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Generation Like: The Kids Sell Out (But Don’t Know What That Means)

The most shocking part of “Generation Like,” PBS’s new Frontline documentary about youth media culture, occurs when a bunch of teenagers confess they don’t know what the term “sell-out” means. This term, so vital to the identities of at least three generations that had come before them, didn’t register as something negative. In fact, it…

The Onion’s Exclusive Look at Netflix’s Genius “Browse Endlessly” Plan

Netflix is great for discovering new movies and TV shows. You just keep scrolling and scrolling, browsing away but never watching anything. Good news! Now you can do as much aimless browsing as you want, and save money, with Netflix’s $5 a month “browse endlessly” plan, as The Onion reports. Man, this spoof really hits…

Watching this street spinning around a car made my head spin too

There’s something hypnotic about watching vehicles crash and roll, especially knowing that only the test dummies are in danger. However, in this image-stabilized clip, the car doesn’t seem to be the one rolling, but rather the entire world around it. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Sheep in Central Park, Archaeo-Bunnies, and Cockroach Pheromone Bots

There’s a veritable menagerie in this week’s landscape reads: domesticated sheep, archeologist rabbits, robot cockroaches, and acidified limpets. The Sheep Days of Central Park Today, the grassy slopes of Central Park’s Sheep Meadow are populated by sunbathers and picnickers. As its name implies, however, it was once home to a flock of sheep—a park attraction…

Watch New York City Gentrify in These Jaw-Dropping GIFs

Gentrification can’t stop, won’t stop. Artist and programmer Justin Blinder grabbed cached images from Google Street View featuring construction sites in Brooklyn and Manhattan over the past four years, then joined before-and-after pics together in a pretty eye-opening series he calls Vacated. He sourced the sites with a little help from the NYC Department of…

Intelligence wields the Sledgehammer of Obvious. And yet, we still care

There were a lot of anvils being dropped on Intelligence last night, because this show does not trust its audience to pick up on anything subtle. And Gabriel was inept as ever. But this episode also had a climax that hit me right in the feels. I don’t know what it is, but John Billingsley…

Fall TV Pilot Roundup: Which of these will be your next favorite show?

Everybody says we’re in a new golden age of television, but what’s coming next? What exciting new series is looming on the horizon? What pilot will earn the next cult following and clever hashtaggery on Twitter? Here is our list of all the science fiction and fantasy TV shows that are filming pilots. Top image:…

The final Iain Banks book will be published next February

Sadly, it’s not a novel — but it’s still pretty exciting to have one last glimpse inside the mind of the legendary author. A collection of Banks’ poetry, co-written by The Night Sessions author Ken MacLeod and edited by MacLeod, will be published on Feb. 16, 2015, which would have been Banks’ 61st birthday. Talking…

Pinterest: Great for Weddings, Recipes, Restraining Order Violations

Last week, a woman was set to stand trial for violating a restraining order taken out by her estranged daughter. The violation? Following her daughter’s Pinterest page. Pinterest—traditionally known as a mecca for bakers, brides-to-be, and knitting enthusiasts—might seem like one of the more benign social networks, but even it isn’t immune to the internet’s…

The Highest Rents In The United States Are In Williston, North Dakota

You think rents are high in San Francisco? Try Williston, North Dakota. No wait, don’t—there’s nowhere to live. According to a new study by Apartment Guide, the most expensive rents in the country can be found in this relatively tiny North Dakota town. The study looks at the price for “entry level apartments,” defined as…

Here’s 15 minutes of deleted scenes from Game of Thrones season 3

Haven’t been able to pick a copy of Game of Thrones: The Complete Season 3 on DVD or Blu-ray yet today? At least you can watch 15 minutes of deleted and extended scenes now, while you wait for your chance to buy it (or for it to be delivered). Here’s what’s included in the vid:…

The Crazy Physics Behind Figure Skating

We already know that figure skaters’ bodies undergo quite a bit of stress during their routines—and we have the pics to prove it. Even so, it’s hard to fathom just how insane these physical forces actually are. https://gizmodo.com/how-the-violent-forces-of-physics-turn-ice-skaters-into-1524382533 Fortunately for us, AsapSCIENCE‘s latest video breaks down exactly what happens to the human body during all…

Is The CW’s Star-Crossed the new Roswell?

Once, long ago, the WB and UPN both aired a show called Roswell, about alien teenagers going to high school and trying to fit in. Now their successor network, The CW, has launched a new “aliens in high school” show, Star-Crossed. But how does it stack up? https://gizmodo.com/roswell-the-best-late-90s-alien-teen-soap-opera-on-the-5641730 The premise. Roswell was about young aliens…

What it looks like when an octopus decides to steal your camera.

When an octopus decided that deep sea diver David Malvestuto’s camera would be better off in his own eight arms, the resulting tug-of-war was pretty epic. Things really got good, though, when Malvestuto started taking pictures during the struggle. Here are a couple of the shots he snagged during the scuffle, before the octopus swam…

Graphene Could Save One of the World’s Coolest Buildings

Architect Santiago Calatrava has had a tough year. He’s being sued by many, many clients—including his hometown, where an opera house he built is now in shambles. Now, a company selling graphene paint wants to save it. Graphenano, an Alicante-based manufacturer of graphene products, has sent a proposal to city administrators in Valencia arguing that…

A Rat Map That Shows NYC’s Restaurant Rodent Takeover

Look, rats are a fact of life in NYC. They’re already hanging out in our grocery stores; now, as this map by Steven Melendez shows quite colorfully, they’re lounging around in the restaurants in nearly every zip code in The Big Apple. Yeesh. https://gizmodo.com/an-upsetting-map-of-nycs-grossest-supermarkets-1444852593 As Nell Casey at Gothamist explains, Melendez created the map with…

Why are the only American meat options chicken, beef and pork?

The United States is a massive country, one filled with a variety of regional cuisines and a wide array of potentially edible animals. Why, then, does such a small selection of animals show up in grocery stores? Top image: WWII propaganda posters created by Frederick H. K. Henrion for the British War Office/Ministry of Food.…

10 Fierce Fisheye Photos

Fisheye lenses distort a scene to absurd proportions—which is why fisheye photography is so fun to see. Here are your fisheye photos from this week’s Shooting Challenge. Winner: Man on the Moon It looks like surface of the Moon on old Moon maps and there are those fisheye photographers nemesis number two in picture: feet.…

It’s not a jellyfish or a mushroom cloud or some time-delayed warp-gate undulating in midair—or maybe it’s some extra-dimensional combination of all three—it’s a sculpture by artist Janet Echelman, who uses colorful nets to create beautiful and hypnotic topological shapes for public spaces. [Sploid]

Why rhyming phrases are more persuasive

Want to convince someone of something? Make up a rhyme. They may think it’s cutesy, but they’ll still believe it more readily than if it were stated plainly. At least until they are asked to think about it a little. Rhymes are easy to remember because they contain their conclusion in their premise. “Red sky…