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Hypnotic xkcd animation compares the frequency of various events

Here’s a mesmerizing piece of data porn that is sure to keep you staring at your screen. Randall Munroe of xkcd uses a series of GIFs to compare the frequencies of events from births, deaths, and heartbeats to the eruption of Old Faithful to someone in Denver ordering a pizza. Note: The animation up top…

When Does a Neighborhood Become “Good”?

“Is Harlem good now?” That’s the question that Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised chef Marcus Samuelsson gets asked the most about his neighborhood. In Sunday’s New York Times, Samuelsson wrote an insightful op-ed about watching Harlem change over the past decade. Samuelsson, who has lived in Harlem for 10 years and opened his acclaimed restaurant Red Rooster there…

Sexy Italians turn base jumping into fashion catwalk in the sky

Leave it to the Italians to take something as utilitarian as base jumping and turn it into an elegant fashion cat walk, starting with the gorgeous/crazy Roberta Mancino base jumping in high heels and a sequin dress. From the description: Roberta Mancino expresses her passion for fashion and her love of base jumping in this…

Is Obama Already Watching Next Season’s TV?

Is President Obama already watching the next episode of True Detective? Does he already know how Homeland ends? What about Sons of Anarchy? An interesting but entirely speculative article published in the L.A. Times suggests that, yes, the leader of the free world has early access to episodes of popular TV shows that mere voting…

You can’t speculate about technology without speculating about society

We’re living in a time of extreme technological change. Gadgets that didn’t exist a decade ago are shaping your existence. So we need science fiction, more than ever, to speculate about the future of technology. But here’s the hard part: You can’t speculate about technological change without also speculating about social change. Top image: Surrogates.…

The first video footage of Star Wars: Rebels is playing with fire

Two promos for Disney XD’s new Star Wars cartoon Rebels have finally been released, giving up us our first look at the show in action! At a glance it looks like Clone Wars, except we don’t recognize any of the characters. Also, the promos’ narrator seems to be a bit of a pyromaniac. He keeps…

These Modernist Sand Castles Are Cooler Than Any Architectural Model

All buildings eventually die: Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. But artist Calvin Seibert’s work lasts no longer than a turn of the Earth. Seibert spends his free time sculpting incredible models on the beach—and they’re unlike any sand castles I’ve ever seen. Seibert, who goes by Box Builder on Flickr, has been making sand castles since…

Watch a live feed of a giant asteroid as it zips by earth today

It’s an asteroid the length of three football fields, it’s traveling at over 27,000 MPH, and it will be swinging pretty near to our own planet tonight — not close enough to touch (fortunately), but plenty close enough to get an eyeful. You can watch it here! Top image: Artist’s conception of an asteroid belt…

Pomegranate-Inspired Batteries Hold 10x The Juice

A team of Stanford scientists recently made a breakthrough. After years of trying to create a new generation of lithium-ion batteries that use energy-efficient silicon to hold a charge, they found the secret to the winning design in an unlikely place: pomegranates. The problem with using silicon in batteries is two-fold. For one, the fragile…

Exploring Paris (And The New Jersey Turnpike) Through Smell

On a recent evening in San Francisco, a couple dozen well-dressed and hiply bespectacled young people leaned over glass cones and inhaled. The purpose? Time travel. At Urban Olfactory, an exhibition running at the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) through March 31, you can breathe in the smells of Paris from 1738,…

Construction workers scramble through scaffolding that surrounds a massive urn-shaped glass atrium, which will eventually house meetings of the Council of the European Union. The building—which was supposed to be finished by 2012—is more than $100 million over budget. [AP Photo/Virginia Mayo]

All Work and No Play Makes Self-Driving Cars a Dull Ploy

Back in the 1950s and 60s, self-driving cars represented the fantastic life of luxury that was supposed to be just around the corner. But here in the 21st century we can’t even pretend that our driverless cars of the future will be filled with board games and light reading. No, our self-driving car of tomorrow…

A Zen Priest explains how spirituality will evolve in the future

Love it or hate it, the world’s religions are in no danger of disappearing any time soon. But that doesn’t mean religious and spiritual sensibilities aren’t going to evolve. To learn more about religion’s future, we talked to Michael LaTorra. By day, he’s a mild-mannered Assistant Professor of English at New Mexico State University, and…

Urgent NYC Coffee Subway Map Update: Brooklyn and Queens Now Included!

New Yorkers had a great time giggling at a new sort of subway map earlier this month. It looked just like the regular subway map only, instead of the real stops, the New York City Coffee map showed the best coffee shop found at each of those locations—unless that stop happened to be in Brooklyn…

The fascinating story of how wolves changed Yellowstone’s geography

You must watch this fascinating four-minute video on the effects of the re-introduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Not only they affected the entire live of the park—increasing the number of species in it!—but actually changed the geography of the park itself, affecting the rivers in a way that positively affected everything. SPLOID is…

This fizzy reaction could run your car — or make it explode

A little aluminum, a little lye, a little water, and quite a bit of fizz. That bubbling looks sedate, but it’s blown up a couple of trucks. And someday, who knows? It might be powering cars. We use aluminum too often in our daily lives to be much impressed by it. For us it’s just…

Bond 50 with Digital Copies, Game of Thrones, 60″ Vizio [Deals]

The Bond 50 23-film box set has been on sale for about $20 less than this in the past, but Amazon is shaking (not stirring) things up today with 3 HD Bond films of your choice on Amazon Instant Video included with your purchase. Bond 50 23-Film Collection | $120 | Includes three HD Amazon…

If superheroes competed in the Olympics what would their events be?

Some Olympic athletes seem to have superhuman abilities, but these posters ask: what if fictional superheroes decided to compete in the winter Olympics? The always wonderful Francesco Francavilla imagines a different version of the Sochi games, one where Captain America competes in luge, Wolverine picks up a hockey stick, and the Flash dominates speed skating.…

Who Is Your Internet Doppelgänger?

For those of us narcissistic enough to regularly self-Google, there’s always that ever slightly more famous person who’s coming out on top. Do you have an internet doppelgänger/moral enemy? Or is your name so unique you can gloat about your Google search ranking? In light of this hilarious New York Observer piece about @sambiddle, a…

What the hell is this freaky rabbit invasion?

This video of a rabbit stampede is freaking the hell out of me. They may be inoffensive but it seems they are about to attack and eat Yu Yu Lam Lam, the woman who’s walking with the bags (which obviously contain food.) SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook