days of being in the pitch black, at the bottom of the ocean; and then a hand grabs you!!! This man may in fact be the luckiest man alive!!!!!!!

You've probably already heard or read about it before now, but it's just a story I had to share because it is so, so powerful. And, if you want to see the full fourteen minute video, here's the link.

It's just amazing! It's absolutely amazing!!

How long do you think that you would survive, at least, even mentally, all by yourself, in the dark, no food, no water; do you think that you would end it on your own? It's like a hard question to type (and ask), because, hopefully, we're never in that situation. But, I'd love to know what you think. Personally, even if I wouldn't be able to last, I'd still hold on tight to the smallest chance. I like living so much.