Weird Inventions

Obtaining a patent is a costly and time consuming process. Inventors must have unstoppable faith in their vision in order to realize their dream of acquiring a patent. But sometimes these inventions come from a creative place so deep, they can be perceived by some as offbeat, unusual and possibly a bit eccentric. And that's where we step in… America's Goofiest Patents!

Bulletproof Bed

Do you need protection from bio-chemical terrorists attacks? How about natural disasters? Kidnappers and stalkers? Or would you just feel safer sleeping in a bulletproof bed? If you answered yes to any of the aforementioned questions, you need the oh-so-versatile Quantum Sleeper.

Not for the claustrophobic or light of check book, this $160,000 coffin-esque "saferoom" does not include the optional microwave, fridge or entertainment center.

Pierced Glasses

Anyone who wears glasses knows that the earpiece that holds your glasses to your head can be annoying and on a bad day, cause headaches. The earpieces have to be tight enough to hold your glasses on and loose enough to be comfortable.

And, it can be tricky finding this happy medium. So our fearless inventor discovered a new way to hang eye glasses on your face, by using body piercing studs. That's right… pierce your face, hang your glasses! Finally, piercing gets practical!

Hijacker Injector

Okay, we know we're treading on sensitive ground here, but even methods to stop airplane hijacking can be totally absurd. This patent dates back to 1974 when there were kinder, gentler hijackers. We have to presume our nattily dressed felon either just handed the flight attendant his demand note or, after he told the pilot of his intentions, he was asked to return politely to his seat and buckle up. Now here comes the insight into genius; there is a hypodermic needle injector built into every seat on the plane! According to the inventor, the "hypodermic injection apparatus is arranged for driving the needle of a hypodermic syringe through the seat cushion, into the passenger to instantly sedate or kill the passenger". Ouch!

Fish 'n Flush!

Goldfish die and then what happens next? You flush them down the toilet! But that's not what the Fish 'n Flush is all about my friend, oh no.

The Fish 'n Flush is a toilet aquarium kit that turns your toilet into a facsimile of the Great Barrier Reef, complete with colorful fish and bubbling treasure chests.

Finding Nemo has never been easier. Our concern is for the poor fish and the views they have to endure

Hurricane House

Thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes, as we have recently witnessed, can devastate conventional homes. The shear force of Mother Nature can rip apart seemingly sturdy structures and the cost to build a hurricane-proof house has been prohibitively expensive. That is, until now. Our inventor looked into high winds until he was blew in the face (we couldn't resist), and thus invented… the Hurricane House! Hey, that looks like a jet airplane, you may be saying to yourself. Well, it is, because commercial airliners are designed to withstand winds in excess of 500 miles per hour. So our inventor ripped out this retired planes seats and filled it with suitable home furnishings. Then he mounted it on a rotating base that is securely embedded in the ground. Now when the winds whip up, the Hurricane house automatically "weathervanes", rotating into the wind, as if it were flying at 30,000 feet, providing the smallest cross-sectional area to the destructive wind forces.

Human Car Wash

People need bathing. Hospital patients need bathing too and to speed up this process, may we suggest the Human Car Wash? The HCW eliminates slipping and falling because the washees are strapped into a hanging harness and merely need to stand or dangle in a fixed position while the conveyor belt moves them from station to station. First the wetting station, then the soapy spray station, next the rinsing station and at the end, no towels are needed because there's a blow drying station! Developed in 1969 during the cold war, the inventor suggests the Human Car Wash can be built into a mobile trailer "to cope with the mass bathing requirements after an atomic bomb".

Imaginary Friend

The inventor says this invention is a mobile desk for your moto, designed to sit in your front seat, giving you have access to drawers and cubbyholes for your pens, papers, files and food. But then she had a bold idea… why not make this a security device too! So she added an imaginary friend, an official looking inflatable village person that you can hang out with. Not only that, in case some desperados see that your friend is only half there and they are still after you, it's time to reach for your fake phone! That's right, it looks like a real phone and we're hoping big time that the robbers think it's real, but it's really only useful for talking to your Imaginary Friend. As an added bonus, Mr. Inflatable is also useful for car pool lanes and Desperate Housewives.

Remote Controlled Horse

Remote controls are running rampant in our lives! We remotely control our TV's, our DVD's and our CD's. There are remote controlled ceiling fans, remote controlled curtains, and now you can even control your homes lights and temperature settings from anywhere in the world, via remote controls over the internet. But our inventor was way ahead of the curve. Way back in 1981, he envisioned something for the ultimate couch potato, he invented the Remote Controlled Horse! The inventor indicates in his patent statement that it can be time consuming and costly to search for and pay a hired rider to herd cattle or a jockey to race your horse. But with the Remote Controlled Horse, all that our non-rider needs to do is sit back in a comfy chair and use his joy stick to remotely control his trusty steed using a specialized servo saddle. Motorized mechanisms pull the horses reins, steering him in the right direction or pulling back, commanding Seabiscuit to a full stop

10 different office people types

10. THE HOT CHICK

You know her. She drives every guy crazy in the office. And everyone knows exactly who you're talking about when you say, "Wow, did you see what she was wearing today? The things I would do to her..."

9. MR. MEETINGS

He doesn't actually do anything, he just has meetings all day, every day. Someone's working on something? Let's all huddle in the conference room to discuss implementing it. Someone wants to schedule a meeting? Let's meet to form a task force about it. Someone's dropping a deuce in the toilet? We better meet on this.

8. THE KITCHEN SLOB

He'll stick burritos in the microwave just long enough for them to explode, spill coffee on the counter, and leave an egg and tuna salad sandwich in the fridge until human resources has to send out a sternly worded e-mail suggesting it be thrown out.

7. THE SPORTS GUY

He's either talking about the game that was just on or the one that's coming up. On Casual Fridays, this lovable fellow sports his team jersey, and on Monday makes a point to stop at every desk to discuss "That play!" If possible, he would have 15 office sports pools going all at once.

6. THE IDIOT BOSS

He has a fancy degree hanging on his office wall and a great collection of designer suits. Each day he asks some amazingly stupid question or suggests a preposterous idea that gives you a new reason to question just how the hell he's in charge. He knows almost nothing about his particular line of work, and what he does know, he learned from you.

5. THE BATHROOM BOMBER

Typically a likable, heavy-set guy who enjoys greasy food. If he's exited the bathroom with a sigh of relief, you know it's off limits for at least an hour, or until the dust settles from one of his massive craps. He is referred to by the midnight cleaning crew as "El Diablo."

4. MRS. SMOKE BREAKS

This husky-voiced, often overweight co-worker has found a way to take an extra hour off her workday. Her favorite phrase is, "I'll be right back" as she heads to the outside courtyard to meet with her fellow puffers who consume Virginia Slims like candy. She is single-handedly responsible for doubling the office's insurance premiums.

3. MR. ALWAYS ON THE VERGE OF QUITTING (AKA Mr. Eff this Place!)

He doesn't just dislike his job, he hates it. Every week for the last eight years he's vowed that today would be his last day. But instead of quitting, he gripes to you, other co-workers, the mailman, and anyone who'll listen.

2. THE COFFEE-BREATHING CLOSE-TALKER

He always knocks down a few cups of java juice and a couple of cigs before your one-on-one morning encounter. His idea of personal space is just making sure your noses aren't touching. All the while you're trying desperately to invent reasons why your conversation needs to be over.

1. MR. LAZY SACK OF SHIT WHO NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HOW HE KEEPS HIS JOB

He strolls in whenever he can, takes two-hour lunches and leaves about 4:15-ish. Nobody's quite sure what he does all day, but due to corporate bureaucracy or union guidelines, he never seems to get in trouble.

10 Bizarre Methods Of Treatment

The medical field is always looking for ways to cure diseases. Even in the Medieval or ancient times, they would come up with plausible solutions for what was ailing the patient. Things in today's society are a little more sophisticated than back then, but there are still some bizarre treatments for sicknesses and diseases.

Clysters

This procedure consists of introducing liquids into the rectum or colon. This procedure would cause the intestines to inflate causing all the backed up toxins to evacuate the body. This was seen as a way of administering drugs into the system for faster relief of upset stomachs.

Bloodletting

It was believed that removing a substantial amount of blood would prevent or cure diseases. When a person was thought to have high blood pressure, they would use this method to reduce it. They believed that purging the blood would cure diseases and it would help the blood to circulate better. If you have a fever, headache, or apoplexy, which was stroke like or seizure symptoms, they would perform this procedure near the area that was affected. The thought was that if it was performed there then the ailment would be healed.

Spells

It was believed that a person of the pagan faith could heal a person. Of the person that was sick was visited by a pagan and they looked under a rock to see something living, then they would survive the ailment. These people were then asked to repent for their sins. They were told that this would help in the curing process.

Dwale

This was the term for potions used during surgeries. The patients needed to sleep during the procedures, but the use of just the hemlock plant was potentially lethal. A mixture of lettuce juice, gall from a castrated boar, briony, opium, henbane, hemlock juice and vinegar mixed with wine would put the patient to sleep. The dwale had the potential of being to strong and killing the patient during the procedure.

Potato Peels

These are used to treat burns. It has been found out that if you use a potato peel on a fresh burn it will heel faster than the traditional bandage. The advantages of this are it is cheap, non-sticky, heals fast, patients won't cry out when it is removed, and it will keep the skin moist. A burn victim loses moisture through the evaporation occurring from the wound, but the potato can help prevent that from happening. Aside from moisture qualities of a potato peel, they also have anti-bacterial properties.

Vinegar

According to various studies, pouring vinegar on a jellyfish sting can stop the venom that is released by the sting. If you remove all the tentacles and then pouring vinegar on the wound would alleviate the pain and stop the release of more venom into your system.

Hydrotherapy

This procedure involved just taking a bath in order to soothe pain and get rid of diseases. It used to be believed that taking a bath with oils and flowers or bathing in spring water would cure what was ailing you. Some doctors took this idea to the extreme though and would take up the practice of wrapping their patients in ice cold towels, spraying them down with high pressured water hoses, or submerging them in baths for hours or days, only letting them out to use the bathroom. Hydrotherapy can still be found today for treatments of arthritis, ankylosing, spondylitis, spinal cord injuries, burns, spasticity, stroke, or paralysis.

Chemically Induced Seizures

This practiced was used by a Hungarian pathologist. He claimed that seizure patients did not exhibit signs of schizophrenia and they were happy after a seizure occurred, so inducing one in a schizophrenic patient would in turn make them happy and cure them. He tested a few drugs to make the seizures occur, but settled on one called metrazol. He had some success with this procedure, because of the chemical in the brain releases after a seizure calmed the patients, but it was frowned upon due to the side effects, which included possible injuries and a continued pattern of seizures.

Lobotomy

This is a surgical procedure that involves removing the front portion of someone's brain. For 20yrs this treatment was used to treat schizophrenia, clinical depression, other anxiety disorders, moodiness, or a defiant youth. After antipsychotic drugs were discovered, this procedure was no longer used and it was considered one of the biggest medical mistakes to take place.

Trepanation

This procedure consists of drilling a hole in the brain in order to relieve a disease that may be occurring in the brain. It was believed that the practice would cure epileptic seizures, migraines, and mental disorders. This practice is still used today when swelling of the brain occurs due to a head injury, or when blood appears under the finger nail, they will drill a hole and it is often referred to by the same name. People that lay on a bed of nails are thought to be performing a version of this procedure, because it is releasing pressure from blood vessels under the skin.

Bizzare torture methods

In Medieval times, they sought out ways to cut back on crime. Instead of letting the criminals sit in a jail cell, like today, they would use different torture devices. These devices came in all shapes and sizes and were meant to scare other would be criminals into not doing the crimes committed by the person being tortured.

The Brazen Bull

This device was designed in Greece by Perillos of Athens. He was a brass founder and he cast the shape of a hollow bull with a door on the side. This condemned person was shut in the bull. There was a fire lit underneath the device and because it was brass it became yellow hot, which would cause the person to roast to death. It was configured with tubes and stops, so when the person was screaming it would sound like the bull was raging.

The Breaking Wheel

This wheel of torture was used to kill criminals and it did that very slowly. This device was a large wagon wheel. The criminal would be tied to the wheel, where the punisher would proceed to use a hammer to break the bones of the other person. Once that was completed, they were left there to die and even the birds would peck at their flesh until death was complete.

The Rack

This device is an oblong rectangle with a wooden frame. It was raised from the ground with a roller either at one end or at both ends. One end had a fixed bar, where the feet were locked onto it, and the other end had a moveable bar, where the hands were tied to it. It had a lever that was used as the interrogation progressed. It was on a lever and pulley system that would eventually cause the joints of the person being tortured to dislocate and then separate. Eventually, the muscle fibers, ligaments, and cartilage would break separating the limbs from the body of the condemned.

Judas Cradle

This torture device is a pyramid shaped seat. The victim is placed on top of it, with the point inserted into an orifice, then they are very slowly lowered onto it. The condemned was usually naked in order to add to their humiliation. This device was thought to stretch the orifice or to slowly impale the person. The stretching of the orifice would cause pain, rips and tears, which would eventually cause death.

Coffin Torture

This device was used in the Middle Ages. The condemned would be placed in the metal coffin and left there for the appropriate amount of time. Depending on the crime, the person could be left in there to die, while animals ate their flesh or they would be placed on public display, which would cause their death. The people that would surround the person in the coffin would throw rocks and poke the person with objects until they finally became deceased.

Iron Maiden

This iron cabinet with a hinged front was made to be a tall upright cabinet that would enclose a human being. It would have a small opening, which was closeable, so the interrogator would be able to open and close it at their will. They would then poke the bodies of the person with a sharp object. They would use knives, spikes, or nails and the person inside was forced to remain standing in one position, ultimately causing their demise.

The Knee Splitter

The whole purpose of this device was to make a person's knees useless. It was used in mainly during the Inquisitional period of time. This device was faceted with spikes, from three to twenty of them, and depending on the crime committed, depended on the number used. IT had a handle the torturer would use to close the device. The spikes would mutilate the skin and begin to crush the knee. They would also use the device on elbows, arms and the lower legs. There were even instances that they would heat the device to cause a maximum amount of pain. Death wasn't a result of this device, but it the person refused to cooperate they would use other means.

Heretic's Fork

This device was used during the Spanish Inquisition. It has two forks at opposing ends of a metal rod. One of the forks would be placed under the chin, piercing the skin, and the other end would be piercing the flesh in the upper chest. It didn't puncture any vital organs, so death would not take place during the use of this method, but it made talking and neck movements impossible. While wearing this device a person's hands would be tied behind their backs, so they could not escape it. It would harm the person's neck and, often times, spread diseases.

Saw Torture

This method was used to torture and kill the condemned person, which were typically accused of witchery, adultery, murder, blasphemy, or theft. The accused was hung upside down. This slowed down the blood loss by forcing the blood to the brain and it humiliated the person. This type of torture could last for several hours. Some of the victims would be cut completely in half, while some would only be cut up to their abdomen in order to prolong their deaths.

Thumbscrew

This was used to get a confession from the offenders. The fingers of the person were placed in the device and crushed by the torturer turning the handle on the top. It could last for a very long time and it was very painful. This was also used to crush a person's toes. They even made bigger versions of this device used to crush feet, knees, elbows and even heads.

World without people

At the other end of the chronological spectrum, anything made of bronze might survive in recognizable form for millions of years—along with one billion pounds of degraded but almost indestructible plastics manufactured since the mid-20th century. Meanwhile, land freed from mankind's environmentally poisonous footprint would quickly reconstitute itself, as in Chernobyl, where animal life has returned after 1986's deadly radiation leak, and in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a refuge since 1953 for the almost-extinct goral mountain goat and Amur leopard. Many of the buildings in Manhattan are anchored to bedrock. But even if they have steel beam foundations, these structures were not designed to be waterlogged all the time. So eventually buildings would start to topple and fall. Once the power goes off, the pumps stop working. Once the pumps stop working, the subways start filling with water. Within 48 hours you're going to have a lot of flooding in New York City. Some of this would be visible on the surface. You might have some sewers overflowing. Those sewers would very quickly become clogged with debris—in the beginning the innumerable plastic bags that are blowing around the city and later, if nobody is trimming the hedges in the parks, you're going to have leaf litter clogging up the sewers. There are places in Manhattan where they're constantly fighting rising underground rivers that are corroding the tracks. You stand in these pump rooms, and you see an enormous amount of water gushing in. And down there in a little box are these pumps, pumping it away. So, say human beings disappeared tomorrow. One of the first things that would happen is that the power would go off. A lot of our power comes out of nuclear or coal-fired plants that have automatic fail-safe switches to make sure that they don't go out of control if no humans are monitoring their systems Imagine if one minute from now, every single person on Earth disappeared. All 6.6 billion of us. Human history just stopped. What would happen to the world without us?

Finding and keeping a valentine

Golden rules for finding your life partner by Dov Heller, M.A.
When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50%, it appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr./Miss. Right!

If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll say: "We're in love"; I believe this is the ..1 mistake people make when they date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love.

Though this may sound "not politically correct", there's a profound truth here.
Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come. Let me say it again: "You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone"; You need a lot more!!!

Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding and keeping a life partner.

QUESTION ..1: Do we share a common life purpose?
Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30 years, that's a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose.

Two things can happen in a marriage: (1) You can grow together, or (2)you can grow apart. 50% of the people out there are growing apart. To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life!
Bottom line; marry someone who wants the same thing.

QUESTION ..2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person?

This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good communication is trust - i.e. trust that I won't get "punished"; or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and
feelings. A colleague of mine defines an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the person you plan to marry.

QUESTION ..3: Is he/she a mensch?
A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves? A teacher of mine defines a good person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right ";. So ask about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is this person materialistic? Usually a materialistic person is not someone whose top priority is character refinement.

There are essentially two types of people in the world: (1) People who are dedicated to personal growth and (2) people who are dedicated to seeking comfort. Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down the aisle.

QUESTION ..4: How does he/she treat other people?
The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure.
Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self- absorbed?
To measure this, think about the following: How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as waiters, bus boys, taxi drivers, etc.. How do they treat their parents and siblings?
Do they have gratitude and appreciation?
If they don't have gratitude for the people who have given them everything; can you do nearly as much for them? You can be sure that someone, who treats others poorly, will eventually treat you poorly as well.

QUESTION ..5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married?
Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to "improve"; them after they're married. As a
colleague of mine puts it: "You can probably expect someone to change after marriage for the worse" If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them.
In conclusion, dating doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous. The key is to try leading a little more with your head and less with
your heart. It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating; to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key
issues. Falling in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up with a ring on your finger, you don't want to find yourself
trouble because you didn't do your homework.

Another perspective...
There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance.. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going anywhere relationships. Observe the relationships around you.

Pay attention...Which ones lift and which ones lean?
Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?
Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?
When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse?
Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know, or appreciate you?

The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

An African proverb states, "Before you get married, keep both eyes open, and after you marry, close one eye"; Before you get involved and make a commitment to someone, don't let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from others or a low self-esteem make you blind to warning signs. Keep your eyes open, and don't fool yourself that you can change someone or that what you see as faults aren't really that important.

Do you bring out the best in each other?
Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you compete, compare and control?
What do you bring to the relationship?
Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past pain?
You can't take someone to the altar to alter them. You can't make someone love you or make someone stay.
If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and "a life"; you won't find yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain. Seeking status, sex, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a relationship.

WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG IS:
1. TRUST
2. COMMUNICATION
3. INTIMACY
4. A SENSE OF HUMOR
5. SHARING TASKS
6. SOME GETAWAY TIME WITHOUT BUSINESS OR CHILDREN
7. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch, notes, etc.)
8. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS
9. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE
10. GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT

If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode as resentment withdrawal, abuse, neglect, and dishonesty; and pain will
replace.

Top dating mistakes by gals

To girls, dating might be one of the most important things. Some women seem to date more than they sleep. While that probably isn't true, if you're a girl or you have a close female friend, you have probably heard her talk about dating or her lack there of. In any case, women date in order to find "the one." Some give up easily, some don't. Some women will spend days preparing ahead of time for a set date with a possible fling.

While some women will prepare ahead of time, others won't prepare at all. No matter how much or how little time you spend preparing yourself for the big night (or day, some men slack off on a nice evening meal,) it's almost positive that you will make a mistake during some part of the dating process. Whether it's before, during, or after the date, rest assured that you've made a mistake; just don't dwell on it for too long! Here are the top 10 things us females do wrong, sometimes without knowing.

10. Honesty is the Best Policy

Dating isn't always the easiest thing to do. Sometimes you think that you know the person you're on a date with, but maybe something unexpected comes up and you're completely thrown off by the guy. If this is the case, honesty is the best policy. Women often like to pretend that they are still interested in the guy even though they really aren't. Telling the truth during the dating stage is very important. Remember, be honest.

9. Date One Guy at a Time

This mistake may not be as common, but I've definitely heard my share of girls that have done it. Generally you hear it most from men in the form of bragging. Some girls decide to date multiple guys at the same time. While these guys may not be considered "boyfriends," dating many guys at once can cause an issue. Try to stick to dates with one guy. Once you realize that he isn't "the one" or you just aren't interested in him, you can move on to the next one and wish for better luck.

8. Only Trust Reliable Resources for Advice

If you're one of those females that has a lot of female friends, it is very likely that you have run into this mistake. Say its Saturday night, you're at a friend's house with all of your other girlfriends. The conversation switches to advice about dating and men and without thinking, you probably let your mind soak in all of this "advice" that is thrown around. Hello, mistake! Asking advice from people who know nothing about dating is a very common mistake. Maybe it's just me, but girls with boyfriends generally aren't spending a nice Saturday night with a bunch of their girlfriends. If you want dating advice, ask someone who knows about men and relationships. (This excludes ex-boyfriends, and parents!)

7. Stay Sober

If you've been on enough dates, your date has probably invited to take you to a bar or offered to buy you drinks for the night. Though it may not seem like one, this is most definitely a mistake. While it may be nice to have someone else pay your alcohol tab for the night, allowing your date to buy you unlimited drinks is a mistake! As great as it may be, by the end of the night, especially if you don't know your limits, you might just find yourself drunk. If your date wants to meet at a bar, try to pick a new location. Drinking may be nice, but ending a date drunk and waking up the next day without remembering much isn't fun.

6. Dress Appropriately

A few days before the date, you and a friend are at the mall shopping. You realize that you have money to spend, so you decide to put it towards an outfit that you think will make you look the best on the day of your date. While clothes may look good on the mannequin, don't assume that they look good on you. The mistake here is buying the wrong clothes and not trying on what you buy. Though you might think your date will enjoy all of the leg that you are showing off, try to dress "classy" as they put it. Don't go all out, your date isn't looking for you to be wearing Cinderella's dress, but don't under-dress either.

5. Be Conversational, but Keep it Interesting

During a date, talking is probably one of the most important yet nerve-racking (for some) things to do. Some women prefer that the guy lead the conversation and ask the questions, some prefer that they lead the conversation, and others want a fine balance between the two. If you're on a date, keep in mind what you're talking about. It's safe to say that your date doesn't care to hear about your first pet, you're entire life story, or stories that you and your friends find funny. Sparking boring conversation is a big mistake that girls make while on a date. If the guy asks you a question, answer it and make sure that you don't find yourself going off on a tangent. Keep it simple and understandable yet interesting.

4. Don't Jump Ahead

Once you've gotten over the bump of the first date, many girls like to pick up the phone and yap about how special and nice this new guy is. Before you know it, and without even realizing it, you're calling this man your boyfriend. Wrong! Not only is this a bad mistake, it could really ruin the "relationship" that the two of you had made in the course of a day. To put it easily, going on one date and calling a guy your boyfriend is just crazy. It just makes you look clingy and way to into the relationship. You can at least save all of that for when the relationship really starts!

3. Don't Become Infatuated

Another mistake that many women make is jumping the gun and thinking that a guy automatically likes them. The date is over, you're feeling the butterflies still, and all you can think about is the "look" that he gave you. You call your best friend and the "OMGs" and "perfects" seem to spew out of your mouth. Mistake! Maybe he just had something in his eye, or maybe he was just being nice and trying to make eye contact with you. No matter what, it's fatal (not really) to jump the gun and assume that the guy automatically likes you. As much as we all want to believe in the lovey-dovey "love at first sight" thing, it's very doubtful that a man has his mind made up right after the first date. Don't assume anything, for you are dating a man, and for the simple reason that you don't want your hopes to come crashing down.

2. Know Where to Find a Date

A common mistake that girls make is simply looking in the wrong places for men. That's right, this mistake takes place way before the dating even begins. Really, do you think that you'll find your dream man at the mall, the grocery store, or the local town festival? I'd say no, but I guess it's all personal opinion. Though looking in the wrong places are generally the easiest places to find men, try stepping outside of the box (the box being a mile away from your home.)

1.Be Patient

Right before the date is over, maybe he asks, or maybe you offer to give your phone number to him. In your head fireworks are going off, your heart is pounding and you're excited. Once he has the number and the date has ended, you keep tabs on your phone as if it was your source of oxygen. You wait and wait until your ringtone goes off. Big mistake. Even though he might have asked for your number or accepted it, it doesn't mean that he is going to call you in an hour, four hours, or even the next day. Don't expect or even assume that he is going to call you; it's definitely way too much stress! Fact is most men won't call when you want them to.

The science of kissing

Pecking, smooching, Frenching, and playing tonsil-hockey—there are as many names for kissing as there are ways to do it. Whether we use it as an informal greeting or an intensely romantic gesture, kissing is one of those ingrained human behaviors that seems to defy explanation. Its many purposes—a blow and peck for good luck on dice, lips to ground after a rocky boat ride, kisses in the air to an acquaintance, and the long slow smooches of Hollywood—have different meanings yet are similar in nature. So why is it that we love to pucker up?

A Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss
Philematologists, the scientists who study kissing, aren’t exactly sure why humans started locking lips in the first place. The most likely theory is that it stems from primate mothers passing along chewed food to their toothless babies. The lip-to-lip contact may have been passed on through evolution, not only as a necessary means of survival, but also as a general way to promote social bonding and as an expression of love.

But something’s obviously happened to kissing since the time of the chewed-food pass. Now, it’s believed that kissing helps transfer critical information, rather than just meat bits. The kissing we associate with romantic courtship may help us to choose a good mate, send chemical signals, and foster long-term relationships. All of this is important in evolution’s ultimate goal—successful procreation.

Kissing allows us to get close enough to a mate to assess essential characteristics about them, none of which we’re consciously processing. Part of this information exchange is most likely facilitated by pheromones, chemical signals that are passed between animals to help send messages. We know that animals use pheromones to alert their peers of things like mating, food sources, and danger, and researchers hypothesize that pheromones can play a role in human behavior as well. Although the vomeronasal organs, which are responsible for pheromone detection and brain function in animals, are thought to be vestigial and inactive in humans, research indicates we do communicate with chemicals.

The first study to indicate that chemical signals play a role in attraction was conducted by Claud Wedekind over a decade ago. Women sniffed the worn t-shirts of men and indicated which shirts smelled best to them. By comparing the DNA of the women and the men, researchers found that women didn’t just chose their favorite scent randomly. They preferred the scent of man whose major histocompatibility complex (MHC)—a series of genes involved in our immune system—was different from their own. Having a different MHC means less immune overlap and a better chance of healthy, robust offspring. Kissing may be a subtle way for women to assess the immune compatibility of a mate, before she invests too much time and energy in him. Perhaps a bad first kiss means more than first date jitters—it could also mean a real lack of chemistry.

Men Sloppy, Women Choosy
Behavioral research supports this biological reasoning. In 2007, researchers at University of Albany studied 1,041 college student and found significant differences in how males and females perceived kissing. Although common in courtship, females put more importance on kissing, and most would never have sex without kissing first. Men, on the other hand, would have sex without kissing beforehand; they would also have sex with someone who wasn’t a good kisser. Since females across species are often the choosier ones when it comes to mate selection, these differences in kissing behavior make sense.

Men are also more likely to initiate French kissing and researchers hypothesize that this is because saliva contains testosterone, which can increase libido. Researchers also think that men might be able to pick up on a woman’s level of estrogen, which is a predictor of fertility.

Crazy for Canoodling
But kissing isn’t all mating practicality; it also feels good. That’s because kissing unleashes a host of feel-good chemicals, helping to reduce stress and increase social bonding. Researcher Wendy Hill and colleagues at Lafayette College looked at how oxytocin, which is involved in pair bonding and attachment, and cortisol, a stress hormone, changed after people kissed. Using a small sample of college couples that were in long-term relationships, they found cortisol levels decreased after kissing. The longer the couples had been in a relationship, the farther their levels dropped. Cortisol levels also decreased for the control group—couples that just held hands—indicating that social attachment in general can decrease stress levels, not just kissing.

Looking at oxytocin levels, the researchers found that they increased only in the males, whereas the researchers thought it would increase in both sexes. They hypothesized that it could be that women need more than a kiss to stimulate attachment and bonding, or that the sterile environment of the research lab wasn’t conducive to creating a feeling of attachment.

Kissing, therefore, plays a role not only in mate selection, but also in bonding. At an Association for the Advancement of Science meeting on the science of kissing, Helen Fischer, an evolutionary biologist, posits multiple reasons for lip locking. She believes that kissing is involved in the three main types of attraction humans have: sex drive, which is ruled by testosterone; romantic love, which is ruled by dopamine and other feel-good hormones; and attachment, which involves bonding chemicals like oxytocin. Kissing, she postulates, evolved to help on all three fronts. Saliva, swapped during romantic kisses, has testosterone in it; feel-good chemicals are distributed when we kiss that help fuel romance; and kissing also helps unleash chemicals that promote bonding, which provides for long term attachment, necessary for raising offspring.

Sniff, Snuggle, and Turn Right
Yet, not all cultures or mammals kiss. Some mammals have close contact with each others’ faces via licking, grooming, and sniffing, which may transmit the necessary information. And although chimps may pass food from mother to child, the notoriously promiscuous bonobos are apparently the only primates that truly kiss. And while it’s thought that 90 percent of the human population kisses, there’s still the 10 percent that doesn’t. So it seems that as much as we use kissing to gather genetic and compatibility information, our penchant for kissing also has to do with our cultural beliefs surrounding it.

Whether we live in a place where kissing is reserved for close acquaintances, or somewhere where a casual greeting means a one, two, or three cheeker, one thing does remain highly consistent: the side to which people turn while kissing. It’s almost always to the right. A 2003 study published in Nature found that twice as many adults turn their heads to the right rather than the left when kissing. This behavioral asymmetry is thought to stem from the same preference for head turning during the final weeks of gestation and during infancy.

One of the best things about kissing, however, is that we don’t have to think about any of this. Just close eyes, pucker up, and let nature takes its course.

16 facts about kissing

1. An act of kissing puts 29 facial muscles in motion. In other words, kissing can be used as an effective exercise to prevent the development of wrinkles.

2. Lovers swap saliva containing various substances e.g. fats, mineral salts, proteins while kissing. According to latest studies, the exchange of the above substances can give a boost to the production of antibodies which are made specifically to deal with the antigens associated with different diseases as they are encountered.

3. As a rule, 66 percent of people keep their eyes closed while kissing. The rest take pleasure in watching the emotions run the gamut on the faces of their partners.

4. According to U.S. statistics, an American woman would kiss an average of 80 men before she gets married.

5. A quick romantic kiss will burn about 2-3 calories, whereas French kiss (an openmouthed kiss with tongue contact) will obliterate more than 5 calories.

6. Sensitivity of the lips is 200 times higher than that of the fingers.

7. It is thought that men who kiss their wives goodbye before going to work live five years longer than those who just slam the door. Men of the latter category are said to be more prone to traffic accidents.

8. Smooching passionately for 90 seconds will elevate blood pressure and cause the pulse rate to go racing. It will also increase the level of hormones in the blood, thus reducing life by one minute.

9. French kiss is called a “juncture of souls” in France. Not only the lips do the job, the tongues come into play too. The passionate French invented another variety of the soul kiss in which only the tongues are employed.

10. Contrary to a popular belief, the Eskimos do not merely rub their noses against each other in a display of love and affection. The lips open up a bit once the olfactory organs of the kissing partners meet. Then the Eskimos take a deep breath and send the air out while holding their lips closed. After savoring the scent of each other, the partners press noses against each other’s cheeks and freeze for a minute of two.