Welcome to the risk-averse, ersatz world of heroic characterization when hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line. Read the rest

One of the great GIF maestros of our time. Read the rest

Isaac Cohen's interactive storybook follows the journey of a strange creature. Read the rest

No, it's not science fiction. For the first time ever, scientists in Albany, NY were able to use a "brain-to-text" interface to read thoughts and translate them into text. Read the rest

My daughter, her friend, and I had fun taking this non-scientific color brightness vision test. You have to identify the one square that has a different brightness level within a grid of similarly colored squares. Read the rest

The entertainment value of a President Trump, especially as seen through the truth-enchancing eye of Vic Berger, would greatly mitigate the unassailable fact that his policies would turn our planet into a smoldering, gutted husk.

"In the bizarre clip, his political editor David Chesley can be seen standing incredibly close to the lens, and appears unhappy that the event is being filmed by American Bridge 21st Century, a left wing group known for monitoring public appearances by Republicans." Read the rest

No surprise that Cars 2—a naked toy ad—is at the bottom. But placing Brave next to it ("textbook Idiot Plot movie … dumb slapstick") seems a little rough. Up ("completely overshadowed by the heartbreaking preamble") barely sneaks into Tim Grierson and Will Leitch's top ten.All 15 Pixar Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best [via Kottke]

Wellington and Blucher beat him around Braine-l’Alleud and Plancenoit, writes Uri Friedman. Read the rest

And just like that, all is well with the world. (more…)

In just three days 10,000 dogs will be poisoned, beaten, killed and cooked as part of Yulin, China's annual dog-eating festival. Read the rest

Most people, including the police and the FBI, are calling 21-year-old suspected terrorist Dylann Roof's message to black people ("You rape our women, and you're taking over the country. Read the rest

Thundercats depicted a race of catlike humanoids, not earthfolk. But we sense that Panthro is black—even though he can't be in the continuity of the show—because of how the character is coded. Read the rest

A Federal Circuit Court judge in Sydney, Australia granted an injunction forbidding a 20-year-old woman from breastfeeding her son because she got a tattoo. Read the rest

Legendary Sega game series Shenmue is to receive a third installment thanks to a $3m-and-rising Kickstarter campaign. But now we find out that Sony is a 'partner' in the game, investing an 'undisclosed budget' despite no mention on the game's pleas for crowdfunding. Read the rest

In 2007 a 16-month-old toddler swallowed candy-colored Aqua Dots beads and lapsed into a coma. It turned out the beads were manufactured with a coating that dissolves into GHB, an illegal drug in many countries. Read the rest

The company objected to being mentioned in a story about SteamVR, a virtual reality project by Valve. So it ordered them to take the post down. Read the rest

The Snowflake’s smooth maneuvers, flawless 4-way flips, and 360˚rolls in any direction make it truly best in class. Soar, hover, flip, and tilt with ease or join a fleet of drones, thanks to advanced anti-collision technology. Read the rest

Saipancakes (previously) shows how far he's come in progressing the art of carbohydrate illustration with these amazing, unbelievable, eye-popping Harry Potter pancakes -- and the video documents his build-process.

Telecoms will be given wider latitude to block nuisance messages to their customers, reports the Wall Street Journal. Read the rest

Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) was released 40 years ago Saturday. Enjoy this "best of" montage. "The score was clearly responsible for half of the success of that movie," Spielberg once said. (more…)

Finally, Nintendo's popular anthropomorphic town games will allow you to be something besides white—or tan. Read the rest

Heinz let a domain name expire, whereupon the URL fell into new ownership and the link printed on ketchup bottles began sending customers to porn. Read the rest

This game's too easy! Who created it?

In honor of the Hubble Space Telescope's 25th anniversary, NPR celebrates the iconic space craft with a little help from Iggy Azalea's “Trouble.” (more…)

NPR’s Science Tumblr Skunk Bear created this cool data visualization based on a study of the rise of partisanship in the U.S. House of Representatives: Read the rest

Engineer Yassmin Abdel-Magied gave an awesome TED Talk about the danger of unconscious bias. (more…)

Having already mastered the world of YouTube, Hank and John Green (aka the Vlogbrothers) are now moving into the realm of podcasting as well. Read the rest

"All I have is sadness, at the depravity of what we do to one another and the gaping wound of the racism we pretend does not exist. Read the rest

The big surprise of Long Live the Queen is that chances are you won't live very long at all. Read the rest

This fine Velociraptor Claw could really level up your wunderkammer. It's just $12,500. (more…)

"Who knew feelings had feelings too." (more…)

One of the events at our upcoming Weekend of Wonder event (September 18-20 in Southern California) is a recreational lock picking workshop! Read the rest

Search "haunted" on eBay and you'll find a slew of junk that its owners claim is spooked in some way. Usually, that invisible something extra will significantly bump up the asking price. Read the rest

The Delaware Senate approved a bill 12-9 that will eliminate criminal penalties and jail time for adult possession of a small amount of marijuana, reports the Marijuana Policy Project. Read the rest

For the next 8 hours, Amazon is selling the Motorola Moto G (2nd generation) for $140, which is $40 off its regular price. It's got good battery life and a 5-inch HD display. It's only 8gb, so if you buy one, get a 32GB microSD card for about $14.Motorola Moto G (2nd generation) Unlocked - 8GB White ($140) on Amazon

OneMillionMoms, a hate group that defines media depictions of homosexuality as "filth" being "thrown at our children," is madder than an arsonist group at an asbestos factory. The reason? Because Chobani Yogurt is running a commercial that shows a happy lesbian couple enjoying yogurt. Read the rest

Here's a gallery of fake tabloid covers in the vein of Weekly World News that use actual email spam headlines as coverlines. If this was a real newspaper, I'd buy it!

"One hundred green-eyed logicians have been imprisoned on an island by a mad dictator. Their only hope for freedom lies in the answer to one famously difficult logic puzzle. Can you solve it? Alex Gendler walks us through this green-eyed riddle."

Fly through endless waves of abstract geometry in a VR game inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner and Xanadu. Read the rest

A fellow sitting in the bleachers of a pro sports game of one kind or another attempts to put on a rain poncho, and the TV network decides its more fun to watch him than the highly-paid men running after a ball in the arena below. I can't argue with the decision!

Devorise Dixon posted photos on his Facebook page of an unusually shaped piece of fried meat, which he claims he was served at a KFC in Compton, California. Read the rest

From entire rooms to pocket-sized items, anything can be hidden in plain sight. All it takes is some imagination – and the right tools. Read the rest

My friend Ben Krasnow, who is one of the most talented makers-of-amazing-things I've ever met, used his home-made sxanning electron microscope to make an extreme close-up video of a turntable needle running in the groove of an LP. Read the rest

What Latin species designation do you give an orange-pink octopus that resembles a Pac-Man ghost or Pearl from Finding Nemo? Why, adorabilis of course! Read the rest

A suspect is reportedly in custody after a gunman entered a church in Charleston, Carolina then shot dead nine worshippers. Read the rest

Science is cool. But don't try this at home. Read the rest

It's hard not to feel sorry for the poor little inebriated feller.(more…)

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is trying to work out the rules for facial recognition -- whether and when cameras can be put in public places that programatically identify you as you walk past and then save a record of where you've been and who you were with. Read the rest