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Skiing over Hawaii waves looks like a lot of fun

Skiing in Hawaii. Impossible you say? No if you have big enough waves and special skis made for water. Watch German professional skier and entrepreneur Willy Bogner do it. Fun factoid: According to his Facebook, Bogner has participated in four James Bond ski sequences and many other films. Bogner seems to enjoy mixing sports as…

What Lies Beneath: Inside London’s Secret Subterranean Spaces

Every year millions of tourists flock to London to marvel at its historic buildings, parks and attractions, but if you scratch beneath London’s surface, you’ll reveal a dark, intimidating web of abandoned stations, military tunnels and historic catacombs. The Tube If you’ve spent more than a day in London, chances are you’ve travelled on the…

There’s A Peter Pan Workplace Sitcom Coming To NBC

NBC Is making a live-action, Peter Pan-inspired workplace comedy titled Wendy and Peter. It sounds like The Office meets J.M. Barrie’s classic fairy tale. I volunteer the whole of Brooklyn as both a cast and location (including myself). According to Deadline, the half-hour, single camera show will be more of a romantic comedy and less…

The EU has finally officially approved Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp. Let the sexting continue.

Doctor Strange Loses Joaquin Phoenix! Plus More Weird Star Wars Rumors

Who does Max von Sydow play in Star Wars? Terminator Genisys is not what you were expecting. Also, Star Wars Rebels has already been renewed for a second season. Gotham adds another future Bat-villain. Spoilers now! Top image: Star Wars Rebels Star Wars Here we go, more rumors: If the whole “missing lightsaber” plot is…

Facebook Is Changing the Way It Governs Its Social Experiments

Remember how the whole Internet was outraged over Facebook’s social experiments earlier this year? Well, now the social network hasannounced that it’s changing the way its experiments will be run in the future. From now on, there will be more stringent guidelines in place. If a study peers into a specific demographic or relates to…

A Northrop Grumman engineer checks that the sunshield for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope unfolds properly before it has to do so in space. (Fortunately, it does.) [NASA]

Space Drones Find the a Planet at the Precipice of Life

Even though humans are long gone, the devices we built and gave the mission of seeking out life still search the universe. This — a planet sporting primordial soup — is the closest they’ve yet come to fulfilling their purpose. This piece is “A Treasure Hunt for Life” by concept artist Josh Eiten. Find more…

TrekCore’s Youtube channel has been taken down due to copyright claims on its SD and HD Star Trek comparisons. In their post on it, Trek Core expressed surprise that a project that reflected so positively on the Blu-ray releases and had been shared by CBS’ social media would fall victim to the takedown process.

You Can Test Drive the New Lexus RC F via Oculus Rift

The new Lexus RC Fis a car capable of squaring up to BMW’s venerable M3—and now you can take it for a spin using Oculus Rift. Lexus has built a virtual reality RC F using the genuine steering column and pedals from the car, an Oculus Rift, and no shortage of software. While it may…

Reuters: Facebook Is Working on Its Own Healthcare Services

Facebook already knows the most intricate of details about your life—but now, according to Reuters, it has plans to monitor your health, too. The newswire reports that Facebook, not far behind Google andApple, has started working on its own take on digital healthcare. Three people “familiar with the matter” claims that Zuckerberg & Co. are…

Michael Keaton’s Birdman Takes Aim at the Press In Its Latest Clip

We’ve been completely in on this self-referential dark comedy from Alejandro González Iñárritu since the full trailer premiered. And this clip, a barbed commentary on the press, is only fuel to our fire. From the pretentious quote-spouting reporter to the airhead quoting spurious-tweets, Birdman shows how a simple interview can spin out of control. Plus,…

Running of the Balls Is an Excellent Example of How Traditions Change

It’s also extremely bizarre, verging on the surreal, to see all these people running from a giant ball painted to look like a bull. Mataelpino, a small town of 1,700 outside Madrid, became the first place in Spain to hold a “running of the balls” rather than a “running of the bulls.” It’s a not-so-obvious…

You must watch this fantastic explanation of how computers draw curves

All my life using Adobe Illustrator and it’s only now when I learn how it draws vector curves—technically called Bézier curves. If you are an illustrator, you will love this. If you are not, it’s fascinating anyway. In fact, it is one of the most interesting videos I’ve seen this year. Kudos to Peter Nowell…

Watching this spring coil being made is a source of endless satisfaction

Let’s just stay here watching this perfect video loop of the manufacturing of a spring coil till the Universe ends while we hold hands. Full, buttery-frame-rate video below. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Batman’s Got a New Job as a Library Guide

This sign was put up in the Carnegie-Stout Public Library in Dubuque Iowa. When they say “near Batman,” that’s not a reference to being near other Batman works. It’s a reference to a giant looming Batman balloon they put up in the new home of its illustrated novels. See? The sign on its own is…

Hearing the sounds of paragliding is breathtaking

Usually when you think of things that take your breath away, you don’t think of sounds. It’s the spectacular view or the amazing feeling or the perfect performance. But this video that highlights the sound of paragliding is pretty breathtaking. I closed my eyes and listened and felt the nature around me. I kind of…

Which brand of chips has the most chips in a bag of chips?

Dan Gentile of Thrillist has done God’s work. He decided to take it upon himself to answer a question anyone who has ever sat on a couch for a long period of time has wondered: How many chips are actually in a bag of chips? And which type of chips has more full chips vs…

What’s So Bad About Danish Sperm?

Danish sperm may be the lowest quality sperm in the world. At least, that’s one data point you could pull from a study of how alcohol consumption affects sperm counts. The researchers — Danish, of course — call the results “troubling.” Over at the Washington Post, Rachel Feltman reports: In the study, men who drank…

I’m not sure bike rides can be more epic than through the Isle of Skye

There have probably been mountain bike rides that have been more intense than Danny Macaskill’s tour through the Isle of Skye in Scotland and perhaps there have been a few rides slightly more beautiful of his ride on the Cuillin Ridgeline but I can’t imagine any feeling more epic than this. It is stunning. To…