Offbeat posts

Those who follow my cynical posts about over-inflated social site valuations know that it’s hard for me to agree with numbers. I giggled when Facebook hit $70 billion before going public at much higher. I stared in disbelief when Google offered $6 billion for Groupon then realized that I had to be in a persistent dream state when Groupon turned them down. I cringed when I heard that Digg wasn’t taking a rumored $200 million offer four years ago or the subsequent $80 million offer two years ago before selling off at $500,000 last year. I coughed a little when Instagram sold for a billion dollars, then…

We take our brains for granted. If you’re reading this, you’re using your brain. If you stop using this, you’re still using your brain. In fact, there’s not a moment in your life that goes by when you’re not using your brain even if you try to “clear your head” and let the thinking stop. It won’t. It’s constant. What many may not know consciously is that there are two types of thinking happening at all times. It manifests more clearly when we’re presented with certain types of problems that force our brains to go into full action mode. This video by AsapSCIENCE gives us some food for thought about… thoughts….

According to Wikipedia, “An unidentified flying object, often abbreviated UFO or U.F.O., is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object.” While many associate them with alien spacecraft or inter-dimensional vehicles, the majority of the ones that pop up on YouTube are either hoaxes or explainable events. Every month, we document the best videos from the previous month by posting the compilations by AnonymousFO. Somehow we missed the “year in review” video that they released last month, so to correct that, here’s what 2012 looked…

The lengths to which automobile manufacturers will go to demonstrate that their vehicles are more technologically advanced in some way are astounding. Take MINI for instance as they claim to have put out the first ever “car doing a backflip” video. It’s really more a testament to the ability of engineers to create the right circumstances to make it happen rather than anything the car itself can do. Having the right ramp height and angle, knowing the exact speed that the driver needs to be going when he hits the ramp, putting together the snow ramp that acted as a landing strip – it’s not easy but if they…

It’s a coin on a treadmill. That’s it. The coin is rolling on a treadmill for over an hour. There are a few notes of “exciting” things that happen below, but otherwise, it’s just a treadmill with a coin rolling on it. For an hour. Now, think about the science behind it, though. That’s where there’s at least a bit of coolness. If you were asked if a coin could roll on a treadmill non-stop for an hour, you’d probably say it was possible but it would be hard to get the speed adjusted to just the right point to keep it from falling off either end. Not so! Here are the spoilers: 06:09 to 08:50 attempts with another coin,…

Time to put your thinking caps on and attack a larger issue. Actually, it’s about as large of an issue as you can imagine: the universe. What is it? On the surface, it’s an easy question to answer. The universe is everything, right? Not so fast. What about the future? Is that part of the universe? Ideas such as mathematics – do they qualify as parts of the universe or do they only exist in our minds? If they exist in our minds, does that still qualify as existing somewhere and therefore these ideas are part of the universe. The folks over at Minute Physics take us on a very brief exploration of what the universe…

We still have two years to watch the rumors fly about the Disney chapter of Star Wars, but they’ll keep popping up faster than Apple’s iWatch rumors. That’s how much geeks and geek journalists cherish the franchise. The latest rumor is a whopper: Harrison Ford has agreed in principle to return as Han Solo as long as the character finally gets to die. This one comes from an entertainment industry sleeper: Latino Review. It’s not the biggest name in entertainment news but the team has been known to get exclusive scoops and rumors on movies that have turned out to be extremely reliable. Geoff Boucher…

Around 250 people have been reported injured as a spectacular meteor blazed across the sky in the Urals region of Russia near Chelyabinsk east of Moscow. Even during the day, it was clearly visible on several dashboard cameras. Conflicting reports are coming in about whether or not it was shot down by the military. Despite shaking and explosions in the sky, the National Earthquake Information Center reports no major earthquakes in the area indicating that it disintegrated before hitting the earth. There are peculiarities in the reports and videos as described below. The damage shown above…

If you’re going to get a question wrong, you might as well do it with style. This young genius demonstrated panache throughout, including one of the gutsiest Double Jeopardy bets I’ve ever seen. No hesitation there. He ends it the right way. Click play – don’t read the thumbnail in the video until you see the whole thing. This kid has style, for sure. …

When the NYTimes published a story last week claiming that a review drive of the Tesla Model S ended with a flatbed and a stranded journalist, CEO Elon Musk lashed out against the claims on Twitter. It seemed at the time to be the bitter response to a negative review that is often the knee-jerk reaction to bad press. Then, it turned interesting. NYTimes article about Tesla range in cold is fake. Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn’t actually charge to max & took a long detour. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2013   Juicy stuff coming – that was the promise. While we waited, the reporter…