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5 Actors Who Are Perfect For The ‘6 Degrees Of Kevin Bacon’ Game

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Back in 1994, Kevin Bacon said in an interview that he had either worked with everybody in Hollywood or worked with someone that worked with someone. This created the thought that there weren’t any actors that were only a couple of degrees of separation away from the “Tremors” star. He’s not wrong, either, as almost every major actor in Hollywood has a “Bacon Number” of 1 or 2.

Bacon is the only person himself with a Bacon Number of 0 because he is, after all, Kevin Bacon. So are there any actors that people have heard of that have a Bacon Number that’s higher than 2? There aren’t a whole lot, but there are some surprising names on the list. Here are five actors who are perfect for the “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game.

Robert Downey Jr.

If you take out the fact that Kevin Bacon was part of the “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” since it wasn’t made for big screens, then Robert Downey Jr. has a surprising Bacon Number of 4. It sort of makes sense as Downey had spent more than a decade playing Tony Stark without appearing in many other films.

On the other hand, Downey did star in other blockbusters including “Dr. Doolittle” while also being a big star in the 1980s at the same time as Bacon. Downey appeared in the film “Veerasamy” with Venniradai Moorthy. Moorthy was in “Michael Madana Kama Rajan” with Nassar, showing that you have to trace the Downey-Bacon link to India. Nassar was in “Fair Game” with David Andrews, who in turn was in “Apollo 13” with Kevin Bacon. Either way, all roads lead through “Veerasamy”.

Matt Damon

For whatever reason, it feels like Matt Damon and Kevin Bacon have been in the same movie together. However, many would be surprised to learn that they haven’t. While his Bacon Number isn’t higher than 2, it’s a shock that it’s not a 1. Damon appeared in “The Good Old Boys” with Tommy Lee Jones, who starred in “JFK” with Kevin Bacon.

There are a couple of other actors that link Damon to Bacon, as well. This includes Terry Kinney, Sean Patrick Thomas, and even Denise Richards and Mike O’Malley. We’re still waiting on that Damon-Bacon collaboration, though. 

Jenna Davis

Jenna Davis is one of the fastest-rising stars in Hollywood thanks to her role as the titular character in the 2022 film “M3GAN” which became a surprise hit with audiences. Prior to her role in the film, Davis had mainly starred on the small screen, making appearances on shows such as “Raven’s Home”, “Vampirina” and “Treehouse Detectives”.

“M3GAN” ended up being her first big screen role, and the official beginning of her link to Kevin Bacon. In “M3GAN’, Davis stars alongside Ronny Chieng. Chieng appeared in “Wish Dragon” with John Cho, who starred in “The Air I Breathe” with Kevin Bacon. That film was released in 2007 and directed by Korean-American Jieho Lee, and also starred Forest Whitaker and Andy Garcia.

Charlie Chaplin

No matter how far back in time you go, there’s a good chance that there’s an actor that’s only a couple of degrees away from Kevin Bacon. This includes actors from the silent film era of Hollywood, including the legendary Charlie Chaplin. Known for his comedic styling and unique look, Chaplin’s separation from Bacon is closer than you think.

Chaplin starred in the film “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” alongside Gary Cooper. Cooper then starred in “Sergeant York” with June Lockhart. The Bacon Number then ends at 3 as Lockhart appeared in “The Big Picture” with Kevin Bacon. The 1989 comedy/drama starred Bacon as a film school graduate and was directed by Christopher Guest.

Marilyn Monroe

Speaking of Hollywood legends that are surprisingly linked to Kevin Bacon, actress Marilyn Monroe has a Bacon Number of just 2. That’s right, despite not appearing in a film for more than 60 years, Marilyn Monroe is just two degrees of separation away from Kevin Bacon. The link starts with the film “Let’s Make It Legal”, which also featured Robert Wagner.

Wagner then starred in “Wild Things” with Kevin Bacon, which was released in 1998. The best part is that there are even more actors than just Wagner that link the two. Jack Lemmon, (“JFK”) and Eli Wallach (“Mystic River”) also have common movies with both Monroe and Bacon.

Top 5 Animals Who Predicted Football Results

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When it comes to any big football match around the world, pretty much everyone in the world has their opinion on who will win, even if that person hasn’t watched a single match. That’s why sometimes it’s best to leave it up to those that have no biases one way or another: the animals. Over the years, there have been some notable animals to predict football results, with these five taking the world by storm.

Paul the Octopus

After hatching on January 26, 2008, at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, England, Paul the Octopus quickly drew attention. Those that worked at the Centre said that he seemed more intelligent than the average octopus and would often become fascinated with visitors that walked by. He’d swim up to the tank glass and make eye contact with passersby.

Due to his intelligence, his carers would have him predict matches for UEFA Euro 2008. The first match prediction that Paul made was Germany over Poland in the group stage, with Paul proving to be right. He then went on to predict six Germany matches, getting four correct. Paul really rose to fame, though, when he predicted the victor of all seven German matches during the 2010 World Cup, and then went on to correctly predict Spain to defeat the Netherlands in the finals. Paul predicted other matches, as well, hitting on 85.7 percent of his guesses.

Rabiot the Octopus

Following the success of Paul, Japan got in on the octopus fun when a giant one named Rabiot was caught in Obira, Hokkaido. Rabiot got off to a hot start when he predicted Japan would win against Colombia in the group stages of the 2018 World Cup. The fisher that caught him let Rabiot continue predicting the Japanese matches, predicting that the country with draw with Senegal and lose to Poland.

It turned out that Rabiot was right on all three occasions, but unlike Japan, Rabiot didn’t make it past the group stage. Wanting to cash in on his catch, Kimio Abe decided that it was time to cut up Rabiot and sell him as food. While it was a pretty grim ending, the life of an octopus is not a long one.

Achilles the Cat

The 2018 World Cup was filled with animals coming up with their own predictions, but Achilles the Cat was deemed the “official” animal oracle of the event due to his proximity to the games. The white, deaf, Russian cat was asked to select each Russian match, and the first one turned out to be correct as the team defeated Saudi Arabia easily.

It wasn’t the first time that the cat had predicted matches, either. During the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, Achilles was right in three out of his four attempts. Achilles continued to make guesses after the world cup as well, especially as he nailed all four of his predictions for Russia in the 2018 World Cup, and even made choices for Euro 2020.

Nelly the Elephant

A lot of animal prognosticators are tempted by food, and in the case of aquatic creatures, tend to randomly drift toward a winner. However, Nelly the Elephant was actually playing football while making predictions. At Serengeti Park in Germany, Nelly is offered up with two soccer nets in front of her with a flag at the top of each net. She then kicks a ball into the net of the team she feels will win.

It may seem odd, but Nelly was actually able to correctly predict 30 out of the first 33 matches from 2006 to 2012. People around the world would start making wagers based on Nelly’s picks after her hot streak, showing that she’s the smartest pachyderm in football.

Predictaroo the Kangaroo

If there were an animal that would be built for the quickness and agility of soccer while also having size and power, it’s the kangaroo. That’s why Predictaroo became such a phenomenon and developed a large following at the Australia Zoo. The roo has predicted a wide range of sports, including major football events.

Though the accuracy has been a little lower than those on the rest of the list, Predictaroo also has one of the biggest fanbases. Its real name is actually Flopsy, but most of us simply know her by the prognosticating moniker that caught the world’s attention during the 2014 World Cup.

5 Major US Cities With The Coldest Winters

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When we think of cities in the United States, we know that they can vary greatly in terms of climate. Cities such as Honolulu, San Diego, and Miami are known for turning up the heat, while there are also cities that offer the other end of the spectrum. Some might wonder how hundreds of thousands of people can flock to these cities, but they get by.

Out of all of the major US cities, which ones have the harshest and most frigid winters? Here’s a look at the five that have the lowest winter temperatures, making them winter wonderlands for people who love skiing and snowmobiling more than hitting the beach.

Fairbanks, Alaska 

Fairbanks Alaska is notorious for being the coldest US city. Known as The Golden Heart of Alaska, the frigid town plummets to -17F° in the winter months, with an average low of 18F° year round. The lowest recorded temperature in the city of 33,000 was -66F° back in January of 1934. 

Alaskans make good use of the harsh winters by ice fishing, ice sculpting, dog sledding, snowshoeing, and riding snowmobiles. They’ve learned to stay warm using layers of clothing, thermals, various methods to heat their homes, and knowing when it’s safe to venture outside. 

Fargo, North Dakota 

The Midwest is home to some of the coldest cities in the US and Fargo North Dakota is one of them. The historic city features sights like the Red River Zoo, the Fargo Theatre, and the Fargo Air Museum. 

Fargo reached an icy cold temp of -39F° in February of 1996, with average yearly lows ranging from 3F°-8F°. North Dakota has a large Northern European population, so locals have the luxury of warming up to cozy, hearty meals like Spaetzle, Schnitzel, Kuchen, Bavarian Pretzels, and Pierogies. 

Duluth, Minnesota 

Duluth Minnesota is best known for being home to the world’s only entirely freshwater aquarium, Duluth Superior Harbor, and gorgeous Midwest scenery. Besides the attractions and picturesque nature that bring people to the city, Duluth experiences harsh winters and some of the coldest temps in the US. The lowest recorded temperature in Duluth was an ice cold -41F° that occurred in January of 1885. 

Nowadays, during the winter months Duluth drops down to an average low of 2F°. Helpful tips for staying warm in the frigid city include bundling up when you go out to keep your core temperature at safe levels, ensuring little to no skin is bare to the elements, and putting together a survival kit that holds alternate methods for providing warmth. 

Anchorage, Alaska 

Anchorage is another popular Alaskan city that bears the title of one of the coldest cities in the US. It’s no surprise the state features more than one bitterly cold city. Ironically known as the Land of the Midnight Sun, the breathtakingly beautiful land experiences average winter lows of 13F° and a record low of -38F° that occurred in February of 1947. Although the city deals with harsh winters, locals and tourists alike enjoy glacier cruises, state parks, wildlife tours, and taking in the work of local artists that make up a good amount of the city’s population. 

Madison, Wisconsin 

Madison Wisconsin, also known as Mad Town, has attractions like the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Henry Vilas Zoo, and Memorial Union Terrace. As well as a stable economy, great cheese curds, and Midwest charm. 

As one of the coldest cities in the country, locals deal with average winter lows of 14F°, with a record low of -37F° in January of 1951. When temps get too frigid, the best things to do in Madison include making use of skating on the frozen lakes, viewing amazing holiday light displays like the huge Christmas tree at the state capitol, or visiting one of many sledding hills in the city. 

Is Weather Really More Extreme Now Than 50 Years Ago?

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Whenever there’s a large storm or extreme temperatures, the first thing that we typically think to ourselves is “we’ve never had this type of weather before.” We think back to the times when we were children and can only remember one extreme storm like a blizzard or a hurricane, but don’t really remember much else from what the weather was like as a whole several decades ago without seeing the research in front of us.

There have been a lot of reports of the weather getting more extreme each year, which has caused a lot of discussion regarding global climate change. While most scientists agree that the Earth is certainly getting warmer, what about the extremes of the weather? Let’s take a look at what the science says to see if the weather is more extreme now than it was 50 years ago.

Temperature

Throughout the 20th century, the Earth had an average global temperature of 57.0 Fahrenheit (13.9 Celsius), Up until World War II, the Earth’s temperature was much lower than this average century temperature. The coolest years came around 1910 when the temperature was more than 0.4 degrees Celsius cooler than the average, but the increase in production during World War II for machinery changed the tide.

1939 marked the first year in which the global temperature was above the century average, and it wouldn’t drop back down until 1946, the first full year after the war ended. Up until the late 1970s, the temperature remained right around the average, and then the temperature skyrocketed. Things came to a head in 2016 when the global temperature reached a full degree over the average.

One of the ways that we can look at the changing temperatures in terms of extreme is by seeing how many days in particular the temperature reaches ‘heat wave’ temperatures. During the 1960s, a heat wave would typically last for three days on average while there were only two per year. When we got into the 2020s, there were four heat waves per year, and these heat waves averaged six days each. They also got a bit more intense, reaching 0.3 degrees more than they used to at their most intense.

Storms

The amount of precipitation on average has slightly increased over the years, but the amount of extreme precipitation has increased tremendously. For the first nine decades of the 20th century, there was a steady amount of heavy precipitation days, but that number skyrocketed in the 1990s. In fact, nine of the heaviest precipitation days of the 20th century all occurred in the 1990s. Therefore, people in the 1990s were able to say that the weather was getting more extreme than it was even 10 years prior.

It isn’t just regular heavy rainfall or snowfall that has increased with each passing year, but also the amount of tropical storms. Cyclone activity has increased tremendously since the 1970s, with 127 worldwide in 2021 alone, which was down from an all-time high of 150 in 2018. Compare that to 1973, when there were 118 cyclone storms worldwide. In the United States alone. In fact, five of the six years with the most named storms have come since 1995.

Tornadoes

There’s one part of extreme weather that isn’t really all that predictable, and that’s tornadoes. It seems that with the rise of extreme weather events that there would be more tornadoes over the years, but the number has been a bit more sporadic than all of the other measurables. 2016 not only had the highest global temperature on record, but it also had the highest amount of tornadoes.

In the top 10 years that have had the most tornadoes, almost all of the decades of the past 50 years are represented. However, the statistics only date back to the end of World War II, so it’s hard to say that there are more tornadoes in the past 50 years compared to the 50 years prior.

Overall, it’s clear that the warming climate is affecting extreme weather when it comes to heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes/tropical storms. However, it doesn’t have much effect on tornadoes, which is a bit of a surprise. Just as a piece of trivia, though, 1974 is the only recorded year in which there were at least seven tornadoes that reached F5 status.

5 Distinguishing Features Of A Cult – And How To Tell It

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There are a lot of people each year that fall victim to those that want to take advantage of a vulnerability. This can happen in the form of convincing someone to join a cult, which is defined as “a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.” From the outside, you can be fed a bill of lies that sound good on paper but can end up being dangerous.

Then, there are those that truly want to help you through organized religion, which in most cases can be great for your spirituality and help you find meaning. If you’ve had people try to convince you to join any sort of organization, there are ways to tell the difference between a cult and religion. Here are five distinguishing features between the two.

Size

The most surefire way that you can tell the difference between a cult and an organized religion is the sheer size of the group. If someone asks you to join a following where there are only a dozen people or so, then that’s almost a guarantee that it’s a cult. Religions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and more have millions of followers around the world.

When it comes to these small groups, there is often a leader that’s trying to get people to follow them and they aren’t too concerned with developing a large following, they just want a loyal one. A cult is defined as having a following of at least two people but can be upward of a few thousand. If it isn’t in the millions or even hundreds or tens of thousands, you’ve probably come across a cult.

Money

Any legit organized religion will never, ever expect you to spend your hard-earned money on them. Sure, many of them will ask if there’s anything that you can give to help the congregation go as there are bills to pay when operating an establishment, but nothing should ever be expected. When it comes to a cult, though, you’re typically expected to invest almost all of your time and money.

In most cases, all of that money will go to the person (or handful of people) that’s leading the cult. There have been a lot of horror stories from those that escaped a cult that said that they had $0 to their name when they got out. That’s because a cult leader wants you to be entirely dependent on them.

Governmental Recognition

There are well over 200 organized religions that have been listed by the United States Department of Defense. This list is often changing with new actual religions that pop up every now and then that have shown that they don’t have cult-like behaviors. The first thing that you should do when offered to join a new organization is to check and see if it’s on the DoD’s list.

If it’s nowhere to be found, it’s either a brand new religion with good intentions that could one day be on the list, or it could be a cult. Either way, it’s best to wait and see if the organization gets added before you commit to anything. After all, even Jedi from the “Star Wars” franchise is listed as an officially recognized religion because it doesn’t have cult-like features.

Belief System

In almost all religions, there is a belief in a higher power. In a cult, however, almost all belief is put into the leader of that cult. Religion worships either a supernatural being or someone that has departed the Earth long ago, and a leader of a cult will often think that they themselves are gods that are walking amongst mere mortals.

Always check on what the belief system of an organization is and who is worshipped. There should be a clearly stated mission that the organization follows, and if there’s the worship of the leader, then that’s an instant red flag that there’s a cult. You can also check to see if there are other legit religions that share very similar interests that would help make the group valid.

Recruiting Process

We’ve all had people knock on our door to try and get us to join their religion. You can easily tell which ones are legitimate religions when they simply leave you alone when you don’t want to join. For cults, though, they can be extremely persistent and hope that you give in and join.

When you’re being contacted regularly in hopes of recruiting you to join an organization, it should be a college sports team. Anyone that tries to get you to join an actual religion will never be that persistent as you’re free to choose any worship that you want.

How To Not Get Suckered By Black Friday Deals: 5 Rules

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Every year, Black Friday is the largest shopping day in the world as it falls the day after Thanksgiving and marks the unofficial start of the Christmas season. During this day, people spend billions of dollars both online and in stores. That’s because retailers claim that their prices are the lowest that they’re going to be that year, but is that always the case? Part of it is just how well the marketing of Black Friday is, while others truly are offering their lowest prices.

Around this time of year, a lot of people will get buyer’s remorse because the deal that they got wasn’t as great as they thought, or what they spent money on wasn’t even worth the markdown. If you’re looking to save money, here are five ways to not get suckered by Black Friday deals, making your holiday season that much better.

Avoid the Cheapest Deals

There are a lot of doorbusters that are offered on Black Friday, but nothing gets people in the door quite like a good deal on electronics. Things like tablets, televisions, and laptops are all offered at super low prices, and there tend to be lines all the way to the door for people to get their hands on them.

However, these electronics are some of the biggest sucker items that retailers offer. They are far from the top of the line, which is why they’re so cheap, to begin with. They’re also overstocked since nobody wanted to buy them throughout the year and they’re unloading the inventory so that people come into the store and buy other items. If you think a tablet that’s $39 is too good to be true, you’re right.

Don’t Forget Monday

Online shopping has caught on more and more over the years, with revenues from online purchases surpassing that of in-person shopping over the holiday season. With that said, there’s an online equivalent of Black Friday called Cyber Monday. While Black Friday allows people to have their items in hand and ready to wrap on that very day, waiting until Cyber Monday is often your best bet.

That’s because, on Cyber Monday, prices that are listed on websites like Amazon or Walmart are often around 15 percent cheaper than what the same deals were for Black Friday. While these companies want to keep their brick-and-mortar buildings afloat, the online business is just as important to them, which is why they reserve the best deals for Cyber Monday.

Avoid Financing if Possible

Now, more than ever, it’s easier to get financing on products through all major retailers as they work with third-party financiers. The retailers get their money right away, but then you’re left to pay off the amount that was given to them, plus any potential interest from using the buy-now, pay-later option.

While these are great options if you can get them without interest, most of them are offered to people with poor credit at high-interest rates. Let’s say you want something for $150 and are offered to finance. You might end up having to pay $180 on that item over the course of payments, and making a lot of purchases this way can add hundreds to your yearly shopping.

Double Check the Prices

Anything can be marked at a certain percentage off, but that doesn’t mean that the new price is actually marked down that much from the original price. For instance, let’s say there’s a television that’s on sale for $200 and is marked at 50 percent off. You’ll want to check various websites to see if the original price was actually $400.

It could have been $200 throughout the entire year, but was marked at $400 at the last minute so that a retailer could say that it was half-off. It’s a pretty predatory tactic that retailers use to trick people into thinking that they’re getting the best deal, but it’s still legal and tricks countless people every year.

Not Everything Has to Be Black Friday

People save their money all year just to drop it all on that single Black Friday, but that shouldn’t always be the case. We already talked about Cyber Monday, but there are going to be great deals that happen all the way through the holiday season. Don’t get yourself too financially exhausted by spending all of your money on one day because it’s Black Friday.

Also, there are going to be those “dream gifts” that you think need to be purchased that day, but that’s not true. Even getting something small for someone is enough to let them know that you’re thinking of them, so don’t stress yourself out on Black Friday.

5 Interesting Careers Using Mathematics You Might Not Have Considered

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There isn’t a school day that goes by where a math teacher doesn’t hear a student ask “when am I going to use this in real life?” While it’s true that most students will never have to figure out the length of a shadow based on the sun’s position and the height of a tree, there are still going to be plenty of real-life uses for mathematics, especially when it comes to their careers. 

Many careers out there use a surprising amount of math on a daily basis. So if you’re a teacher that wants to let a student know about the great careers that they can apply their math knowledge to, or if you’re a student who simply loves math, here are five interesting careers using mathematics you might not have considered.

1. Air Traffic Controller

The average air traffic controller pulls in around $130,000 per year, which is good for over $62 per hour. There’s a reason that the position is always in such high demand, and it’s because the job of an air traffic controller is a fast-paced one that requires a lot of mathematical skills. Being able to do arithmetic quickly is of the utmost importance for the job to make sure that flights arrive and depart safely.

These controllers are working with numbers nonstop from calculating times, distances, and speeds all at once so that the runway is moving at a good pace while planes aren’t circling too much in the air. Sure, there is a lot of stress that comes from being an air traffic controller, but the salary is phenomenal.

2. Attorney

Those that haven’t really spent much time in a courtroom think that the job of an attorney is simply to comb over evidence that was found at a crime scene and try to prove that their client was innocent. There’s a lot more to being an attorney than just dispelling or proving violent crimes, though, as there are plenty of white-collar attorneys that deal with financial crimes and lawsuits on a daily basis.

Some of the highest-paid attorneys are the ones that work in trust funds and other financial lawsuits that require a lot of number-crunching. At that point, attorneys sort of act like third-party accountants to make sure that everyone is getting what they’re entitled to. It’s a position that you really don’t want to mess up when you’re in charge of the numbers, and you’re compensated handsomely for being good at math.

3. Broadcaster

More than ever, there are youngsters that want to grow up and do play-by-play on television for their favorite sports teams. What a lot of them might realize is that there is a lot of math that goes into being a good broadcaster, especially when you’re talking about a statistic-heavy sport like baseball.

Being able to calculate stats on the fly is going to be one of the most important parts of a broadcaster’s job. From figuring out how many yards a quarterback has thrown on the day to the likelihood that someone is going to hit a free throw, stats are a major part of sports and the reason why fantasy sports have taken off so much.

4. Game Designer

Just like broadcasting, game design is another career path that has drawn the interest of a lot of young people. Perhaps even more so than broadcasting, math plays an integral part in game design. There’s an endless amount of geometry that needs to work together when making a game, and those interactions are all based on mathematics.

From linear algebra to geometry to even random number generation, game designing involves almost nothing but math. Sure, it takes a lot of artistic skill to make a game look good, but it takes all of your mental capacity for math to make it work and function well. After all, many people have said that great graphics don’t equal a great game if the function isn’t working properly.

5. Casino Manager

Places like Las Vegas have casinos that know their operating costs down the exact penny thanks to some brilliant people that work in mathematics. These mathematicians need to know how much the payouts are for each game and how much each table is pulling in. These operators will need to know how many tables to keep open at a given time and what the minimum bets should be.

Even outside of Vegas, there are plenty of cities that are adding casinos and need good managers. The math can be extremely complicated and you have to work with engineers, which is why these important jobs pay out so well.

5 Surprising Ways The Bay Area Has Changed In The Past 30 Years

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The San Francisco Bay is one of the most well-known hubs of the United States, serving host to a massive metro area that includes the cities of San Francisco and Oakland. Though most people from out of the state simply know the Bay Area as the place that has the Golden Gate Bridge and various sports teams, there’s a lot more to the region than just that.

Those that have lived in the Bay Area for a couple of decades know first-hand just how much it has changed over the years. Some changes have been very obvious, while others have been extremely subtle. Let’s take a look at some of the surprising ways that the Bay Area has changed over the past 30 years and what the outlook is like for the next 30.

The Population Swell

Back in 1960, the population of the entire Bay Area was only around 3.6 million people. Even at the time, the area was already feeling a little bit crowded, but it has only gotten more crowded over the years. By the time 1980 rolled along, the population had swelled to almost 5.2 million and then saw a continuous climb into the mid-1990s when the population reached 6.3 million people.

Things would level off a bit during the early 2000s, but the later part of the decade and the 2010s saw a massive spike in population. Now, there are nearly 8 million people living in the Bay Area, and that number figures to only keep climbing. As a result, traffic has gotten more backed up and housing is harder to come by, which leads to our next change in the Bay Area.

Housing Prices

It’s no secret that housing prices have gone up drastically across the United States, but no region has seen prices go up quite as they have in the Bay Area. There’s only one other metro area that has more expensive housing, and that’s New York City. The Bay Area has an average rent of over $3,800 per month, which is nearly double that price that you would find in cities like Baltimore, Maryland, or Phoenix, Arizona.

There was a time when living in the Bay Area wasn’t so expensive, though. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that housing really started to skyrocket, and those prices have climbed faster than any other region despite the 1989 earthquake, the dot-com bubble burst, and the recession of the late 2000s.

Oakland Sports

Over the past 30 years, the San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants have gotten shiny new stadiums and have had a lot of success in their new homes. As for Oakland, two of their teams have left the city while one seems to have one foot out the door. The NBA’s Warriors moved from Oracle Arena in Oakland to the Chase Center in San Francisco after experiencing a ton of success.

The Raiders couldn’t get funding for a new stadium in Oakland, so they left the Coliseum and headed for Las Vegas to play at the new Allegiant Stadium on the Strip. As for the Athletics, they are somewhat stuck at the Coliseum and may end up following the Raiders to Sin City. 30 years ago, Oakland had three sports teams with a lot of success, and they may soon have zero teams altogether.

No More Room

Those that grew up in the Bay Area during the 1970s or 1980s were able to spot a lot of open areas that included trees that extended for long stretches. Those days are gone, though, as Bay Area real estate has become so lucrative that almost all of it is taken up. Residents these days note that there’s just no open space, and that’s a product of the population boom.

Sure, there are still some parks around the Bay Area, but nothing like the wide-open orchards that used to be a staple of the Bay Area. A lot of tech companies moved into the region, and space was becoming a premium with these massive buildings opening up.

Crime Came and Went

There are people that say the Bay Area is more violent now than it has ever been. Those people are actually incredibly wrong. Crime was low during the early 1960s in the Bay Area, then peaked around 1980 in terms of property crime and in the early 1990s for violent crime.

Since then, the Bay Area has seen a massive drop in both property and violent crimes, with numbers lower now than they have been since the start of the 1960s. When you see the news, though, you might think that the Bay Area has become a warzone.

Why Aren’t Weather Forecasts Always Accurate?

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The weather is something that we think about on a daily basis. It’s one of the last things we check before going to bed so we know what to expect, we bring it up in small talk with strangers, and we plan our days and trips based on it. For this reason, we rely on weather forecasts to be accurate, because nobody wants to spend a lot of money to plan on going to a picnic or a baseball game that ends up getting washed out.

However, we find that the weather forecasts aren’t always accurate. In fact, sometimes they’re very wrong, and the first person that we blame is the local meteorologist. That shouldn’t be the case, however, as the data that they get is the best possible guess that anybody could reasonably make. After all, they’re trying to predict the weather for up to two weeks and things can change in an instant.

So why is it that weather forecasts aren’t always accurate? It turns out that there are several explainable reasons, and hopefully these make it so that your local weatherperson gets less hate mail.

1. Too Broad of a Range

Simply put, weather forecasters are doing the people a service when they give their best predictions for the weather over longer stretches of time. Weather forecasts about 24 hours ahead of time are almost always going to be completely accurate because patterns have already been well-formed and are going in certain directions.

That’s not the case when a forecaster is telling people what to expect in 10 to 14 days. Instead, those are complete guesses based on predictive models and past weather data on that particular day in history. 

That’s why when there’s unseasonable cold weather in the winter, the 10-day forecast might say that it’s going to be much, much warmer, but that might not happen. Experts say that everything that they say in a five-day window is typically going to be what you can truly expect.

2. Weather is Unpredictable

There are a lot of sports betting “experts” out there that say they’re the best to listen to because they’re the most accurate. Well, even the best of the best are only accurate about 60 percent of the time, and that makes plenty of money. People expect weather forecasters to be perfect, however, which really isn’t fair.

The weather can be just as unpredictable as a basketball game, especially in certain climate zones. The weather forecast in San Diego, California is going to be easy to predict since it’s sunny almost every day and stays in a certain temperature range. The same cannot be said for a place like Detroit, Michigan.

Flatter areas are also more difficult to predict as wind speeds vary greatly in these regions. Places like Kansas are notoriously flat and can have wide ranges of temperatures, winds, and more. This is why the part of the country is known as “tornado alley.”

3. It’s a Computer’s Fault

The people that you see on the local news aren’t actually predicting the weather themselves based on what they think. Again, leave that to the sportscasters. Instead, these meteorologists use a computer model to help them predict the weather. As we all know, computers are amazing, but they aren’t always accurate.

There are also different computer models that are used, with some more accurate than others. The United States alone has several, with the consensus combining all of these. The National Weather Service uses Hewlett-Packard supercomputers to help predict weather models, and they keep adding to the computer count to make things more accurate. 

With that said, weather forecasts are actually much more predictable than they were 50, 20, and even 10 years ago. As we know, people demand perfection from everything in life, and that includes weather forecasts. During the 1950s, people didn’t get 24-hour channels dedicated solely to weather, and their complaints about the “weatherman” were confined only to written letters and maybe the occasional heckle on the streets, a la Nicolas Cage in the 2005 film “The Weather Man”.

5 Most Surreal Hip Hop Drama Episodes Of The Last 20 Years

Posted on by scatty

Just like in any other profession, there are people in the hip-hop industry that simply don’t get along. Sometimes, there are completely valid reasons for two people to not like each other, while some beefs between two people are completely off-the-wall and leave fans and other rappers thinking “come on, now.”

As a result, we’ve seen plenty of rap beefs that have been downright funny and surreal over the past 20 years. From getting involved with the White House to not attending a party, some of the drama is almos too goofy to take seriously. Here are five instance of surreal hip-hop drama episodes in the past 20 years.

1. The Game vs. Jay-Z

Jayceon Taylor, also known as The Game, has a lot of problems with legendary rapper Jay-Z, and he wants everyone to know about it. On the other side of the coin, it doesn’t seem like Jay-Z thinks about The Game at all. The Game has taken shots at Jay-Z in the media and directly mentioned him in several songs, but Jay-Z has not responded in the slightest. So what’s the deal with The Game?

“I met Jay-Z a long time ago in the 40/40 Club and he seemed like a cool dude,” The Game said. “I asked him something, ‘How do you stay relevant?’ And I ain’t really like his answer. So ever since then I just kinda take shots here and shots there.” Eventually, The Game revealed that Jay-Z told him that “most of you new rappers won’t last long anyway” and that The Game should have a backup plan.

2. Kanye West vs. George W. Bush

Since the start of the hip-hop genre, rappers have gotten heavily involved with politics, so it’s no surprise when a rapper sounds off about the President of the United States. One rapper did it in such a surreal way, though, that it left even one of the best improvisational comedians completely speechless.

Of course, we’re talking about Kanye West, who appeared alongside “Wayne’s World” and “Austin Powers” star Mike Myers at the Concert for Hurricane Relief in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. West told Myers that was going to ad-lib “a little bit.” Myers talked about the tragedy of the hurricane, while West went into a tirade about racial relations in the country, explicitly calling out President George W. Bush by saying “George Bush does not care aboutblack people.”

3. Eminem vs. Insane Clown Posse

You can’t talk about the Detroit rap scene without mentioning Eminem and the Insane Clown Posse, who have made their mark on the Motor City over the past quarter-century. During the early days of Eminem’s career when he wasn’t well-known, he was having a release party for his debut album. On the flier for the party, Eminem mentioned that ICP might be there, putting (maybe) next to their name.

The fact that ICP was even mentioned on the flier didn’t set well with the duo, and they began a historic beef with Eminem that made Detroiters scratch their heads. There was even assault with a deadly weapon involved at one point during the beef, but things have cooled off tremendously. “I’d invite Eminem to come have dinner at my house,” ICP rapper Violent J said. “We’d love to do a song with him. That’d be dope.”

4. Soulja Boy vs. Almost Everyone

When you think about songs that have a lot of depth and meaning, you probably won’t find Soulja Boy near that list. With songs like “Pretty Boy Swag”, “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” and, of course, “Crank That”, Soulja Boy seemed mostly like a novelty rapper that was a testament to the mid 2000s.

During his career, Soulja Boy has had a beef with just about everybody, many of which were seemingly for no reason in particular. He didn’t like how Ice-T said that he was ruining hip-hop, he didn’t like when Lil’ Yachty got people to chant “F*** Soulja Boy”, and he even got into it with actor Shia Labeouf for…reasons.

5. Chris Brown vs. CM Punk

CM Punk is known for being one of the best pro wrestlers in the world and was a part-time MMA fighter, but he’s not really known for having a rap background. That didn’t stop him from tweeting that he would like to fight Chris Brown, calling him a “turd” and asking for a match at WrestleMania.

Instead of acknowledging that this was a pro wrestler talking to him, Brown took the bait and got personal with Punk. The two continued to trade barbs with Brown not making any WWE appearances, letting everyone know that Brown got worked into a shoot, as Hulk Hogan would say.