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It looks like the 2015 Best Parent of the Year Award is all but a lock for Australian Instructables user ‘Tez_Gelmir’ who built this custom Return of the Jedi Speeder Bike rocking horse for his daughter. And Tez gets bonus points for meticulously documenting its construction, and sharing those details with the world. A word…
First revealed at San Diego Comic-Con a few weeks back, yesterday Mattel released some updated photos of the Lion-O figure from its revamped Thundercats line. And as is the trend with re-released toys these days, thanks to improved manufacturing techniques, the new Lion-O eclipses the original ‘80s version in terms of detailing and articulation. The…
If you’re ever trapped under a truck, the last person you’d think to call for help would probably your creepy digital assistant. But as Siri recently proved, even fake humans can sometimes save lives. As Fox 17 reports, a young teenager working under his (poorly propped-up) truck had the thing fall on him, trapping his…
When it rains, it pours. Shortly after photos of The Force Awakens figures being sold early on eBay surfaced, another lucky Star Wars fan has hit the mother-load at his local Walmart store in Ohio that put a massive collection of the new figures out for sale, well ahead of the official September 4th launch.…
You probably remember Bill Nye from when he taught you real things about actual science. But as it turns out, he also knows about — and I’m quoting here — “blowing shit up”. To promote the charmingly-named charity auction, “Blowing Sh*t Up With Arnold”, everyone’s favorite Science Guy took to YouTube to explain the science…
The first time I saw Gwar was in 1995. The band of interplanetary warriors was featured on Beavis and Butthead, and I was watching (even though I wasn’t supposed to). Today, a Gwar slave at a TED Talk explained to me how the band expressed its history in the poverty-stricken South with dark themes like…
According to the greatest Internet resource, a wet microburst is a “small-scaled downburst” that is “accompanied by significant precipitation”. I think that’s underselling it a bit because man, this wet microburst that popped off in Tucson, Arizona basically looks like the sky decided to drop all of its rain at one damn time, like a…
Chelsea Manning, the US army soldier who leaked classified documents to Wikileaks, is looking at “indefinite” solitary confinement for infractions that include possessing a copy of the Caitlyn Jenner Vanity Fair magazine and using an expired tube of toothpaste. Former intelligence analyst Manning is serving out a 35-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth for espionage…
Out here in drought-stricken California, the weather has been creepily gorgeous for over a year. But now, we’re facing one of the worst storm seasons in recorded history for this region. Are any of you in the storm’s path? What are you doing to prepare? New predictions based current climate models came out this week,…
The Tokyo subway’s romaine is growing—and fast. A project by the company that runs the city’s subways, Tokyo Metro, was highlighted today by Naomi Gingold of PRI, who visited one of the hydroponic farms. Between stations on the blue Tozai line, the company is growing several types of greens and selling them to a nearby…
It’s rare to see a Twitter exchange where the use of “memetacular” is the least upsetting part but here we are. The memes have won.
Happy Earth Overshoot Day, that singular day each year when humanity’s resource demands outstrip the planet’s ability to regenerate them. Last year, we faced our ecological debt on August 19th, this year, we’ve reached this milestone six days earlier. Well done. Overshoot Day is estimated every year by the Global Footprint Network, an international think-tank…
With Samsung’s slew of announcements today and the steady march toward the IFA electronics show in Berlin and the iPhone event in September, all eyes seem to be on hardware—but it’s the apps that make any of these things worth using. Here are the very best from this week. Multiplatform Microsoft Translator Translation apps have…
Trees, what can’t they do? They shelter urban wildlife, improve our mental health, and provide the very air we breathe. And it turns out that just the presence of trees at a public transit stop might be enough to improve riders’ perception of the transit experience—even if the actual service doesn’t improve at all. A…
The internet was barely trickling into most homes when Star Wars: The Phantom Menace arrived in theaters, so it was easy to keep all of the accompanying toys and collectibles under wraps. But as is apparent from these The Force Awakens figures popping on eBay, it won’t be so easy for Disney and Lucasfilm to…
Silly! Fun! Absurd! That’s what this video by ScottDW is and it’s just so good. We see a bunch of people get smoked by a furious air blower in total slow motion so that you can see their skin try to escape their face. It’s so goofy and completely hilarious to see the weird faces…
In 1993, sci-fi author Bruce Sterling testified in front of a House subcommittee about the future of the internet — specifically, what “the Net” would look like in 2015. Sterling was testifying about funding for the National Research and Education Network (NREN) which was a program to complement the backbone network overseen by the National…
There’s a new device in the works over at DARPA, the agency known for pushing the technological envelope with mind-controlled prosthetics and drone-launching submarines. This latest innovation? The vacuum tube. You might remember it from the first time humans invented it, way back in 1904. Yes, the vacuum tube, hallmark of early 20th century electronics…
Tarps can be lighter and even stronger than tents. But, they can also be a pain to setup, expose you to the cold, damp ground and don’t protect you from bugs. With its new ultralight bicycle camping (or anything) series, Nemo has fixed all those problems. Here’s how. Apollo Shelter Weighing just 1lbs, 5oz and…
There’s a certain soft edge to Captain America designs. Round shield. Rounded helmet. Even his old chainmail was usually round-edged. Not Square-Enix’s latest figure in their Marvel Variants line—this Cap is so angular he could poke your eyes out every time you went even remotely near him. Yes, the latest in the line of Marvel…
