Mark Rober is taking his glitter bombs to the next level and actually used one to catch and arrest a phone scammer. At this rate it’s only a matter of time before we see a video of him using a glitter bomb to stop Kim Jong-un’s reign in North Korea.

Keep going for the full, satisfying video.

Source: Geekologie – Glitter bomb used to catch and arrest phone scammer

This is footage from a fireworks stockpile that exploded in a residential home yesterday in Ontario, California.

Two people were killed when the large fireworks stash exploded in the inland Southern California community, setting off a series of blasts and sending a towering smoke plume over the neighborhood. Smoke continued to waft from the neighborhood early Wednesday morning as authorities continued to search a debris field that covered about 80 properties.

Investigators were waiting early Wednesday to search the properties, which are being cleared by bomb technicians. Team members are using robots when necessary to handle possibly unexploded ordnance.

This wasn’t like some industrial fireworks factory explosion. Basically some people had a stockpile of illegal fireworks in their home and the whole thing exploded. Obviously people need to make a living and people were killed in the incident so this is terrible, but what were they thinking? It’d be like owning a gas station and keeping barrels of gasoline in your bedroom.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – Fireworks stockpile explosion caught on video in Ontario, California

The highest rated chess player of all time, Magnus Carlsen, played one of the worst possible opening moves dubbed the Bongcloud Attack in a recent tournament against fellow grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.

When Nakamura saw the stupid move, he couldn’t stop laughing and matched Carlsen’s stupid play beat for beat. The two chess champions laughed themselves silly while the commentators stammered in shock: Both men had deployed the Bongcloud Attack, one of chess’ worst possible opening moves.

It’s called the Blongcloud Attack because it’s a move so stupid only somebody high off their mind would actually come up with it.

As a meme opening, the Bongcloud Attack goes against basic principles of chess strategy. White blocks the diagonals for the bishop and queen and loses the ability to castle, putting the king in danger. Other openings in which either player makes an unorthodox king move within the first three moves have also been dubbed the Bongcloud.

Both of them had already qualified for the next round so they were just messing around, but it’s fun to see super high level people goofing like this. And by “goofing like this” I mean deploying my own personal chess strategies which have netted me a negative Elo rating. Didn’t know negative Elo ratings were even possible? I don’t like to brag, but they weren’t until I came around.

Keep going for the video clip of the two grandmasters cracking up.

Source: Geekologie – Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen plays ‘Bongcloud Attack’ meme opening in tournament

To promote classic movies on its streaming service, HBO Max has created modern trailers for some classic movies including Alien and Gremlins among others. Their heart is in the right place, but unfortunately this basically means every movie gets spoiled because modern trailers are godawful. Seriously. Like don’t watch any of these if you haven’t already seen the movie.

For comparison, I included the original 1979 trailer for Alien so you can compare the two. The original is terrifying and disorienting without spoiling anything whereas the modern one basically shows every important and surprising scene and even includes clear shots of the alien which the movie deliberately hides for almost the entire running time. Also, apparently I’m the oldest person on the planet because Training Day is a classic film now. How is 2001 twenty years ago? That…can’t be right. This must be a weird Tenet type scenario.

Keep going for all of the trailers, including ones for Casablanca, Free Willy, and more. You can also watch the entire HBO playlist here.

Source: Geekologie – HBO Max created modern trailers for classic movies

There’s been a Deepfake Tom Cruise TikTok account that’s been going viral and the creator has finally come forward as Belgium VFX specialist Chris Ume.

“You can’t do it by just pressing a button,” says Ume. “That’s important, that’s a message I want to tell people.” Each clip took weeks of work, he says, using the open-source DeepFaceLab algorithm as well as established video editing tools. “By combining traditional CGI and VFX with deepfakes, it makes it better. I make sure you don’t see any of the glitches.”

To get the effect he also hired Tom Cruise impersonator Miles Fisher, so this kind of thing probably wouldn’t work if you just used a random person off the street. I mean, unless you were trying to convince the world Tom Cruise had completely let himself go and was now just a guy eating leftover nachos out of the microwave.

Keep going for the full video breakdown of his process as well as an episode of Sassy Justice, another deepfake video series that Chris works on.

Source: Geekologie – Tom Cruise deepfake creator finally comes forward

Researchers have discovered that a sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body days after being separated from its body.

Three days after the head of an Elysia cf. marginata sea slug separated from its body, the head remains active, creeping around. The body, while also still alive, is more sluggish. It eventually will die, while the head will grow a new body, heart and all.

First of all, what kind of research is this? Are there researchers just decapitating animals seeing if they can regrow bodies? The findings are neat and all, but these “researchers” need to be on some sort of watchlist. I mean, I tried conducting my own decapitation research and I was given prison time so I’m not sure what makes these “scientists” so different from me. Sure, my research was conducted in my basement with soundproof walls but science is science.

Keep going for the full video of the sea slug’s head crawling around on its own or read the whole paper here.

Source: Geekologie – Researchers discover a sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body

This is insane video of a live Zoom court hearing where the abuser was discovered to be in the same apartment as the victim thanks to the quick thinking and observational skills of the prosecutor. Prosecutor Deborah Davis notices the victim looking around suspiciously and calls it out, and then what ensues is a dumbass abuser trying to lie his way of the situation. It’s just another one of those weird things that could only happen during the pandemic and though not as hilarious as the lawyer who turned himself into a cat, it’s just as satisfying.

Keep going for the full video. The prosecutor notices and comments about it at 7:45 and the payoff occurs at 13:30. If anything, it’s worth watching just for the prosecutor’s well earned look of satisfaction.

Source: Geekologie – Abuser revealed to be in same apartment as victim during live Zoom court hearing

What do you think of when you hear “jazz popcorn robot”? Obviously a “robot” that plays jazz music using popcorn. And that’s exactly what this is. Robotic musician Moritz hooked up a drum set to popping popcorn and let heat do the rest. The sad (great?) thing is how much it sounds like an actual jazz set.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – This guy made a jazz popcorn robot

Banksy took footage from Bob Ross’ Joy of Painting show and dubbed it over a rare behind-the-scenes video of Banksy creating his latest work in Reading, Berkshire titled “Create Escape.”

The expansive and unblemished prison wall was a daring and perfect spot for a Banksy piece. It’s best known for its most famous inmate: Oscar Wilde served two years in the prison from 1895-1897 for the charge of “gross indecency” for being gay. The work is clearly a tribute to the poet, as the escape mechanism appears to be a long strand of paper emerging from a typewriter in place of the usual bed sheets. Wilde recounted aspects of his imprisonment in the poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” which centers largely on the execution of Charles Thomas Wooldridge.

It’s neat and all, but I can’t help but feel it would’ve been even more impressive if Banksy had just done an actual Bob Ross painting on the prison wall. All of the political meaning would be lost but, I mean, Bob Ross.

Keep going for the full video and some stills of the finished piece.

Source: Geekologie – Banksy created a Bob Ross-narrated behind the scenes video

SpaceX “successfully” landed a high altitude test flight of their Starship SN10 Wednesday morning and it was so incredibly done it looks like CGI. Like so much like CGI if it wasn’t SpaceX you would 100% think this was faked footage.

Similar to the high-altitude flight tests of Starship SN8 and SN9, SN10 will be powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude. SN10 will perform a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.

I put “successfully” in quotes because although it stuck the landing, it did eventually blow up about 8 minutes after landing while sitting still on the landing pad. It’s unclear what caused the explosion, but I’m assuming it decided to celebrate its own accomplishment by turning itself into a giant firework.

Keep going for the full incredible test flight as well as footage of the explosion later. Skip to the landing at 11:40 and tell me it doesn’t look like it came out of a low budget sci-fi movie.

Source: Geekologie – SpaceX “successfully” lands Starship SN10 and it looks like CGI

This is a great short by Russian animator Lazy Square, giving us a portrait of his 30 year life condensed into 30 seconds. Although as lovely as it is, I can’t help but feel personally attacked right now. Sure, I could close my laptop and climb a mountain, but I could also look at a picture of a mountain on the internet so…pretty tough decisions all around.

Keep going for the full video as well as some other gems of his work including a Russian art film version of The Simpsons opening and a rejected Nike ad.

Source: Geekologie – 30 years of my life in 30 seconds

Vlogger Aaron Vankampen has a series of videos where he goes around to expensive houses with opulent cars in the driveway and knocks on the doors to ask the owners what they do for a living. The incredible part is that these lunatics actually answer the door, during a pandemic, to a stranger with a camera pointed at their face. And they’re rich. My apartment makes Oscar the Grouch look like a multi-millionaire and even I wouldn’t open my door to a stranger for fear of being robbed.

Keep going for the full video as well as some other videos in the same series.

Source: Geekologie – Asking expensive home owners what they do for a living

Wesley Liao trained an AI to learn to play QWOP using reinforcement learning and imitation learning and it managed to achieve a top 10 speedrun.

QWOP is a simple running game where the player controls a ragdoll’s lower body joints with 4 buttons. The game is surprisingly difficult and shows the complexity of human locomotion. Using machine learning techniques, I was able to train an AI bot to run like a human and achieve a finish time of 1:08, a top 10 speedrun.

If you’ve ever played QWOP (you can play it here), you know how frustratingly difficult it is. Like creator Bennett Foddy’s other game, Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy, it was designed to punish the player into wanting to kill themselves so it’s only fitting somebody designed an AI to kill it first. It’s kind of like the plot to The Terminator if The Terminator was stupid and I knew how analogies work.

Keep going for the full explanation video or read the writeup here.

Source: Geekologie – AI learns to Speedrun QWOP and sets top 10 time

This is a video of an unexploded WW2 bomb being intentionally detonated in Exeter, UK after it was discovered by workers on Friday.

WW2 bomb gets detonated in Exeter in a controlled explosion. The bomb was discovered by workers yesterday which resulted in 2600 homes being evacuated and a no go cordon of 400m being set up. Well done to the Royal navy bomb disposal team and the huge manpower that co-ordinated the evacuation. I’m very fortunate not to live in a war zone.

We have self-driving cars and can send rovers to Mars, but when it comes to getting rid of old bombs the best we can do is just have them go off. You’d think there’d be a technological solution by now besides, “Let’s just explode it.”

Keep going for the full video as well as a drone shot. It already looks massive in the video, but the drone shot makes it look even more ridiculous. It’s crazy these things were and are just being dropped all over the place because people can’t get along.

Source: Geekologie – Unexploded WW2 bomb intentionally detonated in Exeter, UK

This is a video of a clam trying to walk and flicking its foot out, freaking out the woman in the background who clearly does not trust what she’s looking at at all. That’s the face of a woman who has watched Alien and isn’t taking any chances. Also, the guy is spouting out a lot of wrong information, but the only thing you really need to know is that this is a clam and the wiener-looking thing it sticks out is its foot. Unlike the wiener-looking thing the guy on the subway sticks out. That thing is most definitely not his foot and you should call the police.

Keep going for the full video, as well as a a video of a clam “walking” along a beach.

Source: Geekologie – Clam freaks out a woman when it sticks out its foot

In incredibly sad news, electronics retailer Fry’s Electronics has gone out of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday they had a surprise firing of all of their employees followed by an announcement today that they’ve permanently closed.

After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry’s Electronics, Inc. (“Fry’s” or “Company”), has made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Company will implement the shut down through an orderly wind down process that it believes will be in the best interests of the Company, its creditors, and other stakeholders.

Fry’s has been a staple of my younger years since it was one of the few places you could simultaneously buy motherboards as well as a vacuum cleaner and porn. Some of their stores also had ridiculous themes like a 1950’s monster Fry’s, an Alice in Wonderland Fry’sone, and even a Tiki’s Fry’s. Why an electronics store would be Alice in Wonderland or Tiki themed is anyone’s guess, but they’ll be sorely missed.

Source: Geekologie – Fry’s Electronics has gone out of business

Daft Punk posted this video on their YouTube channel on Monday and most people correctly suspected it meant they were breaking up. Their publicist confirmed the breakup, though it was pretty obvious from the video itself. I mean, it’s hard to imagine a duo staying together after one literally blows up the other.

Keep going for the full video. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Tron: Legacy soundtrack to play on loop for the next two months.

Source: Geekologie – Daft Punk has broken up

NASA released footage from the Perseverance Rover’s cameras during its descent and touchdown on Mars and it’s some of the most incredible footage I’ve ever seen in my life. That might even be an understatement.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission captured thrilling footage of its rover landing in Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. The real footage in this video was captured by several cameras that are part of the rover’s entry, descent, and landing suite. The views include a camera looking down from the spacecraft’s descent stage (a kind of rocket-powered jet pack that helps fly the rover to its landing site), a camera on the rover looking up at the descent stage, a camera on the top of the aeroshell (a capsule protecting the rover) looking up at that parachute, and a camera on the bottom of the rover looking down at the Martian surface.

The audio embedded in the video comes from the mission control call-outs during entry, descent, and landing.

The clarity of the video is shocking and awe inspiring. I was expecting the grainy two frames per second stuff we’re used to, but did they attach a damn IMAX camera to the rover? My god, I cannot overstate how impressive this footage is. This was filmed on Mars! MARS! There are people walking around today who still insist the Earth is flat and in the meantime smart people sent back crystal clear footage from another planet. Footage so incredible you could say it’s *puts on sunglasses* out of this world.

Keep going for the full video. It is a must watch and seriously one of the most impressive videos I’ve ever seen in my life. Maybe I’m just extra sentimental today but I cannot get over it.

Source: Geekologie – NASA released footage of Perseverance Rover’s descent and touchdown on Mars

This is an incredible video of the most embarrassing package theft in history, where not only did the thief not get the package, he also got stuck in a snow bank during the getaway before being arrested by police. It’s also the most Canadian video ever, where the thief is wearing a mask to be socially responsible and the victim even offers to get a shovel to help clear the snow. The only way it could be more Canadian is if the thief was wearing a hockey jersey and the guy filming was sipping some Tim Hortons coffee.

Keep going for the full video. I feel like the embarrassment of the situation might actually be worse than jail time for the guy.

Source: Geekologie – Package thief gets stuck in snow bank during “getaway”

Shortly after takeoff from Denver to Hawaii, United Airlines Flight 328 experienced an engine failure when the right engine’s inlet separated. The engine ended up catching on fire and debris fell to areas outside Denver.

A United Boeing 777-200, registration N772UA performing flight UA-328 from Denver,CO to Honolulu,HI (USA) with 229 passengers and 10 crew, was in the initial climb out of Denver’s runway 25 when the right hand engine’s (PW4077) inlet separated associated with the failure of the engine. The crew declared Mayday reporting an engine failure. The aircraft stopped the climb at about 13000 feet, the crew requested to return to Denver after running the checklists.

And this was the view from the ground:

What I don’t understand is how the video is so steady and calm. If I was taking the video you would hear constantly screaming and there would probably be severe shaking every time more pee came out of me.

Keep going for the full video, as well as video of the plane safely landing with the busted engine. It’s a testament to modern engineering that the plane was able to fly so smoothly considering one of the damn engines was on fire.

Source: Geekologie – Video of United Airlines Flight 328’s engine on fire mid flight