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There's nothing like having great audio to take your gaming marathon to the next level. Whether you're an esports athlete or just love to get the most out of gaming, you're going to need a quality headset. — Read the rest
In isolation at home, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has tested positive for COVID-19. After learning that several members of her family had contracted COVID, Psaki began isolating at home Wednesday and began daily testing. Initially negative, her Saturday results were positive and she is suffering mild symptoms. — Read the rest
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From your busy work week to that vacation you've got creeping around the corner, you've got enough things to worry about. — Read the rest
"Bill Gates' Showdown With Ex-Wife!" screams the cover. "Disaster At Daughter's $2M Wedding!" Well, not quite.
The story purports to tell of a horrific clash between Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda at their daughter's nuptials, especially after the Microsoft founder was hit with yet another allegation of making sexually inappropriate advances to an employee. — Read the rest
Some years ago, Slow Motion Radio time-stretched Bauhaus's 1979 vampire anthem "Bela Lugosi's Dead" into nine hours. Listening to it in its entirety is a piece of goth durational performance art.
Oh Belllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…
Ossian Brown was a member of the dark, magical electronic music group Coil and Cyclobe, a duo with his partner Stephen Thrower. Here are selections from his remarkable collection of antique Halloween photos, dating between 1875 and 1955, as collected in Haunted Air, with remarks from David Lynch and Geoff Cox.
In 2004, artist Howard Hallis celebrated the devilishly wonderful crossover of Disney and Goth culture with the now-classic "Haunted Bela," a mash-up of Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi's Dead" with the spooky narration heard in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion dark ride. Listen above! — Read the rest
In 2017, singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs set a goal to write a song about every single episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her then-wife, Kristin Russo, had never watched the show, so the two of them decided to start a podcast about watching Buffy, from the perspective of a newbie and a lifelong fan — and each podcast episode would end with an original composition by Youngs inspired by that episode of the show. — Read the rest
Starting in summer 2022, you'll be able to go on a Disney Dinner Cruise accompanied by videos of Paul Rudd's Ant-Man, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, Evangeline Lily's Wasp, and Anthony Mackie's Falcon.
— Read the restThe show will follow Ant-Man and The Wasp as they host a presentation of the most powerful Super Hero technologies in the world, including a hands-on demonstration of the latest and greatest Pym Tech.
When Aimée Lê's postgraduate housing closed for renovations, she knew she was in trouble. As a PhD student studying English at Royal Holloway, University of London, she brought in £12,000 per year— which wasn't enough for London rent. Determined to finish her program, she borrowed a tent and stayed at a protest camp for two years. — Read the rest
The Irish newspaper The Independent recently spoke with two separate ghost hunting groups — Irish Paranormal Investigations and the similarly-named-but-apparently-different-because-they're-from-Galway Paranormal Supernatural Investigations Ireland — about their business during this spooky season. As it turns out, the COVID-19 pandemic has actually been a boon for haunted happenings:
— Read the restReports of increased activity had included a surging number of contacts from the public about unexplained occurrences in people's homes, not just known haunted houses and castles.
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Whether you're hoping to enhance your home office setup or wish you could enjoy your playlists with a little more clarity, Treblab always has the high-quality tech you're looking for. — Read the rest
Oft-Giffed but rarely seen in all its glory, the KXVO pumpkin dance was taped in haste by that Omaha news channel in response to an immediate need for Halloween filler content on the evening of October 31, 2006.
— Read the restThe original full, unedited taping of the moment the Dancing Pumpkin Man was born.
A recent article in Canada's Cambridge Today talked about the efforts by some Canadian school boards to "identify and remove any texts deemed harmful to staff and students." While the brief reported piece focuses specifically on the Waterloo Region District School Board's ongoing efforts to look back at their library, the article does mention the completed actions of several other Canadian school districts:
— Read the restEarlier this year, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board removed William Golding's classic Lord of the Flies from its curriculum after its advisory committee on equity agreed with a student who said the book's themes were outdated and too focused on white, male power structures.
Simone Giertz, the Internet's beloved comedic maker, didn't like the lamp in her living room ("It's not bright enough to justify turning it on very often […] like my ex."). She also had an enthusiastically-growing plant she didn't want to cut. — Read the rest
At an October 2 NASCAR race, Brandon Brown won an Xfinity Series. NBC Sports covered the event, and as a crowd chanted "f— Joe Biden," a reporter suggested that they may have been saying "let's go Brandon." The phrase became a conservative mantra. — Read the rest
This week, a lawsuit against Kellogg's had to do with its "strawberry" Pop-Tarts—which contained little strawberry— made headlines. Class action lawsuits of the sort have become more common since 2008, which is due in large part to a single lawyer. — Read the rest
"MetaVerse Noir" is almost certainly the first and only sci-fi short story designed as a choose-your-own-adventure, using a series of interconnected tweets to tell a story. It was created by Kathryn Yu, an MFA candidate in Interactive Media & Game Design at USC, and I gotta say: It's pretty freakin' cool! — Read the rest
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There's nothing quite as useful as being able to read sheet music for singers and songwriters. It's a cinch to learn, and you'll be able to not only play more traditional music, but you'll also find it way easier to learn new songs quickly without listening to them. — Read the rest
Taking the school board rant to an all-new level this woman raved about cannibalism, clown shows, refuted the effectiveness of masks, and of course, invoked Satan. SATAN!!!!!!!
Paul Lynde was foundational to much of the best television of all time. This Halloween special is no exception.
The list of guest stars is amazing. KISS and Paul Lynde is very special.
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You could probably name five different gizmos and gadgets you'd love to buy, but steep price tags and tight budgets often have you slamming on the breaks. — Read the rest
To celebrate the release of the new 50th-anniversary reissue of the Beatles' Let It Be album, Wilco has released two covers from the album as Amazon Music exclusives: "Dig a Pony" and "Don't Let Me Down." — Read the rest
Freddy Goodall says his family bought a 500-year-old Sussex home 30 years ago, but he didn't know about its secret passageways until recently. He was clearing off bookshelves and noticed that the wall behind them was hollow. He also noticed that an 1870 photograph showed a handle behind the shelf. — Read the rest
From The Conversation:
— Read the restWe are scientists with specific expertise in climate modelling, so we simulated the climate of Arrakis to find out. We wanted to know if the physics and environment of such a world would stack up against a real climate model.
Potato Toys is a super charming, illustrated Soviet guide about how to make toys out of potatoes. I love all of the potato-creatures in the guide. Mr. Potato head has nothing on these little guys. The illustrations are too adorable. My personal favorite is the image of the two little potato-creatures playing on the seesaw. — Read the rest
In this uncanny video from 2005, a creepy robot (tries) to talk. It is quite the chatterbox, but I have no idea what it's trying to say. I'm not sure if I want to know. I like how this video shows both a front and side video of the robot, so you can see what's going on inside of its strange mechanical head as it says things. — Read the rest
These Tornado Sirens in Downtown Chicago sound like something out of a horror movie. The sirens scare me just as much as a tornado would. I can't even imagine how eerie it would be to hear this echoing throughout the city in real life, on a stormy day such as the one pictured in the video. — Read the rest
I posted about an outstanding collection of Horror/Halloween GIFs the other day, but quickly found that GIFs are still as unweildy to edit as they ever were in standard image editing apps. I soon found my way to Online GIF Tools, a site with an excellent collection of easy-to-use online widgets that do useful things to GIFs: add text, change speeds, add space and transparency mattes, make them ping-pong loop cleanly, and so on. — Read the rest
Someone found this on a computer in a library in Estonia and uploaded it to YouYube for our viewing pleasure. It's NSFW and NSF squares. The art style reminds me a bit of Henry Darger's legendary art. I love the devil character, flying witches, raw animation style and the overall spirit of the artwork. — Read the rest
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When you were a kid, no one ever told you that the majority of your adult life would see you trapped in an endless loop of grocery shopping, paying bills, and cleaning the floors. — Read the rest
Doorbell cams capture the darndest things, both staged and unstaged, especially around Halloween—trick or treat!
screengrabs via Ring/YouTube
Throughout the 2010s, The Onion developed the character of "Mr. Autumn man:" a middle-aged New Englander who unabashedly loved flannel, fires, apple-picking, haunted hayrides, gourds, pumpkin-spiced coffee, and other autumnal pleasures.
According to Mel Magazine, the man in the photo is Erik Adams, the TV editor for the AV Club. — Read the rest
On October 25, 2021, Texas State Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) sent a letter to school districts across the state, asking them to review a 16-page list of books that may contain some "objectionable content." "Pursuant to Government Code Section 301.020(a)(4)," he wrote, "the Texas House Committee on General Investigating may initiate inquiries concerning any 'matter the committee considers necessary for the information of the legislature or for the welfare and protection of state citizens.'" — Read the rest
A judge who mouthed the n-word in court and constantly utters racist remarks to or about his own employees "must be removed from office," says Alabama's state judicial ethics court.
Judge Randall Jinks was also a constant sexist, according to the complaint that might finally lead to his dismissal [PDF]. — Read the rest
WSJ got its hands on Cheesecake Factory's 500-page operations manual, which includes approved descriptive words for cheesecake. The article focuses on the company's profits— like many restaurants, the company has increased its to-go order volume due to the pandemic, which has helped its stock ("CAKE"). — Read the rest
In 1981, Lorne Michaels and John Belushi wanted to get some authentic punks to appear on SNL as audience members for the Halloween episode's musical guest, LA punk band Fear. They called Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi) in DC. They were looking for about 15 people to travel up to NYC and appear on the show. — Read the rest
Thanks to the MIT Technology Review, I've learned that it is technically not impossible for a blood cell to turn into an egg cell, thanks to a process called in vitro gametogenesis:
— Read the restThe first step is to take a cell from adult—say, a white blood cell—and convert it into a powerful stem cell.
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Whether it's your sunglasses, your phone, or your keys, it's way too easy to leave little things lying around at home, restaurants, or in the back of an Uber. — Read the rest
Why did the tornado cross the road? To destroy everything in its path, of course. This video was taken Wednesday morning as a tornado crossed I-10 near the Louisiana border. While a storm chaser would relish such a moment, I can only imagine the terror of an average person wondering if their next stop will be the Land of Oz, at best. — Read the rest
Testimony by a DeVos family asset manager explains how Holmes and Theranos flattered and lied their way to a $100MM investment. Other billionaires, like the Walton's, invested even more!
We know, at this point, what a house of bullshit cards Theranos was — more shocking is that people like the DeVos have asset managers who are afraid to ask too many questions! — Read the rest
No shots were fired, no gun was found, but chaos erupted at Los Angeles International Airport last night. Reports of an active shooter inside Southwest's Terminal 1 erupted into a full evacuation of the terminal, and a full stop of all air traffic out of LAX. — Read the rest
This time lapse video of a salamander growing from a single cell is pretty awesome. The entire video is nearly seven minutes long, which allows you to closely observe each phase of the salamander's development.
If you're impatient and have ADHD like me, you can skip your way through the video or play it at double speed. — Read the rest
The greatest band of all time with their awesome, awesome drummer.
Exactly what it says on the jar thumbnail graphic, shot with some incredible high-FPS, high-resolution camera work! But along the way, there's a lot of science too—and a large jug of sprinkles for testing purposes. Jump to the 21m mark for mayo smash. — Read the rest
Devil's Circuit (1988) is an artistic short film by Takashi Ito. If flashing lights are harmful to you, then don't watch it. The images of the city have a sublime blue tint to them. This film accomplishes a lot by simply featuring flashing imagery of a cityscape, and great music. — Read the rest
Tusalava is a beautiful, abstract animation by Len Lye (1901-1980). Lye was a New Zealand artist known for his films and kinetic sculptures. Tusalva is all black-and-white, and features moving formations that remind me of microbes, or alien lifeforms. Although it's abstract, there is a super compelling sci-fi look to this video. — Read the rest
Fox News reports that Oklahoma, lifting a moratorium on executions, killed its first inmate in 7 years. And Oklahoma botched it, because of course it did [archive.org]. John Marion Grant, on death row because he murdered a prison cafeteria worker, began vomiting as soon as the sedative midazolam was administered—assuming that's what he was administered. — Read the rest
