Sploid: Where awesome, wild, and breathtaking tech moments burst into view.
Texas Governor Rick Perry can’t believe a “teen mom” would one day be a state senator defending the rights of women to choose whether or not they’re ready to have children. Shouldn’t Sen. Wendy Davis have aborted her child, since she hates babies so much?
The housing recovery has put even more pressure on working class and poor Americans. A new study shows that more than 20 million households are paying more than half their pre-tax income for a place to live, while 42 million households spend more than 30% of their pre-tax earnings for a roof over their heads.…
Football star Aaron Hernandez is suspected of involvement in a 2013 double murder, the Boston Globe reports. Hernandez was charged with murder yesterday for the killing of a 27-year-old semi-pro football player. The New England Patriots star’s alleged accomplice, Carlos Ortiz, is also in custody now. Hernandez is being held without bail. https://gizmodo.com/patriots-aaron-hernandez-arrested-in-murder-plot-then-519987062
Bigots were so outraged by gay couples getting married at San Francisco City Hall back in 2008 that they launched a fear campaign targeted at California’s socially conservative Latino voters to ban gay marriage in the second state to make it legal. Yesterday, Prop. 8 vanished and City Hall lit up like a rainbow.
Meet “Thelma and Louise,” a two-headed female turtle just born at San Antonio’s zoo. Known as Texas River Cooters, these freshwater turtles are common along the state’s rivers. Thelma and Louise are doing fine and can swim along with the other baby turtles.
Another day, another dumb trend piece published in the otherwise fine newspaper The New York Times: apparently, movie theaters are being “reinvented” by hipsters in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn neighborhood which is on itself the epitome of all NYT trends. Thankfully, Hamilton Nolan is here to crush it.
The image above may look like a magic trick but it’s real: a chain of metal beads actually floating in midair thanks to simple physics. You can even do it at your own home. These video—complete with beautiful slow motion shots—shows how and why it happens.
If you ever wondered why screen aspect ratios changed through the history of movies and TVs, wonder no more: this video clearly explains the fascinating story of the many screen proportions that have framed countless moving tales through the decades, from the original silent films to today’s widescreens.
If you enjoy retribution moments, you must watch this clip of Rep. Tammy Duckworth publicly shaming Braulio Castillo, a disgusting man with no scruples whose company received government contracts because of his phony veterans disability rating—obtained after twisting an ankle playing sports at military prep school. Photo by Getty Images
Gregory Ciotti at Lifehacker explains six scientifically proven ways to end one of everyone’s most dreaded faults, the mother of all drags: procrastination. You can read about them here now. Or bookmark it and leave it for later today.
The Food Network and Walmart ditched her after news of her rampant racism, but Paula Deen has also gained plenty of supporters. Proof: the increased demand for her cooking cruise. So many, says Anna Breslaw in Jezebel’s Dirt Bag, that they are now using two entire cruise ships. http://gawker.com/paula-deen-loses-major-deals-with-wal-mart-two-others-592145649
SpaceX makes low-cost rockets to ferry cargo and astronauts into orbit and even Mars. That’s great. But if state space programs die in favor of space corporations, we will be in trouble in the long run. Instead of the peaceful Star Trek’s Starfleet Command, the profit-seeking corporations from Alien will rule space.
Furious over the failure of his personal crusade to ban abortion in the state of Texas, Governor Rick Perry has called for a second “special session” of the Texas legislature on July 1. Last night’s attempt to all but illegalize abortion failed after a 15-hour filibuster by Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis.
Most everybody these days smokes marijuana all the time, but they still like to keep it on the “down low” so the police won’t write a ticket or ask to see your medical cannabis ID. Now that we know the NSA and FBI are watching and recording your every communication or web search or Amazon…
Not so long ago, gay marriage was still so controversial that California passed an anti-gay-marriage ballot initiative. How did all of this happen so quickly? Everybody is gay now, that’s how it happened. Go back in time to the mid-2000s and relive the melodrama all over again. http://gawker.com/so-you-want-to-get-gay-married-589200633
Sid Meier’s addictive computer worlds have delighted generations of gamers since the 1980s. From Pirates! to his perennial Civilization, Meier’s games always follow his philosophy of providing a series of interesting decisions with meaningful choices.
Jalopnik’s Máté Petrány has tested Volkswagen’s new prototype, the XL1. It’s an extraordinary vehicle that can travel for an outstanding 261 miles on just one gallon of gasoline. ‘It looks like a spacepod, it’s built like a supercar, and driving it feels like the future,’ he says.
European astronomers have confirmed the existence of three habitable planets orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 667C. These super-Earths—first spotted by Canadian astronomer Philip Gregory—are relatively around the corner from our home planet: only 22.1 light years.
It can still easily kill a person or a water buffalo just because it’s a huge biting dragon, but the famed Komodo Dragon does not have a mouth full of lethal bacteria just waiting to get inside a victim. Just the usual bite. So, you’ll still die, but not from bacteria. https://io9.gizmodo.com/https-www-youtube-com-watch-v-idwsmqsvrse-this-scene-587686702
Jalopnik has a U.S. map showing the most popular car in each of the 50 states. The pickup truck in the photo is the winner by a far margin: 22 states prefer the Ford F-150. It’s only logical that giant square states prefer giant square cars.
