For the third year in a row, Mark Rober has created a Glitter Bomb to ruin the day of package thieves. Each Glitter Bomb has gotten progressively more sophisticated, addressing any issues with the previous iteration. This time he included all the same glitter/fart spray/etc., but added a mechanism to prevent the thieves from putting the lid back on and stopping all the fun.

It’s an impressive feat of engineering, though seeing all the kids in the backgrounds of these videos makes me kind of sad, as does seeing how a lot of these people live. Is sweet, sweet justice supposed to make me feel yucky? Maybe it’s just all this glitter and fart spray that I’m covered in.

Keep going for the full video. The thought and care he puts into designing the box might actually be more satisfying than seeing the thieves’ reactions.

Source: Geekologie – Engineer creates glitter bomb to mess with package thieves

Turkish design firm Dahir Insaat came up with this anti-earthquake bed concept and it’s more terrifying than any actual earthquake. It’s actually a few different designs but they all revolve around the same idea of dropping and sealing you in a tiny steel coffin. Because obviously instead of being shaken awake so I can take cover I’d rather live out my worst nightmare of going to sleep and then waking up in a tomb.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – This concept for an ‘anti-earthquake bed’ is more terrifying than any actual earthquake

Joaquin Baldwin made this time-lapse music video where he lip-synced “Better Days” by Radical Face while his facial hair changed throughout lockdown.

Timelapse animation music video, with my beard growing through Covid lockdown. Using my face as a stop-motion puppet (a technique called pixilation), I took 2,117 individual photos, every night, over 101 days, and synchronized the actions to the song “Better Days” by @Radical Face (used with permission).

All these people working on incredible projects during lockdown and all I’ve been working on is my diabetes. As in getting it. Look, if the grocery store didn’t want me to buy all of their Oreos then they should’ve put a limit on them like toilet paper.

Keep going for the full video as well as one explaining the process of making it.

Source: Geekologie – This guy made a time-lapse lip-syncing video while his facial hair grew

That guy who keeps stacking Jenga pieces on a single vertical piece? Well he’s at it again, this time managing a whopping 1002 pieces. The previous record was held by his friend with 518, but Menga has since destroyed that puny number with a mind boggling 1002. And it’s not like he’s just placing them on either. He’s arranging them to look like a work of art. His stack looks like it was designed by an architect, whereas if I attempted this it would look like a haphazard pile with glue leaking out the cracks.

Keep going for the full time-lapse of the stack. For anybody doubting the authenticity, he knocks the whole thing over at 1:32.

Source: Geekologie – That Jenga guy stacked 1002 pieces on a single free-standing vertical piece

After 50 years, three amateur codebreakers managed to crack the Zodiac Killer’s unsolved 340-character cipher. They made a breakthrough on December 3rd and then by December 5th had completed cracking the cipher and sent the solution to the FBI. The entire video explaining the methodology is interesting, but if you don’t feel like watching it the Zodiac Killer’s message says:

I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME
THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW
WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME
I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER
BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER
BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME
WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE
SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH
I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS
LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH

Before hailing the Zodiac Killer as some sort of cryptographic wizard, keep in mind it’s always easier to create a cipher than cracking it. For example, if I write “BOOBS” and then throw away the key I’ve now created an uncrackable cipher. What ever could I have been trying to say? What mysterious message was I conveying through my maze of cryptographic genius? Nobody but me will ever know.

Keep going for the full video explaining how they managed to finally crack the cipher.

Source: Geekologie – Codebreakers have finally cracked the Zodiac killer’s cypher

The SpaceX Starship SN8 prototype had its first successful high-altitude test flight yesterday, though it came in a little too hot during the landing and ended up exploding. And yes, despite exploding, this was considered a rousing success:

Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2020

According to SpaceX, here’s the purpose of the test flight:

“This suborbital flight is designed to test a number of objectives, from how the vehicle’s three Raptor engines perform, and the overall aerodynamic entry capabilities of the vehicle, including its body flaps, to how the vehicle manages propellant transition.”

Keep in mind this thing is also 165 feet tall (50 meters) so basically the size of a building. They launched a building, flew it 12 km, and then almost landed it. The thing even hit their landing target before exploding. It’s a testament to how far SpaceX is reaching that a giant rocket exploding can be considered a success. This isn’t like tripping while walking to get your mail, it’s like tripping over the finish line after completing an Iron Man Triathlon.

Keep going for the full video of the entire test flight including the explosive landing.

Source: Geekologie – SpaceX Starship explodes during attempted landing after successful test flight

This is a leaked photo which reportedly came from a 2018 document prepared by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) which is the US defense department’s group that investigates UFOs.

The photo itself is said to be considered “Unclassified and For Official Use Only,” however, because the image and accompanying report were shared on a secure Intelligence Community network, the officials we spoke with would only acknowledge it under strict conditions of anonymity. […]

According to officials The Debrief spoke with, the photo appears to be the same as one referenced in our previous reporting, described as an “unidentified silver ‘cube-shaped’ object” encountered by military pilots as it hovered motionlessly over the ocean. It appears evident that the image was captured by the backseat weapons systems operator of what appears to be an F/A-18 fighter jet.

I certainly can’t identity it so I guess it qualifies. People have speculated it’s a dropsonde, but experts have shot down the theory, saying:

“In regards to the photo, while the image of the object is not clear, it certainly does not look like a dropsonde,” Hock told The Debrief, “because there are no signs of a dropsonde below the object where the object could potentially be a parachute, and it does not have the right shape.”

“Dropsonde are dropped into hurricanes over water, not over military bases,” Hock added. “A dropsonde decent is ~15 m/s, thus it would be very brief for a pilot to see and there would obviously need to be an aircraft above the Navy aircraft which could be confirmed with ATC.”

Cool, but is listing what it isn’t really the best way of going about this? Because I can do that too. It isn’t a car. It isn’t a whale. It isn’t a cheeseburger. I should be a licensed UFO-ologist.

Source: Geekologie – Leaked government photo of a UFO

This is a video of bike messenger Cooper Ray and videographer Terry Barentsen (the guy behind the camera) making their way around NYC traffic. You know that movie Premium Rush starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt where the premise of the movie is that he doesn’t have brakes on his bike? Well this is that:

What makes Cooper’s riding style even more amazing, is he does not have any gears or brakes on his bike.

When it comes to braking, I’ve seen Cooper jump off the bike and slow down on foot, also I have seen him use his foot on the back wheel like a brake, but otherwise he just keeps riding.

Also the bike Cooper is riding is a track bike made for racing at a velodrome, it is a fixed gear bike with no brakes and no freewheel. Which means the rear wheel drives the pedals, so as long as the bike is moving the pedals are turning.

This is obviously super dangerous for Cooper but it actually makes things more dangerous for other non-insane cyclists. The general idea behind road safety is predictability and this guy is the opposite of that. It’s easy to avoid something going in a straight line, it becomes much more difficult when the thing starts swerving and not following rules and being a general menace to everybody around them. Cool video though.

Keep going for the full video that probably infuriates “normal” cyclists everywhere.

Source: Geekologie – Bike messenger makes his way around NYC traffic without brakes

I’m still not sure this isn’t an SNL sketch, but Lifetime released a trailer on their official channel for a movie that defies all description. Imagine every melodramatic Lifetime movie, but now throw in Colonel Sanders. From KFC. As in Kentucky Fried Chicken. As in the guy with the ridiculous facial hair from the fast food fried chicken chain. Oh, also he’s played by Mario Lopez. I’ve suspected for years, but Lifetime may have lowkey become our preeminent comedy channel.

Keep going for the trailer for A Recipe for Seduction. Oh yeah, it’s also called A Recipe for Seduction. Assuming this is real and not a comedy bit, it premieres this Sunday on Lifetime.

Source: Geekologie – Lifetime just released a trailer for an heiress love triangle backstabbing Colonel Sanders movie

Chinese MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong gained prominence in 2017 for exposing “fake kung fu” in China and obviously fake kung fu people in China got angry. Not realizing his fake kung fu wouldn’t work in an actual fight, self-proclaimed tai chi master Chen Yong challenged Xu to a fight which finally happened on November 28th. Obviously the tai chi master ended up tapping out after ten seconds, but not after blaming the sun and the, uh, ground:

Explaining why he lost to Xu, Chen said in a video he was “blinded by the sun” and literally blamed the floor.

“The moment I stepped into the cage I realized the ground was so soft. I have been practicing for a year on hard surfaces, soft surfaces inhibit tai chi,” he said in a video translated by the Fight Commentary Breakdowns channel on YouTube. “The power and force that comes from tai chi can’t be found on soft surfaces.”

Xu said that he “agrees” with Chen’s explanation and welcomes another fight if he is paid an appearance fee.

I feel like the point you abandon your crazy beliefs in your fake fighting style is before you enter a cage with a trained MMA fighter. Obviously I sell my own personal line of self-defense videos to the unsuspecting masses, but I would never actually step into a cage with Jon Jones because I’m not an insane person. I’m just a guy who doesn’t know how to fight but loves money.

Keep going for the full video (fight starts at 27:30) as well as another one of him taking out a wing chun “master”.

Source: Geekologie – Tai Chi master challenges MMA fighter and the fight ends in 10 seconds

Artist and software designer Jinjin Sun digitally painted herself into 100 famous works of art. She started the project in 2018 and completed her final 100th piece last week.

Here’s her first piece from April 25, 2018:

V late but starting #the100dayproject as a subset of #dailyjinportait2018! My 100 days will be #100daysofarthistoryjinjins, for day 1 I give you the Jinjin Lisa pic.twitter.com/62OHxpRLRZ

— Jinjin (@jinjinxsun) April 25, 2018

And her last piece from December 2, 2020:

*deep breath*
*drumroll*
IT IS DONE. 100 master copy self portraits under #100DaysOfArtHistoryJinjins. Started April 25, 2018. Ending TODAY on December 2, 2020! Closing out with the Mona Lisa herself, by Leonardo da Vinci. pic.twitter.com/TgHH3RS3IL

— Jinjin (@jinjinxsun) December 3, 2020

I have a similar project, only instead of painting myself into famous works of art I Photoshop myself into all of my friends’ pictures. Just because you didn’t invite me doesn’t mean I can’t be part of the fun! *sob sob* I’m so alone.

Keep going for some more of her work. You can view pieces 1-50 here and pieces 51-100 here.

Source: Geekologie – This designer painted herself into 100 famous paintings

To kill time in the final minutes of their game against Werder Bremen, Stuttgart’s striker Silas Wamangituka took his sweet time getting the ball in the goal when he was left with a wide open net. He ended up getting a yellow card for unsportsmanlike behavior, though it seems uncalled for since the ball was still in play and all he really did was, well, nothing. He just played really, really slowly. That seems fair. It’s the same way I play basketball against my 5-year-old nephews. It’s not my fault they can’t stop me from stomping over their heads and dunking in slow motion.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – Cheeky soccer player makes brutally slow goal

Just in time for the holidays (or not quite since they won’t arrive until after December 25th), Microsoft has released three Windows “Ugly Sweaters” with designs based on MS Paint, Windows XP, and Windows 95. I’m not sure why they’re calling them “Ugly Sweaters” though, since they’re all exceptionally beautiful. They cost $69.99 each, but that seems like a bargain to look like Clippy had too much eggnog and threw up all over you.

Keep going for the other designs. You can pre-order them on the official Xbox site here.

Source: Geekologie – Microsoft has released three Windows ‘Ugly Sweaters’ for the holidays

YouTuber close personal acquaintance made this video parodying what every episode of The Mandalorian is like. I mean, he’s not wrong, but I also don’t even care. I’ll take Mr. Mandalorian doing endless side quests for as long as Disney will give it to me. My drug is Baby Yoda and I’ll do whatever it takes in whatever back alley to get my fix. Looking for a good time? I’ll show you a good time. Just give me some of that Baby Yoda.

Keep going for the full accurate video, as well as the full version of the theme song he recorded for his video. It’s terrible but in a terrible way.

Source: Geekologie – This is what every episode of The Mandalorian is like

The famed Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was being decommissioned after two cable failures in four months, but engineers had not figured out a way to safely demolish the telescope in a controlled manner. Well things took care of themselves on Tuesday when the telescope collapsed in an uncontrolled structural failure after additional cables snapped. The whole thing was caught on camera by a drone that was doing an inspection as well as by the observatory control room.

The iconic telescope is probably best known for showing up in movies like GoldenEye and Contact. The whole situation kind of sucks but at least nobody was hurt and we got some pretty cool footage to show for it. Unlike the time I accidentally lit my apartment on fire while making a TikTok video but turns out my phone wasn’t even recording so instead of getting any cool footage I just became homeless instead.

Keep going for the full video, as well as a video syncing the two sources up. I also included the scene from GoldenEye where they also destroy the Arecibo Observatory, but with way more explosions.

Source: Geekologie – The Arecibo Observatory collapsed on Tuesday and the whole thing was captured on video

Because why not, here’s Jonathan Frakes asking you things for 47 seconds. It’s either a compilation from Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction or it’s a toddler simulator for parents. Then again, if my toddler had the magnetic charm of Jonathan Frakes I wouldn’t keep him tied to a tree all day.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – Jonathan Frakes asking you things for 47 seconds

Ryan Reynold’s production company Maximum Effort made this ad for Match pairing Satan up with 2020. It’s obvious when you think about it, but you didn’t think about it because you’re not Ryan Reynolds and nobody paid you a ton of money to make a commercial about it. Anyhoo, it’s fitting and it’s good, and the guy they got to play Satan has almost as much muscle as I do.

Keep going for the full video. 2020 has been great.

Source: Geekologie – Ryan Reynolds made an ad for Match that paired Satan with 2020

Eric Ord animated this beautiful music video as a tribute to all the video games he played growing up. I’m not a super old fogey so I didn’t recognize all the Atari titles, but other than that his list matches up pretty closely with mine. The only discrepancy I noticed was a severe lack of Japanese dating sims.

Keep going for the full video. It’s a music video so obviously works better with audio.

Source: Geekologie – This guy made a beautiful animated tribute to video games he played as a child

This is a video of mathematical artist Inigo Quilez breaking down how he made a procedurally generated graphic of a girl taking a selfie. Even if you don’t understand everything he’s saying (you won’t), the step-by-step explanation is weirdly soothing and engrossing. I think I understood about 3% of what he was saying. Mostly the part where he says, “Hi, I’m Inigo Quilez.” After that it’s pretty much a soothing confusing haze. It’s a testament to his presentation skills that I watched the entire thing despite not understanding anything he was saying. Look, if I wanted to understand math I would’ve paid attention in class instead of being too stupid to understand math.

Keep going for the full video. You can play with the editable real-time rendering code here.

Source: Geekologie – Step-by-step breakdown of how to paint a selfie girl with math

On Sunday, David Chang became the first celebrity to win $1 million for charity on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Although to be fair, his phone-a-friend should be getting all the credit here. I’m with Chang in that I didn’t even know Benjamin Harrison was a president. If I had been his phone-a-friend I would’ve told him it was was trick question because none of those people were presidents and that the correct answer was George Washington because that guy was definitely a president.

Keep going for the full video as well as Norm Macdonald’s infamous performance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Also, they didn’t highlight it in the video but the charity he was playing for was the Southern Smoke Foundation which is a crisis relief organization for people in the food and beverage industry.

Source: Geekologie – Chef David Chang becomes first celebrity to win a million dollars for charity on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire