Jon.9836

Not even walls can stop Disney’s and ETH Zurich’s new four-wheeled robot called VertiGo that can quickly transition from rolling on the ground to climbing obstacles like a gecko—and without those sticky feet.

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If you want to know exactly what the moon will look like (to those in the northern hemisphere, at least), this video by NASA has got you covered. It tracks all the phases of the moon for 2016, that is you’ll see the moon wax and wane as it corresponds to each day of the year. It’s a really cool look at the movements of the space rock.

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Basic physics suggests that electrons are essentially immortal. A fascinating experiment recently failed to overthrow this fundamental assumption. But the effort has produced a revised minimum lifespan for electrons: 60,000 yottayears, which is — get this — about five-quintillion times the current age of the Universe.

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The fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons tends to place less emphasis on magic items as an expected component of characters’ capabilities. Certainly, there are challenges—such as monsters vulnerable only to magical weapons—that call for such things, but even then there are workarounds in terms of class abilities, spells, and the like, reducing the reliance on an […]

With New Intergalactic Supplement

Capsule Review by Edward Kabara (5/5): TL; DR-A strong successor to Dragon AGE. 92%

The whole point of a vacation is to relax and relieve stress, but all too often, you need a vacation after your vacation to recover from your time off. Here are ten tips to make your vacation the stress-buster it really should be.

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For all your medieval world-building needs: Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources. Knightwine is particularly inspiring. [via Metafilter]

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A free game client, unlockable packs, weekly challenges, and the most recent cards available make Magic Duels the last, best Magic: the Gathering video game you’ll ever need.

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Adding big flavor to simple condiments you already have in the fridge can make your dishes even more delicious. This infographic shows you how to make nine types of flavor boosted ketchup with some simple additions.

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When the first edition of Blue Rose was published 10 years ago, it found a core audience of gamers that loved its unique take on romantic fantasy—and a few who pushed back against the game’s progressive push for inclusiveness. Now...

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When the first edition of Blue Rose was published 10 years ago, it found a core audience of gamers that loved its unique take on romantic fantasy—and a few who pushed back against the game’s progressive push for inclusiveness. Now Blue Rose is back, and it’s found a better system and a wider audience.

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Back in October, I wrote about an as-yet-to-be-named Magic: The Gathering board game. The concept was pretty exciting – Hasbro was working with Wizards of the Coast, pulling together designers from HeroScape and other great games like Risk Legacy, to develop a strategy board game set in the MtG universe.

Since then, the folks at Hasbro have been busy pulling together the finishing touches. And just in time for the long holiday weekend, Magic: The Gathering Arena of the Planeswalkers is now available on Amazon and at select game shops! The game will be everywhere else, including HasbroToyShop.com, on August 1.

The final product looks great and manages to capture that HeroScape vibe while, very obviously, still being a MtG game. My only complaint at first glance is that I wish the White mana units were, well, white. But that’s nothing a little paint can’t fix. I’m waiting for a copy to review here at GeekDad HQ, so I can’t tell you how it plays yet; but in the meantime, I can give you a teaser of what’s in the box:

Components:

• 6 modular board pieces
• 4 plastic terrain pieces
• 3 plastic glyphs
• 2 temple ruins
• 5 Painted Planeswalker Mini Figures
• 30 Squad Mini Figures
• One 20-sided die
• 8 Combat dice
• 30 Damage Counters
• 60 spell cards
• 10 Squad stat cards
• 5 Planeswalker cards

If you love Magic: The Gathering and have been looking for a new way to bring the game to the table, or if you’re a fan who’s been wanting to branch out into new formats, like tactical miniature gaming, or maybe you just miss HeroScape, this is going to a great game to bring to the table this summer!

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This fascinating infographic by Alberto Lucas López shows how 23 of the world’s mother tongues are proportioned, and how they’re distributed around the globe.

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You know that it’s bad to not get enough sleep, but do you know how bad? This infographic explains all the terrible side effects—like anger, cravings, and taking unnecessary risks—that can come from getting too little sleep every night.

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If you’ve always had your heart set on a TRON Lightcycle — a working one, not a matchbox toy — you’d better start saving. The going rate (as much as there is a going rate for one-off movie-replica collectibles) is $77,000.

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Military researchers at DARPA have been developing ammunition which can change its path in mid-air to ensure it always hits its target. Now, it can even correct itself mid-flight to hit a moving target.

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Alan Moore really, really loves the fantasy novel The Vorrh by B. Catling, which he calls the new century’s first landmark work of fantasy. He’s so spellbound by Catling’s strange vision, he’s written a long, beautifully ranty intro. Read Moore’s intro exclusively at io9 — and listen to him reading it aloud!

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Qingdao, China, north of Shanghai, is a city of over 2.7 million people. Every morning, local swimmers gather at Qingdao’s downtown beach. Philipp Engelhorn brought his camera to the beach every day for a week to document their stylish attire. The homemade “funky” outfits are colorful, patterned and mismatched, but they also serve a purpose. “They are protecting themselves from the sun (as they do not want to get suntan) and from jellyfish stings,” Engelhorn told PDN via email.

Engelhorn used natural light for the series, shooting each portrait between 5:45 am and 8:00 am. “I was trying to shoot this as consistently as possible, without a whole studio set. The Chinese are very shy in front of the camera, and I would have never gotten these relaxed postures and attitudes with a full studio set-up.”

Inspired by a photo of one of the swimmers in a Chinese newspaper, Engelhorn thought this project would be a good way to try something new. Much of the Hong Kong-based photographer’s work is reportage. “Personal projects always work the best, are the most fun, bring the best PR,” he notes. “Working on assignments and jobs for too long can really kill or destroy your creativity. I think it is very important to go out and do projects to find yourself in your own photography once in a while.”

The series recently won Engelhorn second place in the 2015 LensCulture Portrait Awards.

Related: Big Donuts: Jim Mangan and Rally Car Driver Ken Block Put the Landscape in Motion

A construction crew working in Heyuan, China have stumbled upon a remarkable batch of fossilized dinosaur eggs. Of the 43 discovered, 19 remain completely intact.

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Deadspin Do Not Fuck With Bees | Gizmodo Now You Can Download Your Google History—Or Better Yet, Delete It | Jezebel How to Decorously Buy Your Daughter’s Way into Harvard | Lifehacker Isabel Diagnoses Your Health Symptoms, Based on Tools Used by Doctors | Kinja Popular Posts

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For the first time in U.S. history, a supreme court has granted a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of two lab chimpanzees, effectively recognizing them as legal persons. While the future of the chimps has not yet been decided, it’s a huge step forward in establishing personhood status for highly sapient animals.

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As the "Ant-Man" release date approaches, Marvel distributed tiny billboards around Australia to drum up hype for the "Avengers: Age of Ultron" followup.

Until scientists learn more about the virus and how long it stays in the body, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking Ebola survivors to either abstain from sex or use condoms 100% of the time.

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"Weird Al" Yankovic guest-edited this month's issue of "MAD," and CBR News talked to the parody icon and "MAD" E-i-C John Ficarra about it.

BrotherMagneto posted a photo:

via Instagram ift.tt/1JOFfNk

Researchers working in Kenya's archaeologically prolific Lake Turkana region claim to have uncovered a set of 3.3-million-year-old stone tools. That's 700,000 years older than the previous record, and predates evidence for the evolutionary origins of the genus Homo by half a million years.

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Danger lurks in every dark alley of the City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes. Can your merry* band of misfits survive sinister sorcerers, treacherous rogues, mysterious assasins, and—most questionably—each other in your pursuit of money, happiness, and power? Are they really even three different things?

Your wait is ended, and Lankhmar: City of Thieves is now available for immediate PDF purchase and print preorder from the Pinnacle Web Store. Come to Fritz Leiber’s world of swords and sorcery, action and bravado! This all-new book contains details on the world of Nehwon and the City of Lankhmar, including Setting Rules, Savage Tales, monsters and foes, and persons of wide renown—including Fafhrd, the Gray Mouser, and their sorcerous sponsors.

You shouldn’t be caught dead in the Smokes without this book. Then again, you should probably avoid being caught dead anywhere. Knowing where you are and what’s around would probably go a long way to that end—consider grabbing the Lankhmar/Nehwon Poster Maps. One side details Lankhmar itself, center of the world of Nehwon, from the Plaza of Dark Delights to the dankest of docks. The other side brings you the whole world, from the lands of the East to the Steppes of the Mingols, from the Inner Sea to the Parched Mountains, and far more! Not only is the map ready to handle your adventures, but it’s wet, dry, and permanent marker erasable—”leave no trace behind” would be my motto if you could remember I was here…

* Merry is definitely optional. “Surly” and “lethal” are perfectly acceptable choices, among many others.

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