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Google’s new doodle takes aim at Russia’s anti-gay laws, with a rainbow Olympics logo greeting users who need to search the web. In response to Russia’slaws banning pro-gay “propaganda,” the search page also poignantly quotes the Olympic Charter: “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport,…
I am going to do this track-by-track countdown to the release, on February 13, 2014, the day prior to Valentine’s Day, of my book in the estimable 33 1/3 series. It is a love letter to Aphex Twin’s album Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which will mark its 20th anniversary this year, less than a…
What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cold. Exactly. The Swedish town of Luleå took that saying literally because they formed an incredible ice orchestra called Ice Music that uses musical instruments sculpted from ice—yes, ice—to performs songs inside a concert hall that’s basically an igloo. Different bands show up to use the icy musical instruments…
Finally, a way to simultaneously make watching the floor routine bearable and satisfy the humors of the 9-year-old in all of us. Come to think of it, most every Olympic event could benefit from a flatulent overdub. Either that or get the MST3K guys to provide commentary.
If you’re curious about what would happen if a perfectly hit cue ball hit a perfectly aligned pool rack perfectly in the middle, well here’s what it will look like. It’s mathematically perfect. Not even the best pool players in the world, magnet breakers or robots can even get it to look like this. Why?…
Disquiet Junto Project 0110: WSB100 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 be…
Accessible 4K video shooting is still in its infancy, but it was only a matter of time before it started showing up in consumer cameras. The Panasonic GH line’s history of robust video capability makes it a natural fit for 4K, and the new Lumix GH4 squeezes as much as it can into a familiar…
Artist Etienne Lavie had a lightbulb bursting idea: what if all the advertisements we see on a daily basis in the street, on subways and billboards and so forth were replaced with beautiful works of art? Instead of seeing a C-list celeb shilling a sugar drink or a traditionally beautiful faceless model selling strips of…
Yeah, I can totally see it! How can you miss that? It’s right there. Clear eyes, full Earth, can’t miss. Wait, really? No of course not. Anyone who tells you that is either a liar or a hawk. Earth looks incredibly tiny up in that Martian sky. Sure, if you squint hard enough and fake…
When life gives you snow, don’t just make a snowman. Make a giant luge track in your backyard for the whole family! A Dad in Minnesota does that every year to have some fun with winter and the track is pretty impressive with great slopes, windy turns and expertly designed snowbanks. Just look at his…
Nearly all experts agree that bacterial and viral diseases will have been virtually wiped out [by the year 2000]. Probably arteriosclerotic heart disease will also have been eliminated. — February 25, 1966 issue of Time magazine
Performing a midair fuel transfer between aircraft is among the most technically challenging maneuvers in aviation, especially when flying a prop-driven, WWII-era C-97 Stratotanker. That’s why neophyte pilots spent hours at the controls of this life-size simulator before they ever set foot in the real thing. Built in 1953 at a cost of $853,000—one of…
Being a parent isn’t always a glamorous job—in fact, it rarely is. But you’ll do anything for your kids, including serving as a human sled dog when you’re out skiing and your spawn are too tired to forge through fresh powder, thanks to the Snowmule backpack. Available in 15 and 25 liter capacities, the Snowmule…
I’ve seen some spectacular photographs of spaceships launching to orbit, but this has to be one of the best: The contrail of an Ariane 5 rocket launch taken “just a few minutes ago” by astronaut Rick Mastracchio from the International Space Station. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Scientists have finally unraveled the mystery of the strange crop circles that appeared off the coast of the Island of Møn, Denmark, in 2010. Unlike the crop circles on land, however, these are not made by humans. They are not made by alien spaceships either. Or rest of craters from bombs dropped during World War…
GI Joe fans are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the world’s first action figure’s debut this month. Over those five decades, the GI Joe brand has seen wild swings in its popularity—a barometer of the public’s regard for the US military—and undergone numerous design evolutions. Conceived by Don Levine, Hasbro’s head of research and development…
Yikes. Never kiss anyone again, people. Because while you’re politely closing your eyes and giving someone a smooch, your slimy mouth is inhaling another set of lips in what looks like squirmy worm sex on a stained enamel bed. It’s gross. So gross. Okay, maaaybe a little bit sexy in a vomit-inducing, I feel weird…
Everybody needs a chess set. And if you’re going to have a chess set, it might as well be a fun chess set, like MakerBot’s Dragons of Glastonbury chess set. That way, if you get bored playing chess, you can always just stage a huge medieval battle in your living room. This whimsical 3D-printed ensemble…
It’s already a pretty great time to be a couch-bound art lover, and this summer the gallery experience is getting even more futuristic—because anyone with a working Wi-Fi connection will be able to sign up to pilot light- and camera-clad robots around the Tate Britain late at night, offering a self-guided tour with a drone’s-eye-view.…
The 1950s were an optimistic time. Houses and cars were affordable, the economy and the birthrate were booming, and—oh yeah, America was detonating hundreds of nuclear bombs in its own backyard. Much has been written about the Nevada Test Site—aka the Nevada Testing Grounds—since the last bomb was detonated in the early 1990s. In fact,…
