Cracked pays people to make smart memes. Visit the Photoplasty and Pictofacts Workshop to get in on it. It’s only natural to try to connect the dots in the zeitgeist, even if it’s just so we can get some sleep at night. Everyone just wants the world to make sense. Unfortunately, that means people are constantly coming up with progressively more absurd conspiracy theories. And sharing the hell out of them. As a public service, we’ve assembled the most impressive theories making the rounds right now. Whether you decide to laugh derisively or get on board is completely up to you. 13 Source: Atlanta Black Star 12 Source: Slate 11 Source: Mirror Online 10 Source: Snopes 9 Source: Reddit 8 Source: Vice Cool Gadgets & Holiday Gifts at CooliCool 7 Sources: Refinery29, The Cut 6 Source: People 5 Source: Independent 4 Source: Latest UFO Sightings 3 Source: Distractify 2 Cool […]

Camera rental marketplace KitSplit has acquired the collection The Free Music Archive — a free-to-use collection of music that’s shared and curated by artists — was supposed to close last month, following a funding shortage. Instead, the Archive will live on: it’s been bought by the camera and gear rental marketplace KitSplit. “Many of us at KitSplit have admired and used FMA over the years,” writes Kristina Budelis, a co-founder of KitSplit in an emailed statement. “FMA has helped tens of thousands of creatives make their projects. Together with FMA, we’ll be able to serve creators + our community even more powerfully.” And there are more overlaps between KitSplit and the FMA than just the fact that making successful productions requires both audio and video; one employee of KitSplit had previously worked at the Archive. Winter Essentials On Sale! Shop RefrigiWear Now! The bulk of the negotiations were handled by […]

Feathers were common among dinosaurs, but scientists aren’t certain if the fur-like coverings of pterosaurs—a group of flying reptiles—were of the same sort seen on dinos and birds or something completely different. The discovery of two exquisite fossils in China now suggests pterosaurs were very much covered in feathers, potentially pushing back the origin of this critically important evolutionary feature by 70 million years. Pterosaurs lived between 230 million and 66 million years ago, and they were the first vertebrates to achieve true flapping flight. These ancient creatures lived alongside dinosaurs, and though they’re frequently represented in the media and in film, scientists actually know very little about them. Fossil evidence suggests they were covered in pycnofibres—a fuzzy, fur-like coating—but paleontologists are divided on whether or not these coatings were similar to the feathered skin coverings seen on dinosaurs and birds, or if pterosaur pycnofibres represented something different entirely. New […]

Wednesday’s sentencing of onetime Trump fixer Michael Cohen to 36 months of prison continues a frenetic pace of revelations around the Russia probe. Nearly every single day since Thanksgiving has brought fresh developments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russia’s attack on the 2016 election. Even as the president continues to rail about the “Witch Hunt” on Twitter, Mueller’s strategy looks like anything but. Nearly every defendant he’s targeted has pleaded guilty, meaning he’s moving against people with overwhelming evidence. Those targets have mostly, in turn, cooperated—naming more alleged crimes and suspects. Similarly, in the one instance he has been forced to go to trial, Mueller prevailed handily, winning convictions against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in every category of charges he brought. Mueller has also assiduously handed off certain crimes to other prosecutors, be it identity theft stemming from Russia’s Internet Research Agency, foreign lobbying questions, and […]

Truly, 2018 has been a year filled with news that made us look blankly ahead and utter ‘wat’ into the void, frozen in confusion, every day. But there were a few stories that were cream of the crop when it came to their sheer weirdness. And that’s especially true within the world of science and health. Take a look back at some of the strangest science-related stories of this year, featuring everything from alleged meme-sparked poisonings to ludicrous medical quacks to unsettling parasitic infestations. Oh, so many parasites. Please enjoy/cringe. Tide Pods Kicking off 2018, troll-y memes about the deliciousness of Tide Pods began sprouting up across social media, and some adults actually began to worry about a widespread epidemic of laundry detergent poisonings. Some blamed millennials, seeming to forget that millennials are mostly in their 30s right about now. The American Association of Poison Control Centers even went so […]

Billions of dollars of cocaine are smuggled into the US by sea every year, and the Coast Guard says it can only stop one-quarter of it Bales of cocaine on display aboard the US Coast Guard cutter James, in front of the ship’s crew and its helicopter, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, November 15, 2018. Christopher Woody/Business Insider The Coast Guard has partnered with other agencies and countries to track down illegal drugs in the open ocean. In recent years, the service has been seizing record amounts of cocaine on the high seas. But the the Coast Guard has said it sees much more flowing toward the US than it can actually catch. FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida — During fiscal year 2018, which ended September 30, the US Coast Guard intercepted just over 458,000 pounds of cocaine. That was the second most in a year on record, behind fiscal year 2017, when […]

ET Early Black Friday Deals: 50-Inch Samsung 4K TV for $328, 27-Inch Dell Monitor for $120 Ready to upgrade to a 4K set? Right now, Walmart is offering up an early Black Friday discount on the 50-inch Samsung UN50NU6900. While this 2018 model lists for about 600 bucks, you can save $272 when you make your purchase online. And when you scroll through the rest of today’s deals, you’ll find discounts on gaming monitors, smart watches, LED bulbs, and more courtesy of our partners at TechBargains… Featured Deals Early Black Friday Deal: 50-inch Samsung UN50NU6900 4K UHD Smart LED HDTV (2018 Model) for $327.99 at Walmart (List price: $599.99). Early Black Friday Deal: Dell SE2717HR 27-inch 1080p FreeSync IPS LED Monitor for $119.99 at Walmart (List price: $199). Apple Watch Series 3 GPS (38mm) and Extra Band for $259 at Walmart (List price: $328). Apple Watch Series 3 GPS (42mm) […]

PROTECT YA NECK Why Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F*ck Wit Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the greatest rap group of all time’s seminal debut, ‘Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).’ RZA. GZA. Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Inspectah Deck. Raekwon the Chef. U-God. Cappadonna. Ghostface Killah. Masta Killa. Method Man. Wu-Tang Clan is a global rap phenomenon that still captures the imagination of fans all over the world 25 years after the crew from Shaolin released their masterpiece of a debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). In the decades since that album dropped, the Clan has endured triumph and tragedy, Hollywood and high art to remain one of the most fascinatingly original acts in the history of hip-hop. An obsession with kung-fu imagery, an understanding of the Nation of Gods and Earths’ supreme mathematics, and a never-wavering belief in what they were doing made the Clan heroes to a generation of fans. […]

Apple Finally Launches New MacBook Air, Mac Mini, iPad Pro Apple flew from Cupertino to Brooklyn (my hometown!) to take over the entire block surrounding BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, for the introduction of some new Macs and iPad Pros. The new Macs, in particular, were long-awaited — the Mac lineup, taken in sum total and aside from the MacBook Pro, has gone longer than it ever has before without updates. First up was an entirely new MacBook Air model, redesigned from the ground up. The new MacBook Air finally gets a Retina screen; it’s the same 13.3-inch size as before, but with dramatically smaller bezels. The computer retains its wedge shape, tapering off as you go from the hinge to the bottom edge past the trackpad, and the enclosure is fabricated with a new alloy and 100 percent recycled aluminum. It now weighs a bit less, at 2.75 […]

21 Insanely Cool Gadgets That Are Going To Sell Out This Year We’ve been keeping track of gadget sales through all 2018, and we’re absolutely confident that the following 21 products are going to be selling like hotcakes this holiday season. If you wanted, you could do ALL your holiday shopping from just this list! Now here’s the catch with these sweet, sweet gadgets… they’re only available ONLINE. You won’t find these in-stores this holiday season. It’s expensive to sell retail, so the most innovative gadget-makers are now going straight-to-online. And as a thank you to ShinyNewGadget readers, we’ve negotiated with these gadget-makers to get special deals for first-time buyers! 1. Energix Charger – Fix Your Phone’s Battery Life If you’re like me and don’t upgrade your phone every year, this charger has been my saving grace. Before I would charge my phone the entire night only for it to […]

Former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard explains why live venues are leaving money on the table Hubbard says they need his startup Rival, which will publicly launch next year.  Former Ticketmaster CEO (and Twitter commerce boss) Nathan Hubbard is building an “operating system for venues.” So: What on Earth does that mean? On the latest episode of Recode Media, Hubbard explained his new company Rival, which will publicly launch next year. Behind the scenes of live music concerts and sports events, Rival will partner with the teams, performers and event venues to help them lose less money to scalpers — and know more about their customers. “If you go right now and search for ‘Hamilton’ tickets, there are tickets spread all across the web,” Hubbard said. “It would be the equivalent of searching for a flight and seat 29A is on one site and row 14 is on another site and […]

New York City’s first Amazon Go cashierless store will open near the World Trade Center The company’s latest futuristic convenience shop is being built inside the Brookfield Place office and shopping complex. Inside Amazon’s first cashier-less Amazon Go store in Seattle. Amazon’s version of a futuristic 7-Eleven store is coming to New York City, and it’s going to be located inside a shopping and office complex across from the World Trade Center, Recode has learned. Amazon plans to unveil the cashierless convenience store inside Brookfield Place, formerly known as the World Financial Center, in Manhattan’s Battery Park City neighborhood. Brookfield Place has been the home of large corporations like American Express and Time Inc., as well as upscale stores such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Saks Fifth Avenue. It is situated along the Hudson River, directly across West Street from the World Trade Center. Award Winning Video Games Retailer An […]

Neither Voter Suppression Nor Being Called ‘Coon’ and the N-Word Will Stop Black Georgia From Voting Mamie Parks, left, Sarah Jenkins, middle and Lizzie White, left, in Waynesboro, Ga., on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018. Waynesboro, Georgia—Sarah Jenkins has long had to deal with simmering community tensions. She owns a small business in a white part of town that caters to senior citizens and people with mental disabilities, an arrangement many of her neighbors frown upon. But since “Ms. Jenkins,” as folks like to call her, became a big supporter of Stacey Abrams—who is trying to become the first black woman to become governor anywhere in the nation—those tensions have boiled over. They’ve grown especially ugly since Abrams won the Democratic nomination in her quest to lead Georgia. The Abrams campaign signs Jenkins placed on her lawn were frequently stolen; she would replace them. But then came the one-word, handwritten messages […]

Powerful Facebook investors just co-filed a proposal to take down Mark Zuckerberg as chairman Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO and chairman. Disclaimer Get real-time FB charts here » Four powerful institutional Facebook investors have co-filed a shareholder proposal to split Mark Zuckerberg’s dual role as CEO and chairman. The proposal was originally filed by the activist investor Trillium Asset Management and revealed by Business Insider in July, after Facebook’s brutal second-quarter earnings. Scott Stringer, the New York City comptroller, and Joe Torsella, the Pennsylvania state treasurer, are among those lending their support, giving significantly more weight to the governance-change demand. But the chance of the proposal becoming a reality is slim. A similar proposal in 2017 was popular among independent investors but crushed because of Zuckerberg’s voting power. T-Rex Inflatable, Indominus & more Jurassic World Costumes at TrendyHalloween.com Four powerful institutional Facebook investors have co-filed a shareholder proposal to take down […]

Why Do White People Feel Entitled to Police Black People? Hilary Mueller By now you have probably heard the story of what happened to D’Arreion Toles—a black man living in St. Louis—Friday night when he returned home to the luxury apartment building he lives in. In case you haven’t, here is a brief rundown: Toles returned home and was stopped by his neighbor—now identified as Hilary Brooke Mueller—as he attempted to enter his building. In an incident Toles documented on video and shared on Facebook, Mueller blocked him from entering and demanded he show proof that he lived there. She demanded to know what apartment he lived in. Toles asked Mueller, “Can you please move ma’am?” “I can … do you live here?” she asked in response. Paul Blart, Pool Cop Fired After Calling Police on Woman For Swimming in Her Own Pool The tartar sauce-hued hero who served as […]