Cooper Griggs

[via]

Speed-reading apps seem like the new weather apps. There are tons of different examples to choose from and they tout benefits that range from better memory retention to more free time and even healthier, shinier hair (one of those may not be totally...

In this week’s photo selection, we’re highlighting a spectacular picture of starlings flying in murmuration and over a dozen more exceptional shots of wildlife in their natural settings.

“In February, starling murmurations gather around Brighton Pier about an hour before sunset. This means photographers miss the best lighting conditions. Use of background objects and side-lighting overcomes this late winter limitation.” – Alan MacKenzie

“Mountain bluebirds migrate through Seedskadee NWR in large numbers during spring and fall migration. Many stay to nest as well. These two were some of the first spotted during spring migration.” – Tom Koerner/USFWS

“With so much light bouncing off the water, it was a good chance to try some silhouettes pictures, and these Herons made some wonderful shapes when they chased each other around the lake.” – Edd Cottell

“It has been fascinating to watch the hummingbirds’ responses to honey bees this year. They are scared of them!” – ramonaj2001

“Several bull elk jostle for position to try to win favor with several cow elk above treeline in Rocky Mountain National Park.”

“The scene was chaos as the females tried to stay together while the males tried to separate them and chase each other away. Near the highest point in the road at an elevation of approximately 12,000 feet, the air was thin and we were all gasping for breath as the drama played out. The stalemate continued as the group disappeared over the ridge, into the sunset.” – Jeff Sullivan

“Green heron hanging from a branch in the heavy shade that had just stretched down to get a drink of water, leaving a trail of water drops and their reflections as it lifted up to swallow.” – Jim Russell

“Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. I found photographing in the rainforest very challenging, because the light from sun was often greatly dimmed by the canopy. To get a better exposure of the mantis, I played with my flash for a while, but the results weren’t satisfying. In the end, I created this silhouette by keeping the mantis in the shadows and exposing on some sunlit leaves in the background.” – Simon Jan

“An American Alligator cruisin’ through a pond at Viera Wetlands in Brevard County Florida on a heavily foggy morning at sunrise. . . Sony DSLR A580. . .Thanks for looking :)” – AdA Durden

This photo selection is inspired by the Wildlife Photography group.

To join this series, tweet @flickr with your favorite wildlife photos, and include the hashtag #WildlifeWednesday. And if you’d rather not tweet, simply include the same hashtag in your Flickr photo title, or tag it with WildlifeWednesday.

We look forward to seeing your contributions and featuring a new selection of your photo submissions every Wednesday here on our blog.

Previously featured for this series: Wildlife Wednesday: Butterfly wings

We imagine that the blind terror that we experience when visiting an auto shop is the same when a car mechanic visits Best Buy. After all, to us, that check engine light represents a multitude of problems that send most of us into a panic. That's the...

Upstarts like SpaceX might get most of the attention, but let's not forget that NASA -- you know, the folks who actually put 12 guys on the moon -- isn't done pushing to explore the heavens just yet. Case in point: the agency is working on a whopper...

ferrero rocher & nutella cupcakes ©

via http://www.tumblr.com/likes

via http://www.b3ta.com/board/8037522

Has a nail polish been developed that can detect the presence of date rape drugs?

peterfromtexas:

Anti public urination sign in the Czech Republic

Heads-up: if you're holding on to an HP or Compaq laptop sold between September 2010 and June 2012, you may need to swap out its power cord. HP has recalled the cabling for about 6 million of these older portables (5.6 million of which reached the...

Yes, people, this isn't a dream. What you see above is, indeed, a 3D-printed castle. After working on it for a few months, an architect from Minnesota has now finished building a fancy home made out of 3D printing materials. The man behind it, Andrey...

A number of countries are starting to change those outdated rules on the use of personal electronics on flights, with some places taking slightly longer than others. The latest to follow suit, in a gadget-friendly list mostly comprising of US-based...

Hannibal Buress on peer pressure. [via]

lizclimo:

good thinkin

We're sorry to break the bad news, but that 5TB hard drive you bought last week? Yeah, it's already obsolete. Seagate has started shipping the first-ever 8TB desktop hard disk, doubling the 4TB capacities that seemed huge just a couple of years ago....

[anythingcomic]

via http://www.marioandrei.com/

Since Comcast announced it would be buying Time Warner Cable, we’ve brought you story after story highlighting the various reasons that the merger should be stopped. But for all the thousands of words, charts, graphs and maps we’ve used, none has summed up the reason for blocking the merger than a recent quote from a former Kabletown staffer.

The Verge’s Adrianne Jeffries has written a compelling and thoughtfully researched piece that anyone even vaguely interested in this topic should read.

But it’s a closing comment from a former Comcast billing systems manager who left the company in 2013 that puts the cherry on top:

“This is not getting bigger to provide cheaper service, or economies of scale, or to provide better service,” the onetime Comcast staffer explains. “This is getting bigger for the sake of bigness. This is really like, ‘I own 10 Subway stores and now I want an 11th one.’… Well, if your 10 Subway stores have Cs from the health department, I don’t know if you should get an 11th one. Maybe you should work on getting them cleaned out.”

That’s a message that every FCC commissioner and every antitrust investigator at the Justice Dept. should have pinned to their cubicle wall.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today published a report calling for a ban on the use of electronic cigarettes indoors, as well as restrictions on e-cigarette advertising and sales to minors. The report also calls for regulations on the contents of e-cigarettes and raised concerns over the interests of major tobacco companies, which have begun to command a greater share of a market that saw $3 billion in sales last year.

Today's report comes two days after the American Heart Association (AHA) weighed in on the debate, saying in a statement that e-cigarettes could be used to help people quit smoking. Health experts are divided on the benefits and potential pitfalls of using e-cigarettes, with some saying they could save lives by turning people away from traditional cigarettes, and others warning that they could "renormalize" smoking and encourage youths to pick up the habit. But both the AHA and WHO agree that stronger regulations are needed, with each organization raising concerns over how the products are marketed. The AHA also said that they should be regulated under existing rules for tobacco products.

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"not merely water vapor"

In its report, the WHO called for a ban on fruity- and candy-flavored e-cigarette products that may appeal to minors, and that their "e-liquids" should be regulated to "minimize content and emissions of toxicants." It also suggested that governments regulate the health claims that some manufacturers are making in the absence of strong empirical evidence, and recommended bans on vending machines in most places. The organization added that e-cigarettes expose non-smokers and bystanders to nicotine, and that evidence suggests that their emissions are "not merely water vapor" as many believe.

The report was published as part of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international public health treaty that came into effect in 2005. Since then, 179 countries have ratified the treaty, with the US standing as a major exception.

Well, it's official: following a drawn-out Senate voting process, California governor Jerry Brown has signed his state's smartphone kill switch bill into law. Companies wanting to sell handsets in the state now have to include a remote disabling...

As it promised, Netflix has filed a petition to the FCC demanding that it deny the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner. The 256-page document claims that it would result in "serious public interest harm," and no discernible public benefit...

Oh, that? It's just a robot riding across the English countryside on a 1/3-scale model of a hoverbike. The folks at Malloy Aeronautics are hard at work on a similar full-sized vehicle for humans, but as part of its Kickstarter effort to raise funds...

For Mono Monday this week, a fantastic smile captured in a portrait by Nicola Battistini led us on a journey for more black-and-white photography taken in Thailand. From street market scenes to majestic temples, the Southeast Asian country has much to offer.

To take part of this weekly series, please feel free to share your best monochrome photos by: titling your photos with #MonoMonday or tweeting your Flickr images with #MonoMonday.

Thanks to everyone who participated last week.

We first got word that Volkswagen's e-Golf would finally make its debut in the States last year, and now there's a more precise arrival date. The VW EV is set to hit the road in the US this November with a pre-tax credit ($7,500) sticker price of...

Between Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV, TiVo, Xbox One and Playstation 4, our entertainment centers are getting pretty crowded. Who even has room for all those remotes? Thankfully, though, there are a number of apps and devices that can turn your...