Part of the universal appeal of the single-board Raspberry Pi microcomputer is its nearly limitless potential. As one tiny board, the Pi can be programmed and used as the engine to complete a whole host of computing projects, making it virtually as limitless as your imagination. — Read the rest
There is literally no image or feeling that better encapsulates the spring and summer months than blissfully enjoying the weather in your own backyard, crashed out peacefully in your own hammock. Of course, hammocks are kind of a whole thing, aren't they? — Read the rest
The World Health Organization announced easy-to-say names for Covid variants. Though official strain names already existed, they are highly technical and media invariably used vague and sensational terms such as "British variant" to describe them instead—and now there are at least two separate variants confusingly referred to as "Indian". — Read the rest
Coleman Thomas Blevins, 28, of Kerrville, Texas, was arrested Friday and charged with making a terrorist threat, report police, who identify Blevins as an extremist and said he was planning a mass-shooting at Walmart. Investigators "possibly saved many lives," says the Kerr County sheriff's office in a statement posted to Facebook. — Read the rest
I've recently been looking into buying an old-timey electronic or electrical typewriter, and quickly became lost in archives of ozTypewriter, a website from a more civilized age that's a) about typewriters, b) an actual blog, at blogspot, and c) actively and frequently updated by author Robert Messenger. — Read the rest
The VHS Dirty Video Mixer is a simple, fun way to get into glitching video and audio with hardware, which is to say without the telltale blends, artefacts and repetitions of an app or filter.
— Read the restThis is a Dirty Glitch video Mixer.
BookStory is a classic example of a certain genre of legendary game: Japanese, obscure, unusual but fascinating subject matter, and untranslated. Now you can enjoy it in English, thanks to a fansub decades in the making. The technical work that went into making this possible — hacking 1990s-era Visual Basic binaries! — Read the rest
Amazon Sidewalk is a new service that connects Amazon speakers and other devices into an open wireless network, and y'all are automatically opted in. In other words, some of my neighbors will soon be inadvertantly letting their other neighbors use their internet connections, with all the lost privacy and acquired liability this entails. — Read the rest
Discounting silly contrivances (such as a player blowing all their money on a first-roll auction), the shortest possible game of Monopoly lasts only two turns. In brief: both players get lucky with double rolls, but player 1 ends up owning houses on Boardwalk (Mayfair in the UK edition), then player 2 immediately bankrupts themselves landing on the same square. — Read the rest
Over at New Statesman, writer Will Dunn (no relation) proposes an interesting cost-cutting measure to make businesses more efficient: replacing CEOs with machines.
— Read the restA few weeks ago Christine Carrillo, an American tech CEO, raised this question herself when she tweeted a spectacularly tone-deaf appreciation of her executive assistant, whose work allows Carrillo to "write [and] surf every day" as well as "cook dinner and read every night". […]
If you have ever done Crossfit you might already know what a Murph is. It's dedicated to Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy, an avid Crossfit buff, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Here is his namesake's routine: run 1 mile, do 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air-squats and run another mile, all while wearing a weighted vest or body armor. — Read the rest
If you live in a home without central air, it isn't even the summer heat that's so unbearable. No, it's the sweating. The dripping. The utter, utter grossness. The sense that no matter how you try to escape it, the heat will find you and wring every last drop of moisture from your body. — Read the rest
In this Ask a Mortician, Caitlin tells the incredibly bizarre story of the Love Has Won cult, and the death of their belligerent, alcoholic, Trump-loving, Colloidal Silver-swillin' guru, "Mother God."
In the episode, Caitlin raises an interesting question: Is it legal to keep the body of a loved one around after death and is it "corpse abuse" if you dress it up in Christmas tree lights and put glitter eye shadow on it?" — Read the rest
Gravel Institute, the lefty answer to PragerU, takes a sobering look at Uber business model, why it has never turned a profit, and how its workers… er independent contractors are set up for failure.
Image: Screengrab
Just yesterday I was sitting around remembering how great cereal box marketing was in the 70s.
John Oliver's Memorial Day Weekend special YouTube video is 6 minutes or so of castigating what was once a wonderful marketing effort.
Take a look around the training room for any major professional team and you'll see several examples of the toll that heightened activity can take on the human body. Considering these athletes compete at the highest level the human body can achieve, it shouldn't come as a shock when us mortals feel achy after a day of gardening or making a mile or two while shopping. — Read the rest
When was the last time there was a new addition to your bed sheet rotation? Has there been a new set of sheets on your bed in the last 18 to 24 months? For many, the answer is probably no. And while you might be surprised to hear it, you're actually supposed to be turning over your entire assortment of bedding every two years. — Read the rest
Not too long ago, buying a flying drone for under $100 all but guaranteed you'd be back in the market for one soon — at that price point, they were often all but definitely going to disappoint. But the market has changed. — Read the rest
As a long-time Spider-Man fan, and as someone who used to work in professional theatre, I was obsessed with the cursed development of the Julie Taymor / U2 musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark from its very earliest workshops and readings. — Read the rest
Recently, I watched the obscure, 1962 independent horror film Carnival of Souls on Archive.org. It's the one and only feature film that Herk Harvey directed and was made on a budget of $33,000.
Starring Candice Hillgoss, Carnival of Souls tells the tale of a woman who becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival after a traumatic accident. — Read the rest
One of my friends gave me a copy of the book, Siteless: 1001 Building Forms by François Blanciak as a gift a few years ago, and I use it often for reference images and inspiration for my drawings. Although I'm not an architect and this is an architecture-inspired book, the forms in it are great for drawing inspiration, creature parts, or just fun eye candy. — Read the rest
With the days heating up and summer excursions beginning to fill everyone's schedules, the outside world is beckoning once again. But let's not forget — the wilderness is called the wilderness for a reason, and if you aren't careful or adequately prepared, the wilds can get pretty scary pretty darn quick. — Read the rest
Every year, about 1.6 million dogs are adopted out of U.S. animal shelters. Those canines who found new homes through shelters and humane societies help make up nearly one-quarter of the 78 million dogs living in American households today.
While the visual characteristics of many dogs can give those new owners a pretty fair idea about their new family member's breed and other genetic traits, that's really only a guess. — Read the rest
"Deo sticks" are a popular component for trash bash modelers on YouTube. One of my favorite new modeling channels is Bill Making Stuff. If Zach Galifianakis was British and had a YouTube channel where he made models from trash, he'd be Bill Making Stuff. — Read the rest
When Rand Paul received a suspicious package of white powder in the mail last week, he was quick to blame it on a threat from Richard Marx(?), the 80s/90s pop singer. Marx had tweeted that he wanted to buy drinks for Paul's neighbor, the guy who'd tackled the Kentucky Senator in a property dispute in 2017. — Read the rest
If you've never heard of cerumen, you're not alone. It's more commonly known as earwax, and while it may seem sort of gross, but mostly benign, cerumen can actually be a problem. While it's mostly contained to children and seniors, cerumen can get impacted inside the ear, actually impacting the hearing of about 10 percent of the population at a given time. — Read the rest
I switched from Frosted Flakes to Honeycomb for the records. My Dad gave me one of those cool little briefcase record players and while I know I had 'Star Wars' and 'Return of the King' records, getting new ones from the cereal box was just awesome! — Read the rest
This driver had to be in a real hurry, this is just a bad idea from the start. I used to live on a street that would routinely flood and you can almost always be sure the water is deep enough to stall out anyone who displays more guys than brains. — Read the rest
Whether you've been in the market for a career change or you just want to learn a fun new hobby, it can be hard to know where to turn to for classes.
Luckily, for Memorial Day, these course bundles are majorly marked down. — Read the rest
At Corcoran State Prison in March 2019, Jaime Osuna used a makeshife knife to decapitate and dissect Luis Romero, his cellmate. A new report found that prison guards didn't notice the torture, the killing or the hours-long dismemberment that followed, falsely reported that Romero was alive after supposedly checking the cell, didn't notice Osuna wearing a "necklace made of Romero's body parts", and faults the California Department of Corrections for bungling its investigation. — Read the rest
Mesmerizing (and a little anxiety inducing), Taylor Glenn (taylor_tries on Instagram) gives us an interesting perspective of a 4-ball juggling act. — Read the rest
Remember the movie Catch Me If You Can, starring Leonard DiCaprio as a charming teenage con-artist who scored long-haul flights and a variety of other company benefits through trickery and legerdemain? The reality was much less dashing, according to a new book: Frank Abagnale Jr. — Read the rest
Now-former airline pilot Michael Haak, 60, was sentenced to a year's probation after admitting lewd conduct in exposing himself to a female first officer and watching porn in the cockpit. A Maryland judge also fined him $5000 over the incident, which occurred during a Philadelphia to Orlando flight on August 10 last year. — Read the rest
Wow. Thank goodness school was not in session when this preschool in Wentzville, MO was suddenly inundated.
Good news, there is a sump pump!
— Read the restThe flooding at Future Stars Academy was captured in a surveillance video, which the assistant director of the day care, Amelia Vann, posted to YouTube.
(Minnie Woolsey, 1880 – after 1960) performed in American sideshows and is known for her one and only film role in Tod Browning's controversial 1932 film, Freaks. Woolsey spent time in a mental hospital before she began performing, but little else is known about her early life. — Read the rest
I recently moved into an apartment that has no light fixtures in the living room ceiling. I use my living room as my art studio and often like to draw at night time, so this was a bit of a problem for me. — Read the rest
The new Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect ($24.50) is a feature-packed little microcontroller. Look at how small it is compared to my trusty Arduino Uno (top photo). It has a built-in mic so you can use it in projects that require sound activation or voice recognition. — Read the rest
Amazon plans to place "wellness chambers"—toiletlike single-seat cubicles—around its warehouses for staff to lock themselves in when their horrible jobs become too to cope with.
— Read the restIn a video shared on its Twitter account, Amazon said the "AmaZen" chamber would help staff focus on their mental health.
There was a viral story in 2018 about Christian couples renewing their wedding vows in a group ceremony involved AR-15s. That ceremony was held at the Rod of Iron Ministries Church in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania. The church is run by Pastor Hyung Jin "Sean" Moon, the son of Sun Myung Moon, a Korean immigrant and founder of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. — Read the rest
joust.life is where you may engage in multiplayer deathmatch Joust. Just jump in and start bouncing and jousting around. It's Joust, but feels weirdly like playing Defender after the planet explodes. Remember: higher wins. At Hacker News, creator Jason Kester writes:
— Read the restMost of this code dates back to 1998, when I built a little 2 player Joust game to push the bounds of what you could do with Div (and at the time Layer) tags in the latest browsers such as IE4 and Netscape 3.
There's nobody who doesn't love pizza. At least, nobody you'd trust, anyway. It's a universally adored foodstuff that most of us would probably eat morning, noon, and night if our diets weren't a concern. The only problem with most pizza ovens (as if anything that makes pizza could actually be a real problem) is that they're kind of one-trick ponies. — Read the rest
What could that wonderfully absurd headline even mean, and how did I learn of this a whole month after it happened? On April 24th, 2021 in Lincoln, Nebraska a few hundred dudes named Josh gathered, armed with colorful pool noodles, to bludgeon one another in a free-for-all of Josh supremacy. — Read the rest
When was the last time you learned something new or adopted a new habit that made your life a bit easier? These small changes don't seem like they would amount to much, but each habit can increase your productivity, lower your stress, or save you in the event of an emergency. — Read the rest
In the 1940s, the British Interplanetary Society—a fantastic club of space geeks that included Arthur C. Clarke—drafted up detailed plans for space missions of all kinds, including a trip to the moon. After World War II ended, BIS member Harry Ross pushed ahead on a lunar spacesuit design and drafted artist Ralph Smith to create fantastic illustrations of concept. — Read the rest
The A-Team was about as much fun as television could possibly be when television was a good as it was ever going to get. Colorful characters, ridiculous action, and really amazing casting.
Only a show this cool could make the 1983 GMC Vandura into an iconic and cool car! — Read the rest
Who knows why this person thought it would OK to drive down the street with a long two-by-four sticking out the window? It's not just illegal but dangerous, as you'll see when the lumber smacks the back of another car and breaks its window. — Read the rest
A fire truck in Philadelphia was sounding its siren as it sped to a house fire Wednesday afternoon when an oblivious driver got in front of it, causing the truck to swerve into a Toyota. It then "bounced off the median, hit a parked truck and careened into a building," according to 6ABC. — Read the rest
After midnight on Tuesday, a mountain lion smashed through the front window of a home in San Bruno, just south of San Francisco. According to police, the wayward animal was likely attracted to taxidermy trophy heads of big game animals visible through the window. — Read the rest
Leo covering the Bee Gees is pretty marvelous, but lets talk about that rabbit.
I am wondering who is tougher? Leo's Rabbit buddy looks pretty badass, but there is the Easter Bunny.
Honestly, I am not sure I want to hang out with Easter Bunny, but the whole Easter thing has always confused me. — Read the rest
It took documentary filmmaker Hilary Harris (1929 – 1999) 15 years to make his short time-lapse film depicting Manhattan as a living creature. Called Organism, it was completed in 1975 and is considered to be a forerunner to Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi (1982). — Read the rest
A recent Yahoo/YouGov poll suggests that 73% of Republicans are living a fantasy, and that the Big Lie works.
A mere 41% of Republicans surveyed felt Trump's supporters who stormed our Nation's capitol were somewhat to blame for the violence, and death, that occurred while 73% of Republicans feel it is those awful lefties fault. — Read the rest