Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Hey, so what happened to Starman? 

It’s been nine months since we saw SpaceX’s heroic space suit-clad mannequin cruising through space in a Tesla Roadster.

On Feb. 14, we watched Starman disappear into deep space, after being carried carried into orbit by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which launched its maiden flight and landed two of its three main boosters back on Earth — we were there.

And now, he’s made it past Mars.

According to a diagram tweeted by SpaceX on Monday, Starman is reasonably close to Mars, but beyond its orbit.

More about Mars, Tesla, Roadster, Starman, and Science

Good news everyone: Toki the snake has been reunited with his family after he was accidentally donated to Goodwill. Whoops! 

Toki the snake had been missing for six whole months before he eventually turned up at the local Goodwill in Fort Worth, Texas. His owner, Austin Pair, left him in his covered tank with plenty of food when they vacationed in Hawaii. When Pair came back, Toki was gone.

“I had to kind of makeshift a lid for it,” Pair told the Star-Telegram. “He’d gotten out before, so I’d taped it, reinforced it, put weights on it — but he pushed the light fixture over and disappeared.” Read more…

More about Snakes, Wholesome, Culture, and Web Culture

Have you ever tried to buy a gift for the man in your life only to discover that all the internet can recommend is knives? This is not that gift guide. 

This gift guide takes an expansive view of masculinity, one that tries not to place your dad in the dreaded Man Box. This masculinity is cultivated. Worldly. Not entirely reliant on tools or sharp things. 

When shopping for your dad, try to think outside the standard Dad Gifts. Unless your dad is an avid tie collector and seriously *lives* for ties (who lives for ties?) then avoid this played out cliché. Instead, get him something that says “I see your hobbies and I respect them.”  Read more…

More about Mashable Shopping, Gift Guide 2018, Gift Guide, Gifts For Him, and Lifestyle

On Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the former United States of America was violently transformed into the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state in which only the worst people have a say in the political process. Taking power from the many and giving it to the few resulted in…pretty much everything terrifying about The Handmaid’s Tale.

In an interview with Mashable, series creator and executive producer Bruce Miller had a message for anyone eligible to make their voice heard in the 2018 midterm elections: Vote! Read more…

More about The Handmaid S Tale, Bruce Miller, Midterm Elections 2018, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

Whether you call it night mode or dark mode, it’s a trend that plenty of websites and apps have embraced. 

Hulu is joining the party by rolling out Night Mode to all web users. It swaps the traditionally brighter colors of an interface for darker tones, like grey or black. For classic software users or fans of Slack, it’s akin to changing the theme. 

Night Mode on Hulu’s web version changes the whole site, from the homepage to the search box and the show pages. Switching to darker colors can lessen eye strain, but can make consuming content a more immersive experience. Sound like it’s up your alley? Night Mode is available for all Hulu users now. Read more…

More about Tv, How To, Hulu, How To, and Dark Mode

Bohemian Rhapsody now rules the roost as the top movie in America, as every true Queen fan could have told you it would. (Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t seen it.)

And while that’s great for the band’s legacy — proof once again that its music has universal appeal — it also means that a surprising amount of untruths are now enshrined as the biography best known to the moviegoing public. 

Before you dismiss that as a necessary evil of storytelling, consider this: When you dig into the band’s actual history, the true version of their tale is, in almost every instance, far more dramatically interesting. Queen was larger than life, and certainly larger than the standard-issue music biopic cliches that populate Bohemian Rhapsody.  Read more…

More about Queen, Entertainment, Movies Tv Shows, and Music

With Black Friday announcements arriving left and right, we’ve been a bit preoccupied with holiday season prep, making gifting lists for people, checking them twice, etc.

Macy’s must have read our minds because they’ve released a massive sale on a ton of our top brands just because. Marketed as The Ultimate Shopping Event, you can save up to an extra 25% on tech, home stuff, kitchen gear and cookware, makeup, and more with code EVENT.

If Black Friday still isn’t an early enough head start for you, this hidden sale is your chance to lock down gifts for literally everyone on your list: Headphones, comforters, Instant Pots, luggage, MAC cosmetics, pots and pans sets, and more are getting prices slashed, so you can knock out at least half of your shopping list. Read more…

More about Beats, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Solo, Instant Pot, and Shopping Linkshare

It’s getting tougher for Trump’s playlist organizers, with the likes of Pharrell Williams to Axl Rose working to stop their music being played at his rallies.

R&B singer, diplomat, and icon Rihanna has caught wind of her songs being played at the president’s political events, and she too wants no involvement.

Rihanna seemingly found out from Washington Post’s White House bureau chief Philip Rucker, who tweeted about hearing the artist’s 2008 track “Don’t Stop The Music” blared at a Trump rally in Chattanooga, as aides tossed free Trump t-shirts to the crowd. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Music, Politics, Donald Trump, and Rihanna

When suspected Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers was treated at Allegheny General Hospital, the nurses and doctors — some of whom were Jewish — went ahead and did their jobs as normal.

One of the nurses who treated Bowers in the emergency room, Ari Mahler, has spoken out in a Facebook post about his experience treating the suspected shooter. Mahler said that he chose to be empathetic, despite the horrors of that day.

“I’m sure he had no idea I was Jewish. Why thank a Jewish nurse, when 15 minutes beforehand, you’d shoot me in the head with no remorse?” he wrote in the post. Read more…

More about Shooting, Pittsburgh, Synagogue, Synagogue Shooting, and Culture

Best-selling crime author James Patterson has released an interactive thriller novel on Facebook Messenger, and instead of turning a page, the only way to progress through the story is by clicking the knife emoji.

The Chef follows the exploits of Caleb Rooney, a New Orleans “police detective by day, celebrity food truck chef by night.” Rooney finds himself under investigation for murder, so he’s got to follow the trail of clues — and that means you can too.

Want to dig in? The Chef has been sitting in wait on Messenger since Oct. 30, but the hard copy is not due out until Feb. 2019. All you have to do is hit “send message” to the Facebook page for The Chef by James Patterson to get started. Read more…

More about Facebook Messenger, Thriller, James Patterson, Entertainment, and Social Media Companies