Yes, there is a fastest accelerating lawnmower in the world, and yes, it has been named. 

Honda’s Mean Mower V2 has won the accolade from the people at Guinness World Records, who have declared it as having the fastest acceleration for a lawnmower, averaging 0 to 100 mph in just 6.285 seconds — while still performing its grass-cutting duties. (To qualify for the record, the mower had to actually look and function like a lawnmower — which it does.) 

The new record was announced this week; it was set last month by a professional stunt driver on a track in Germany.

The Mean Mower has cred: An earlier version set a record in 2014. The latest version, released in 2018, can go even faster, with a top speed of 150 mph, which could really cut down your time spent on yard work. Read more…

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Forget everyone else, this is the only influencer you need to follow from now on.

A dad named Omar from Austin, Texas is finally getting the Instagram engagement he deserves after all of his hard work influencing. 

When Omar recently found out exactly what it means to be an influencer, he decided to give it a go. He created the Instagram account @justaconstructionguy and started posting carefully curated snapshots of his daily life.

His daughter shared his antics on Twitter, and it was later screenshot and reposted by the meme account @middleclassfancy. When Omar’s daughter first posted about his account, he had 75 followers. After being shared across meme accounts all over Instagram this week, his following has blown up to 285,000 at the time of writing.  Read more…

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TL;DR: 23andMe’s comprehensive Health + Ancestry Kits are on sale for $149 through June 17, making them a great gift for your dad.

Fact: DNA test kits make excellent gifts no matter the occasion. They promise a kind of self-discovery that’s sort of irresistible, but better yet, they’re one of those experiential presents that don’t take up any physical space in your home.

Such kits lend themselves particularly well to Father’s Day gift-giving — because after all, it’s not every day that your dad gets to explore the oldest branches of his family tree. Besides, it’ll be fascinating to find out more about your family history too. Read more…

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Please, for the love of comprehensive sex education, do not use wild yams for birth control. 

In an unfortunate now-deleted Bad Tweet, podcast host @MissBriaJanay called a variety of fruits and herbs “natural birth control options.” The accompanying graphics suggested using the plants instead of clinically-tested contraceptive, and included head-scratchers like injecting neem oil into “uterine horns” and eating dried figs after unprotected sex. 

@MissBriaJanay, by the way, does not promote herself as a medical professional or experienced herbalist. 

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Uber has announced the first international city its flying taxis one day might be buzzing over. 

The Australian city of Melbourne will join Los Angeles and Dallas as the third official pilot city for Uber Air, the rideshare company’s ambitious project to transport people in short distances via the skies. 

Test flights are expected in 2020, with commercial operations aimed for as soon as 2023. Uber claims trips will be priced the same as an UberX ride over the same distance, but we’ll see about that. 

“Australian governments have adopted a forward-looking approach to ridesharing and future transport technology,” Uber Australia, New Zealand and North Asia general manager Susan Anderson said in a statement. Read more…

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The U.S. women’s national team won 13-0 against Thailand in their first match in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Tuesday. In light of their incredible victory — it was a record win in both men’s and women’s World Cup history — people want to know why they’re paid so much less than the men’s national team. 

Player Alex Morgan alone managed to score a record five times during the match. To put the team’s 13 goals into perspective, the U.S. men’s national team scored 12 in their last three World Cup attempts combined. 

So yeah, this is pretty freaking impressive. 

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Life is like a box of timelines, and in the one we’re living in, Russian Doll is coming back for another round.

Netflix announced Tuesday that it had renewed the surreal dramedy for a second season.

On the one hand, the first season of Russian Doll was one of the best and buzziest shows of 2019, thanks to a genuinely original premise and uniformly strong performances by Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, and the rest of the cast. 

We’re still trying (and failing) to replicate the sheer coolness of Nadia’s wardrobe, yelling “Sweet birthday, baby!” instead of “Happy birthday” at our loved ones, and appreciating the very concept of Thursdays once a week. That’s how much we loved and still love the show. Who could possibly argue with this wonderful series coming back? Read more…

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It’s all about balance when it comes to riding in self-driving cars. 

The sensor-loaded cars pick up so much more information than a human driver can, what with their cameras, radar, LiDAR, and other sensing equipment. But that doesn’t mean passengers want to know about each and every cyclist changing lanes, pedestrian crossing the street, or construction zone cone blocking the road. 

So the first companies to offer a self-driving car service — like Waymo, the Google autonomous car spin-off — have to think about every ping, notification, and alert that plays through their app and in-car screens. The allure of self-driving cars, of course, is that here’s a vehicle that can operate on its own, creating a “third space” that isn’t home or the office. It’s a space for you to chill or even sleep, to be productive or socialize, or to watch or listen to books, TV shows, movies, and other media. You might even ~ahem~ engage in other activities.  Read more…

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In the years since its release in 2005, Psychonauts has become a cult classic as an early game that was about something much deeper than it seemed. But because it was so ahead of its time, Psychonauts found both critical and commercial success to be middling compared to creator Tim Schafer’s other knockouts like Secret of Monkey Island.

But in 2019, Psychonauts is back for a sequel, its cult following out in full force to cheer its return to the main stage of Microsoft’s E3 showcase. A 30-minute demo for Psychonauts 2 and a Q&A with Schafer show the series has found the right time to shine.

You play as Raz, a member of a team of people who use psychic abilities to go inside others’ heads. Through puzzles and Psi-Powers, you battle their inner demons, like the goopy Regret monsters in the demo, who can “weigh you down” and are plaguing Dr. Caligosto Loboto’s mental world. Loboto’s been acting funny lately, so you’re tasked with blasting through his mental blockages to figure out who his nefarious “boss” is, a mysterious new character we only got a glimpse of.  Read more…

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