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Today in disgusting, the Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that it’s totally legal to take upskirt photos on public transit. Provided that the victim is wearing underwear. The court concluded that this creepy-ass corner of photography is okay because the law only protects people who are nude or semi-nude and in private. In short, women…
It’s no Iron Man suit, but if you’ve got a knack for civil disobedience and often find yourself on the business end of a Taser, the folks at Hackaday discovered that carbon fiber clothing can actually let you shrug off those electric shocks. To be more specific, they cut open the lining of a sports…
Sick of being locked in a perpetual winter? Matt Lief Anderson, a professional traveler and photographer, sent over a few of his recent shots, and they’re a salve for the Cabin Fever-wracked soul. That’s Crater Lake, in Oregon, above—click through for a few others. Yosemite National Park, California: Sequoia National Park, California: Alberta, Canada: Seward,…
Regular air line passenger and freight transportation between the larger cities, particularly New York and Chicago, promises to become an accomplisht fact this spring. All the usual conveniences will be available to passengers, besides wireless communication, mail service, sleeping quarters and aerial promenade. Not to mention the most wonderful scenery ever presented to alpine tourists,…
Even as the East Coast continues to dig out of its latest snowpocalypse the country’s more hospitable climes are already beginning to thaw out. And now that your garden no longer resembles tundra, it’s time to dig in and get your plot ready for spring planting. Here’s what you’ll need to do. Take Stock If…
The first time I saw this image taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory I instantly thought of dozens scenes in science fiction movies, games, and illustrations—interstellar ships about to come out of hyperspace portals or wormholes. Spectacular photo. The reason why this looks like wormhole is because a galaxy in the foreground is acting as…
Right Said Fred knew the appeal of the catwalk, and now kids can get in on the glitz and glamor with this new coloring book from Crayola that lets them design custom clothes and then see their creations virtually modeled. And it goes without saying that an iOS tablet or smartphone is required, but not…
Billing themselves as “The premier travel agency for interplanetary adventure vacations,” this guerrilla-science project is organizing a tour of the US and the UK. At each destination, they’ll open an Intergalactic Travel Bureau to entice people into learning about planetary science. You can read about their previous exploits in New York here, here, or here,…
The aptly-named 100 Walls Church in Cebu, Philippines, is like an architectural Rorschach test: From far away, it looks like shards of shale rock rearranged by an extreme rationalist. Up close, it’s something closer to an oversized geometric maze. CAZA Architects, who designed the building, describe it on their site as “a Stegosaurus doing yoga.”…
This footage shows a Russian 9K22 Tunguska anti-aircraft weapon system going out of control as it during a recent exercise firing with real ammo. Miraculously, it was reported that nobody was harmed in the incident. Some people are speculating this was filmed in Crimea, but it could have been at the recent war games near…
For something as ubiquitous as the internet today, it certainly isn’t easy to find where it all started. I don’t mean historically, I mean logistically: 3420 Boelter Hall is a tiny room in a basement hallway of a large nondescript building on the sprawling UCLA campus. But from these inauspicious beginnings emerged the reason you’re…
If you love the city-planning aspect of Sim City but can’t handle the pressure of playing god, then you may have just found your new favorite time-waster. Say hello to Mini Metro. Developed byDinosaur Polo Club, the game itself is actually pretty simple. All you do is drag the subway lines between each station, wait…
Man, Jupiter’s moons are a lot cooler than ours. The spacecraft New Horizons captured this gigantic exploding volcano on its moon Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system. It seems crazy to see something so far away captured in such detail. The explosion and its 200-mile-high plume happened back in 2007, but…
With smog in Beijing so bad it’s forced pilots to land blind and officials to shut down the airport, China has unveiled a new plan to test drones that spray smog-clearing chemicals around airports. How will it work? Trials for these new parafoil drones—essentially a drones with parachutes—will begin later this month at airports around…
“A valid attempt at a backflip over the Mount Baker highway,” says the author of this jump over a highway in Whatcom County, Washington. Well, at least it wasn’t a total failure and you didn’t smash your face against the asphalt. Totally worth it I say (if only because I love to make satisfying looping…
Staples has hosted $30 off tablet specials in the past. The difference today: they have iPads in stock. Promo code 58129 will take $30 off any tablet priced over $150, including the Nexus 7 and Retina iPad Mini. In the case of the iPad, that’s the best deal we’ve seen so far. If you’re interested…
HDR. It used to be a photographic technique reserved for those fluent in Photoshop. Now, it’s a go-to filter in every point-and-shoot and app. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, we’ll celebrate this democratization of the art form and all shoot in high dynamic range. The Challenge Take a photo in HDR (high dynamic range). Need…
It may seem like this guy has a space-time bending black hole on his skull, which is about to swallow that guy’s finger, but of course it’s just an awesome optical illusion, created by artist Cory Ferguson, instagrammed by Geometry Chaos. If you have to get a tattoo, you may as well blow people’s minds…
You can learn the basics of lock picking from a GIF, but for a more nuanced look at the techniques required to actually get a lock open without the key, check out NightHawkInLight’slatest tutorial where he uses nothing but a pair of strategically bent hairpins in the process. The see-through lock he uses to illustrate…
In 1930 Arthur Fields and Fred Hall recorded a song about the futuristic world of 1992. And if you can believe it, they didn’t mention a single grunge band. Not even once. No Soundgarden. No Nirvana. These supposedly future-minded charlatans didn’t even give a passing mention to Eddie Vedder. Then what were these guys yammering…