Radiskull and Devil Doll are two of my favorite characters birthed of the Internet. Those two and Jackhammer Jill would tear shit up.

In Northern Virginia, a distraught woman yelled at Social Security Administration workers, then hit a security guard in the head with her fanny pack--which held a small pigeon inside. She then pulled a knife on the security agent. (more…)

Science writer Ed Yong has an amazing whodunit at The Atlantic on how genetic science can help stop elephant poaching. (more…)

The next Trump book you need to read, which I will as soon as it drops, is The Apprentice, by Washington Post Pulitzer winning natsec reporter Greg Miller. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YzW94Y5OuY&feature=youtu.beIt's in a Japanese "all-you-can-drink" restaurant, which sounds like a splendid idea. Note how it performs a correct angled pour, with headspit finish, to provide a superior pint.

iOS 12 is finally here, which means now is the best time for aspiring developers to throw their hats into the app development game. While app development can be tricky for some, you can take an intuitive, beginner-friendly approach to understanding app creation and Apple's latest iOS platform with the iOS 12 & Xcode 10 Bootcamp, which is on sale for $15.Led by a bona fide development guru, this course skips the fluff you'd find in other training and uses hands-on projects to get you creating apps with Swift 4 and Xcode 10. The training boasts 12 hours of instruction and is designed to be taken over the course of ten days. As you progress through each module, you'll refine your skills with the dev tools of the trade and create projects, like a Bitcoin tracker, to-do list app, and more.You can start your app development journey with the iOS 12 & Xcode 10 Bootcamp, on sale today for $15.

The end of the Civil War opened a new era of fossil hunting in the American West -- and a bitter feud between two rival paleontologists, who spent 20 years sabotaging one another in a constant struggle for supremacy. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Bone Wars, the greatest scientific feud of the 19th century.We'll also sympathize with Scunthorpe and puzzle over why a driver can't drive.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

Lobsters at a restaurant in Maine are getting baked, not in the oven but with medical marijuana. Charlotte Gill, the owner of Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound in Southwest Harbor, Maine, has been experimenting with getting her lobsters stoned as a way to ease their distress, pain, and suffering.Boston.com:

She's 16, according to the affidavit: legal in many places, but most certainly not in Texas. Libertarian smoke, libertarian fire.

It's an emoji-fied version of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. (more…)

People living in Puerto Rico are not viewing online porn as much as they were before the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria last year.From an xHamster press release:

I've had an Amazon Fire 7 Tablet for over a year and I use it all the time to watch streaming videos, read Kindle books, listen to podcasts and audiobooks, do email, and browse the Web. It's doesn't have a lot of horsepower, but at the current sale price of $35 for Amazon Prime members, it's a pretty amazing deal.

It beggars belief that this packaging wasn't designed to trick people into thinking there are three pens in the box instead of just one. (more…)

Cristina Miranda King was a schoolmate of Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who says Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh locked her in a room and tried to rip her clothes off at a high school party. (more…)

“Creating golf holes with pencils is how I pass the time. Maybe one day I'll get to play the game I've only imagined.”A man who was serving 39 years to life in prison decided to started drawing golf courses. His art was really cool. One thing led to another, and his drawings made their way to Golf Digest, which then wrote about him, realized his conviction sounded dubious, investigated, and guess what. Valentino Dixon is now free. (more…)

Bitcoin’s core developers discovered a vulnerability in its software that would have allowed a miner to insert a “poisoned block” in its blockchain, which would have crashed the nodes running the Bitcoin software around the world, reports Vice’s Motherboard. (more…)

I've never entirely trusted the cloud. When I write, I use offline apps like Scrivener and iA Writer. My photos move around to my computer and smartphones without the help of any online services. The USB cable is the king of my workflow. My backups are kept on a keypad secured USB drive. Only once I know that my files have been secured on local media that I'm in control of do I bother to upload anything to SpiderOak or Dropbox. On the few occasions that I've strayed from this path, I've lost hours or even days of work. My way of doing things is a massive pain in the ass, but it provides me with a lot of piece of mind, especially when I read news about online services like Evernote swirling the drain.From TechCrunch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rkojpnwOEAvi Solomon writes, "Author Ted Chiang (previously) discusses the making of The Great Silence as well as other works addressing interspecies communication, including 'Story of Your Life,' the novella which was adapted into the 2016 feature film, Arrival."

With the tabloids freed from their role as an agitprop mouthpiece for President Trump, they have gleefully returned to their long-time mission of fantasizing about Britain’s biggest soap opera stars: The Royal Family.“Camilla Locked in Psycho Ward!” screams the Globe cover, reporting that Prince Charles’ wife physically attacked his sister Princess Anne at a recent family gathering, concluding: “Camilla’s Off Her Rocker!”“Camilla is now in therapy and was released after a 72-hour hold,” an unnamed “royal courtier” allegedly told the Globe.It’s yet another world exclusive that failed to be reported by the entire Royal press corps – a group not known for its restraint or compassion. But why would Camilla be placed under a 72-hour psychiatric hold – a 5150 – when that is an American medical response? A “royal courtier” should know that in Britain patients are “sectioned” for up to 28 days, while a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation – s.5(2) in the UK - is only applied to patients already being treated in a medical ward, which Camilla clearly was not.“Queen Puts Meghan Through Sex Test!” yells a National Enquirer headline. No, Her Majesty hasn’t reclaimed the ancient "droit de seigneur," the Medieval “right” of a feudal Lord to sleep first with any vassal's new bride – a practice more common in Europe than England. Rather, the Enquirer claims that the Queen demanded that Prince Harry’s bride undergo an ob-gyn test “to guarantee Royal babies.” This comes months after the Enquirer reported that Meghan underwent pre-wedding fertility screening – with no mention of the Queen’s involvement in her uterus.Of course, it was the Enquirer that told us in June that Harry and Meghan were “having twins” due in February, so they couldn’t possibly be wrong, could they? And why would the Queen even care about grandson Harry’s ability to produce progeny, when the prince is currently sixth in line to the throne after father Charles, brother William, and William’s children George, Charlotte and Louis? There’s zero Royal succession imperative for the Queen to get all up in Meghan’s womb.“Whipped Harry not Allowed to Hunt!” proclaims another Enquirer exclusive, reporting that Meghan has forced Harry not to join his family on a recent grouse hunting shoot. The story doesn’t make clear whether Meghan thrashed Harry within an inch of his life with a buggy whip, or whether it was merely a tongue-lashing, but yet another unnamed Royal insider tells the Enquirer that “Her hunting ban is the latest example of how she’s exerting control over Harry.” Maybe she is just looking for something to grouse about?Plunging headlong off the reality cliff, the Enquirer also offers a photo-simulation of how the Royals will look in 25 years, Photoshopping images of Duchess Kate, Harry and Meghan to add wrinkles and grey hair. The answer, apparently: They’ll look exactly the same, but older. Well, that’s a surprise.When not maligning the British Royal Family, the tabloids happily savage Hollywood Royalty instead. Melissa McCarthy has dropped 75 pounds in three months on a “death diet” claims the Enquirer, which routinely fat-shames anyone with greater than 5% body fat, but evidently will gladly attack stars if they lose weight too quickly.Former Beatles star Paul “McCartney Tells All Before he Dies!” proclaims the Globe front page. Just like the thousands of other interviews he’s given over the past 60 years, in which he made a conscious decision to talk before he died, rather than afterward.Us magazine tells us that “Brad Wins the Kids” in Pitt’s custody battle with Angelina Jolie – if "winning the kids" means sharing equal parenting time with Jolie.Khloé Kardashian tells Us “I Got My Body Back!” which strangely enough is also the headline on the cover of the latest edition of Body-Snatcher Weekly.The ‘Us’ cover story tells how singer Carrie Underwood “Survived Heartbreak” with “Faith, Family & Forgiveness.” After three miscarriages “a miracle happened,” the mag reports. Can we expect the Pope to initiate steps toward her canonization any day now?People magazine devotes its cover to “Jane Fonda at 80!” She’s apparently proud of her activism, admits making mistakes, still misses ex-husband Tom Hayden, wishes she had been a better mother, has given up on sex, and has overcome feelings of inadequacy. Well, it’s about time.Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at Us to inform us that Lady Gaga wore it best, that singer Macy Gray spends her days off “wishing for more days off,” that actress Maude Apatow carries coffee, eyeshades and hairpins in her KARA backpack, and that the stars are just like us: they grocery shop, drink coffee (didn’t Maude Apatow just tell us that?) and play carnival games. Evidently Prince Charles also qualifies as a “star” who is “just like us,” perusing fresh bread at a farmers market – or as Us tells it: “Prince Charles was surrounded by carbs . . ."Vying for next year’s public service journalism Pulitzer Prize, the Globe offers a gripping medical story under the headline: “Sign You Have Only 23 Hours to Live!” Watch out for these tell-tale symptoms: If you can barely breathe, cannot clear your throat of mucus and saliva, and you emit “a haunting sound known as the death rattle” then you might have a condition that medical experts tell the Globe means that “death is imminent.” That’s real news you can use.Onwards and downwards . . .

Northeastern University assistant computer science prof Dave Choffnes built an app called Wehe that monitors network usage and throttling; it has users in 161 countries and has been used to produce one of the most comprehensive looks at video throttling by wireless carriers. (more…)

Back in August, I gave the closing keynote at the second Decentralized Web Summit, entitled "Big Tech's problem is Big, not Tech; the Internet Archive released video right afterwards, but now they've cleaned up the video and rereleased it for your viewing pleasure. (more…)

Zipstitch is a patch that closes wounds without stitches. It's available over the counter, but I suggest if you get a cut big enough to require this nifty gadget, you should probably go to the doctor as soon as you can.

Motherboard editor Jason Koebler thinks you should turn off push notifications and boy, do I agree: I have had notifications turned off on everything except SMS, Twitter DMs and Signal messages for years, and I have trained all the people who can send me messages using those protocols that the only time to send me a message over them is when something is extremely time-sensitive. I check in on everything else (email, Twitter mentions, etc) several times a day, but I don't have anything, on any of my devices, that interrupts me to tell me that someone, somewhere is thinking about me.

When was the last time your eyeballs feasted on something that wasn't a part of the dumpster fire we call a news cycle? It's been a while for me and I'm betting the same can be said for you too. Here: get a load of this greater one-horned rhino calf pestering its mother to play with him. There is running. There are head butts. There is so much joy here that you won't know what to do with yourself.

Not sure whether its the crisp thunking sound of the metal being pressed into shape, the mechanics of the machine, or the cool industrial look of the machine itself, but there is something so satisfying when watching how these cookie cutters are made.

For more than two years, Radiolab has been running a brilliant side-podcast called More Perfect which involves deeply reported, engaging stories about Supreme Court decisions, skilfully mixing in audio from the trials, historic or new interviews with the people involved, and commentary from scholars and activists that serve to illuminate the incredible stories behind the court decisions that have shaped life in America. (more…)

In the heady years of cyberpunk, Japan epitomized the future: gritty and neon-lit, urbanized and electrified, computerized and high-tech, dominated by massive corporations. (more…)

From its founding in 1912 until 1965, Houston's Rice University was free to attend; but today, Rice has joined other US universities in saddling its students with ghastly, inescapable mountains of debt, with annual attendance costing $61,350, $40,000 of which is tuition. (more…)

A 45-year-old man from New York had been playing Fortnight with an 11-year-old boy for months. He then allegedly threatened to shoot the boy, possibly at school, via texts and voice mail through his Xbox, when he lost the game.According to USA Today:

As part of yesterday's International Day Against DRM, Public Knowledge's John Bergmayer published It’s Always DRM’s Fault, which uses this month's viral story about an Apple user named Anders G da Silva whose movie was deleted from his Itunes because he moved from one country to another. (more…)

"What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep," said Brett Kavanaugh "jokingly" during a 2015 speech at the Catholic University's Columbus School of Law in Washington DC. "That's been a good thing for all of us, I think."(Washington Post)

The Journal of Behavioral Addictions found that when people can't play Fortnite they will masturbate.

If you want to visit a National Park, and don't mind crowds, Saturday is the day for you.Via the NPS:

https://vimeo.com/250692555As of 2020, Harriet Tubman -- revolutionary anti-racist hero -- was supposed to replace Andrew Jackson (authoritarian, genocidal stain on the American project) on the $20 bill, with Jackson moving to the other side of the bill as a sop to racist idiots. (more…)

This Saturday (9/22) is Smithsonian magazine's Museum Day 2018 offering free admission to nearly 1,500 museums of all kinds around the United States. Each free ticket (one per email address) is good for two people's admission on Saturday. Download your ticket and find out what museums are participating near you here: Museum Dayimage: Ole Worm's Museum Wormianum, 1655 (Smithsonian Libraries)

Trump hasn't been pleased with Jeff Sessions since the attorney general recused himself from the Russia investigation last year, and this morning he told Hill.TV, "I don't have an attorney general. It's very sad."Needless to say, Trump, in his usual tantrum style, was blurting out alternative facts that he then had to take back. Later in the morning, he admitted that indeed, he did have an attorney general. According to NBC News:

Artist Benjamin Grosser created a browser plugin called Safebook, which removes the content from Facebook. Useful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4YqLow4D9gBaremetalHW's narrated timelapse of his restoration of a completely trashed Hot Wheels 1971 "Bye-Focal" car is fantastically satisfying: watching him bang out the dings, zinc coat, polish, paint, decorate and re-fit this tiny car to near-perfection is a glorious defiance of entropy. (via Kottke)

In 1922, the devil appeared at several teen dances in Hutchinson, Minnessota. Apparently he'd manifest "in the middle of the dance floor with fire streaming from eyes, mouth and tail" and attempt to break up the sinful festivities. A reward of $5,000 was offered to anyone who would shoot the devil next time he turned up. At the next party, a boy, 14, took his best shot and hit Lucifer right in the abdomen. Turned out that the devil was a local Methodist minister.(Weird Universe)

Future Punk says: "I created retro-style animated intros for today's modern Internet companies inspired by the great work of Sullivan & Marks, Robert Abel and Associates, Computer Image Corporation and various other early CG/Scanimate companies."Here are demo reels of the production companies mentioned above by Future Punk:Computer Image Corporation (1975):https://youtu.be/tETXbPu73ZcSullivan & Marks (1978):https://youtu.be/YclB-1DtYfURobert Abel and Associates (1984):https://youtu.be/Wx1dTGvfqakScanimate:https://youtu.be/f4WYf2RxUJE[via]

When Anita Hill testified about the sexual abuse she'd suffered at Clarence Thomas's hands, Senate Republicans and the press pilloried her, calling her a liar and worse, and going on to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. (more…)

(Funny, as soon as I started typing these words I got a phone call from a telemarketer.) According to a new study, half of the 50 billion mobile phone calls that will be made in 2019 will come from scammers. I wish only half the calls coming to my phone were from telemarketers trying to cheat me. I think about 90% of my calls are spam. I use Nomorobo and Jolly Roger to stem the flow, but plenty of the crooked calls still make their way past these filters.From First Orion:

It doesn't matter what tech you opt for – composting toilets, incinerator toilets or, as we have in our rig, a john connected to a holding tank – if you live in an RV, sooner or later you're going to wind up handling your own waste.The first time we dumped out tanks, it didn't go so well. We hadn't quite started living in our old 1991 Triple E Empress just yet. At the time, we were busy downsizing our lives to fit into the motorhome, and my wife was enrolled in a week-long wilderness first aid course, in Canmore, Alberta. Normally, she would've had to spring for a hotel. But screw that, we were RV owners! We opted to parking-lot-surf for five days instead. Outside of a few frustrations that came from getting to know the Empress' heating and electrical systems, it was a comfortable week that made us feel like we'd made a good choice in buying the rig as our new home. The Empress was an early example of the large class A RVs that you see on the road today. It was five feet shorter than our current rig, and has no slide outs. Despite its 35-foot length, things were a little bit more cozy at times than we would have liked. The Empress came with basement storage compartments. It was one of the reasons we chose it. Between my wife's dive gear, extras from our apartment that we weren't sure of whether we'd need or not, and the hardware I need to do my job, there wasn't much storage space to spare. This was largely due to the fact that a good chunk of the rig's undercarriage was eaten up by its gray tank (used to hold gray water from our shower and sinks) and black tank (used to hold whatever horrors we flushed down the toilet) and our fresh water holding tank. The two tanks could hold around a week's worth of waste before they needed to be dumped. The RV's freshwater holding tank holds about a week's worth of water. The gauges on the RV's control panel on our dashboard didn't work when we bought it, so we used to have to eye our tank levels. Knowing when to dump the black tank was easy. We'd just look down the toilet as we flushed. If we could see that the shit and toilet paper was resting high enough in the tank to find troubling, it was time to dump. The gray tank was something of an enigma. As our sinks and shower drained in such a way that you can't see inside of the tank, we had to rely on other signs that it was full: bubbling when we pulled the plug in the sink, slow drainage or, when it was really full, grey water would come up the shower drain. That's a feature, not a fault: the extra water's gotta go somewhere and the shower is the safest bet in the rig.We noticed that the water was taking its sweet time to drain into the tank. It was time to head to a dump station. We didn't have to go far. Canmore's full of campers during the spring and summer. To make life easier on everyone, the city installed a dump station outside of their tourist information center. We got the rig ready to move and drove over, confident that, thanks to gravity and a few minutes, we'd be ready to poop and bathe again in no time.If you've never used a dump station before, it's a simple process. Most dump stations consist of two components: a hole in the ground that empties into a holding tank or sewage system and a non-potable water hose for cleaning up any mess you may have made while you're dumping. Pull your motorhome or trailer up alongside the dump station, connect your sewer hose to the station's dump drain, and pull the release levers for your tanks. Boom, done. In a few minutes your tanks will be empty (with the exception of a few bits that may need to be rinsed out) and you're ready to get back on the road again. My wife, being the enthusiast that she is, elected to perform our first dump. She pulled our rig up to the dump station. She connected the sewer hose that came with the RV. She placed the other end in the dump station drain and pulled the levers for our gray and black tanks.We were treated to the breathtaking site of a shit fountain. Our sewage hose, which was likely as old as our RV, was full of wee pinholes. Shit sprayed from at least 50 different locations. It covered the ground, the inside of our tank compartment, the hose itself and my wife. There was no way she could have moved fast enough to avoid it. Thankfully, it was late in the fall and there was no one around to watch us bathing in our own brand. We washed down the area, washed ourselves down and then, before doing anything else, made a beeline for Canadian Tire to buy a new septic hose. So yeah: if you're to remember anything I tell you, I want it to be this: if you buy an RV, make damn sure that you also pick up a new sewage hose. I like these ones. They're tough and cheap. A few months later, we accidentally filled the trunk of our tow vehicle with frozen shit. During the winter that we spent in British Columbia, we had the genius idea that, if we bought a honey wagon (the name says it all) to cart our crap to a dump station with, we wouldn't have to worry about driving the RV in icy conditions or, as we were dirt poor at the time, using up extra gas. The honey wagon we picked up could hold 50 gallons of liquid. The plan was to fill the honey wagon, have me heft its 250 weight into the trunk of our old Toyota Echo and then drive it out to be dumped.On a particularly cold week, we heaved the full honey wagon into the back of the car and left it overnight. We needed to go out the next day to run a few errands and wanted to save on gas by doing everything in a single trip. As we planned out our day, it made sense to hit the dump station midway through our sortie. So, off we went to the university to return library books and have a shower, hit a coffee shop so that I could download some files and then a stop for groceries. When we opened the trunk, we discovered that the honey wagon's lid had come loose. There was a layer of frozen shit and piss covering the bottom of the trunk. We tried power washing it out, but in the cold, it was a half measure. In the end, we took turns chipping away at it. Bamboleo was playing on the CD player. We really haven't listened to the Gypsy Kings since. The experience left us wondering how much worse our winter could get. It didn't take long to find an answer to that one: power washing the trunk fried our tail lights and turn signals – a problem that we were unable to fix for months. Since then, things have gone a lot smoother in the poop department – a lot smoother across the board, in fact. Living in an RV full-time is just like owning a house. You learn to deal with its quirks, fix what you can, tolerate what you can't, and bring in professional help when necessary. There have been no more shit fountains. The honey wagon, on the rare occasion that it gets used, no longer goes in the back of our tow vehicle for any reason, ever. Our new rig's holding tanks are large enough to go for weeks between trips to dump. Awful experiences like these make us both grateful for how much better things are now. Sometimes, you just have to be covered in shit to know what it's like to roll in clover. Images: by Alexander Klink - Photo is my own work, taken using a Minolta D5D, CC BY 3.0, Link

Two women drowned during Hurricane Florence after the van they were being transported in was overwhelmed by floods. The officers driving them were rescued. The AP's Meg Kinnard reports from Horry County, S.C..

Mike DeWaele writes, "A group of homeless activists had maintained a peaceful occupation of Bronson Park in Kalamazoo for about a month in protests of a new ordinance that made it illegal to sleep in public parks. The protest was well organized, clean and well maintained- at one point involving up to 200 homeless citizens and their supporters, with extensive logistical support from the larger community. The protest had clearly articulated demands but the City Comission was willing to address them only on a very superficial level, with no comitment to action, and then only after weeks of public pressure. While the talks were still ongoing, the city manager ordered local police to clear the camp, which happened before his morning. Several homeless and other activists refused to vacate, including city commissioner Shannon Sykes, who had been the lone voice on the commission in (passionate) support of the encampment and who had spent several nights with the protest as a supporter and observer. Those activists have all been arrested on as yet unknown charges." (more…)

I'm heading to the east coast next week, first for a lecture series in NYC for Columbia University (including a conversation with Radiolab's Jad Abumrad about Big Tech, monopolies and democratic technology); and from there I'm headed to Pennsylvania for a talk about my novel Walkaway at Swarthmore, on Sept 28 from 7-9PM at the Lang Performing Arts Center Room (LPAC) 101 Cinema. All the events are free, though some require tickets, so be sure to check in advance. Hope to see you there!

Ever wonder would it look like if Japanese sci-fi monsters were battling it out -- wait -- on a mens' short-sleeved button-down shirt? Wonder no longer. San Francisco clothier Betabrand has made the slim-fitting Kaiju Cage-Match shirt. It depicts several massive monsters, including "the internet's first three-headed beaver," duking it out.

Poppy is a YouTube persona specializing in adorably offbeat yet creepy ASMR-esque vignettes, like a prototype robot overloaded with coy marketing psychology. The increasingly ironic videos ("I am not in a cult") turned out, a la iamamiwhoami, to be a PR campaign for successfully-launched music act. Think Gary Numan via Ladyhawke and Alison Goldfrapp, but pretty much anything anyone might get nostalgic about is in there somewhere.Mars Argo (AKA Brittany Sheets) is a singer-songwriter and onetime YouTuber. She claimed earlier this year that Poppy was a knockoff of her act. In a lawsuit filed against Poppy's creator, Corey Mixter (AKA Titanic Sinclair), she alleged she and Mixter were in a relationship, that he was abusive during and after it ended, and that Poppy actress Moriah Pereira is effectively cloning the act she developed while with him.Mixter had a simple reponse: that he "invented Mars Argo" too. For her part, Pereira, also sued by Sheets, said that “Ms. Sheets’ claims of stalking, harassment, and abuse directed at Mr. Mixter are preposterous projections of her own actions."This week a judge dismissed Argo/Sheets' lawsuit following a settlement agreement between the parties. The Verge's Megan Farokhmanesh writes that it's one of the stranger IP cases of late, heightened by serious accusations of violence and stalking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev6Pweej1wIHans-Georg Maaßen was Germany's top spy, in charge of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (a domestic surveillance agency with 3,100 employees and an annual budget of €350m), and he was widely understood to have used his position to aid crypt-fascist, far-right groups like the notorious Alternative For Germany (AfD). (more…)

It might still be September, but the holiday season will be here before you know it, which means now is the time to think about where you want to vacation to—and what to do once you get there. To this end, we've scoured the Web and tracked down a number of travel hacking ebooks, gadgets, and accessories you'll want to take on your next adventure; and they're all on sale today. Read on for details.1. Lonely Planet Travel Hacker eBook BundleFeaturing 24 guidebooks from the world's leading travel publisher, the Lonely Planet Travel Hacker eBook Bundle will help you get the most out of your next adventure. This collection is packed with complete travel guides to must-see locations in places like Japan, Iceland, and across the United States, as well as tips for travel writing, adventuring solo, and even exploring the world with your dog.Buy now: $19.992. OMNIA TA502 Travel AdapterSay hello to the world's smallest—and cleverest—travel adapter. Boasting a 5-in-1 interface that supports US/UK/EU/AU & USB-A standards, this ultra-compact charger can power your device up in over 150 countries. Simply slide the plugs into place and get a charge wherever your travels take you.Buy now: $39.993. Paww WaveSound 3 Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth HeadphonesFlying is arguably one of the toughest parts of traveling, especially when you're seated next to a crying baby for the entire flight. Engineered with a state-of-the-art CSR chipset and multiple microphones, these headphones can make your time in the sky more pleasant by tuning out distractions and putting out crisp, Bluetooth audio.Buy now: $74.994. NordVPN: 3-Yr SubscriptionWhether you're waiting for your flight or decompressing in your hotel, you're inevitably going to have downtime when you're traveling. Streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu are great for passing the time unless they're blocked by foreign geo-restrictions. NordVPN helps you bypass browsing restrictions when you're browsing overseas and want to binge watch your favorite content with high-speed connectivity.Buy now: $995. Universal Waterproof Solar ChargerIf you plan on traveling off the grid, you'd be remiss to go without this charger. Durable, waterproof, and boasting a 5,000mAh battery capacity that can easily fully recharge your smartphone, this battery will keep your devices energized wherever you go, and recharging it is as simple as leaving it out in the sun.Buy now: $13.996. Dr. Save Vacuum Travel KitPacking for your trip shouldn't have to feel like a game of 3D Tetris. This portable vacuum kit can shrink your clothes by up to 70% inside the included bags, letting you pack more while using less space.Buy now: $397. uTalk Language Education: Lifetime Subscription (Choose 1 Language)Taking the time to learn the native language of the place you're visiting can make for a much richer, immersive experience abroad. With native voice artists and quick lessons you can take on the go, uTalk can help you speak the language of your choice like a true native—and without having to step into a classroom.Buy now: $19.99