Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Ever wondered what drives Donald Trump’s decisions? Or what makes some people support his often controversial policies?

Well, Stephen Fry may have the answer. In the animated video above created by Pindex, Fry talks through things like cognitive bias, and uses facts to highlight just how ridiculous some of Trump’s priorities are.

“When Trump raises fear of immigrant terrorists,” says Fry. “Keep in mind that since 9/11, no one has died in a terrorist attack by immigrants from the countries he wants to ban.”

Meanwhile, Fry explains, Trump has slashed the Environmental Protection Agency budget even though air pollution is responsible for 200,000 early deaths in the U.S. Read more…

More about Uk, Environment, Donald Trump, Budget, and Environmental Protection Agency

Delete your Facebook account. No, but really. 

This is not the exhortation of an internet troll, but rather the earnest advice of someone who has peered deep into the blue and white abyss and found only varying degrees of despair. 

Facebook is unlike any other social media offering in numerous important ways, and while some of those differences add value, the whole ends up being depressingly less than the sum of its parts. 

This, however, is not the story of a confusing user interface, or a diluted brand trying to be everything to everyone — it’s much bigger than that. This is about how Facebook is actually bad for you, and it’s past time that we admitted it. Read more…

More about Tech, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Media, and Tech Column

In the age old matchup of quality v. quantity, it’s not always the former that comes out on top.

Then again, in the above game between two professional Liverpool players and 30 members of the pre-Academy under 9s squad, everyone is high quality. It’s just that two of the players have had longer to perfect their skills.

We don’t want to spoil the ending, but we will say this: it’s a very closely fought contest. Read more…

More about Uk, Soccer, Football, Match, and Liverpool

A very small percentage of social media users will ever know what that #spon life is all about. One Twitter user got a glimpse of it and immediately knew that he wanted more.

British artist Hector Janse van Rensburg a.k.a. Shitty Watercolour tweeted an image of himself chilling in his bathtub next to a bottle of Radox shower gel. 

More about Watercooler, Twitter, Uk, Aston Martin, and Watercooler

The first thing you see at this house is a huge yellow banner with the Chinese character for “slow.”

That’s because 48 cars and trucks barrelled into the family’s front yard last year alone.

According to a report by the Beijing Youth Daily, the house in Heilongjiang, northern China, is situated by a road leading to a highway.

The house is by a 90-degree angled junction, so cars can’t slow down in time when taking the turn after the highway — and end up crashing through the house’s fencing.

More about China and World

Let your love for all things kawaii shine bright, with the official Sailor Moon phone and its matching wand selfie stick.

The phone, by Chinese selfie app maker Meitu, is a limited edition of its latest M8 model — an upgrade of the T8, that was just released in February.

Meitu’s app is one of Asia’s most popular downloads. The beauty app tweaks and airbrushes photos to fix blemishes, but it’s also capable of more dramatic alterations.

This phone (and wand) are no less intense. A Meitu spokesperson revealed that the officially licensed set has also received its blessing from the original Sailor Moon artist, Takeuchi Naoko. Read more…

More about China, Smartphones, Japan, Anime, and Sailor Moon

If you happen to be in Russia, don’t play Pokémon Go inside a church. Even if that bloody Mewtwo is hiding there. You might end up in jail. 

A 22-year-old Russian blogger, Ruslan Sokolovsky, was just given a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence after posting a video he took of himself playing Pokémon Go inside the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg, Russia. 

The court found the blogger guilty of “inciting religious hatred” and insulting religious believers, the same offence that sent two members of the Pussy Riot feminist punk collective to prison for two years in 2012.  Read more…

More about Russia, Sentence, Pok Mon Go, Blogger, and Tech

Scotland’s beautiful countryside is home to herds of different farm animals that you’d expect to find grazing on some rolling green pastures — not stampeding through your tiny back garden.

On Monday, a Twitter user named Liam shared a hilariously shocking video of a frantic group of cows who had gotten loose and somehow crashed into his very gated back garden. 

It’s one of those sights that makes you question your vision and ask: what the hell just happened?

The video went viral on Twitter.

More about Watercooler, Twitter, Uk, Scotland, and Watercooler

In case you needed more proof that Google is serious about virtual reality, here’s a bit of news for you: The Mountain View company has acquired Owlchemy, as announced by both companies on their respective blogs. 

Owlchemy has been around for six years, and in that time it launched several notable VR games, including Job Simulator (the game that HTC used for its Vive demos) and, more recently, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality which is available for HTC Vive as well as Oculus. 

The company said in a post it will “continue building high quality VR content for platforms like the HTC Vive, Oculus Touch, and PlayStation VR.” Read more…

More about Google, Acquisition, Virtual Reality, Vr, and Owlchemy

Just when you think nature can’t get any weirder, you see a video a clam doggedly burying itself in the sand before squirting a jet of inky black water out of a rubbery little hole in its body.

The clip above was shared by the Weather Channel’s Facebook page on Wednesday, and it’s quickly racked up over 2.7 million views at the time of writing.

It’s not hard to see why. The clip sits in that strange no man’s land between fascinating, sort of cute (at least at first), and ultimately just a bit gross.

For anyone with a burning urge to learn more, this Discover Magazine article does a pretty good job of explaining the razor clam’s digging habits. Read more…

More about Weird, Beach, Viral Video, Gross, and Weather Channel