Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
When you’re playing the game of life, you probably imagine it to be some impossibly complicated RPG filled with awful consequences and no right answer. You’d be wrong. We only make it that way because it keeps us busy. Life really is just about moving forward because time forces us to. Like in Super Life…
The week’s almost over already, there’s no hurt in starting the party a little early with this infectiously groovie tune from Tiësto featuring Matthew Koma—Especially when you have this trio of bombshells leading the crowd in song. Wasted is Tiesto’s latest work and can be found, along with more of the renowned DJ’s mixes on…
This is something you don’t see every day. In fact, this is the first time this has happened: A man controls a 5.2-ton Blackhawk helicopter with a joystick and backpack, carrying around a couple tons of concrete. The military always gets the best toys. https://gizmodo.com/military-turn-5-2-ton-blackhawk-into-the-worlds-biggest-1567442395
When the US Army wants to have fun they turn to Sikorsky and ask them to turn their 5.2-ton UH-60 Blackhawk into an unmanned helicopter remote controlled by some guy with a backpack and a joystick. Unfreakinunbelievable. The project has been in development for a while, but they have just successfully tested it for the…
Researchers have used new image processing techniques to reveal two images of planetary systems forming around their home stars. The images are, according to NASA, “two treasures that were hiding in the Hubble archives.” They are spectacular. Discovered by a team led by Rémi Soummer—from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland—the stars were…
I’ve seen many gloomy anti-bullying ads. This one uses humor and fear instead—and it may do the trick. The message: The nerds you’re torturing today will probably end being your bosses tomorrow. And they won’t forget any of the things you’re doing to them. I really hope it works, although I think that none of…
Waves come from the wind so tsunamis, which are basically bigger waves, must come from more wind, right? Not exactly. This cute animation explains that though normal waves are formed from above, tsunamis come from below from volcanic eruptions, landslides and earthquakes. They’re the real monsters of the sea. Ted-Ed says it’s basically a fight…
It may just be a Dodge ad celebrating 100 years of the company but, when 106-year-old Ethel Preston and her cronies look you in the eye and say you should do whatever the hell you want to do, you can tell they really mean it. Life is too damn short, even when you get to…
Every type of story has its own dangerous pit-falls — things that bore the audience and are too predictable. And often times, the best stories are the ones that know how to handle these delicate story-elements in a way that is unexpected or understandable. For shonen anime, that problem is the power curve. Curving the…
Do you consider yourself a good friend? Well then the next time your buddy puts on the future scopes that is the Oculus Rift and starts getting amazed at the all encompassing alternate reality, you have to give them a gentle push in the back to screw with their balance. They’ll start flailing for their…
You’d think that after winning the Pritzker Prize, one of the highest awards in design, most architects would sit back and coast on their accolades. What did Japanese architect Shigeru Ban do? He built these beautiful cardboard houses for typhoon refugees. The shelters are found in the city of Daanbantayan, in the Philippines, which was…
I have a small orange bottle in my bathroom cabinet with a couple painkillers leftover from the time I got my wisdom teeth out a few years ago. They’re way out of date. I should toss ’em. BUT HOW?? According to the FDA, flushing is a no-no; proper protocol is mixing them with kitty litter…
Disquiet Junto Project 0121: Math Rock Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. Tracks by participants will…
As part of the inaugural Global Space Balloon Challenge, a group of Stanford students took this photo from just above the Earth using two high altitude balloons. With one of them perched slightly above the other, you can see the balloon braving the flight as the other captures this breathtaking view over California. [cnet]
The Food and Drug Administration announced today that it wants to regulate electronic cigarettes. This isn’t surprising. But there’s considerable debate about what those regulations should look like. If history is any guide, the life of your average vaper (vapist? vapethusiast?) is about to get a whole lot harder. Judging by the proposals submitted for…
Chuck Aaron makes helicopters fly upside down thanks to some heavy modifications to his lightweight chopper. And does barrel rolls too. And all sorts of crazy ass maneuvers that are a pleasure to watch but make my stomach turn. Aaron wanted to try aerobatic maneuvers in a helicopter bad enough that he got funding from…
What does it take to move an almost 300-foot-long turbine blade to its final resting place in the ocean? International coordination, huge trucks, and plenty of engineers. And here we thought moving rockets, electromagnets, and space shuttles was hard work. https://gizmodo.com/amazing-photo-of-the-world-largest-wind-turbine-blade-o-1567272593
What will happen to ISEE-3 if the reboot team manages to hack their way into communication with the abandoned spacecraft? Here’s a video of the planned trajectory that would redirect it into position to use it’s still-functioning instruments to do a lot more science. Want to support the reboot? The team is still accepting lunch-money…
You can make short work of destroying a pencil with a standard Bic lighter, but this fuel-free alternative is arguably a safer way to go about it. Because instead of setting it on fire, all you need is a few minutes of constant twisting to turn turn your Faber-Castells into a pile of shavings. For…
This is the world’s largest wind turbine blade en route to the largest offshore wind turbine in the world, in Methil, Scotland. At an incredible 273.95 feet (83.5 meters) long by 13.7 feet (4.2 meters) wide, the blade had to be transported all the way from Denmark, where it was manufactured—a logistical nightmare. It was…
