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10 Years Later, You Can Finally Buy The Best Documentary About L.A.

Los Angeles Plays Itself is a story of how L.A. has been portrayed on screen, its thesis unfolding through hundreds of iconic film clips. But the biggest reason that Thom Andersen’s legendary documentary has reached a near-cult status is that, due to copyright issues, the film has never been properly released in theaters or on…

Crazy dog loves riding and jumping on top of a speeding truck’s cab

It’s impossible to know why this cute dog is climbing all over a speeding truck and riding on top of the cab in the middle of a highway. He looks happy to me, although I still can’t believe my eyes. Good god please don’t slam on the breaks! It seems that this may be in…

A Supernova You Can Hold In The Palm Of Your Hand

Last century, a massive binary system went supernova, ejecting at least 10 times the mass of our Sun into space. NASA scientists have now created the first hi-res model of the expanding cloud produced by this iconic outburst. During the eruption, which occurred between 1838 and 1845 (at least from our perspective in the Hubble…

How Hot Your City Could Be By 2100 If Climate Change Goes Unchecked

It’s a sorry truth that hits you mid-July: Average summer temperatures have been rising since the 1970s. If we continue down this path, according to a new study by Climate Central, in 2100, summers in Boston will feel more like sticky Miami—and summers in Miami will feel like toasty Harlingen, Texas. Simply type where you…

Why You’ve Never Heard of This Typeface That Defined the 1980s

Apple, Trapper Keeper, and Reebok: Three of the most well-known brands of the 1980s, and three companies that used the same futuristic-looking typeface to do it. So why isn’t the typeface a classic like other period pieces *cough*Helvetica*cough*? Fate is a funny thing. Today Fonts In Use and BrandNew point out the odd case of…

In Sharknado 2, the Guy From 90210 Still Fights Sharks With A Chainsaw

It’s the Sharknado 2 trailer, now with an EDM soundtrack. It’s wonderfully terrible. This movie knows exactly what it’s doing. Honestly, we have nothing to say about this TV movie that the trailer isn’t already saying itself. Go in peace, Sharknado 2. Sharknado 2: The Second One will premiere on Syfy on Wednesday, July 30.…

A Shoulder Bag Cooler That Can Keep Ice Frozen For Days

They promise to keep your food and drinks cold while you’re away from a fridge, but sometimes carrying a giant cooler is just overkill. For those times when you’re only gone for a day, or just need to feed yourself, YETI has created a soft-sided cooler called the Hopper that’s engineered to keep ice frozen…

A Short Comic About The World’s Most Disgusting Mutant Power

Sally doesn’t quite fit in at Miss Xandy’s School for Mutant Ladies. While the other girls can fly or possess superstrength, Sally is a fecal kinetic, meaning that she can control poop. Megan Rose Gedris, also known as Rosalarian, has contributed this wonderful bit of webcomics goofiness to the Internet—check out the whole thing on…

The Ten Plagues Look Cheesily Great in the Trailer for Exodus

So Ridley Scott decided to cast a dude named Christian to play Jewish superhero Moses in his movie Exodus: Gods and Kings. But if this trailer is any indication, at least the movie won’t be deviating from the original book when it comes to showing us the ten badass plagues. Anybody who has ever been…

A 3D Printed Suit Of Armor To Make Barbie Ready For Battle

Barbie’s costumes over the years haven’t always seemed particularly functional, but this new set of 3D printed armor seems appropriately battle ready. Commenter zheng3 showed up in our show-and-tell thread to give us a peek at the brand new, and rather elaborate, set of golden armor. A crowdfunded project that was begun this Spring, zheng3…

The Comedy Album 2776 Has 100 Stars, But NPR’s Nina Totenberg Steals It

Everybody’s buzzing about the new comedy album 2776, which is chock full of famous comedians and personalities, riffing about the future and science-fictional stuff. Almost everybody you love is on this album — but perhaps surprisingly, the clear standout is NPR’s Nina Totenberg’s a capella rock opera. Seriously, it’s not even close. Totenberg’s performance is…

Tiny Thumb-Sized Hedgehog Lived in Canada 52 Million Years Ago

During the early Eocene epoch, North American mammals were quite different from what we see today. Here’s one example: researchers have just uncovered a 2-inch-long fossilized hedgehog in British Columbia. That’s the size of your thumb. It’s the tiniest hedgehog known to science. The researchers, writing in the most recent issue of the Journal of…

How Thumbsticks Came to Control the Modern World

It’s no small feat translating a user’s wishes into computer commands. Controlling massive robots in chaotic, fast-paced action of modern console games like Titanfall—and yet even children are able to intuitively tear through AI fodder in their digital mechs. How? Using dual analog thumbstick controllers. And they’re not just for games. Any wizened gamer knows…

This Rule About Drone Surveillance Is Just Plain Absurd — And Scary

Right now, in the United States, law enforcement can put you under drone surveillance without a warrant — as long as the drone never lands on your property. What the hell is going on here? How can this be legal? First of all, let me assure you that this kind of surveillance is going on…

Dive Through Ice Caves and Skip Over Crevasses

Glaciers are an exotic world of beauty. In this video, a drone flirts with light filtered through translucent walls, capturing that ethereal mix of blue ice, white snow, and chilly brightness that defines glaciers. Take five minutes to ride along, swooping through caves and dancing around icy crags. Glaciers fascinating me. The various textures of…

iCracked Mobile Screen Repair Will Now Fix Your Shattered Samsung

iCracked is a mobile service that fixes your shattered, waterlogged, or otherwise busted up smartphone wherever you are. Back when they were iPhone exclusive, we tested them and loved their work. Now they’re working on Samsung phones. Smashing your screen still isn’t a good idea, but now Sammy users have a backup. iCracked will fix…

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot: Still The Biggest Storm In The Solar System

The diameter of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has been shrinking about 500 miles a year since 2012. It bears mentioning, however, that, even in its diminished state, Jupiter’s ruddy storm system is truly gigantic. The image above comes from John Brady’s “The Size of Stuff,” a post at Astronomy Central that uses comparisons like this…

Orphan Black has officially been been renewed for a third season. Production starts in September and we’ll be seeing new episodes in Spring 2015. Party on, Clone Club! Thanks, John Doe, for the heads up. Gif from the Orphan Black Tumblr.

Razer Blade 2014 Review: Great For Games, Overkill Otherwise

Razer’s badass Blade gaming laptop is back with a screen that’s insane, and the power to push some serious pixels. But that doesn’t do you much good when getting by day-to-day is a little bit of a struggle. What Is It? A powerhouse gaming laptop compressed down into a form so svelte it could be…

Stealth bomber concept splits in three, reassembles like Voltron

This “Voltron” stealth bomber seems out of a science fiction movie, but it’s one of the aircraft concepts that military powerhouse BAE Systems is working on: A single bomber/drone would fly as one from the home base, then divide into three airplanes to execute different tasks in the same area and reassemble to return to…