Four protesters rushed the field during the France vs. Croatia final World Cup match. Russian group Pussy Riot has since claimed responsibility for the display.

Four protesters in police uniforms went onto the field shortly after intermission and were quickly nabbed by match stewards.  Read more…

More about Watercooler, Russia, Activism, Protest, and World Cup

Imagine being 19 and also a World Cup winner. I personally cannot!

France’s Kylian Mbappé, 19, has become the youngest player in six decades to score during a World Cup final, according to ESPN. (In 1958, Pele scored two goals against Sweden at the age of 17.)

That’s right, folks. Mbappé is 19 years old, which means he was born in 1998. And he’s inspiring both awe and mild existential crises in many World Cup viewers. 

As he should. Teens are well on their way to ruling the world. Read more…

More about Soccer, World Cup, Kylian Mbappe, Culture, and Web Culture

An adult male jaguar escaped his enclosure at a Louisiana zoo and killed six other animals Saturday. 

Valerio the jaguar, age three, was born in San Diego and moved to New Orleans in 2017. He killed four alpacas, an emu, and a fox before being subdued by zoo authorities. 

In cases like this, a zoo may consider putting down the animal in question, but Valerio will not be. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Animals, Zoo, Escape, and Fox

After Vern Unsworth, a British diver who helped rescue the trapped Thai soccer team, called Elon Musk’s attempt at a submarine rescue “just a PR stunt” that had ‘absolutely no chance of working,” Musk has chosen to be angry online. 

Surprise!

In a series of tweets Sunday morning, Musk referred to Unsworth as a “pedo,” requested video of the cave rescue, retracted that request, then promised proof that his submarine could have, in fact, performed the rescue.

It’s a lot.

More about Twitter, Thailand, Elon Musk, Social Media, and Tech

I’ve been using Apple’s new MacBook Pro for two days, and so far the most noticeable change is the keyboard.

The 2018 MacBook Pro is the first laptop from Apple to brandish the third generation of the company’s “butterfly” keyboard design that replaced the chiclet-style keyboards of the silver MacBooks that came before. Apple says the only improvement is that the keyboard is quieter to type on.

From teardowns, we know that there’s likely more to that story. A new layer of silicone appears to both act as a cushion the keys as well as protect them from dust and other particles. That could in turn improve the reliability of the keyboards, which has been a source of major concern. Apple is facing multiple lawsuits over the issue, and this upgrade could in fact be a “secret” way to address it while not admitting there was a problem in the first place. Read more…

More about Apple, Keyboard, Macbook, Macbook Pro, and Tech

Google just gave us another good reason to use its phone app: better protection from spam callers. 

The company’s phone app for Android has a new setting that can automatically detect spam calls and send them straight to voicemail so your phone never even rings.

The app now has a “filter suspected spam call” option in its settings. When enabled, suspected spam calls will be routed straight to your phone’s voicemail. Your phone won’t ring, and you won’t get a missed call notification.

If the caller does leave a voicemail, you also won’t get a notification, though you’ll have the ability to view missed calls and voicemails that have been “filtered.” Read more…

More about Tech, Google, Android, Apps And Software, and Tech

The defining meme of the 2018 World Cup has made its way to… Wimbledon. 

Swedish tennis player Jonas Bjorkman took part in his own impromptu #NeymarChallenge after getting hit with a ball during his match.

After first laughing about the hit, Bjorkman pauses, then clutches his stomach and drops to the ground for some dramatic rolling. His opponent Mansour Bahrami then hops over the net to join the fun. 

The Wimbledon crowd seemed delighted with the move, which got lots of laughs. The Neymar trolling happened earlier in the week at Wimbledon, but it was widely shared online over the weekend. Read more…

More about Culture, Wimbledon, Neymar, World Cup 2018, and Culture

Jaime Guttenberg would have turned 15 on Friday had a gunman not killed her and 16 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February.

On her birthday, her father Fred Guttenberg and family took to Twitter to express their grief over never being able to watch her grow up. The family’s also using Twitter as a way to rally for gun safety laws.

In a Twitter DM exchange, Fred told Mashable he needed a place to express his voice and only joined Twitter after his daughter had passed.

“I was not even on Twitter until a few weeks after my daughter died,” said Fred. “I decided to join as I felt I needed to express my voice and Twitter became a way for me to speak for Jaime and for all of the victims of preventable gun violence.” Read more…

More about Social Good, Activism, Parkland Shooting, Gun Reform, and Social Good

One of the British divers who helped rescue the Thai soccer team just confirmed what many suspected about Elon Musk’s somewhat bizarre attempt at helping: It was never going to work.

In an interview with CNN, British diver Vern Unsworth called Musk’s submarine “just a PR stunt” that “had absolutely no chance of working.”

Unsworth, who according to CNN played a “pivotal” role in the rescue, appeared exasperated when asked about Musk.

“He can stick his submarine where it hurts,” he said. “It just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like. ” Read more…

More about Tech, Elon Musk, Tech, and Elon Musk

This is One Good Thing, a weekly column where we tell you about the only nice thing that happened on the internet this week.

In these dark days, no one seems to like much of anything. I certainly don’t — the things that used to bring me joy, like naps and minor political victories, now fill me with existential dread. 

There are, however, two exceptions: 

1. The movies Paddington and Paddington 2, which star an anthropomorphized bear and are the most wholesome fun cinema has to offer.

2. Cher’s tweets.

For context, here is one of Cher’s tweets.

More about Twitter, Social Media, Cher, One Good Thing, and Paddington Bear