The gondolas take riders 415 feet in the air and drop them back to Earth at 90 mph. What's more it's a ride within a ride.
Mrdesplaines
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16 Sep 21:20
The World’s Largest Lunch Box Museum
by EDW Lynch
Allen Woodall, owner of The Lunchbox Museum, gives a guided tour of his collection of more than 2,000 vintage lunch boxes, thermoses, and related memorabilia in this Cool Hunting video. According to Woodall, his Columbus, Georgia-based museum is “the largest lunch box museum in the world.”
via Cool Hunting
06 Sep 21:50
The FLIP Research Vessel Can Tilt 90 Degrees in the Water
by EDW Lynch
The 700-ton RV FLIP may look like it is sinking in this video, but it is actually transitioning from a horizontal ship to a vertical research platform. The FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) is designed to be a steady platform for ocean research, with all but 50 feet of its 354-foot length underwater while in vertical mode. The California-based ship is owned by the Office of Naval Research and has been operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography since 1962. For more on FLIP check out this article on Ship Technology.
photo via Scripps Institution of Oceanography, video via U.S. Navy
06 Sep 18:55
This Terrifying 'Twerk Fail' Is Proof That Twerking Is Bad For You
by Neetzan Zimmerman
06 Sep 17:39
Hitting Cosplayers in the Face With a Microphone at Dragon Con 2013
by Justin Page
At Dragon Con 2013, comedian Greg Benson of Mediocre Films walked around the conference while going up to and hitting cosplayers in the face with his microphone. The cosplayers all thought that they were going to participate in a friendly Q&A session, but Greg thumped that idea out of their masked heads very quickly. Previously, we wrote about Greg and his similar prank where he hit famous YouTube stars in the face with his microphone at VidCon 2013.
Here is a bonus video where Greg hits even more unsuspecting cosplayers with his microphone:
04 Sep 22:50
Melting a Colorful Tower of Crayons With a Red Hot Ball of Nickel
by Kimber Streams
A red hot ball of nickel melts its way through a colorful tower of wax crayons and then boils the bowl of melted wax in this video by Carsandwater. Previously we’ve written about several other red hot nickel ball experiments.
via Digg Videos
04 Sep 18:08
Mesmerizing Video of Water Moving Inside a Double Glazed Bus Window
by EDW Lynch
In this oddly mesmerizing video by Andreas Roedl, water trapped between the panes of a double glazed bus window sloshes in curious ways as the bus moves through Sassnitz, Germany.
04 Sep 17:43
The Cabazon Dinosaurs as they appear today.
Pee-Wee Herman's Dinosaurs Are Actually a Creationist Museum
by Jamie Lee Curtis Taete
The Cabazon Dinosaurs as they appear in Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
The Cabazon Dinosaurs are a couple of giant concrete dinosaurs located out in the desert near Palm Springs, California.
They're best known for their appearence in the movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but have also been featured in Paris, Texas, Fallout: New Vegas, and the video for the song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."
You may have also heard of them described as "those big dinosaur things you go past on the way to Coachella."
The Cabazon Dinosaurs as they appear today.
The dinosaurs were built back in the 60s by a former Knott's Berry Farm model sculptor named Claude K. Bell as a roadside attraction to attract people to his restaurant. However, after Claude's death, they were sold to a group who turned them into a creationist museum.
I decided to take a visit last week.
The theories put forth are all fairly standard creationist-museum stuff: evolution isn't real; God created everything, etc., etc.
As always with these type of places, the "facts" are presented in dense, impenetrable blocks of text. Like the sign pictured above, which contains easy-breezy sentences like: "Evidently a tectonic event fluidized an unconsolidated sand deposit."
Presumably they do this in the hopes that people won't spend too long picking apart what they're saying, and just assume that the point they're making is true.
This museum differs from other creationist museums in one major way, though. As they believe that dinosaurs probably still exist. Here's why:
-The Loch Ness Monster, which is actually a plesiosaur, was spotted 52 times in 1933 alone.
- In 1910, the New York Herald ran an article titled, "Is a Brontosaurus Roaming Africa's Wilds?"
- A missionary once met two pygmies in a church in Congo who told him they had killed a Mokèlé-mbèmbé, which is kind of like Congo's version of the Loch Ness Monster.
*Deep breath*
- Back in 2005, a paleontologist named Mary Higby Schweitzer found some T. Rex bones that contained evidence of intact structures like blood vessels 'n stuff. "Can soft tissue, ligaments, and blood remain fresh after millions of years?" a sign at the museum asks, "The answer is undoubtedly no."
- Some ancient stones called the Ica Stones were found in Peru in the 60s that had drawings of dinosaurs etched on them (the internet tells me they also had etchings of people doing open heart surgery on them and are almost certainly forgeries.)
- In 1907 a colonel of the British Army named Percy Fawcett claims to have seen a diplodocus on the border of Brazil and Peru.
CASE CLOSED
The $7.95 entry fee also gives you access to a nature-walk-type thing with a bunch of dinosaur models.
Dotted among the dinos are other, more contemporary animals. Cuz, y'know, Noah's Ark 'n shit.
There are a couple of activities for kids there, too. Like the "Dino Dig."
Which is perfect if you have the kind of kid who enjoys excavating pieces of actual shit.
You can also go inside the T. Rex, like Pee-Wee Herman does in the movie.
But if you thought you could enjoy this piece of nostalgia uninterrupted, you'd be wrong: a sign inside the T. rex explains that cavemen are just like you and me: "Neanderthals were simply a race of stocky humans. However, imaginative artists have consistently rendered them as stooped "ape men."
And, apart from a totally superfluous second gift shop, that's pretty much it. A bunch of (honestly quite shitty) concrete dinosaurs and some computer printouts about Jesus that you have to pay $7.95 to see.
If I'd paid for it myself (rather than VICE paying for me), I would be feeling pretty ripped off right about now.
On the plus side, at least this place doesn't pose too much of a threat to more traditional, sane sources of information, like every natural history museum in the country or the young-adult novelization of the movie Jurassic Park.
Though, according to these super depressing posters they have dotted around the place ("One Day!"), the museum plans to expand into a giant "destination spot" that will have tons of things to do, like "some type of water amusements, a dig pit, an amphitheater of some sort, a museum, and a video arcade for starters."
They predict that this destination spot will be so popular, it will require TWO hotels to house all of the visitors.
But if the quality of this dino trash can that's currently gracing their museum is anything to go by, I don't think they'll be reaching their expansion for quite some time.
Previously:
I Got Saved at San Diego's Creationist Museum (Just Kidding, it Sucked)
04 Sep 17:18
Monkey in a Tiny Green Coat Hops Around in the Snow
by Kimber Streams
A monkey bundled up in a little green coat and warm pants hops around the snow in this cute video.
video via Svetlana Akishina
04 Sep 17:17
Robber Picks the Absolute Worst Liquor Store Clerk to Hold Up
by Neetzan Zimmerman
03 Sep 22:35
Dashcam Records a Car Nearly Being Crushed by a Huge Boulder in a Landslide in Taiwan
by EDW Lynch
Mrdesplainesho lee fuk
Last week a car traveling along a rainswept road in Taiwan was struck by a landslide and nearly crushed by a massive boulder in this astonishing dashcam video captured by fellow motorist Lai Hong-Wei. If you watch the top of the hill at the 0:03 mark you can see the boulder begin to fall down the hillside. According to Lai, the driver and passenger escaped with only minor injuries.
via Digg
03 Sep 22:22
19th Century Fore-Edge Paintings Are Hidden on the Pages of a Book
by EDW Lynch
Colleen Theisen of the Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Iowa recently posted some fantastic 19th century paintings that are hidden on the fore-edge of books (known as fore-edge paintings)—in order to see the paintings, the pages of the book must be fanned. The paintings posted by Theisen are from an 1837 four-volume series on the seasons by Scottish author Robert Mudie.
via Colossal
30 Aug 20:44
Nose Straighteners and Vibrating Nose Contraptions From Japan
by Kimber Streams
The Hana Tsun Nose Straightener and the vibrating Beauty Lift High Nose are two contraptions from Japan that claim to be able to improve the shape of your nose. The Hana Tsun Nose Straightener — “hana” means nose in Japanese and “tsun” means to perk or stick up, according to Japan Trend Shop — claims that it will “help balance and push up the bones and contours of your nose” giving it a sharper, straighter shape after using it for 20 minutes per day. The magenta Beauty Life High Nose aims to firm and shape the nose by applying “gentle electronic vibrations from the bottom, side, and front” for three minutes every day. Previously, we posted about the Face Slimmer Exercise Mouthpiece from Japan.
images via Japan Trend Shop
29 Aug 23:17
Mei the Cat Fights Windshield Wipers From the Dashboard of a Car
by Kimber Streams
Mei the cat plays with moving windshield wipers and gas station employees wiping down the windshield with cleaning cloths in these funny videos by ayapanyan.
firehose likes this
29 Aug 20:31
Ethan Schlussler built this clever bicycle-powered treehouse elevator to make it easier to reach his nearly 30-foot-high treehouse. "It was originally a 20-something speed bicycle, but first gear wasn't slow enough, so I cut the large sprocket off the front, and welded it on the rear to get a lower gear. I also had to do away with the de-railers and make a new chain tensioner," he writes.
Bicycle-Powered Treehouse Elevator
by Laura Cochrane
Ethan Schlussler built this clever bicycle-powered treehouse elevator to make it easier to reach his nearly 30-foot-high treehouse. "It was originally a 20-something speed bicycle, but first gear wasn't slow enough, so I cut the large sprocket off the front, and welded it on the rear to get a lower gear. I also had to do away with the de-railers and make a new chain tensioner," he writes.
29 Aug 20:22
Pug Excitedly Spins Around in Circles and Barks When ‘Kitty Cats’ Are Mentioned
by Kimber Streams
In this cute video, a pug excitedly spins around in circles and barks when its owner mentions “kitty cats.”
video via Petsami
firehose likes this
29 Aug 20:21
Inside Action Park, The World’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park
by EDW Lynch
Action Park’s short-lived loop water slide.
Seth Porges of Mashable examines Action Park, a notoriously dangerous New Jersey amusement park, in the two-part feature “Inside the World’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park” (part 1 and 2). The park opened in 1978 and thrilled visitors with its risky rides and lax rules. By 1996, a recession paired with mounting legal costs from personal injury lawsuits forced the park’s closure. The feature was co-produced with Dailymotion.
29 Aug 16:41
'Burglars' Break Into Store by Mistake, Leave Money on the Counter
by Neetzan Zimmerman
Mrdesplainesnah right.
When the owner of a Buddy's Small Lots in Wayne, New Jersey, received a call from police that her store had been broken into, she immediately feared the worst.
28 Aug 22:12
How To Test Alkaline Batteries To See If They’re Good
by Rusty Blazenhoff
Mrdesplainessickk!
Without using a multi-meter, bajarider1000 describes a method to test alkaline batteries to see if they’re still good by simpling dropping them on their end from a short distance. To note: we can’t find any source to validate this method of testing.
via NIMBY
28 Aug 21:08
Customer Fined $500 for Swallowing Human Toe in Canadian Bar
by Taylor Berman
An American man was fined $500 Saturday night after he swallowed a beloved human toe belonging to a Canadian bar.
28 Aug 20:41
This Scimitar-Wielding Shawarma Vendor Is Insanely Good at His Job
by Neetzan Zimmerman
28 Aug 20:29
Bald Eagle Crashes Into Window as Crowd Chants 'USA! USA!'
by Neetzan Zimmerman
Mrdesplainessad.
A special spirit day at Oral Roberts University took a tragicomical turn last week when a bald eagle released into the school's Christ Chapel by a professional handler crashed into a window just as students began chanting "USA! USA!"
28 Aug 18:47
Compilation of Funny & Awkward Answers by TV Game Show Contestants
by Rusty Blazenhoff
In this compilation video, television game show contestants from a variety of shows spit out some pretty funny and sometimes completely awkward answers.
video via theSeanGshow using footage from Stupid Gameshow Answers and Atomic Wedgie
27 Aug 23:22
Forget your noisy truck, ATV, or dirt bike — you can quietly get to your favorite hunting or fishing spot without alerting nearby critters to your whereabouts with the Realtree...
Visit Uncrate for the full post.
Realtree x Cogburn CB4 Hunting Bike
Visit Uncrate for the full post.
    
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27 Aug 16:13
This Is the NYPD's Secret Spy Cab
by John Cook
In Enemies Within, the new book from Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman on the NYPD's indiscriminate and probably illegal spying program, reference is briefly made to a "real yellow cab, complete with an authentic taxi medallion registered under a fake name" used by the department's intelligence division to conduct surveillance operations. This is that cab.
27 Aug 00:08
This Is the Moment One Man Realized His Homemade Zipline was a Bad Idea
by Neetzan Zimmerman
Mrdesplainesthe audio.
"We just made it up, red-necking it, I guess," Larry Snyder of Federal Way, Washington, told KING 5 News, referring to his homemade zip-line.
26 Aug 22:02
What Kind of LSD Did Steve Jobs Take?
by Brian Anderson
What Kind of LSD Did Steve Jobs Take?