Florida rides a double-edged sword.

On one side people proclaim it’s a great place to vacation. On the other side are the people who live there who are completely aware of the fact that it’s just wet sand covering a giant Hellmouth.

Seriously…the sky tries to kill people with bolts of lightning, the ground tries to swallow anything that lives on it whole and the things that crawl around aren’t like things that crawl around anywhere else.

Case in point…

A fisherman off the coast caught the Face-Grabber’s cousin the other day.

It’s called a Mantis Shrimp…and the one that was caught (at night we’d like to add) is bigger than most (and probably a sign that something’s also happening in Florida’s water because…well…it’s Florida).

Imagine if you rolled a predator, one of Ridley Scott’s aliens, a mole person, a little bit of a Grim Reaper and a highly skilled ninja into a living animal and slathered it in ugly.

Ta-Da! Mantis Shrimp.

Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission posted a picture of a super-sized one of these nightmares on their Facebook page and it’s gone viral with good reason…it’s terrifying and it lives in the sand…under your feet.

Next time you think about exploring Florida because you’re bored of the theme parks?

Just…here watch this and imagine one of these about 7 times the size of the one in the video…and crawling up your leg.

You’ve been warned.

[FFWC Facebook]

Created as a joint effort between SoftBank and French robotics company Aldebaran, Pepper a preciously adorable robot, was unveiled recently in stores throughout Tokyo.

The humans behind Pepper are hoping that everyone will want him to join their family in the very near future.

Pepper laughs, tells jokes, dances and probably quietly mocks us behind his adorable little face as he and his ilk develop their future plans.

Like a toddler or a pupper looking for a handout, Pepper constantly keeps eye contact with any human that he comes in contact with, can hold discussions about the weather and…stuff…and can do so in about 17 languages.

Determining the emotional status of humans via facial recognition and tone of our voices is another feature of the almost child-like metal man. Using algorithms and collected data from facial recognition studies, Pepper will seek to interact with humans in a way that will begin building the bridge across the vast ‘uncanny valley’ that exists right now between natural human behavior and robotically programmed behavior.
Looking to introduce him as a companion for seniors and as the gateway drug to having family service robots his price tag comes in under an affordable $2,000.
Masayoshi Son, Softbank’s CEO, stated during the press conference surrounding the unveiling of Pepper, “Several thousand Peppers are going to learn at the store (where the unveiling took place). Everything they learned and gained, is going to be accumulated into the cloud-based service. So that can be accelerating the evolution of the collective wisdom.”
Thousands of Peppers…connected in a hive-like mind.
Not too frightening, right?
He’s not even really mobile.
Until son added, “Our vision is to create an affectionate robot that can understand people’s feelings. Then autonomously, it will take action.”
Great.
Like when a bunch of silver, bipedal robots with glowing red eyes in the future autonomously ‘took action’?

[Above Science’s YouTube Channel]

PREORDER ANDREW MAYNE’S ANGEL KILLER ON AMAZON BEFORE SEPTEMBER 23rd

SpaceX tour report with the boys and Tom. Live from LA!

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Picks:

Brian:

The Leftovers

Justin:

SpaceX

Andrew:

Elon Musk SpaceX factory tour

Tom:

Friction Welding

PREORDER ANDREW MAYNE’S ANGEL KILLER ON AMAZON BEFORE SEPTEMBER 23rd

The boys discuss the impossible engine… spoiler it’s probably still impossible. Andrew finds a treasure trove of awesomeness in space. A preparation for the Weird Things field trip to SpaceX next week! A haunted house is explored with hilarious results.

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Picks:

Brian:

PG Porn

Justin:

Guardians of the Galaxy

Andrew:

Guardians of the Galaxy

A news crew was sent to do a story about an alleged haunted house that it set to be featured on a new show called the ‘Dead Files’.

From the sound of it, the whole crew seemed to have the what-could-possibly-go-wrong attitude.

What they didn’t expect is that the anchor woman would get pinched and touched and that the camera guy would get scratched by whatever might be lurking in the house.

There’s really not much to be snarky about…except for the studio employee that just had to lighten the mood by messing with the studio’s dimmer at the end of the clip.

There’s always THAT guy.

[WDJX.com]

Nope. That’s not some forgotten 80s rockstar up there in that photo.

That’s Braco. He’s a ‘healer’ like Benny Hinn is a ‘healer’. Except Braco, who’s from Croatia and whose name literally translates to ‘Bro’ in Croatian, has done away with that whole laborious process of actually talking and interacting physically with people. That’s for rookies.

He just stares at them with a gaze that might cause…uh…something…to happen to pregnant women specifically:

• Pregnant women are not allowed to live stream or attend a live event after their third month of pregnancy due to the intensity of the energy.

People come in droves, stand in an open space and wait for Braco to stroll out, stare at them until it’s completely awkward and uncomfortable and then just walks away. The guy never utters a word. He just stares at everyone.

Then walks away.

Braco’s gaze can be dangerous stuff, kids.

“…for other people who are not able to attend a session, it is recommended that you bring a photo of that person to a session instead. The power of Braco’s gaze can equally reach people through photos, and the same level of healing and transformation can occur through this method.”

Probably the coolest gig ever, right?

Just stare at people with your potential life-changing, pregnancy-damaging powers and then walk off when you get bored or sufficiently happy that everyone got a good look at your flowing hair of peace.

Not everyone is buying into the love that people surround Braco.

Some believe that he’s actually a reptilian in disguise.

Recently Braco has been making new fans in America and even though the video is super-dated, we expect we’ll be hearing more about everyone’s favorite silver-maned, awkward-stare-master and ‘bro’ in the very near future.

Find out for yourself if you can handle Braco’s stare here: Stare at me, bro!

[Lost at E Minor]

PREORDER ANDREW MAYNE’S ANGEL KILLER ON AMAZON BEFORE SEPTEMBER 23rd

We talk about SpaceX, AI murdering us, and Guardians of the Galaxy

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Picks:

Brian:

The Martian

Justin:

Guardians of the Galaxy

Andrew:

Guardians of the Galaxy

The video pretty much explains it all. Nick Menza, who used to play for MegaDeath before things got ugly between him and his bandmates, spotted something weird in the sky over his home and hit record.

“I was standing in my front yard with my two boys and this is what we saw. [It had] the shape of a triangular object with rounded tips glowing yellow and white. [I am] not sure what it is, but it looked totally awesome.”

Menza also added, in true I’ve-been-a-rockstar fashion that he’s privy to humankind’s origins:

“Before, back in the Stone Ages, like when we were just regular humans, we didn’t have brains in us and then the aliens came down and they intervened and they put brains in our heads and now we’re all smart and we’re starting to figure things out, ascending to the next level and a higher level of conscious awareness and that sort of stuff.”

He obviously never peruses People of Walmart…

Wait…maybe that actually explains People of Walmart!

[Blabbermouth.Net]

Anomalocaridids.

That’s the name for a bucket of strange insect-like creatures with terrifying pincers that crawled around on the ground billions of years ago and ate other, not-as-scary insect-like creatures with only semi-terrifying pincers that crawled around on the ground billions of years ago.

Chinese scientists have recently discovered the fossilized brain tissue of a group of animals called Lyrarapax unguispinus, a fun group of nasty creatures that have no modern day relatives save for a much smaller worm that isn’t quite as terrifying found in the tropics.

Dear scientists…just keep working on the cute, furry woolly mammoth. These don’t need to come back.

Ever.

[Washington Post]

Andrew return from the land of boiling roads, a massive hole erupts in Siberia and how to build your own VR rig for fun and profit.

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Picks:

Andrew #1:

Particle Fever

Justin:

Edge of Tomorrow

Andrew #2:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Using nanotubes, British scientists have created a material called VantaBlack that acts like a bunch of very, very tiny blackhole when it comes to light.

The material is so black that our eyes can’t discern any type of edges or features an object covered in the material might have.

We’ll leave the explanation to the scientists in the above video.

To get a quick grasp of just how light-sucking and black this material is? Take a look at the piece of aluminum in the photo below. The black portion of the foil is just as crinkled as the silver portion. Think about that.

And then think about what you might cover in VantaBlack…

Or what a top-secret government agency might cover in VantaBlack…

Or how many ninja might begin using VantaBlack.

[BGR.com]

Welcome to the future, kids. DARPA has just released video of its first actual test of EXACT (Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordinance) 50 caliber bullet.

Big deal, right?

Read that acronym again. Mainly the part that says ‘Tasked Ordinance’. EXACTO bullets are bullets that’ve been given instructions. Bullets that will come find their targets.

Here’s the write-up from DARPA’s site:

For military snipers, acquiring moving targets in unfavorable conditions, such as high winds and dusty terrain commonly found in Afghanistan, is extremely challenging with current technology. It is critical that snipers be able to engage targets faster, and with better accuracy, since any shot that doesn’t hit a target also risks the safety of troops by indicating their presence and potentially exposing their location.

The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) system seeks to improve sniper effectiveness and enhance troop safety by allowing greater shooter standoff range and reduction in target engagement timelines. The objective of the EXACTO program is to revolutionize rifle accuracy and range by developing the first ever guided small-caliber bullet. The EXACTO 50- caliber round and optical sighting technology expects to greatly extend the day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems. The system combines a maneuverable bullet and a real-time guidance system to track and deliver the projectile to the target, allowing the bullet to change path during flight to compensate for any unexpected factors that may drive it off course.

Technology development in Phase II included the design, integration and demonstration of aero-actuation controls, power sources, optical guidance systems, and sensors. The program’s next phase includes a system-level live-fire test and technology refinement to enhance and improve performance.

That just about covers it.

The phrase ‘Dodged a bullet” is about to become a thing of the past.

[Topless Robot]

Meet Otonoroid (the more stately female android on the right) and Kodomoroid (the awkward android on the left).

Unveiled in Japan as part of a future museum exhibit asking, “What is human?”, these two androids are accessing news stories in real time and delivering them to the audience. Not only can Kodomoroid ‘read’ the incoming news reports, she can translate them from various languages and read them aloud in other languages.

Who needs live human newscasters who require bathroom breaks, hair and make-up and can only work for a measly few hours before they get tired and need rest? Networks who buy news-reading androids and have a labor budget to swing under…that’s who.

As awkward as this demonstration is, it’s an interesting sign as to how robots are slowly becoming more and more integrated into our public lives.

While it all seems innocent and even a ‘cute’ demonstration of some oddly moving animatronics, it’s when Kodomoroid says something that should illicit a little, “Aw, Hell no!” from many of us human folk that we’re reminded of the possibility of a frightening robot-run future:

“My dream, when I grow older, is to have my own TV program. If you hear about a newscaster job, please, let me know.”

[DesignBoom]

Goblins terrorize Africa in the most rockin’ way possible. Anthrax is loose, how could this happen! Chick Pox lollipops are all the rage. Who were the first Americans? Why are we tribal? It’s all explained in a new Weird Things podcast.

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Picks:

Brian:

The Story of the Human Body

Andrew:

Beyond Amazing Science Pop Up Book

Justin:

World Cup / June 17th 1994

A couple from Birmingham, England were visiting the infamous Alcatraz in San Francisco when something strange caught their attention.

“Whilst doing an audio-tour of the place, I casually stopped to take a snap of the empty visitation block window on my iPhone. When I glanced at the photo on my mobile, I saw this dark female figure in the picture. I looked at the window again and there was no-one in the room. I knew straight away that the woman in the photo was a ghost and showed the snap to Paul.”

Paul, the woman’s companion during the visit, was also a little weirded out by the image:

“I have no logical explanation for the girl in the picture – I’m baffled by her! It’s funny because she’s staring right at the camera, with a knowing look. I was really skeptical about ghosts before but I’m a bit more of a believer now. I do think that the woman in the photo is a ghost.”

[SFGate.com]

Most people won’t ever go skydiving because the idea of tossing yourself from a plan at the ground is terrifying to those people. For those people, the added notion that someone is going to beat them senseless on the way down is even more of an incentive to just scratch it from their bucket list forever.

Urijah Faber, a UFC fight star, has become the main character behind Full Contact Skydiving.

And it’s just like it sounds. Two people jump out of a plane and beat one another as they plummet toward the ground.

Sounds like a good time, right?

Most people seem to think it’s a viral marketing campaign for…um….something. The videos have been around for almost a year but there’s no evidence supporting the fact that it’s an ad campaign of any type.

Everything seems to be just like it claims.

You fly up in a plane, trash talk your opponent on the way, jump out and back up your claims on the way to the ground like a couple of superheroes…or complete idiots.

[Complex]