In case you just awoke from your coma, there’s currently a war being waged against Wall Street and the weapon of choice is Gamestop stock. Obviously you’re sick of hearing about it and have already made up your mind about how you feel about it, but here’s a video of Interactive Brokers chairman and founder Thomas Peterffy admitting on live TV that they halted the purchasing of Gamestop stock yesterday to protect themselves and the people who would lose money, aka the hedge funds who have shorted Gamestop.

In layman’s terms, he’s saying they allowed bad people to make bad trades, and now he’s worried those bad trades are going to lose money for the bad people as well as himself so they stopped people’s ability to make the trades that would hurt them. The anchors even gave him a chance to correct himself and he doubled down on his statement because he’s an out of touch billionaire who doesn’t even realize what he’s saying makes him sound bad. It’s like if Hannibal Lecter walked into a room and started telling everybody how much he loves eating people and then is surprised when people start looking at him weird.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – Interactive Brokers chairman admits to market manipulation on CNBC

This is a video of a phone battery exploding after a man in China bit into it. If you’re looking for a reason why he did it, none was given beyond, “He likes to put things in his mouth.” Seriously.

“I’m the person involved,” she wrote. “…I haven’t been disfigured; thanks for your concern. He didn’t [bite the battery] because he wanted to test its authenticity; actually my partner just has the habit of putting things into his mouth and nibbling on them. I’m okay, just my bangs were burnt a little bit. My first reaction was ‘Are my eyebrows okay?'”

She added that the battery her partner had bitten into wasn’t a genuine iPhone battery.

Look, I like to eat phone batteries as much as the next person, but I save that kind of stuff for the privacy of my own home. Also, don’t eat batteries. You’ll die. Also they’ll make you fat.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – Phone battery explodes after a man bites into it

Last night Tony Hawk posted a video of him pulling off probably his last 720 at the age of 52.

I can’t say for certain that this is the last one I’ll ever do, but I can’t imagine doing many more. So I’m offering this board to raise money for public skateparks: donate any amount to @thenineclub superchat 1/27 7pm PT (on YouTube), & you’ll actually be donating to @skatepark

— Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) January 27, 2021

He’s 52 and still able to do a 720. When I was 52 I could barely get out of bed. Wait, how old am I? Where am I? Who am I? Okay, somebody bring me back to the retirement home now.

Keep going for a video of Tony Hawk pulling off a 900 when he was 48 years old, 17 years after he completed the world’s first 900.

Source: Geekologie – Tony Hawk completes probably final 720 at the age of 52

theninjacowboy made a compilation of his favorite locations in Microsoft Flight Simulator and it might be more soothing and beautiful than actually traveling to those places. Microsoft did an incredible job here, and if I didn’t know it was from a video game I would’ve assumed it was real. Now if only somebody could bring this lifelike realism to a virtual girlfriend. The pandemic has not been kind to me. And by pandemic I mean nature, because boy am I ugly.

Keep going for the full soothing video.

Source: Geekologie – Compilation of favorite locations in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Last year, UCLA gymnast Nia Dennis gained attention when she performed a floor exercise to Beyonce and scored a 9.975. Well on Saturday she pulled out another amazing performance, scoring a 9.95 to clinch the win for the Bruins against Arizona State.

Obviously her floor exercises are going viral because they’re non-traditional, but they’re also really, really good. Although how are the judges differentiating between scores like 9.975 and 9.95? Can you really tell when something is 0.025 better than something else? That’s 2.5%. I mean…I guess her toe was a little more bent when she jumped that one time so let’s deduct 1/100th of a point?

Keep going for the full routine as well as the one that went viral from last year. Turns out this Nia lady is pretty good at dancing around and flipping.

Source: Geekologie – Nia Dennis’ incredible 9.95 floor exercise

This is a video of six-month-old baby giant panda Fu Bao being super clingy with a zookeeper in South Korea.

Fu Bao, the first Chinese giant panda born in South Korea, made her official public debut on January 4, according to the zoo.The baby panda’s parents, seven-year-old female Ai Bao and eight-year-old male Le Bao, arrived in 2016 from China’s Sichuan province, the home of giant pandas, as part of China’s “panda diplomacy”.

The original video posted by Everland zoo last month has over 4 million views, though I suspect it’s fake, because how could anybody ever walk away from this cutie pie! I just wanna squish her and cuddle her and never leave her ever. At the end the zookeeper just walks away and leaves her all alone and nobody could ever be that cruel so obviously there’s some deepfake shenanigans going on here.

Keep going for the full adorable video.

Source: Geekologie – Baby panda won’t let go of zookeeper

Speaking of AI used an AI model trained on Homer Simpson’s speech patterns to synthesize his voice over the Pickle Rick scene from Rick and Morty. The result is pretty damn convincing and at this point they could probably just fire all the voice actors on The Simpsons since there’s more than enough data to create near perfect AI copies of them.

If nobody told you this was an artificial voice I doubt anybody including Dan Castellaneta would be able to tell the difference. He’d probably just assume he forgot he recorded the weird scene in The Simpsons where he’s suddenly a pickle and also in a completely different show.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – Using AI to transform Pickle Rick’s voice into Homer Simpson’s

In case you weren’t aware, there is currently a trailer for a movie in which somebody says the phrase, “Kong bows to no one” and in that same trailer King Kong sucker punches Godzilla in the face. So, yeah, Godzilla vs. Kong is guaranteed to be both the best and worst movie of 2021.

Keep going for the full trailer. The movie will be released sometime in 2021 (maybe, who knows?) in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time.

Source: Geekologie – Here’s the trailer for ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’

The internet works inhumanly fast, and less than 24 hours after Bernie Sanders sitting at the Presidential Inauguration became a meme, nick_sawhney put together a site that lets you add Bernie to any location using Google Photos.

I made a website where you can put bernie in places using google maps street view. Enjoy!https://t.co/UfY5g9xU2k pic.twitter.com/8rstiEXOHf

— nick (@nick_sawhney) January 21, 2021

Obviously I put in the address of the White House and this was the result:

It’s not as nuanced as some of the Photoshops that have been floating around, but it’s pretty effective for something where you just type in an address. Kind of like that creepy stalker private investigator I hired. I just send him an address and he sends me a bunch of that person’s used socks. Hey, don’t judge. I’m not stealing the socks. I’m only sniffing them.

You can check out the Bernie Sits site here.

Source: Geekologie – A site that lets you add Bernie Sanders sitting to any location on Google Maps

This is a video of Finnish origami artist Juho Könkkölä (his Instagram) folding a single sheet of paper into a samurai. Some people call it origami, I call it magic. I can’t even being to imagine how you design something like this. Even with instructions it would be impossible, but to create it from scratch is just, I mean, I can barely even get my paper airplanes right.

Keep going for the full video as well as some process photos of his most recent origami samurai. It has real “rest of the owl” vibes, because it goes from some crinkly paper to a damn samurai and I can’t even picture the in-between steps. I’m assuming he buys a samurai figurine and then secretly papier-mâchés it?

Source: Geekologie – Folding a paper samurai from a single sheet of paper

Ever wondered how they make a chicken quesadilla at Taco Bell? Of course not, but here it is anyway. There’s nothing really surprising going on here because this is a chicken quesadilla, not a Coq au Vin from The French Laundry. I guess the most surprising part is they cut the quesadilla inside the wrapper. Probably to keep the cutter clean but also maybe because they want to maximize the amount of plastic you’re eating.

Keep going for the full video that probably got this kid fired because all of these corporations are dumb like that.

Source: Geekologie – How to make a chicken quesadilla at Taco Bell

This guy spent $5,000 on a piece of rough opal, gambling if it would turn out to be a green-blue stone or be worthless and riddled with sand. Turns out it was actually a 6.42-carat gem black opal worth $36,000.

I can’t believe what a wild ride this opal took us on. I went from hopeful about cutting a lovely blue-green stone to absolutely shattered thinking that I paid $5,000 for sand.

After an absolute ripper of a journey, we uncovered a stunning 6.42-carat gem black opal. This gems pattern is unreal with Cats Eye, Chaff, Flagstone and a little glimpse of Script Pattern. The orange came over the whole stone with a beautiful N2 body tone and B5 vivid brightness.

The insane gem uncovered today was a total gamble; blue-green opal rarely turns into a fiery orange, and we were fortunate to witness it. I’m shaking from the emotional rollercoaster this piece just put me through, but I’m so happy you could join me in uncovering this gem black opal.

Anyway, here’s a 25 minute video of him polishing the stone and making the discovery. Although at the end of the day, a polished rock is still a rock. It’s crazy that somebody might actually end up spending $36,000 on this when they could be spending it on something more worthwhile like cool Fortnite upgrades.

Keep going for the full video. It’s long.

Source: Geekologie – Guy spends k on a rough opal and polishes it into something worth way more

User micah made a bot that turns Reddit comments into scenes from the video game Ace Attorney. You can add !objection-bot to any Reddit comment thread and the bot will automatically create a Streamable video with the Ace Attorney results. It’s pretty great, and for some reason people having dumb internet arguments becomes much more tolerable when it’s in the form of Ace Attorney. Now somebody just needs to somehow apply this to real life, maybe transcribing everything that comes out Washington DC into Ace Attorney scenes.

Keep going for the a video explaining the bot and showing some examples.

Source: Geekologie – This guy made a bot that turns Reddit arguments into Ace Attorney

I submit to you Exhibit A of how you know the pandemic has been going on for too long. This guy built an incredible Portal themed maze for Captain Hamster to escape and it looks like it was built with more care and craftsmanship than my house. Also, it’s clear this hamster has better problem solving skills than anybody in my gaming group.

Keep going for the full video. It’s as impressive as it is adorable. Also, I guess there’s a whole trend on YouTube of people building elaborate mazes for their pet hamsters.

Source: Geekologie – Hamster escapes Portal-themed maze and the cake is not a lie

The finest known copy of 1940’s Batman No. 1 sold for $2.22 million at a Heritage Auction on Thursday.

The issue, the sole copy ever to receive a 9.4 grade from the Certified Guaranty Company, was already a record-setter before the start of Heritage Auctions’ four-day Comics and Comic Art event. A week before the Jan. 14-17 auction even began, Batman No. 1 crossed the $1.53-million mark, besting the previous world record set for a Batman title in November when Heritage sold 1939’s Detective Comics No. 27 for $1.5 million.

The book shattered estimates and expectations long before it was sold during the first session of the four-day event. It has seen more than two dozen bids since Christmas and accrued tens of thousands of pageviews worldwide; more than 700 Heritage clients also kept close tabs on its progress as it made its way toward the auction block.

This issue of Batman No. 1, featuring the debuts of the Joker and Catwoman, is now the most expensive comic book ever sold by Heritage Auctions.

The current record for a comic book is Action Comics No. 1 (the first appearance of Superman) which sold for $3.2 million on eBay in 2014, so at $2.2 million this issue of Batman is a total bargain. At this price I can only assume the buyer is purchasing it to use as toilet paper since supermarkets have put a limit on how much can be bought.

Source: Geekologie – Finest known copy of Batman No. 1 sells for an insane .2 million

Because LEGO knows I’m both losing my mind and terrible at taking care of plants, they’ve released a LEGO Bonsai tree as part of their LEGO Botanical collection. The set costs $49.99 and includes 878 pieces. Now all somebody needs to do is design a LEGO therapist for me to talk to. I drew a face on a broom but it’s just not cutting it. Mostly because I started dating Broomy and it would be unethical for her to stay my therapist.

Keep going for a video of the LEGO designer Niko explaining his creation. He looks 100% like the kind of guy that would design a LEGO Bonsai Tree. I mean, except that he’s not Japanese. So, uh, he looks 100% what you’d expect a white guy who designed a LEGO Bonsai tree to look like. I’m pretty sure if the camera panned down under the table you’d see him kicking a hacky sack.

Source: Geekologie – LEGO has a calming Bonsai Tree set for people who suck at plants

The VOC-25 is a 25-note sampler synthesizer made out of chattering teeth by Swedish artist Love Hultén.

VOC-25 is a conceptual vocal synthesizer based on the Axoloti Core and 25 sets of plastic teeth, each set representing a unique note on the keyboard. The three-part wooden setup echoes the look of a classic desktop computer including monitor, main console and keyboard. RAW vocal audio samples are fed into the main console via USB, creating a personal voice bank. There are two built-in effects, reverb and delay. The Axoloti board inputs MIDI via the 25-key keyboard, but it also outputs MIDI. These signals are converted to DC current via control boards located inside the monitor segment. The custom-built boards direct the “choir” – 25 individual solenoids, each one connected to a set of hinged teeth. The setup can be used standalone with its built-in speakers, but it also outputs mono in the back, and using external monitors is a good way to reduce mechanical noise.

I, too, am a fan of instruments made out of body parts. It’s why my music teachers deemed me too avant-garde for my time and also why I’m typing this from jail.

Keep going for the video of the VOC-25 in action, as well as the original design by Simone Giertz that inspired the creation.

Source: Geekologie – A conceptual vocal synthesizer made out of chattering teeth

In the first episode of Jeopardy! without Alex Trebek, guest host Ken Jennings said a few words in honor of the late host. Ken Jennings always seemed like the obvious choice to take over the hosting position after his legendary run, but this just solidifies it. Clear, concise, and just the right amount of sincerity to get me choked up without crying himself. And then the absolute perfect segue to actually get the game going. I’ll take, “What is the perfect way to honor Alex Trebek for $1,000.” And then I’ll take an actual $1,000 because I’m poor.

Keep going for the full video.

Source: Geekologie – Ken Jennings honors Alex Trebek in his first episode as guest host of Jeopardy!

This is a 7 minute compilation of first-person POV shots from professional parkour team STORROR. They get bonus points for the smooth transitions and extra bonus points for the running and jumping over things and then even more extra bonus points for the stuff that isn’t even parkour, just standing around really high, scary places.

Keep going for the full video. I have vertigo now and have to go throw up.

Source: Geekologie – Compilation of insane first-person POV parkour

The folks at Google used the power of AI to create a cakie (cake/cookie) and a breakie (bread/cookie) recipe.

We started off by collecting hundreds of cookie, cake and bread recipes. Then we converted all of their ingredients to ounces and whittled them down to a few essential ingredients (yeast, flour, sugar, eggs, butter and a few other things). Next we did a bit of reorganizing, since according to Paul Hollywood, treats like banana, zucchini and pumpkin bread are really more cake than they are bread.

Then we used a Google Cloud tool called AutoML Tables to build a machine learning model that analyzed a recipe’s ingredient amounts and predicted whether it was a recipe for cookies, cake or bread.

Our model was able to accurately tag breads, cookies and cakes, but could also identify recipes it deemed “hybrids” — something that’s, say, 50% cake and 50% bread, or something that’s 50% cake and 50% cookie. We named two such combinations the “breakie” (a bread-cookie — “brookie” was already taken) and the “cakie” (a cake-cookie) respectively.

This seems like an awful lot of work when they could’ve just used my personal recipe for a cakie: buy a cake, buy a cookie, and then eat them both at the same time. I don’t have a breakie recipe, because why would you eat bread when you can eat cake?

Keep going for the full recipes and a video of their results.

Source: Geekologie – Using AI to create baking recipes