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Taken by the Dark Energy Camera of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, this accidental picture of Comet Lovejoy must be one of the most beautiful comet portraits we’ve ever seen. Below is the unedited composite image created by the Dark Energy Survey team, and you may want to download the glorious high-resolution version—all 50MB…
Earlier this month, health insurer Anthem was hit by a massive hack. Now, it’s admitted that between 8.8 million and 18.8 million people who are not its customers could also be victims in the attack. https://gizmodo.com/oh-shit-health-insurer-anthem-was-the-victim-of-a-mass-1683904320 You see, Anthem is part of a national network of independently run Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCPS) insurance plans.…
Last week, The Intercept reported that the NSA had been able to capture and store the encryption keys that protect SIM cards. Now, Gemalto—the largest SIM card manufacturer on the planet—has responded, denying the breach and explaining that 3G and 4G networks are unaffected. https://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-has-the-master-key-to-unlock-your-phones-secure-1686825874 The reports from last week claimed that the NSA and…
On July 14, 1965, Mariner 4 sent home the very first television pictures of Mars during its historic flyby. But instead of waiting for time-consuming image processing, impatient scientists created this awesome colour-by-numbers wall chart from the raw data. Top image: Close-up view of hand-coloured number tapes. Credit: NASA/JPL/Dan Goods Launched on November 28, 1964,…
Bravo NASA f0r capturing this new cool Mars Curiosity selfie on the surface of Mars at its new research site, the Mojave. NASA made this image by combining dozens of photos taken during January 2015. Here is the annotated version, so you can see the sites that the rover visited before reaching this point. The…
While the private Mars One colonization project targeted for 2025 is by no means a done deal, that hasn’t stopped people from signing up for it. This is an interview with Sonia Van Meter, one of the final 100 candidates. https://jezebel.com/a-chat-with-sonia-van-meter-woman-preparing-for-a-one-1687428464
Much as Apple’s successes are celebrated in breathless blog posts and barely believable earnings reports, it still screws up as much as any company. Maps. Crappy battery life. Forcibly inserting Bono into your life. This (quite fake) ad details how those mistakes would apply to the rumored Apple automobile. The Apple Car rumor — which,…
Apparently, July 4th ain’t got nothing on Chinese New Year in Beijing. This video was recorded on an airplane that was landing in Beijing at midnight of Chinese New Year and it shows all the fireworks going off at once across the city. It looks like every corner is firing off explosions at the same…
For the past couple of years, I’ve always carried one of those miniature fold-up flash drives on my key chain. It’s invaluable for those moments when then internet is broken or Comcasted and the world will stop turning if you don’t transfer those photos and that slide deck right the hell now. But if that…
Paul Thomas Anderson—director of Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood—is one of the true auteurs in filmmaking today and he often uses long shots in his films to show how isolated characters are from the rest of the world. It’s a neat visual decision, one you can see throughout his movies. Jacob T. Swinney…
This is just awesome. A camera was strapped onto a GoFast 2014 rocket—an amateur rocket that set the record for highest and fastest rocket ever launched into space—so that we can see the entire launch from the rockets point of view. The initial burst and thrust into the air is epic and then the world…
Sometimes a disaster becomes a feature. This is an actual home in Fountain City, Wisconsin, which was almost crushed by the very rock that is now its most intriguing architectural detail. Photo via Travel Wisconsin Over on Atlas Obscura, Eric Grundhauser explains: The home sat at the base of a steep hillside and on April…
There’s a lot of hubbub and crap being spewed about not vaccinating your kids and letting measles creep back into our lives. The animation explaining shop Kurz Gesagt doesn’t want to deal with the arguments of pseudo-science, they just want to explain what measles does inside your body. And why it’s helpful for everyone to…
“The guys who make our flip flops? They used to farm cocaine.” The two ex-Army Rangers behind Combat Flip Flops still see it as their mission to defeat Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and they think they can do so more effectively with jobs than they ever could by dropping bombs. https://gizmodo.com/two-ex-army-rangers-believe-flip-flops-and-sarongs-will-1687822266
I recently met two ex-Army Rangers in a bar, and got onto the topic of the war against ISIS. They told me they knew the solution: flip flops. I scoffed, which probably isn’t something you should do to an Army Ranger’s face. And they put me in my place. Matthew “Griff” Griffin and Donald Lee…
Things are looking good for net neutrality. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on whether to treat the internet more like a public utility. This vote comes after a lengthy political battle over the best course of action, but it looks like that fight is winding down. The New York Times reports that…
Superstitions have surrounded the eerie solar eclipse since time immemorial. And now, for entirely scientific reasons, it turns out we have good reason to fear them. Earth’s biggest solar eclipse since 1999 is happening this March, and it could cause some real disruption—thanks to Europe’s reliance on solar energy. Of course, Europe’s ready adoption of…
Very cool high resolution shot of a missile launch from the wing of a Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. According to Cenciotti at The Aviationist, it’s an R-73, a “heat-seeking, short-range missile with a sensitive, cryogenic cooled seeker that can “see” targets up to 40° off the missile’s centerline.” SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on…
As you’re probably already aware, my girlfriend is a holistic health coach specializing in sexual dysfunction. A dick “doctor,” if you will. She’s also a great cook and the two come together in bone broth, a newly popular wonder food. Here’s how to make what I drink.
Billy Wilder directed some of the greatest films of midcentury, including Double Indemnity, Some Like it Hot, and my personal favorite Wilder film, The Apartment. But Wilder was pretty skeptical of emerging tech, as we can see from this 1986 acceptance speech at the American Film Institute. The opening of his speech actually sounds like…
