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With the Blizzard Comes These Star-Shaped Snowflakes

The northeast of the United States is in the midst of a blizzard, which could bring a potentially historic amount of snow to New York City. But earlier today, before temperatures drop and the snow covers everything, these large, star-shaped snowflakes were spotted all over the city. Weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce explained that all of…

Here’s a super fun video of the best sword fights in film history

Maybe because the idea of fighting with swords today seems so impossibly dangerous and probably because seeing steel on steel clang and cut flesh is just so damn viscerally satisfying but there’s few things more riveting to see on screen than watching two or more actors try to kill each other with a sword. Here…

First Glimpse Of Fantastic Four Costumes Reveals A “Cronenberg-ian” Look

Just how different will the new Fantastic Four movie be from the versions we’ve seen before? Very different, it seems. Collider has a new interview with director Josh Trank. And this first look at this version of the Fantastic Four’s outfits. And, well… it’s bluer when you expand it to full-size and look closely? Trank…

This Star Model Is Based On Nothing But Shadows

Saturn’s rings are already mind-blowingly large — about 70,000 kilometres across — but astronomers at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands have found a much more extensive ring system. At least, they think they have — all they can actually see are shadows. The discovery of the rings came about during observation of star j1407,…

A Brief History Of Emergency Alerts On Your Phone

As I sit here, in my calm, non-snowpocalpysed city reading Twitter, there’s one definite theme emerging from blizzard-bound New Yorkers: alcohol is a good coping mechanism! But also, everyone is getting unsolicited alerts about the weather on their phones. Here’s why. Although it might seem natural in a post-Yo world that your phone will tell…

Best Iain M. Banks tribute ever. Elon Musk tweeted thathe’s naming two SpaceX droneships after Culture ships in Banks’ The Player of Games. One drone ship will be called Just Read The Instructions, and the other will be Of Course I Still Love You. [via Tor.com]

Keanu Reeves couldn’t kick in The Matrix–and six other factoids

CineFix sums up Keanu Reeves in The Matrix hilariously: he gets his ass kicked, learns to kick ass and then promptly kicks everyone’s ass. The problem that you maybe didn’t know? Keanu actually couldn’t kick in the movie’s epic fight scenes. He had spinal surgery before filming which prevented him from kicking so fight scenes…

Turns Out Apple Pay Can’t Solve Credit Card Fraud

Among other things, Apple’s Second Coming of the Mobile Payment Solution was meant to fix our broke-ass credit card security system. Only, according to (unconfirmed) reports, it’s doing exactly the opposite. The Drop Labs blog has a good (if technical) post on how Apple Pay security does — and doesn’t — work. In essence, the…

A Floating Artificial Reef Would Let You Walk Down Into the Ocean Deep

This month, a grim study in the journal Science reported what we’ve feared for decades: That the ocean may “be sitting on a precipice of a major extinction event,” in the words of one author. There’s a colossal amount of work to be done if we want to turn it around—including reclaiming habitats, which is…

They Most Definitely Did Not Come In Peace

In artist Sung Choi‘s concept art series ARK, an alien invasion drives humanity from Earth. Fortunately, we find a habitable planet to make our home after the horrors of war. Before sending his characters to the new planet, Choi shows us the alien enemy we face back on Earth. Over email, he explained to us…

KFC’s Double Down hot dog is a sausage wrapped in a fried chicken bun

Here is proof that there’s always more horrifying Frankenfood left to be invented and more stomachs to destroy with fast food: the Double Down hot dog. It’s KFC’s take on a hot dog only instead of using a regular hot dog bun, KFC is whipping out a bun made with fried chicken. It looks ridiculous.…

Christina Ricci’s Lizzie Borden Is Back (And So Is Her Axe)

Lifetime’s Christina Ricci-starring Lizzie Borden Took An Axe was a hit last January, and the network is cashing in with April’s eight-episode The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, a fictionalized exploration of Lizzie’s post-acquittal life. Based on the below trailer, the oft-smirking Lizzie is enjoying her newfound notoriety, remaining very much in control of ol’ Fall River,…

Watch People Freak Out at Their First Taste of Virtual Reality Porn

Is it any surprise that fledgling virtual reality headset porn is terrible? That’s why it’s delicious to watch people get their first taste of weird, not-very-realistic virtual reality porn. https://gizmodo.com/when-porn-and-virtual-reality-collide-nsfw-1660603261 Complex showed a bunch people I assume are Complex staffers a bit of the available VR porn. We’re guessing it’s probably running with an Oculus…

This Is Why The X-Files Never Became A Franchise

In addition to science fiction, The X-Files also fit neatly into another genre: the crime procedural. But, unlike other wildly successful crime dramas like Law & Order or CSI, it never managed to truly became a franchise. So what was it that prevented us from seeing The X-Files: Miami? There was a simple reason. Going…

Here Is EFF’s Master Plan for Ending Global Mass Surveillance

We have a problem when it comes to stopping mass surveillance. The entity that’s conducting the most extreme and far-reaching surveillance against most of the world’s communications—the National Security Agency—is bound by United States law. That’s good news for Americans. U.S. law and the Constitution protect American citizens and legal residents from warrantless surveillance. That…

Lego personal hygiene tools for giants

It took me a second to realize that these two common use items were not only made of Lego bricks, but to really see the size of both of them. These two creations, by Carl Merriam, made for the HARDnuary building contest are really cool. I really wish he would’ve thrown a minifigure in there…

This Is Probably The Most Beautiful Doctor Who Artwork Ever Created

Doctor Who has given rise to tons of incredible artwork, from Chris Achilleos’ book covers to Dave Gibbons’ comics to Bill Mudron’s art nouveau painting. But for my money, the best Who art of all time is probably the Dalek comic strip that was published in the mid-1960s in Century 21 magazine. And it’s all…

Tiny Moon Dive-Bombs Asteroid During Near-Earth Flyby

Early this morning, a big (but not too big) asteroid made a close (but not too close!) pass by our planet. While totally unthreatening as a doomsday scenario, this particular asteroid makes for beautiful viewing: it has a tiny, orbiting moon. Update: More radar footage! Radar image of asteroid 2004 BL86 and its moon during…

You Can Remotely Control This LED Camping Lantern With a Smartphone

Is there anything worse than entombing yourself in a warm sleeping bag only to realize you’ll need to face the cold of night again to turn off the lantern in your tent? For those who like their camping on the comfier side, Brunton’s new Lightwave Amp can be controlled remotely using a Bluetooth connection to…

The Idea For The Polaroid Camera Was Sparked By An Impatient 3-year Old

Everybody you know is spoiled rotten: we carry around magical slabs of technology that can capture any moment and instantly share it with everyone we know. It’s great, but it didn’t used to be this way—amateur photographers used to have to wait weeks to see their pictures. In 1943, it was too much for one…