Latest

Stunning photo of lightning striking the world’s tallest skyscraper

A truly outstanding—and scary—image by Michael Shainblum. I wouldn’t be amused if I lived there and my home was constantly getting hit by lightning. Unless I was trying to revive things made with pieces of dead corpses. https://gizmodo.com/what-it-looks-like-when-lightning-strikes-the-worlds-t-1522367019

These insane people like to surf in ice water

Say hi to Matt Nelson, an awesomely crazy dude who likes to surf during the winter on Niagara’s North Shore and the Great Lakes. As you can see, he gets icicles everywhere, including his eyelashes. You have to check out these videos of him and other silver surfers. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…

It’s the nighmarish, giant isopod plushie you’ve always wanted

This “giant isopod realistic plush doll” from Japan can fulfill all your needs for adorable, tongue-eating creatures of the sea — without being too gross. https://gizmodo.com/fishing-linked-to-higher-percentage-of-tongue-eating-b-5890093 Sold on Amazon for $115.25, this doll has a very succinct description: Giant isopods (daiogusokumushi in Japanese) are passionately loved by some people now in Japan. This giant isopod…

The New Museum’s Soviet Spaceship Is A Wasted Opportunity

Back in 1963, a Czech sci-fi film called Ikarie XB-1 told an epic story—set 200 years in the future—of an eponymous spaceship that went in search of a mysterious, unknown planet. This month, the fateful spacecraft has been recreated on the top floor of NYC’s New Museum. https://gizmodo.com/every-museum-should-have-a-flying-rc-sailboat-as-a-sign-1358338214 Why recreate a fictional ship? It’s a…

Wolves trailer looks like Cats The Musical, but with dogs and sex

You know how everyone is wondering what’s going to be the new True Blood? Now we know: Wolves is the new True Blood. You will not believe how ridiculous this movie trailer is. Looking more like a ‘roided-out production of Cats: The Musical than a pack of werewolves (AND WE ARE TOTALLY OK WITH THAT)…

A Key You Can Photograph Is A Key That Can Be Copied

If you take a picture of a car or house key, could you use that picture to get a copy made? Yes—quite trivially, actually. I have a folder on my laptop that is filled with photos people have taken of their keys and put onto the internet. Every few weeks, I take some idle time…

Behold the first geological map of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon

Four hundred years ago, Galileo Galilei observed Ganymede in orbit around Jupiter. This week, a team of planetary scientists unveiled the first global geological map of our solar system’s largest moon. Using images obtained by NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and the Galileo orbiter, a team led by Geoffrey Collins of Wheaton College pieced…

What It Looks Like When Lightning Strikes the World’s Tallest Building

Presenting the money shot: during a massive storm in Dubai yesterday, photographer Michael Shainblum captured lightning zapping Burj Khalifa, aka the tallest building in the world. Shainblum got lucky. First of all, he was at the right place at the right time. Second of all, one of the pair of cameras he had set up…

The Untold History of the Easy-Bake Oven

I have a confession: My brother and I destroyed my Easy-Bake Oven. I had the 1981 Mini-Wave model, the boxy, yellow microwave style, which was, in my 7-year-old mind, the only kind of Easy-Bake there was. One day, my 4-year-old brother had a brilliant idea—to “cook” a green plastic steak from our 1972 Mattel Tuff…

Thanks Comcast, I Was Worried Prices Might Go Down

These Robot Fish Happily Respond When You Tap On the Aquarium’s Glass

As kids we were all taught that you shouldn’t tap on aquarium glass because it’s (supposedly) deafening to the fish inside. But the next-generation of Hexbug’s Aquabots actually encourage this behavior, coming to life when you tap on the bowl, or by simply running your fingers through the water. The tiny underwater robots already serve…

Weird giant room full of strings or inter-dimensional jail, you decide

According to designers numen/for use, this new strange space is a “a self-supporting inhabitable social sculpture,” an inflatable cube full of strings ready to be climbed by whoever gets inside. It seems to me like part of the X-Men’s Danger Room. The installation is based on production system of large geometric inflated objects. Since the…

JL8 creator Yale Stewart is writing a series of Superman kids’ books

One of the best things to come out of the DC Universe recently is Yale Stewart’s touching and funny fan webcomic JL8, which imagines the members of the Justice League as eight-year-olds. Soon Stewart will have a series of licensed DC children’s books on the shelves: The Amazing Adventures of Superman. Stewart posted an image…

Our Efficient New Skyscrapers Are Raining Chunks of Ice Down On Us

On a particularly cold, sunny day recently, thousands of people arriving in Lower Manhattan were forced to reroute their commute—because huge slivers of ice were cracking off of the One World Trade Center and plunging hundreds of feet down onto the street. And the WTC isn’t alone. Last year, Tokyo’s new, 1,900-foot Sky Tree Tower…

We say hell yes to this Knight Rider movie with Danny McBride

Finally a Knight Rider remake we can get behind. Chris Pratt and Danny McBride could be teaming up to bring back the series all about some bro and his talking car. Love it. Schmoes Know is reporting that Chris Pratt and Danny McBride are in talks for a Knight Rider remake. They go on to…

Shooting Challenge: Fisheye

Fish are lucky. Because they get to see 180 degrees or so at once. Photographers can do the same using fisheye lenses (or cheating it with a filter). So for this week’s Shooting Challenge, we’re all going fishing. The Challenge Take a photo with a fisheye lens or simulate one with a post-production app/filter. The…

The Most Insane Moments from Robocop: The TV Series

Robocop has fought crime in four movies and a slew of comic books — but meanwhile, he’s also had a pretty wild ride on television. The cyborg lawman starred in a “family friendly” 1990s TV show and a 2001 miniseries, which pushed him to places the movies never contemplated. Here are Robocop’s craziest moments on…

Listen to Hieronymus Bosch’s 500-Year-Old Butt Song From Hell

In any other painting, a naked butt tattooed with a musical score would be the first thing you’d notice. But it’s just another detail in Hieronymus Bosch’s masterpiece, The Garden of Earthly Delights—which explains why it’s taken someone 500 years to try to play it. Bosch’s famous painting is a triptych that depicts heaven, earth,…

A Single Night of Sex on This Luxury Hotel Submarine Costs $390,000

Well here’s a new option for the wealthy tourist who’s seen it all. No, it’s not a trip to space. It’s not a floating hotel room or even a wild safari. It’s a luxury submarine—an underwater palace built for a Bond villain that can be yours for the weekend. But it’ll cost you. https://gizmodo.com/this-floating-hotel-room-comes-with-an-underwater-fish-1465177811 British…

The Ultimate Whale Watching Vessel Isn’t a Boat—It’s a Satellite

Whale watching: you’re out there on the water with salt spray in your face and wind in your hair, waiting for a gigantic sea mammal to surface and do something splashy. It seems like a touristy thing to do, but scientists actually track whale populations from that very same vantage point. Sea level’s cool and…