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Most people know that the blue-hatted Los Angeles Dodgers were once the Brooklyn Dodgers. But while you may have assumed that the “Dodgers” moniker referred to avoiding a tag or stealing a base, the true story is more complicated. That’s because the Brooklyn Dodgers were once the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers—andthose trolleys were deadly. But before…
Boom… and nothing. A hockey puck doesn’t break when you freeze it in liquid nitrogen and then smash it with a hammer or drop an 80 pound weight on it. But that’s because hockey pucks are meant for the cold, right!? Well, even if you go the opposite way and try to torch it with…
Before the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, there was High Bridge, arcing far above the Harlem River to connect Manhattan to the Bronx. Originally designed as an aqueduct in 1848, the bridge was closed for the past 40 years until a ribbon-cutting yesterday reopened it to foot traffic. The longest-standing bridge in New York City…
Coca Cola is delicious. It’s a causer of diabetes and a bringer of obesity but it is delicious. Turns out it’s also probably used by aliens to make art of their home planets. Check out what happens when you melt lead and then add that dark sugar water into the mix, it smokes and pops…
Back before computers were ubiquitous, salespeople had a hard time showing their customers what stuff looked like, especially big stuff. Sure, there were photographs and drawings, but for a full three-dimensional effect, you needed a physical model. That’s where Topping, Inc. came in. Having developed new injection molding methods, Topping was the place to get…
Jurassic World is coming out this weekend and just by existing, it’s already better than The Lost World and *whispers* Jurassic Park 3. But there is no way in hell that it can ever top the original Jurassic Park. Hell, I know this 8-bit video game version of Jurassic Park is better than all the…
There are many things holding up the US’s move towards renewable energy, but one of those things is not science: We already have all the technology we need to make this happen. A new study claims that a completely clean energy future is possible by 2050, and it plots roadmaps for all 50 states to…
Time capsules can sometimes be pretty cool. But more often than not, they’re boring as shit. As this editorial about a recently opened time capsule in Concord, New Hampshire explains: After months of fanfare and speculation, the time capsule entombed beneath City Plaza on Main Street was finally opened and its contents revealed – largely…
All I knew is that I needed a Tiger Talkboy cassette recorder or my life was not complete. The Talkboy — I’m getting nostalgic just typing this — was by far the best gift I received as a kid. I was 9, and I had begged nonstop for months. The silver-colored, hand-held cassette player/recorder was…
Think “Maui” and you probably think geriatric tourists wearing socks with sandals. But, get away from the overpriced resorts and head into the jungle and you’ll find one of Hawaii’s last bastions of local culture. Which means there’s local food too. Here’s what to eat and how to find it. Red Sand Beach. AP Photo.…
It’s hard to care about how valuable Monopoly properties like Park Place or Boardwalk are once you know that you could instead be spending a lazy afternoon playing a game that has you collecting ingredients to build a delicious taco. Taco Takeover has up to four players scrambling to fill a faux-taco shell with toppings…
Over at Bloomberg, Virginia Postrel writesabout a grand jury subpoena issued to unmask the identities of anonymous commenters at libertarian publication Reason. Specifically, they want IP addresses, which can reveal a person’s geographical location and more. You can read the whole subpoena here, but this is the key bit: Basically, the court wants any information…
Want to see the miracles of nature happen right before your eyes? Thanks to the innovative technology brought to you by the new Silicon Valley startup Pied Piper, you can watch a condor egg hatch deep in the Carmel Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Preserve. DO NOT KEEP READING IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW…
Here’s a really fun map that plots out where UFO sightings are seen the most across the US of A. Made by John Nelson of IDV Solutions, it shows where sightings are seen the most in relation to the area’s population, compares the popularity of different types of shapes of UFO across the years (1970’s…
You probably don’t know this, but June 14th is the World Health Organization’s worldwide day for blood donation. In observance, let’s take this opportunity to photograph an unlikely subject: blood. The Challenge Photograph blood. It can be real or fake. Human or hamburger or plant or a body of water during a red sunset or…
Twenty five years ago, Michael Crichton captured our imaginations with the crazy idea that scientists might one day resurrect dinosaurs. But on the eve of Jurassic World’s release a quarter century later, the prospect of bringing back extinct creatures is looking a lot less science fictional. We’ll probably never bring back Tyrannosaurus rex. (Mosquitos with…
Twitter has a troll problem that’s never going to go away, but its most recent tool is the smartest thing Twitter has done to help users deal with abuse. You can now share lists of users you’ve blocked with other people getting harassed. By allowing people to import and export their lists of blocked users,…
When we think of the people who shaped early computing history, we think of inventors, engineers, CEOs. We might not think of Hermann Zapf, the German type designer who died this week at 96. But we should. Zapf’s name might sound familiar to you. Maybe because it’s eponymous with several typefaces on your computer right…
If you think your blender is just a crazy powerful tornado smasher of things, you’re not wrong! But there’s also some other fascinating things going on inside of that do it all wonder device. And one of the secret weapons of a blender is the tiny little bubbles it creates. It’s called cavitation, when those…
To make it easier to manage the mountain of tools you’ll usually find on a construction site, and to help deter theft, Dewalt is introducing a new line of Bluetooth rechargeable batteries that can be connected to a smartphone app for checking their charge status—or remotely disabling them. The brand’s new 20V MAX 2.0 Amp…
