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Tech NewsSploidMeet the world’s luckiest unluckiest man who cheated death 7 times
The story of Frane Selak is so unbelievable that you’d walk away from a movie, heck, a documentary of his life thinking it was too unrealistic. But it’s not. It’s a true story. Selak cheated death seven times. He survived a train crashing into a frozen river, a plane crash by getting sucked out of … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsMars: the Dusty Planet
Mars is not just the red planet, but it is also the dusty planet. In the years Curiosity has been exploring the planet, she has built up a coating of dust so thick first sign of alien life may be one writing “WASH ME” on her. The Spirit and Opportunity Martian rovers relied on their … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
These 3D sand drawings create fun trippy illusions on the beach
Some people go to the beach to take a dip in the water and get some sun. Jamie Harkins goes to the beach to take a journey to another world. Harkins is a fantastic artist who transforms a beach into alternate realities by creating 3D sand art. Sometimes his art looks like people are sailing … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidShip causes explosion when trying to pass through a bridge
Boom. What an explosion. Even though it’s a tight fit to get through, you totally don’t expect the overhead line to blow up the way it did when you’re watching this ship try to pass through this railway bridge in the Netherlands. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
By Casey Chan -
io9
Latest Survey Shows That Our Ocean Floors Are Covered In Garbage
A major new survey of the seafloor has found a shocking amount of litter. This garbage, which consists of bottles, plastic bags, fishing nets, and whatever else you can think of, was found throughout the Mediterranean and reaching all the way to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge — a distance of over 2,000 miles. Litter accumulation in … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidHow The Lego Movie should have ended
The Lego Movie was one of the funniest, most entertaining movies to come out this year and pretty much everyone who saw it and had a soul, loved it. Everyone except Lego Superman. He had beef with how the movie ended and he thinks he should have just saved the day and be the hero. … Continued
By Casey Chan -
io9Soar Through A Swarm of Every Exoplanet Discovered To Date
Tom Hands, a second-year PhD Student in the Theoretical Astrophysics group at the University of Leicester, created this visualization of known exoplanets with data from the Open Exoplanet Catalogue. Hands says his visualization features all of the all the exoplanets that have been found around single stars, “ordered roughly by semi-major axis of largest orbit,” … Continued
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Tech News
Why Is A113 Slipped Into So Many Animated Movies?
Did you know that Pixar, Disney, and plenty of other animation studios have a secret in common? If not, don’t worry — the A113 is often hidden in places that are super hard to find. But with the technology and the Internet combined, the code has been cracked for all of us. The Huffington Posthas … Continued
By Jason Krell -
Tech NewsSploid
NASA: Ganymede is a water and ice Club Sandwich that may harbor life
NASA scientists says that the largest moon in the solar system may harbor life in its inner oceans. Previously, scientists thought Ganymede only had one ocean between two ice layers, but data reveals that its structure is “ice and oceans stacked up in several layers like a club sandwich.” According to Steve Vance—the lead paper … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
io9
You Can Now Own Your Very Own Overlook Hotel Rug From The Shining
You can also get a matching scarf, ski cap, and sweater. The folks at Mondo are coming out with an entire collection of gear inspired by the mesmerizing pattern on the carpet from The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. You can preorder your Overlook doormat, cardigan, or area rug now and give anyone who gazes upon them … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
How Would You Send A Ship Into Space Without Rocket Fuel?
In response to Russia’s rather unorthodox suggestion to NASA — that perhaps it could use giant trampolines in absence of Russia’s shuttle to get our astronauts up to the ISS — a more serious question arose: Could a ship really get into space without rocket fuel? Top image: 1st – illustration from Jules Verne’s From … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech News
12 Weirdest Shows That People Watch Inside Cartoons
Cartoons are often filled with messages, and they’re presented in all kinds of ways. Sometimes the best way is to frame a story within another story. It can come off heavy-handed and other times the subtlety is superb, but it’s a popular option nonetheless. And while not every instance is good, the following 12 are … Continued
By Jason Krell -
io9Something Weird Happens When Three Master Fencers Battle Fifty Novices
It doesn’t play out the way you probably think it does. It bears mentioning that this is not a no-holds-barred engagement. In modern fencing, a large portion of the body – sometimes the entire body – is a valid target; but in this exercise, the aim of expert and amateur alike is to puncture a … Continued
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io9
Bee Rustlers Are California’s Newest Outlaws
In the world of agriculture, bees are big business. California beekeepers often rent their hives out in mid-winter to farmers who need the insects to pollinate almonds and other crops. And that’s why bee rustling has become such a problem. Photo by John Schreiber Back in the nineteenth century, cattle rustlers would peel off a … Continued
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io9
With Honor’s Knight, Rachel Bach’s Space-Opera Trilogy Gets Truly Epic
We enjoyed Rachel Bach’s first military-science fiction adventure, Fortune’s Pawn, immensely — but with the second volume in the trilogy, Honor’s Knight, she really hits her stride. This is starting to feel like a really epic story that covers some ground that military SF hasn’t trodden too much before. Spoilers ahead… When we reviewed Fortune’s … Continued
Andrew Liptak -
io9
We Must Have These Adventure Time Plush Dress-Up Dolls
Lorena Rodríguez doesn’t just make adorable plush dolls out of the ladies on Adventure Time; she also gives them perfect little wardrobes. Seriously, where can we buy these? Rodríguez does sell some of her other plush toys, like her zombie bear, her Ursus Geekus wall trophies, and her tree golem in her Etsy shop, but … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech News
How Steve Wozniak Wrote BASIC for the Original Apple From Scratch
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of BASIC, Steve Wozniak has written some memories about his first experiences with this popular language—and how he created his own BASIC from scratch for the Apple I and Apple II computers. An incredible feat. Enjoy!—JD In 1967 or 1968, as a senior in high school, our electronics teacher (the … Continued
Steve Wozniak -
io9
Fantastic Four Director Tim Story Explains How Summer Movies Go Wrong
Tim Story was an up-and-coming director, with a hit movie (Barbershop) under his belt. And then he directed two Fantastic Four movies that nobody really liked. Now that he’s back on top with Ride-Along, Story is explaining what he learned from his two superhero films. There’s a fascinating profile of Story, one of the most … Continued
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io9The Hobbit Would Look Amazing As A Papercraft Animation
This digital animation of The Hobbit’s Smaug is styled to look like a series of animated papercraft sculptures. It feels like it popped right out of a storybook. Kieran Duncan directed this short for an animation class project. Given the bedtime story feel of The Hobbit, this would be an excellent way to adapt at … Continued
By Lauren Davis