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Tech News
So You Want To Launch Your Own Outerwear Brand
10 years ago, Alan Yiu watched as clients of his family’s Vancouver garment factory sent their business to China. So, he launched his own outerwear brand — Westcomb. This is how he did it and what he learned along the way. Unless you’re a serious outdoor athlete, you probably haven’t heard of Westcomb. I hadn’t, … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
Portland Is Trying to Stop an Oil-Drilling Ship With Kayaks and Canoes
If you want to stop a giant oil company from drilling in the Arctic, you have a few options. A large group of Portland residents are currently forming a blockade to prevent one of the oil company’s ships from getting to the Arctic. And they’re doing it with kayaks. The Greenpeace-organized protest, which is known … Continued
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Tech News
Can You Identify This Microscopic Image?
This is not a photograph of a reptile’s skin. Can you figure out what it is? Here’s the full electron scanning microscope image with a scale bar. Any guesses? The answer is after the photo. Chanomphalus pilsbryi shell under a scanning electron microscope. Image credit: A. Thompson/USGS This is a what a snail shell looks … Continued
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Tech News
Building the World’s Largest Floating Object, In GIFs
A few months ago, The New York Times sent a photographer to South Korea to photograph the world’s largest floating object. It took him hundreds of shots to capture the behemoth. Now, its makers are giving us a closer look at building of the ship. The object in question was Prelude, a skyscraper-sized natural gas … Continued
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Tech News
Explore the Deck of the Largest Floating Object Ever Created
No one knows quite what to call the Prelude, the floating behemoth that Shell engineered to extract natural gas from below the ocean floor and liquify it for use. It’s hard to describe Prelude because it’s so much bigger than any other floating structure humans have ever built—which is also what makes it difficult to … Continued
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Tech News
Lego ends Shell partnership after Greenpeace campaign
The Guardian is reporting that Lego will not renew the US$100m marketing contract with Shell, which has existed since 1966, after sustained pressure from Greenpeace. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the Cheif Executive of Lego commented: We continuously consider many different ways of how to deliver on our promise of bringing creative play to more children. We … Continued
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Tech News
Lego will end its Shell partnership in light of Greenpeace activism
Greenpeace’s long protest against Lego over its association with Shell seems like it’s finally paid off: Lego have announced that they do not intend to renew their agreement with the energy company when the current deal expires. Greenpeace have been holding Lego-themed protests this year to highlight the brand’s association with Shell and to protest … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
This is the now the largest ship in the world
Behold the Prelude! She’s now floating in the sea after leaving its South Korean dry dock for the first time. The ship is larger than the Empire State Building and it will be used for Shell’s liquified natural gas operations in Western Australia.
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech NewsSploid
Watch a crab climb out of its old shell like a mutant
Crabs are red alien water tarantulas who regenerate like mutants. Just look at this crab literally climb out of its old shell and toss away that used exoskeleton like it’s a dirty pair of pants. So gross but so cool. I kind of wish I could shed skin like this. It’d probably be the most … Continued
By Casey Chan -
io9
260-million-year-old fossil reveals the evolution of turtle shells
Turtle shells are truly remarkable structures. As embryos, turtles’ bones begin to fuse, as ribs, shoulder bones, and vertebrae merge together to form the hard outer shell. That’s an incredible evolutionary adaptation, and the Permian fossil Eunotosaurus helps explain how turtles got their shells. Tyler Lyson, a researcher at Yale University and the Smithsonian, has … Continued
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Tech News
How Is This Raw Chicken Egg Standing Whole Without Its Shell?
What kind of sorcery is this? How is this egg standing whole without its shell? Apparently, the inner membrane—the thin layer that you can see stuck to the hard shell when you boil an egg—is strong enough to hold it without breaking its shape. But how can you do this? According to author Biswarup Ganguly—an … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
io9
Hermit crabs are the animal kingdom’s most dickish neighbors
Most of the time, hermit crabs live up to their names, keeping to themselves and refusing to socialize with each other members of their species nearby. But sometimes hermit crabs hang out… and they’re invariably total assholes to each other. About a dozen hermit crab species live on land, and it’s these terrestrial species that … Continued
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io9Movies
Lego Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Official Collection, People!
This one was pretty high in my Stuff From the 80s That Urgently Needs the Lego Treatment list, almost tied with Mario and Donkey Kong.* At last, the Danish company has released a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set collection! It’s going to have many sets, but the first one has been shown at New York … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
Malfunctioning Cake Ruins Party and Spews Liquor All Over Oil Tycoons (Updated: Fake)
Sea-raping mega-oil firm Shell has a new rig to launch, and like any enormous company, it decided to celebrate with a private party atop Seattle’s Space Needle. The crown jewel? An oil rig-shaped cake which sprays liquor! Into your face. This video was captured by a sneaky environmentalist who crept into the fete uninvited—as you … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Stay Warm and Dry With The Pocketable Ghost Anorak
Seasoned hikers know what it’s like start with a sunny day at the trailhead and walk into howling rain at the summit. Next time you venture out, grab the Ghost Anorak and shove everything you need in your pocket. The Ghost Anorak from Mountain Hardware is a water and wind resistant ripstop nylon shell that … Continued
By Kelly -
Tech NewsApple
Cathode Puts The Sex Back In Terminal Emulators
Twenty bucks for a terminal emulator when there’s already a perfectly serviceable one on your Mac? Secret Geometry’s “Cathode” makes a good case for itself. It can look like nearly any terminal on any old flickering CRT monitor. OSX-only Cathode is chocked full of class. Not only can you tailor each and every mode to … Continued
By Joel Johnson -
io9
Strange bioluminescent snail can turn into eerie shade of green
A tiny sea snail known as the clusterwink snail has one of the strangest abilities in the animal kingdom. The snail can create a ghostly green light, then use its shell to scatter the light beam all over its shell. The snail seems to use its bioluminescence as a defense mechanism, as recent experiments revealed … Continued
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Tech News
Shell Wants to Build the Longest Vessel Ever to Skim the Water’s Surface
Let’s put that into perspective, shall we? The Titanic was 269.1m in length; famous cruiser QE2 was 293.5m and the Mayflower was around 33.5m. Shell’s proposed 468m-long ship is more like an island—minus the peg-legged drunks (hopefully). All that hinges on this floating behemoth being built is whether the Australian government gives it the thumb’s … Continued
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Tech News
Japanese Chalk is Dustless, Day-Glo and Uses Scallop Shell Waste
Dustless chalk has been around for a while, but Nihon Rikagaku’s developed a new kind of chalk made from crushed-up scallop shells which reduces dust but manages to maximize the intensity of the colors. Chalk these days is positively day-glo. Apparently it’s the crystals in the scallop shell powder that holds the chalk together, with … Continued
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Tech News
Student-Built “Black Widow” Racer Gets 2,752 Miles Per Gallon
Engineering students at the California Polytechnic State University are showing off the updated Black Widow, their entry for the upcoming Shell Eco-Marathon contest, and it involves some unusual numbers: 3 (wheels); 3 (horsepower engine); and 2,752 (miles per gallon). The team has been working on the vehicle since 2005, and with each successive year they’ve … Continued