There is an unmistakeable sound of a woodshop — of the lathes, routers and lasers cutting, etching, carving — all absorbed and echoed in the resounding wood.
Inside BLDG 61, the Makerspace at the Boulder Public Library, the woodshop is humming. Six months after the space opened, a group of eight apprentices are there to learn the basics of the craft.
A month into the three-month program, the participants are already familiar with the materials and the first flashes of inspiration are striking. They are beginning to imagine all the potential for creation in their new medium.
One woman, Dana, shares an idea she has for the wood she holds in her hand: to transform the block into a butterfly. …
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: OCTOBER 30TH- THE PERFECT STORM
This Day In History: October 30, 1991
What later became known as “The Perfect Storm” was first referred to as “The Halloween Storm,” until Bob Case from the National Weather service coined the name we know it by today. No matter what you call it, it was a storm of monstrous proportions that battered the East Coast – especially New England – unmercifully. It spun in place just off the coast, subjecting the shoreline to days of punishing rain, near-hurricane force winds and dangerously high surf, and the inevitable property damage that comes along with these conditions. Extensive coastal flooding resulted along the New England coast, especially in Massachusetts. Damage due to the storm ranged as far north as Newfoundland, and as far south as Jamaica.
The chain of events that became The Perfect Storm began on October 27th near Bermuda, when Hurricane Grace formed and moved toward the coastline of the southeastern United States. Grace was still moving north two days later when she bumped into a massive low pressure system that was chugging south from Canada. This meteorological clash of the titans resulted in 40-to-80 foot waves by October 30th. …
Inside a Donald Trump rally: good people in a feedback loop of paranoia and hate
Trump’s crowd is full of honest and decent people – but the Republican’s invective has a chilling effect on fans of his one-man show
This is what greets you when you arrive at a Trump rally: two 18-wheelers parked outside the sports stadium where the Republican nominee will be speaking, placed end-to-end so that nobody can miss them. The front truck, painted white, has “The Donald for President” scrawled across its side, above the slogans: “All lives matter”, “Build the wall”, and “Keep Mexican dope in Mexico”.
It is a relatively gentle introduction to Trumpworld, a scattering of antagonism for the gathering crowd. If only the same could be said about the yellow truck parked right behind it.
“Hillary for prison”, it says beside a picture of Hillary Clinton behind bars. Another image of the Democratic presidential candidate has her brains spilling out of her skull with the caption: “Concussion wired”. Bill Clinton is seen laughing above the words: “Just realized if Hillary wins … I get interns”. A final shot of Hillary has her pointing at her husband and saying: “Bill! Monica gave you what?” …
Do You Know More About Health Than Donald Trump?
The candidate lacks a basic understanding of the enormous problems with American medical care.
On Monday, Donald Trump presented Americans with a puzzle of a sentence: “All of my employees are having a tremendous problem with Obamacare.”
At first it seemed like Trump might be admitting to something illegal. Employers have to provide health insurance. The candidate seemed, to some, to be implying that his employees were buying their own insurance (“with Obamacare”) and having tremendous problems.
But later that day, on Fox News, Trump said something equally confusing: “Well, I don’t use much Obamacare, I must be honest with you …”
Together these sentences raised the possibility that the candidate believes Obamacare is a product or service. And so maybe, like so many Americans, Trump isn’t clear on what Obamacare is. …
10 Common Misconceptions About Mormonism
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church, is a poorly understood religion of approximately 15 million members. It is also one of the fastest-growing Christian churches in the world, due to its 74,079 active missionaries spread all over the world. Mormons make up the fourth-largest church in the United States, but many of their practices are vastly misunderstood. Here are ten of the most common misconceptions people have about the Mormon Church and its members.
10. Mormons Are Polygamists
It is true that the church once accepted the practice of polygamy and encouraged it among its members, but the practice was removed in 1890. This was accomplished after numerous confrontations between the church and the Utah and federal governments. Since the new Manifesto outlawing the practice of plural marriage was revealed, polygamy has remained against church policy.
A second manifesto was required in 1904 after then–church president Joseph F. Smith testified before the US Congress and disavowed polygamy. Since that time, only groups who are considered “fundamentalists” (but not Mormon and therefore not associated with the church) continue the practice. Any Mormon found to be continuing the practice of plural marriage is excommunicated. …
Donald Trump’s ghostwriter on being the ‘Dr Frankenstein’ who made a monster
Tony Schwartz wrote The Art of the Deal, the book that created the Trump myth. As the race for the White House draws to a close, he is looking on in horror
Tony Schwartz’s former editor has a nickname for him. “He’s Dr Frankenstein,” was how Edward Kosner put it in the New Yorker.
In fairness, there have been many Dr Frankensteins behind the rise and rampage of Donald Trump. They’ve included the Republican party, with its years of divisiveness and racially charged rhetoric; the media, with its collective chase of the next shiny object; and the baby boomers feeling the cultural and economic ground give way.
But it was Schwartz who sparked this strange political creature into life. As the ghostwriter of Trump’s bestselling 1987 book The Art of the Deal, he did more than anyone to create the businessman’s public persona. In it he translated Trump’s coarse ramblings into charming straight talk and came up with the phrase “truthful hyperbole”, which captures brilliantly an approach to business and politics in which everything is the greatest, the most beautiful. Schwartz helped give Trump the sweet smell of success – now seemingly irresistible to millions of people clinging to the American dream. …
QUEEN OFFERS TO RESTORE BRITISH RULE OVER UNITED STATES
In an unexpected televised address on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore British rule over the United States of America.
Addressing the American people from her office in Buckingham Palace, the Queen said that she was making the offer “in recognition of the desperate situation you now find yourselves in.”
“This two-hundred-and-forty-year experiment in self-rule began with the best of intentions, but I think we can all agree that it didn’t end well,” she said. …
10 Fantastic Facts About The History Of Chewing Gum
Love it or hate it, chewing gum is not going away anytime in the near future. In fact, when it first became a fad in the United States, many of the snootier folks hoped that the “vulgar fad” would pass on by. It didn’t. Instead, the chewing gum fad continued to grow as both an “ugly habit” and a medicinal product.
10. Thank You, Mexico
Chewing gum originated in Mexico. It was introduced to the United States by inventor Thomas Adams in 1866, and it was nothing like the chewing gum we know today. Instead, it was a little brown ball of chicle.
Chicle originates from the sapodilla (aka Manilkara zapota) tree. It is a white latex that the tree exudes when the bark has been cut. As it weeps from the tree, chicle collects bits of bark and dirt, giving it the brown coloring of “natural gum.” …
Stephen Colbert Knows How to Fix the Supreme Court
THANKS to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for making this program available on YouTube.
One of the most contentious issues this election boils down to a single chair. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have sparred repeatedly over who will inherit the open seat in the Supreme Court, which was vacated when conservative Justice Antonin Scalia passed away in February. President Obama already nominated his choice, but congress refuses to consider it, while Trump promised that if he’s elected, Scalia’s replacement will be pro-life, and a rabid defender of our right to bear arms. In other words, it’s one giant clusterf*ck.
The good news is, this is the first time in our history that the Supreme Court has become a central issue in a presidential election. And, if Stephen Colbert has his way, it won’t ever happen again. …
Hurricane coming? You’d better believe it this time
Thanks to computing power, forecasters can track events such as Hurricane Sandy with pinpoint accuracy
Hurricane Sandy, one of the most destructive storms in US history, struck New Jersey four years ago this weekend. It left hundreds dead, thousands homeless and millions without power. Around $75bn of damage was inflicted on homes, roads and offices.
The devastation and death toll were grim reminders of human vulnerability in the face of the elements. However, Hurricane Sandy’s impact could have been much worse, forecasters in the UK revealed last week. Scientists at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading were the first to warn there was a significant chance of Sandy making a sudden “left-hook” as it swept up the east coast of the US in late October 2012, striking Manhattan and New Jersey. Other centres were suggesting that the storm would peter out at sea.
The forecast – which was made five days before Hurricane Sandy hit the US mainland – was unexpected and confirmed only much later by other forecasters. Forewarned, New Jersey was able to protect itself from the worst effects of the 169km/h (105mph) hurricane. …
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: OCTOBER 30TH- MARGO AND ANNE
This Day In History: October 30, 1944
Most people are familiar with the tragic story of Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl forced into hiding with her family when her older sister Margo received a call-up notice from the Central Office for Jewish Emigration to report to a labor camp in 1942. At the time, the family was living in the German occupied Netherlands, after having previously immigrated away from Germany in 1933 as the Nazi party rose to power.
They remained hidden until August 4, 1944 when their hiding place was ransacked by the Germans. Considered criminals for ignoring Margo’s call-up order and going into hiding, Otto and Edith Frank and their daughters were sentenced to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor and then sent to the Dutch Westerbork transit camp, arriving on August 8th. They were then transferred to Auschwitz on September 3, 1944. …
Mike Holmes: Who you gonna call when you hear creaks and squeaks in your house?
We’ve all heard bumps in the night — squeaky floors, loud bangs, crawling in the walls, or what sounds like someone walking around in the attic. If you have a wild imagination, you might think it’s a ghost. And it may very well be that you have unwanted guests, but not the kind you’re thinking.
If you’re hearing crawling in your walls, it could be mice. They love insulation and they can also get into ductwork and the attic. As it gets colder, mice and other critters will be looking for warm places to nest. Don’t let it be in your home.
Noises in the attic could also mean raccoons or squirrels. They’ve been known to pull up flashing, chew through roof vents and squeeze in through small gaps where the soffit meets the roof, working their way into the attic space.
A solution? Call pest control. …
A graphic history of sex: ‘There is no gene that drives sexuality. All sexuality is learned’
Changes in sexuality over time have made the modern family what it is. What next? Homa Khaleeli asks the authors of a groundbreaking graphic guide, The Story of Sex.
Philip Larkin famously announced that sexual intercourse began in 1963 (“Between the end of the ‘Chatterley’ ban / And the Beatles’ first LP”). Being French, and a psychiatrist to boot, Philippe Brenot takes a rather longer view. In his latest book, The Story of Sex, a bestseller in France, he runs an anthropological eye over the sexual mores of human societies from prehistoric times to today. Yet Brenot believes that the sexual revolution did spark a dramatic change, creating the modern couple, which is the basis of our families today. Now, however, he thinks this partnership of equals is under assault from all sides.
The academic, who has the wonderful title of director of sexology at Paris Descartes University, has spent his life studying sexuality. The Story of Sex is an irreverent, graphic novel (in both senses), filled with fascinating – if alarming – history. Cleopatra used a vibrator filled with bees; the word “trousers” was considered to be positively pornographic in Victorian England. Illustrator Laetitia Coryn’s extremely cheeky, but never sordid, pictures liven up the page and keep the narrative zipping along. The book was a real collaboration, says Coryn, who says it was made easier by Brenot’s firm ideas – and the fact he liked her jokes.
The illustrator admits she hesitated slightly over collaborating on the book. “I told my publisher we have to be careful with the drawings and with the jokes – we have to be sensitive,” she says, because she wanted the book to have as wide an audience as possible. “I didn’t put any porn in it!” As a reader, however, the frankness of the pictures still shocked me (you, er, might not want to whip out the book on public transport or in the office). …
The Terrifyingly Beautiful World Of Abandoned Buildings
We’re longtime fans of abandoned buildings and all the terror sweat to be found in, on, and generally around them. But who exactly brings us all those photos of the spooky places that we love to fantasize about never, ever visiting? There’s no Indiana Jones of abandoned hospitals. It’s all down to some brave, foolhardy, almost certainly cursed hobbyists and their trusty cameras. We sat down with one to learn his …
Horror Stories From Urban Exploring
A couple years ago, a group of my friends slipped into an abandoned school at night …
Along with dusty books and probably the ghosts of tortured children, they realized someone else was in there with them. It was a rough part of town, so they hid. Then they heard dogs barking and an authoritative voice calling them. Oh, cool. It was just the cops. Time for a slap on the wrist, right?
Nope! The cops set their dog loose to tear up one guy’s leg. Asked about calling an ambulance, the officers said medical care would delay processing, so the guys agreed to come to the station. They spent five hours bleeding in lock-up before being released without a charge and then heading to the hospital for stitches.
The crime is trespassing. The motive? The knowledge that abandoned buildings look really, really cool. …
How AI helps marketers tell better stories
We live in exciting times. Or as Peter Diamandis would say, we live in “exponential times”. Digital disruption is everywhere. There’s always a new new thing. This is so true that we sometimes take it for granted and disregard its full magnitude.
This year, all eyes are focused on AI, the newest kid on the block. And considering recent stats (30,000 bots in four months on Messenger alone), its star isn’t likely to fade anytime soon. It’s here for the long haul. If AI was a rapper, it’d be more Jay-Z than J Kwon (apologies to the non hip-hop fans in the house).
As a matter of fact, AI is already a powerful tool, and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Its potential is both scary and exhilarating. And every industry, one by one, will see its emergence transform the rules of the game. …
First self-driving cars will be unmarked so that other drivers don’t try to bully them
Volvo fears that other road users could drive erratically in order to take advantage
The first self-driving cars to be operated by ordinary British drivers will be left deliberately unmarked so that other drivers will not be tempted to “take them on”, a senior car industry executive has revealed.
One of the biggest fears of an ambitious project to lease the first autonomous vehicles to everyday motorists is that other road users might slam on their brakes or drive erratically in order to force the driverless cars into submission, he said.
This is why the first 100 self-driving 4×4 vehicles to be leased to motorists as part of a pilot scheme on busy main roads into London will look no different than other Volvos of the same model, said Erik Coelingh, senior technical leader at Volvo Cars. The scheme will start in 2018.
“From the outside you won’t see that it’s a self-driving car. From a purely scientific perspective it would be interesting to have some cars that are marked as self-driving cars and some that are not and see whether other road users react in a different way,” Coelingh told the Observer. “I would expect they will, but I don’t know how and to what extent. So just to be on the safe side they will all be unmarked cars. I’m pretty sure that people will challenge them if they are marked by doing really harsh braking in front of a self-driving car or putting themselves in the way,” he said. …
10 Forgotten Battles That Changed World History
Some battles echo throughout history. But while most people have heard of Waterloo or Stalingrad, plenty of other decisive confrontations have been all but forgotten. Here are 10 such battles that changed the course of history.
10. Battle Of The Delta
From 1276 to 1178 BC, the ancient Mediterranean world was terrorized by the mysterious Sea People. Although they are often referred to as pirates or raiders, many historians now believe that the Sea People represented a major population movement fleeing from the famine and turmoil that contributed to the Late Bronze Age collapse.
The Sea People overran the mighty Hittite Empire and other regions of the ancient world. After defeating the Hittites, they turned toward Egypt. Rameses III met the invaders at the Battle of the Delta. …
MIT Created An Algorithm Called The ‘Nightmare Machine’ That Uses A.I. To Create Horrific Images
The somewhat scary rise of lumbering robots that will surely one day hold humanity under their boot have been covered at great length on Uproxx.com, but those robots will be puppy dogs if their artificial intelligence doesn’t turn evil. Unfortunately for the human race, MIT has developed an algorithm to change normal images into nightmarish scenes that will hopefully never influence a machine’s outlook on its human overlords.
MIT’s “Nightmare Machine” has been created by a small group of people at MIT with two categories in mind: Haunted Places and Haunted Faces. The results aren’t necessarily “scary” (depending on how you can handle horror) but they are certainly unsettling. The images actually seem a lot like the ones illustrated in the classic Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which were created by the 100% human Stephen Gammell. …
PROTIP: The War With Extraterrestrials Will Begin in France
With UFO sightings on the rise and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman leading a push to reveal more classified info on extraterrestrial life, one small town in France wants to potentially ruin it for us all.
Claude Avril, the current mayor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France, says that he will not overturn a 62-year-old law that prohibits the “flying over, landing, or taking off of flying saucers” in his town.
First introduced by the former mayor, Lucien Jeune, the law states: “Any aircraft, known as flying saucer or flying cigar, which should land on the territory of the community will be immediately held in custody.” …
THE LAW OF THE TONGUE: THE DEAL BETWEEN THE ORCAS AND WHALERS OF EDEN, AUSTRALIA
Sporting the third deepest natural harbor in the southern hemisphere and a rich habitat, the waters around Eden, Australia attract a variety of wildlife, including baleen whales and, at least in the fall and winter, orcas.
At some point in the history of the indigenous Yuin people, they and the killer whales seemingly entered into a tacit sort of unspoken agreement, which was called by later whalers the Law of the Tongue.
While most of the contemporary accounts of this peculiar “contract” have been lost, including very unfortunately a 1910 film by C.B. Jenkins and C.E. Wellings that visually recorded the behavior, enough remain, along with some photographic evidence, to give us a general idea of how humans and a particular pod of orcas worked together to bring down baleen whales. …
Video Goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
Plinko lovers rejoice! The host of The Price Is Right has identified the precise spot where players can release their chip and take home the game’s top prize.
“I heard a strange noise and looked over to see what it was, only to see Banana up to her shenanigans!”
FINALLY . . .
Donald Trump’s Brain-Worms Finally Reveal Themselves
After all three presidential debates were said and done, it was evident to the public that Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump is being controlled by giant brain-eating parasites that live inside of his body, laying eggs day and night, making a warm and beautiful nesting ground for their parasite babies. At a recent press conference, held at a Trump resort decorated in the style of a garish African warlord, the giant brain-eating parasites publicly apologized (through frequencies that could only be captured by that machine used to translate the aliens from Mars Attacks) while peeking out of the lifeless body of Mr. Trump. We here at Cracked are now publicly releasing the transcript of their address to America.
Hundreds of people gather in the middle of the desert. Midday. Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump stands at the head of a podium, surrounded by bodyguards. He appears lifeless, translucent and wet, his eyes rolled back, hands at his side and his mouth open, revealing the head of a giant worm surrounded by tinier little worms. Giuliani and Pence at his side, looking the same, but without the excuse of an infestation of parasitic worms.
PARASITIC WORMS: People of Earth, hello. We, the giant brain-eating parasites, would like to publicly apologize for taking over the body of Donald J. Trump. What started out as an innocent vacation away from our home turned, literally, into an orgy of fun — fun which we regret and could never take back. [Audience politely chuckles.] We first entered Donald in 2007, through a poorly cooked piece of Trump Steak — Trump Steaks are the origin country of our people — where we were conceived. And for that, we thank Donald. Please buy Trump Steaks.
Worms shuffle in Trump’s body. He is visibly uncomfortable. Audience laughs and claps.
PARASITIC WORMS: When we first nested inside of Donald, it was all innocent fun — pressing various lobes, allowing our children to occasionally nibble on his brain tissue, and having lots of parasitic worm sex wherever we could, leaving trails of parasite semen all over the place. 2007 was a crazy time, and I guess we never left because we … we fell in love. …
It'll soon be Halloween so time to prepare some yummy treats for the neighbourhood kids. Try dipping Brussels sprouts in chocolate for them. pic.twitter.com/HFXGA9vFSV
— Mark Sparrow (@MarkGSparrow) October 24, 2016
@MarkGSparrow toffee onion anyone? pic.twitter.com/YMSyyeXLCD
— Chris (@turbocracky) October 24, 2016
