Connect to an open WiFi network, and a captive portal opens a shelf of banned ebooks. The access point is a smart light bulb. Rick Osgood reflashed the ESP32 chip… Read the rest of the article: Screw this light bulb in and it serves banned books

In 1906, a U.S. plant pathologist named Franklin Sumner Earle collected a small brown mushroom in Cuba and shipped it to the New York Botanical Garden. He called it Stropharia… Read the rest of the article: The poster child for psychedelic mushrooms is named after a country that doesn't use it

In January 2020, a Finnish Reddit user posted a photo of curtains printed with eight celebrity faces and asked for help identifying them. Seven were quickly matched — Josh Holloway,… Read the rest of the article: It took Reddit four years to identify the sixth face on a set of curtains

On Sunday, July 13, 1980, around 500 children from 11 marching bands gathered at the Hollinwell Showground near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, for a Junior Brass and Marching Band competition. At about… Read the rest of the article: In 1980, 300 children collapsed at a marching band competition and no one knows why

The Turnspit Dog was a short-legged, long-bodied breed kept in English kitchens to run inside a wooden wheel connected to a roasting spit. First mentioned in 1576 as "Turnespete," the… Read the rest of the article: The turnspit dog was bred to run on a wheel and roast meat, then went extinct

Theodore Hook is a historical figure whose eccentricity defined his period. He became known for the Berners Street Hoax of 1810—an undertaking considered arguably the greatest practical joke in history.… Read the rest of the article: In 1810, a prankster sent 4,000 letters to flood one London address with chimney sweeps, coffins, and the Lord Mayor

Not every phone is meant to connect two living people. At San Francisco's Sunset Dunes, a bright blue phone booth gives visitors a chance to speak the words they never… Read the rest of the article: San Francisco's wind phone lets visitors talk to lost loved ones

A video of this weird-looking phenomenon shows a person standing at the razor-thin boundary between clear skies and a rain shower. A distinct curtain of rain advances across the street… Read the rest of the article: Video shows a rain curtain splitting a street into two worlds

Raw Story, citing the Daily Mail, says Maxwell has formed a "highly secretive" group at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, where she allegedly whispers with three women she considers… Read the rest of the article: Ghislaine Maxwell reportedly finds her mean-girls table in prison

You have to promise to pretend to be a little surprised when I tell you that Grand Theft Auto 4's Liberty City was based on real-life New York. I'm not… Read the rest of the article: Exploring Grand Theft Auto 4's hidden history

It's a funny world when Breaking Bad's comic relief lawyer Saul Goodman has more integrity than the sitting President. I did not tune into Trump's UFC fight, but you better… Read the rest of the article: Saul Goodman returns to celebrate America's 250th

Pemba, a modified Unitree G1 humanoid robot, is on an expedition slated to culminate with a summit of Mount Everest. Unitree's robots can pull off impressive kung fu and parkour,… Read the rest of the article: Robots can kung fu, but can they summit Everest?

Sixty-three arrests. Four stabbings. One shooting. When New York City gets out to celebrate, they celebrate. The city's reaction to their hometown heroes winning the NBA championships has become the… Read the rest of the article: Get uncomfortably, viscerally close to the Knicks celebration

TL;DR: Snag a refurbished 11.6-inch Lenovo 300e 2-in-1 Chromebook for $79.99 (reg. $284.99) Nobody's asking the family Chromebook to render 4K video or run Call of Duty. You want something that boots fast,… Read the rest of the article: This $79.99 refurbished Chromebook is tougher than the laptop on your desk

CrankGPT is a fully offline AI box that you power by turning a crank. There's no battery and no internet connection: just a single-board computer (Raspberry or Orange Pi) that… Read the rest of the article: CrankGPT is an offline AI box for the apocalypse

A Derbyshire Constabulary officer is under criminal investigation over claims they used artificial intelligence to fabricate evidence. The BBC's Samantha Noble reports that it's thought to be the first case… Read the rest of the article: British police officer accused of using AI to fabricate evidence

When President Trump first showed reporters a model of the proposed United States Triumphal Arch, CBS News's Ed O'Keefe asked who it was for. "Me," said Trump. "It's going to… Read the rest of the article: Trump Arch in D.C. to be tremendously large and golden

The sprawling Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh is most famous as the setting for George A. Romero's 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead: the shambling zombies return out of… Read the rest of the article: Moneroeville Mall hosts final Dawn of the Dead tour

A Black woman yelled, "Oh my god," because the Knicks won, someone called the LAPD, and police reportedly responded by bursting into her apartment and killing her golden doodle. According… Read the rest of the article: Woman cheers Knicks win, LAPD bursts in and kills her dog

A bear rescue in Rancho Sahuarita, Arizona, turned into a live-action cartoon when a tranquilized bear dropped from a tree, hit the tarp, and one of the humans went down… Read the rest of the article: Keystone Kops get a physics lesson from falling bear