Sploid: Where awesome, wild, and breathtaking tech moments burst into view.
Russian media claims that NSA surveillance scandal whistleblower Edward Snowden is now in Moscow and has a ticket to Havana on Aeroflot flight #180 departing tomorrow at 2PM. His final destination is not clear yet. Wikipedia claims is Ecuador.
Before committing suicide, Operation Iraqi Freedom’s veteran Daniel Somers wrote a letter to his family. Like many other veterans, Somers suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other war-related conditions. These are his last words.
In the fantasy series Games of Thrones, Khaleesi is a noble title equivalent to queen in the Dothraki race, given by marriage to Daenerys Targaryen (the blonde in the image.) In America, as Kinja user Golddiggersof2033 painfully found out, it’s now the very real name of 146 very unfortunate babies.
Jezebel’s Tracy Moore answers a common question these days: “Why is anyone surprised that Paula Deen is racist? She’s an old white lady from the South!” Thinking that everyone in Dixieland is a racist is wrong, she argues—but “there are definitely lot of racists there” and she has collected them all in a guide.
This video shows the beginning of the crash that today claimed the life of 34-year-old Danish racing driver Allan Simonsen at the 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans. Simonsen’s No. 95 Aston Martin spun off the track for reasons unknown at this point. Developing…
The first trailer of the upcoming Steve Jobs’ biopic starring Ashton Kutcher is here. I asked Steve Wozniak—close friend of Steve Jobs and Apple co-founder—about it. Here’s what he said: About Jobs’ portrayal I have a little bug in me that says that this movie will portray Steve as a saint who was ignored, rather…
Atrocious diabetes monster Paula Deen put out another rambling apology for “the N-word” and other racially wacky actions—such as dressing her black employees as “slaves” and then treating them as slaves—and was promptly dismissed from the Food Network where she inexplicably became a TV star for serving pig slop.
Sara Seager—professor of planetary science at MIT—has developed a new formula that demonstrates that we will find proof of alien life very soon, probably within our lifespan. Unlike the classic Drake’s equation—which assess the probability of intelligent life—hers uses real data instead of speculation. https://gizmodo.com/what-a-brand-new-equation-reveals-about-our-odds-of-fin-531575395 Seager claims that her formula doesn’t replaces Drake’s, as the…
James Gandolfini died of a heart attack after an epic meal at his hotel in Italy, including double orders of mayonaise-covered fried shrimp, a pile of foie gras, two rums cocktails with a side of four shots of rum, plus beer and etc., etc.
Confusing stories, so many clichés, bland heroes, meaningless secondary characters, crappy CGI—these are some of the reasons bad science fiction is so painful to watch. But what makes good sci-fi so much fun?
From Mark Hamill after the Star Wars Trilogy to Kevin Costner after Waterworld—killed by fame or horrible scripts, all these actors and actresses went supernova and then turned into black holes after sci-fi or fantasy roles. https://io9.gizmodo.com/15-movie-actors-whose-careers-were-killed-by-scifi-and-532347846
What happens when a great book (World War Z) is basically unfilmable? In the case of Brad Pitt’s doomed adaptation of the zombie thriller, you get a lot of action scenes from video games and a vague muddled plot about the U.N. https://gizmodo.com/world-war-z-fails-the-zombie-bite-test-524581393
A two-year-old girl left home alone tottered along a fifth-floor windowsill as workers on the street below watched in horror … and then she fell, but the deliverymen were ready and caught her. And it was all caught on video! http://gawker.com/delivery-men-save-toddler-who-tumbled-out-of-fifth-stor-531680468
The sun, our star, puts out tremendous amounts of energy. Turning that energy into food is how plants raised the oxygen level on Earth, making way for an atmosphere that could support oxygen-breathing animals. How did that happen?
A suburban Seattle high school’s co-ed cheerleading squad savagely beat initiates with golf clubs and pipes until neighbors called the police. Pictures show the juniors covered in blood welts and wounds.
Some mad person built this 1:1 Minecraft replica of King’s Landing, the New York of Game of Thrones. He spent months stacking about a zillion one-cubic-meter blocks on top of each other using this popular construction and exploration game that feels like virtual Lego. Find more Minecraft architectural landmarks here. https://architizer.kinja.com/summer-video-game-series-the-best-of-minecraft-archite-520259566
The venom of a deadly aspic viper killed a 53-year-old reptile expert who dedicated his life to helping people overcome their fear of snakes. Dieter Zorn was giving a demonstration in a French village when the viper struck.
Hot summer weekend! Time for shorts? Apparently not anymore, says Kcunning after going to Target: “they looked weird in the crotch. They made my normal legs look like I had thunder thighs. The butt fit strangely. They were insanely short. Every. Goddamn. Pair. Are there others who have trouble finding shorts?”
Miami Heat won the 2013 edition of the NBA against San Antonio Spurs in the finals’ seventh game. The score: 95-88. LeBron James, with 37 points, was named NBA Finals’ MVP (Most Valuable Player) for the second time too. Photo by Getty Images.
Soccer celebrity David Beckham caused a riot in Shanghai when he appeared at a university there to play a demonstration football game with the school’s team. At least seven people were hurt when the crowd stampeded to get a better look at Beckham.
