An unidentified cosplayer dressed as Darth Vader attended a meeting of the San Diego City Council’s Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee, where he satirically defended the use of Flock cameras and other ALPRs. The cosplayer fully embodied the iconic Star Wars villain, using Vader’s signature heavy breathing and dramatic tone to proclaim his approval of the cameras.

The Emperor is a fan of Flock, and we must continue utilizing Flock technologies so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium. Because we all know that the Flock cameras are not only following the license plate readers. They are following children. They are following children in parks and gymnasiums. And we need this. I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend.

When “Darth Vader” later returned to the microphone, he added his own opinion about where public funds should go.

This council has done well. I am pleased. And so is the Chomo emperor. But we have given too much money to our libraries, too much money to our parks. We need SDPD to have more money. More money for the emperor to rule over the entire universe. … We do not need parks. We do not need libraries. We do not need daycare centers. We do not need homeless shelters. All we need is money for our Stormtroopers.

The performance was a pointed form of satirical protest.

The speaker used the character to raise concerns about privacy, government surveillance and how information collected through automated license plate readers can potentially be accessed or misused. …While Darth Vader may have been playing it for laughs, his appearance highlighted a very real and ongoing debate in San Diego over the balance between technology used to fight crime and residents’ expectations of privacy.

News Coverage of Darth Vader at the Public Safety Committee Meeting

Why Flock Cameras Are Controversial

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Luke Reavley and his team moved six koala mums and their tiny joeys into the newly renovated Koala Nursery at Australia Zoo. While settling these adorable marsupials into their new leafy home, the team discussed koala conservation efforts, breeding programs, and joey development.

Enjoy this adorable footage of the baby koalas back-riding and climbing as their mothers settle back into their home. We are incredibly proud of the continued success of our koala breeding program here at Australia Zoo, ensuring the survival of this iconic species long into the future.

via The Kid Should See This

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A driver in a Voyah Passion S electric SUV performed an incredible, seemingly impossible 360° loop inside a tunnel at 130 km/h (81 mph) using specially built ramps.

Ever seen this before? Here’s our take — pure performance, real engineering, and a Chinese brand that speaks for itself. Mastering a 360-degree tunnel loop with total control — this is VOYAH PASSION S.

A similar stunt appeared in an ad for the 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, though the extent of the CGI and whether Michael Schumacher actually drove the loop were disputed. Chinese automaker Voyah set out to perform the maneuver in real life.

Experience VOYAH PASSION S in one continuous shot. See intelligent technology and dynamic performance come together in one seamless take.

One-Take Footage of the Voyah Passion S 360° Loop

Testing the Tunnel

The 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Tunnel Experiment

via The Awesomer

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The great “Weird Al” Yankovic and his Bigger & Weirder touring band performed a joyful NPR Tiny Desk concert, opening with the darkly humorous “Skipper Dan”, a Weezer-style pastiche reminiscent of Weezer’s “Pork and Beans”.

For “Weird Al” Yankovic — pop parodist, comedy lifer, occasional movie and TV star, and improver of countless adolescences — coming up with a fresh set of songs for the Tiny Desk was never going to be an issue. …And the band he’s brought to the Tiny Desk has grown from the lean, unplugged configuration that graced our stage in 2010 to a high-spirited and electrified crowd of players.

They also played “The Saga Begins”, “eBay”, and “Now You Know” from the “totally true” biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

Yankovic focused on originals the first time around, but for this show he brought parodies of Don McLean’s “American Pie” (“The Saga Begins,” from 1999’s Running with Scissors) and Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” (“eBay,” from 2003’s Poodle Hat), as well as the Weezer pastiche “Skipper Dan,” from 2011’s Alpocalypse. And, for fans of the breathtakingly factual 2022 biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, he performs the film’s Emmy-losing closing-credits blues-rock jam “Now You Know.”

The 2010 ‘Weird Al’ Tiny Desk Concert

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Japanese nature photographer Pendora shared footage of tiny pink globular springtails launching themselves so quickly that they seem to teleport. These Sminthurides springtails use a forked, tail-like appendage known as a furcula, which snaps against the surface to propel them away.

(translated) Springtails possess a forked, tail-like organ called a furcula (springing organ) that allows them to jump. Because the movement is so rapid, it can look like teleportation.

These springtails generally inhabit moist environments, such as damp leaf litter near shallow water or areas in forests where water seeps from the ground. This rapid launch helps them escape predators.

(translated) When the Sminthurides springtail makes contact with another creature and vanishes, it has not been eaten; rather, it has instantly leaped away to escape. …They may also use this as an emergency escape maneuver when colliding with other creatures.

A different species of globular springtail is also known for performing the fastest backflips in the animal kingdom.

via The Kid Should See This

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Peter Austin explored the history of British military pigeons and the encrypted messages they carried during World War II, explaining how the birds were trained to return home.

Military pigeon handlers kept the birds in a coop for several weeks until they accepted that location as their new home. …The birds were then sent to the front lines or other critical locations, and when the need arose, a message could be attached to an individual pigeon’s leg, and the pigeon would be released. All being well, it would instinctively fly straight back to its coop

By examining the mysterious 1982 discovery of a message-carrying pigeon’s skeletal remains in a chimney in Surrey, England, Austin looked into how wartime communication relied on these clever avian messengers.

In 1982, a Mr. David Martin of [Bletchingley], Surrey, had discovered the skeletal remains of a bird in his chimney whilst renovating his house. Not an unusual thing to find up a flue that hasn’t been cleared out for a while, I’ll grant you, except for one thing. Attached to the bird’s leg was a small canister containing a note onto which was written a coded message. These were the remains of a World War II carrier pigeon that had sadly never made it home. 

A subsequent investigation identified two pigeon numbers on the message, indicating that two copies had been sent. Unfortunately, the message still cannot be decoded without the original cryptographic material, according to GCHQ, the successor to the Government Code and Cypher School, which was based at Bletchley Park during World War II.

Now despite the encryption, a few details were actually fairly clear from the outset. And these two lines at the bottom of the sheet tell us that two copies of the message had been sent out via a pair of different pigeons, presumably to double its chances of arriving.   It’s thought that our chimney bird was the one known as NURP40TW194, meaning it was bred by the National Union of Racing Pigeons, hatched in 1940.

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While exploring deep-sea habitats in the Federated States of Micronesia, an ROV launched from the E/V Nautilus captured rare footage of two separate Chaunacops anglerfish, also known as coffinfish. These vivid fish are known for their distinctive bright red color, round bodies, and frowny faces.

While exploring the deep-sea in the Federated States of Micronesia, our Corps of Exploration found two specimens of one of our favorite fish: the Chaunacops sp.! Chaunacops is a genus of anglerfish easily recognizable by their round bodies, pink hue, and frowny faces.

Like others of their genus, these vivid anglerfish use their distinctive lure to attract prey in the dark depths. They also have modified pelvic fins that help them move along the ocean floor.

Also known as frogfish or coffin fish, they have a fluffy lure that appears as small white dots in the middle of their foreheads. … Both encounters gave us a chance to check out the modified pelvic fins these anglerfish perch upon to patiently lure their prey on the seafloor

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Macy Gilliam documented the challenging four-month process of transforming raw fleece from a sheep named Franny at the Queens County Farm Museum in New York City into a cute striped sweater.

I spent 4 months making myself a sweater from scratch. Like, starting with shearing a sheep. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Gilliam’s project involved shearing, cleaning, spinning, dyeing, and knitting the wool. She also explained why she took on this project.

My job, as I see it, is to put myself through something difficult and transformative and share the result with as many people as possible. And what could be more difficult than turning a dirty sheep fleece into a sweater as someone who had never even knit before?

Along the way, she also spotlighted the intensive labor involved in garment production.

You’ll notice that the most expensive part of this by far was the labor. And that is not the case with most clothing because that labor isn’t being fairly paid. We should all do our best to support brands that are fixing that. There’s no sewing machine that operates itself. All clothing is handmade. Buy less, buy better.  

Gilliam also made an Easter bonnet with some of the leftover wool.

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Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang marked the centenary of Claude Monet’s passing by presenting “Radiance of Spring”, a stunning daytime show of 1,000 drones and colorful fireworks painting Monet’s gardens in the sky above the River Seine in the Normandy town of Vernon, France.

Impressions of Claude Monet’s paintings emerged and dissolved above the river: Haystacks, Woman with a Parasol, Poppy Field. Across these transformations, the sky became a living canvas, where colour behaved like time itself — expanding, fading, and recomposing perception in real time.

This performance was captured in a video directed by Shanshan Xia and produced by 33 Studio. The pyrotechnics were designed by Groupe F.

Cai’s 2011 ‘Black Ceremony’ and 2015 ‘Sky Ladder’

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A fascinating TED-Ed lesson by Dr. Ning Zhao, directed by Vicente Numpaque of Dr3i Studio and Hernando Bahamon of Globizco Studios, explained how Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains work, the two major approaches to magnetic levitation, and how they reach such high speeds.

There are two major approaches here. In electromagnetic suspension, magnetized arms wrap under the track and pull the train up. Meanwhile, in electrodynamic suspension, coils embedded in the track create a pattern of alternating magnetic fields that interact with magnets on the train to float the vehicle a few cm in the air … Given enough runway, these trains can reach speeds from 430 to a theoretical 600 km per hour.

The lesson also addresses the difficulty of bringing maglev trains to the United States.

To go fast, trains need long, straight tracks with wide curves, which are very difficult to build in mountains, cities, or densely populated areas. Building such routes is costly, politically sensitive, and often physically impossible.

Despite these challenges, Japan and China have already developed maglev systems.

Despite these hurdles, Japan and China are expanding their existing high-speed and Maglev rails.

Japanese Maglev Train Breaks Record

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The 8-Bit Big Band performed a swanky cover of Nintendo Wii‘s Mii Channel Theme in the distinctive 1960s Space-Age Exotica style of legendary Mexican composer Juan García Esquivel.

One of the Nintendo Wii era’s greatest video game music themes, the beloved Mii Channel Theme!! This version is a tribute to one of my favorite arrangers of all time the great Juan García Esquivel.

Other Video Game Covers

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Partners Hannah Michelle (HM) Brower and Aspen Simone were not fans of pigeons until Brower helped rescue a sick pigeon named Primrose, whom the couple later adopted. They decided to share their newfound love of these birds with their South Philly community by establishing Philly Pigeon Tours.

On the tour, you’ll observe pigeons and learn all about their behaviors, biology, and history. You’ll learn the ups and downs of the relationship between humans and pigeons — and you might even see a baby pigeon!

Their tours offer valuable insights into the long, complicated relationship between humans and pigeons, while using the birds as a lens for contemporary issues.

On a pigeon tour, you’ll get a new look at contemporary issues like immigration, urbanization, ecology, and sustainability through learning about pigeons. We also debunk a hearty amount of misinformation about pigeons.

Primrose the Pigeon

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Content creator AJ Kaladi hops around the streets of New York City on his streamlined, air-powered pogo stick, traveling several miles at remarkable speeds. Kaladi also used bicycle lanes whenever possible.

Nihilist Pogoer.

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Dr. Erica Brozovsky of the PBS series Otherwords explained the linguistic science behind baby talk, or infant-directed speech (IDS), specifically why adults across cultures instinctively switch to this exaggerated speech style when interacting with infants.

Speech rate slows down with more pauses between words. Pitch tends to be higher with more variation. Vowels are often exaggerated. Grammar becomes simplified and words get repeated, specifically nouns and verbs. And the behavior is more or less involuntary. Nobody decides to baby talk; it just kind of happens.

Despite its instinctive nature, a stigma remained that IDS was a quirk of Western industrialized societies rather than a universal human trait.

By the mid 2000s, the majority of linguists and child psychologists agreed that baby talk is beneficial for language development. But a different stigma remained, that instead of it being a universal human trait, IDS was in fact a quirk of Western industrialized nations, a luxury of privileged white parents with plenty of free time and obsession with academic performance.

Brozovsky addressed why babies respond to IDS and how it may support their linguistic development.

Studies have found that a high-pitched voice will grab and hold a baby’s attention better than a lower-pitched one. In fact, they seem to prefer voices that are around the same frequency of their own vocal tracts, a preference that doesn’t develop until they’re old enough to make sounds of their own. …

Humans also use a similar register of speech when talking to animals.

Smooth, high-pitched speech signifies friendliness and vulnerability. This association is so deep that it crosses the boundaries between species.

How Babies Learn to Talk

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In the ACLU series Know Your Rights University, a pair of stop motion students named Lisa and Aaron learn about the three branches of the United States government, namely legislative, executive, and judicial, from their teacher, Mr. Charles. He further explains how the legislative and executive branches turn a bill into law, how the judicial branch interprets laws, and how all three are supposed to work together within a system of checks and balances, which he calls “The Three Branch Weave”.

Lisa and Aaron learn about the three branches of government and how they work together to make a law on this episode of Know Your Rights University.

More ‘Know Your Rights University’ Videos

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Alwyn Wils of the A Chick Called Albert channel incubated a clutch of six abandoned emu eggs, investigating their viability after learning they were more than three weeks old.

My expectations were very low as these eggs were over three weeks old when I got them. But I just had to give them a chance…

Wils determined that only two of the six eggs were viable. The first hatching went very smoothly, but the second was more difficult due to a dry membrane. Wils slowly coaxed the tiny hatchling out of her shell by painting the egg with water.

The second egg was running late and when I picked it up, I could see why. The membrane looked very dry. This could be an issue as the membrane shrinks as it dries out. This limits her ability to move.

After a few weeks, when both little emus were healthy and happy, Wils repaired the hatched shell with gold leaf in the spirit of the Japanese art of Kintsugi.

via The Kid Should See This

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Comedian Daniel LaBelle, who likes to keep things interesting, hilariously played a variety of games with his running partner while they were both sprinting down the street.

Playing games while sprinting

The games included Operation, Jenga, ping pong, pool, tug-of-war, Twister, and, most daringly, darts.

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Wildlife photographer Robert Martinez captured trail-cam footage of a wide array of wildlife passing through a creek in the Angeles National Forest from January to July 2026, including a winter flood that his camera survived. The animals included bears, mountain lions, deer, bobcats, and ringtails, many stopping for a drink.

Deep in the creek in the Angeles National Forest. Here’s the last seven months in six minutes of highlights from January 2026 to July 2026.

The camera also captured a bear and a skunk unexpectedly meeting twice in one week.

A skunk meets a bear in the Angeles National Forest. Twice in one week! This is definitely a first for my lucky trail camera. I’m not sure exactly what is going on here, but it’s definitely interesting to see.

via The Kid Should See This

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Adam of North of the Border sculpted a terrifying sentient spaghetti monster in a bowl with raised arms and menacing teeth.

Today I made a sentient bowl of evil pasta… An Italian nightmare made manifest. At least I didn’t snap the pasta before cooking it.

Adam, in his wonderfully forthright manner, described each step of the process as he sculpted and painted the piece.

via The Awesomer

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At the 2000 BBC FutureWorld exhibition in Bristol, England, presenters Peter Snow and Lindsey Fallow of the BBC series Tomorrow’s World reported on the latest World Wide Web technology and future projects.

Peter Snow and Lindsey Fallow present a special edition of Tomorrow’s World, live from the BBC Futureworld exhibition in Bristol – which aims to showcase the future of digital broadcasting, television and the internet.

Included in this exhibition were ideas for internet-enabled mobile phones, an online gaming setup with haptic feedback, 3D goggles, website design, and digital clones.

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