As you probably know, the cicadas are coming, and they're almost here! PBS explains all of the buzz:

These insects spend the majority of their lives underground, feeding off of tree roots. But every 13 or 17 years, different broods – groups of cicadas that debut at the same time – leave their underground lairs to mate.

Fatih Arslan reports from the annual Braun Börse, a collector's fair held May 4 at the company's headquarters in Kronberg, Germany, "the perfect place for any Braun or Dieter Rams enthusiasts."

This is my first visit to the Braun Börse fair.

Director Stanley Kubrick was famously perfectionist and infamously unpleasant to work with, and this extended to an early biography of him written by Neil Hornick, now published as The Magic Eye: The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick originally worked with Hornick but ultimately threatened legal action in 1970, and it was cancelled. — Read the rest

"Qantas Airways has agreed to pay 120 million Australian dollars ($79 million) to settle a lawsuit over the sale of thousands of tickets on already canceled flights," reports CNN

We have obtained exclusive recordings between the Qantas CEO and executives who orchestrated the fraud:

Qantas executive number one: Gee, I wish there was a way to make more money without buying more planes or offering better quality of service! — Read the rest

Get Any Plant is an online aggregator of nurseries and online stores with some 6,000 species of plant to buy. It has Venus Fly Traps, handsome Echevaria, beautiful Salpiglossis, and many more. They're organized by type (flowing, carnivorous, pet safe, etc) and it offers fast facts about many species. — Read the rest

An adorable but fed-up Shit-Tzu pup was in no mood when her human pretended to play Rock Paper Scissors with her for food.

Sitting in front of a plate of turkey, lettuce, and Cheerios, the man is seen pounding a fist into his hand, saying, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! — Read the rest

The MAGA geniuses who oversee the One Star State of Texas claim to revere religious freedom. So why, then, is the U.S. Justice Department suing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) for refusing to allow an employee to wear a head covering due to her religious beliefs? — Read the rest

Republican former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan has endorsed Joe Biden for President.

In a scathing op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal, Georgia's former Lt. Gov. made it clear and in no uncertain terms that he would not be voting for Donald Trump. — Read the rest

TL;DR: Carry your music anywhere with a TREBLAB HD77 Outdoor Speaker that's designed to be waterproof, shockproof, and on sale for $59.99. 

You've got your driving playlist, your workout tunes, your lofi beats to relax and study to, but what do you listen to when the party is outside? — Read the rest

In the grim confines of 19th century British prisons, wardens sought ever more sadistic ways to punish inmates through forced labor. — Read the rest

As graduating students began to file in for their commencement ceremony at Ohio State University yesterday, an attendant fell from the stadium stands to their death. But, as horrified as some of the attendants and graduating students who witnessed it were, the graduation bizarrely continued without interruption, and without a mention of the emergency situation going on right below their noses. — Read the rest

During a live home shopping segment in Brazil, a host touted a pressure cooker that clearly lacked some vital safety features.

He cracked it open mid-cook and scalding liquid erupted everywhere, instead of shouting or at least admitting that the pressure cooker was a dangerous piece of junk, the desperate pitchman just carried on like nothing happened. — Read the rest

Most "fleece" is just extruded plastic filament and its use in clothing is, according to clothing company Patagonia, a serious source of pollution. Washing them results in microplastic soup, which then heads into the sewers and hence to the seas.

During laundering, a single fleece jacket sheds as many as 250,000 synthetic fibers—significantly more than the 1,900 fibers Browne first recorded.

LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy nods to a long-suspected fan theory: Jar Jar Binks as the Sith mastermind.

A new LEGO Star Wars program streaming on Disney+ will take What-If to a new level and mix up all the Star Wars tech in LEGO Style. — Read the rest

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–VT), still going strong at age 82, announced today that he's running for another Senate term.

In an 8-minute video (see below) posted on X, Sanders wrapped his candidacy announcement with pledges he is known for, including his continued promise to fight exorbitant prescription drug prices, fight climate change, fight wealth inequality, defend abortion rights, and cancel student debt. — Read the rest

Tesla's layoffs expanded over the weekend with staff involved in software, service and engineering all reporting that they'd gotten their pink slips. The 10 percent workforce reduction announced earlier by CEO Elon Musk is, Electrek's Fred Lambert writes, closing in on 20 percent. — Read the rest

South Dakota's Trump-worshipping governor, Kristi Noem, has angered folks of all political persuasions with her grisly tales of murdering her own pets. And now, the GOP is paying the price — literally.

As reported in Salon, a recent fundraiser hosted by the Jefferson County Republican Party in Colorado had to be scrapped after Noem's admission of killing her 14-month-old puppy Cricket sparked a torrent of angry backlash and threats. — Read the rest

Other People's Words, by Lissa Soep, has me finding memories of loved ones in unexpected places and times.

What if the great love of your life is friendship?

In their twenties, Lissa Soep and her boyfriend forged deep friendships with two other couples—Mercy and Christine; and Emily and Jonnie—until, decades later, Jonnie died suddenly, in an accident, and Christine passed away after a mysterious illness.

Donald Trump Jr has a lot of frantic energy, rarely makes sense, and reminds The Daily Show of a cokehead.

The entertainment industry, where they have a lot of experience with cocaine, never portrays cokeheads as nice people. I wonder why that is? — Read the rest

In her upcoming, No Going Back, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem claims to have met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, staring down the "little tyrant" with the same resolve she developed as a children's pastor.

But appearing on Face the Nation yesterday, Noem went back on what she wrote. — Read the rest