Watercooler Stories

Web site trades in secrets

GERMANTOWN, Md., May 23 (UPI) -- A popular new Web site allows Internet users to anonymously share their innermost secrets with the world.

PostSecret.com, launched Jan. 1 by a webmaster identifying himself only as Frank, invites visitors to mail unsigned postcards containing their deepest, darkest secrets to an address in Germantown, Md., the Times of London reported Monday. The cards are scanned by the webmaster and then posted.

The Web site says each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. "Reveal anything -- as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before," the site advises.

Contributions include messages such as "People think I've stopped lying, but I've just gotten better at it;" "Hey Jessica!! I always thought that buffalo wings were made from buffalo too!!" and "I spread rumors about my gay classmates to see how people would react if they every found out about me."

KKK robes auctioned for $6,000

HOWELL, Mich., May 23 (UPI) -- Two black silk robes sold for $6,000 at an auction of Ku Klux Klan memorabilia in Howell, Mich.

Gary Gray unloaded many items from the estate of the late Klan Grand Dragon Robert Miles and his wife Sunday at the Ole Gray Nash Auction Gallery, taking in less than $50 for most items except for the black robes. They were bought by local contractor and self-described Klan sympathizer Ron Lehr, USA Today reported.

"I think a lot will wind up in a museum," Gray said of his auction items, some of which were not Klan-related, such as old Bibles. "They're historical items. Because Miles was a Klan member, all his stuff must be hate?"

About 50 bidders showed up for the event.

Scientists locate sarcasm in the brain

HAIFA, Israel, May 23 (UPI) -- Israeli psychologists say one's ability to comprehend sarcasm depends upon a sequence of complex cognitive skills based in specific parts of the brain.

The researchers said in order for listeners to comprehend caustic remarks, they must be able to infer the speaker's intentions in the context of the situation. That, they said, calls for sophisticated social thinking and "theory of mind," or the knowledge that everyone thinks different thoughts.

For example, autistic children with a limited or missing "theory of mind," have trouble understanding irony, of which sarcasm is a form.

The team -- from the University of Haifa and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa -- studied 25 participants with prefrontal-lobe damage, 16 participants with posterior-lobe damage and 17 healthy subjects for control. All participants listened to brief recorded stories, some sarcastic and some neutral, taped by actors reading in a corresponding manner.

Participants with prefrontal damage were found to be impaired in comprehending sarcasm, while the other two groups had no such problem. The prefrontal group, which involved people suffering from damage in the right ventromedial area of their brain, had the most profound problems in comprehending sarcasm.

The study is detailed in the May issue of Neuropsychology