How math causes physical pain

Mental discomfort often has irrational roots.

There are those who walk into art galleries and feel intimidated by all the serious faces. There are those who stare at menus written in a foreign language and wish they weren't on vacation.

And there are those who look at math problems and wish they had some Xanax.

If you're one of those who is pained by your mathophobia, please let me mop your brow. For the discomfort you feel is, scientifically speaking, little different from physical pain.… Read more

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A great new sickness: Speed camera phobia

What do you worry about?

Some people worry that their underwear, or even significant parts of their derriere, will show when they bend down. (None of these people, strangely, is a plumber.) Other people worry that their bosses don't like them.

Colin Gant, 41, of Lowestoft in the United Kingdom, worries that speed cameras don't like him.

He has spent countless minutes and hours inventing routes that will take him on roads last traveled by horse and cart in order to avoid the beady eye of the technological highway patrolman.

"Every time I drove past one, I … Read more

Roach bots make us reach for the Raid

There's nothing we hate more on the face of the planet than cockroaches--the mere thought of them can send us into a skin-crawling fit. So we think that the geniuses at Bandai Japan who invented the "Hex Bug" should be shot or, better yet, ordered to serve a life sentence in a gigantic Roach Motel.

Just reading Technabob's description of the $16 bug-bots makes us twitch: "The Hex Bug series of miniature insect robots scurry along on six legs, just like real bugs," and will "change direction when you clap in their vicinity.&… Read more

Tired of wires? Throw them in a pot

As we part of our self-awareness work, we've admitted to having issues with exposed cords, an unfortunate situation that has led us on exhaustive searches for solutions. But here's one that had never occurred to us: a pot. Especially a pot from an Italian lamp maker.

The "Multipot Personal Electric Charger" hides five power outlets behind a "soothing light," according to Ubergizmo. Just jam all your cords into the pot like you were making a wire stew and let the lamp make it all seem like a planned look.

The $178 might seem a … Read more