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Germany is the first European country to recognize a third gender

Starting this November, German parents will be able to select male, female, or “indeterminate” when filling out their newborn’s birth certificate. This means that parents won’t have to label their baby’s gender, thereby allowing those born with intersex characteristics to make a decision later in life. Or not. The new law, which goes into effect…

How To Keep Travel From Wrecking Your Body

It goes without saying that modern methods of travel—planes, trains, and automobiles—are a hell of a lot better than ye olde horse and buggy days, but convenience has a cost. Many hours of remaining sedentary exact a serious tax on your body. While nothing you do can make a long trip a zero-impact affair, there…

Dealzmodo: Haswell Desktop, 1.5TB USB3 External, Klipsch Soundbar

If you’re looking to put a decent computer on your desk and not spend much in the process, this Haswell i7-packing Radeon-equipped Dell XPS 8700 certainly deserves your consideration. Windows 8, 8GB Ram, 1TB HDD, 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0. Lock it up for $650 at Dell using promo code 0H9Q3PQ6L3744C [Dell] Today is the last day…

Let’s Get Caught Up on Five Years of Fermi Space Porn

At this very moment, NASA’s Fermi space telescope is up in the sky, zooming around Earth, and doing space stuff like sidestepping Soviet space junk and spotting mysterious galactic soap bubbles. For its (roughly) five year anniversary, NASA put out a little montage of the ‘scopes stellar achievements so far, and the list is impressive.…

Jon Snow is a half-naked sex volcano in the first Pompeii pic

Jon Snow apparently knows one thing, and that’s ab crunches. That’s the only way to explain Kit Harrington’s super-ripped, half-dressed body as seen in this first picture from the historical epic Pompeii. Hell, he looks like he’s in danger of burning the city down on his own. Harrington plays Milo, a slave turned gladiator, who…

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Lying

You’re surrounded by lies, but most of what you think you know about them is probably — you guessed it — a lie. 1. You can’t tell somebody is lying from their eyes A liar always has shifty eyes and can’t look you in the face. It’s one of our most commonly-held beliefs, and it’s…

Word of the Day: Now there’s a word for that thing where a planet has a single climate, ecosystem or culture: a Monocosm.

Ethereal photos capture rare “red lightning” phenomenon

Jason Ahrns has had a very unusual summer. For the last several weeks, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks grad student has been studying sprites – a rare form of red lightning that appears high above thunderclouds. And he’s been doing it from a plane. Above: Sprites over Red Willow County, Nebraska, on August 12, 2013 //…

Giant Military Hovercraft Lands on Crowded Beach Because Russia

In the most recent bit of Russian bizarreness, a 550-ton military hovercraft carrying sophisticated weaponry casually pulled up onto a crowded, seemingly public beach. Because, apparently, Russia wants to become Europe’s own personal prison planet. These giant Zubr vessels are purportedly the largest in their class (which consists of the world’s largest hovercrafts) and—when fully…

These Solar-Powered Giant Winged Drones Could Replace Satellites

Over the past decade there’s been a big push for cheaper alternatives to space travel. Blasting man-made objects into orbit has never been a cheap endeavour, and a company called Titan Aerospace thinks gigantic solar-powered drones could even be a far more affordable alternative to launching satellites. Circling the globe at an altitude of 65,000…

Google Keep isgetting updated with location-based and time-based reminders. Now you’ll be able to pester yourself about the stuff on your todo list with ease, and there’s even a menu where you can see all your upcoming pings. Remind yourself to check it out.

Fright Night 2 is totally just Fright Night 1 with breasts

The threatened sequel to the Fright Night remake slinks out on October 1st, but only on DVD and Blu-ray. This is no great loss, because as you’ll see if you watch the trailer, Fright Night 2: New Blood is another remake of the original, but this time “Gerri Dandrige” is a sexy lady vampire! Here’s…

Maybe the most epic convocation speech delivered by anyone ever

You’re probably sitting there thinking A convocation speech? Really? Yes, really. Stop what you’re doing and watch this now. And make sure your face is firmly attached, lest you lose it in the deluge of oratory excellence you’re about to experience. The event: Georgia Tech’s Freshman Convocation. The speaker: Nicholas S. Selby, sophomore mechanical engineering…

The NSA Has No Idea What “Transparency” Means

Back in June after the first reports based on Edward Snowden’s leaks were published, President Obama boldly defended the NSA spying programs. He even called them “transparent.” But boy oh boy have the folks over at the NSA let him down on that count. Before getting into the latest with the agency, it’s important to…

If you couldn’t get your first choice @Outlook email address, fear not! Starting today, you can turn any of your aliases into your account’s primary. This option rolls out over the next few days. [Outlook Blog]

Google Field Trip Looks Like It Was Made for Glass (Because It Was)

Field Trip is Google’s tour guide of a mobile app that automatically pushes you tips and information about your surroundings. It’s now available for Google Glass Explorers, which is a very smart, near perfect use for the augmented reality specs. https://gizmodo.com/google-field-trip-explore-the-hidden-history-in-your-o-5947109 In fact, it’s so obvious that apparently Niantic Labs, which created Field Trip, originally…

Hot Jupiters are the most astounding planets in the galaxy

They’re big, full of gas, and have a penchant for hanging out way too close to their parents. These “hot Jupiters” are among the most common extrasolar planets in the galaxy. Here’s what the latest science is telling us about these celestial wonders. To date, astronomers have catalogued over 850 planets outside our solar system.…

Your iPhone Could Soon Get Predator-Vision

FLIR, or Forward-Looking Infrared, has long been a staple technology for militaries around the world, allowing operations under the cover of night without the blinding shortcomings of conventional night vision goggles. And slowly but surely, this heat-sensing imaging technology is working its way into the consumer market. Specifically, onto your iPhone. At the Association for…

Take all the “smart” off your phone and get a plain vanilla iPhone

Smart phones are awesome. We walk around with amazing amounts of computing power in our pocket, connected to the entirety of human knowledge. Also: Plants Vs. Zombies! Angry Birds! Grindr! But what if you bought a $600 iPhone and now just want it to be a plain phone? https://lifehacker.com/how-i-turned-my-iphone-into-a-simple-distraction-free-1175739059

New TMNT cartoon stars underwear, butt-cannons and Lil’ Casey Jones

By all accounts Nickelodeon’s new CG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon is thoroughly all right — a nice mix of action, comedy, and TMNT lore. So I won’t give it guff for a preview that focuses primarily on asses and ass-accessories, because it’s just a preview. The new Casey Jones, however, is a different story.…