Like sideburns and overalls, the phrase is back in style and here to stay!

The Jefferson Grid is a deeply compelling Instagram stream of aerial images depicting "everything that fits in a square mile." The name refers to Thomas Jefferson's efforts around a Public Land Survey System to divide US property along a grid structure. Read the rest

Japan is famous for its penis parades, where people carry around giant wooden dicks and buy penis candy and souvenirs. So why is manga artist Rokudenashiko likely to be imprisoned for making whimsical sculptures based on plaster castings of her vulva? Read the rest

Banksy installed a massive pisstake of Disneyland, called Dismaland, that includes his art and other, at a former swimming pool compound in Weston-super-Mare, England. More images below. Read the rest

When you click through the Windows 10 "agreement," you agree to let Microsoft subject your games and hardware to authenticity tests and to shut down anything it doesn't like the looks of. Read the rest

Mr. Duggar, the "19 Kids and Counting" star, apparently needed 2 accounts to help him find "...someone who was interested in 'experimenting with sex toys' and 'one night stands.'" (via WGN)

Daytona Beach, Florida commissioners approved a combination 12-lane indoor gun range and restaurant, that serves alcohol, to open in the city. Read the rest

"Joanna Lamparska, a historian who focuses on the Walbrzych area, told Radio Wroclaw the train was rumoured to have disappeared into a tunnel, and that it had gold and "hazardous materials" on board." (via BBC)

It's a 3D printed D20 studded with questing tentacles, made to order in a wide spectrum of metals and plastics. (via Geeks Are Sexy) (more…)

Growing wealth disparity has produced a new financial hyper-elite who make eight-figure donations to major universities, who hand that money back over to more finance titans in the form of special commissions that are taxed at a ridiculously low rate (making more zillionaire donors). Read the rest

Takeshi Kamisato is a master of the spintop, accurately described by this book as a "universal toy, enduring pastime." Read the rest

Dog logic! Good boy, Artie.

After this Bauhaus-inspired pattern from XYZ Workshop is downloaded and printed, each chess piece is designed as a mini-planter. Read the rest

My pal John Curley, the multitalented bassist in the Afghan Whigs and Plastic Ants, took this incredible photo of Harapan the Sumatran rhinoceros at the excellent Cincinnati Zoo. Read the rest

Hopes and Fears has the answer for nine major cities (Spoiler: do not be seen naked in Damascus.) Wikipedia has a more complete list (Spoiler: if you want to be naked in public, go to England, but hope they don't make an example of you.) Read the rest

One in sixty-eight children are now on the autism spectrum, according to the Centers for Disease Control. We argue over whether this is a diagnostic or epidemic phenomena, but either way, neurodiversity has always been with us, shaping history. Read the rest

H.P. Lovecraft died obscure, but his cosmic nightmares are woven into the fabric of modern horror. Read the rest

Driven by the web and Android, Javascript and Java reign. Ruby and C lose ground. PHP lumbers on, impervious. Somewhere in the distance, a Perl script barks mournfully. Read the rest

The story goes that William Blake worked until the very day he died. His final drawing was said to be a portrait of his wife sitting by his deathbed. Read the rest

Sony's game console comes in a box 19 inches long, 13 inches wide, and just over 4 inches thick. It does not fit in your pants, as Floridian Christopher Caldwell learned to his dismay. Read the rest

With 150m monthly visitors, the image-hosting site "blows BuzzFeed, Reddit and even Tumblr out of the water," writes Jack Smith. But it's now at the tipping point from useful mess to "media empire," and that's where things get murky. Read the rest

"Aerosolized vomit-pudding sprays out of its mouth," writes Wired's Sarah Zhang, but this isn't a nasty toy or practical joke. It's part of a research project into how Norovirus spreads, and it'll help save lives. Read the rest

The Norse Map is a Wargames-style visualization of ongoing attacks on servers around the world. Though it shows honeypots rather than actual private or government targets, the result is a live snapshot of trends in computer mischief.Dubai seems to be getting quite a pounding today.

"Twine horror games can act as catharsis for both creators and players by claiming ownership of fictionalized terror and fear," writes Carli Velocci in Bitch Magazine. Read the rest

"Bycatch" is a term used by fishermen to describe the marine life unintentionally caught in their nets. It's also the name of a card game that deals with a very different sort of collateral damage: civilians killed by drone strikes. Read the rest

Want to know how to join the latest Ludum Dare jam? There are plenty of resources that can help. Read the rest

We often lavish upon "interactivity" as a defining quality of games, but from Progress Quest and Adventure Capitalist to Cookie Clicker and beyond, there are many games about idleness, games that play themselves. Read the rest

Aracnophobes can now play Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon as a tiny striped walrus. Find out how (it involves some candle rituals?) Read the rest

In keeping with Offworld's recent fixation on gardening games, I've been playing Viridi, a mysteriously-soothing game about taking care of different varieties of succulent plants. Read the rest

Yvonne Craig, the first and best Batgirl on television who also played the green-skinned alien Marta on the original Star Trek episode "Whom Gods Destroy," has died of breast cancer. Read the rest

As she requested before her death, Elaine Fydrych of Gloucester Township, New Jersey had the following line included in her obituary: “In lieu of flowers, please do not vote for Hillary Clinton." Read the rest

Police photograph and manually tag suspects' tattoos as part of the booking process, but the FBI says computers could classify them much better, leading to more "hits" when trying to identify criminals and also corpses. Read the rest

The Shark's Fin on Mount Meru is 21,000 feet above the Ganges River in Northern India. In this short video, climber-filmmaker Jimmy Chin gives a tour of his tent, which hangs on the side of a sheer cliff, and contains 200 pounds of stuff that he and his climbing partner have hauled with them. Read the rest

Don't let your child out of the house without this stylish pink bullet-proof backpack. It has been "tested against 2 types of ammunition, yet weighs just a few more ounces than non-armed backpacks. Read the rest

In 1983, Downtown NYC post-punk dance band Liquid Liquid released this Michael Sporn Animation Studios video for "Cavern," a killer track whose bassline became the foundation of Grandmaster Melle Mel's pioneering hip hop track "White Lines (Don't Do It)." The excellent Superior Viaduct label has just reissued Liquid Liquid's classic records including Optimo, the EP containing "Cavern." Read the rest

1972's Galaxy "light whiskey" was a low-point in American spirits.Ben Marks of Collectors Weekly says: "Hunter Oatman-Stanford just interviewed Noah Rothbaum about his new book, The Art of American Whiskey. Read the rest

Our friend Jenny Hart illustrated the cover to Penguin's re-issue of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. It one of six books in the Penguin by Hand collection, "comprising six of Penguin's most popular women's fiction titles of recent years, all with new and beautiful craft-inspired jackets." Read the rest

We love our silicone kitchen tools, so I couldn't resist getting these. Regularly $35, Amazon is selling heat-resistant silicone BBQ gloves for just $9 a pair. Read the rest

My friend Alvin Buenaventura is the proprietor of Pigeon Press, which publishes excellent comic books and books. He has just released In the Garden of Evil, a book that combines the talents of Charles Burns, Killoffer, and Will Oldham (Bonnie 'Prince' Billie). Read the rest

If you've ever wanted to experience the romance, gossip, and tragic social misunderstandings of an Austen heroine, Regency Love is a visual novel made just for you. Read the rest

Subway has scrubbed its website of mentions of child sex suspect Jared Fogle—but it has not yet deleted a promo game site where SUBWAY KIDS catch candy using Jared's discarded pants. Read the rest

Cartoonist Tony Moore (co-creator of The Walking Dead comic book series) designed this very fun poster for the Cincy Comicon (September 12-13), which pays homages to the old comic book ads for novelties and practical jokes. He did such a good job that I asked him to write a bit about it. Read the rest