Resist the merge

Motorcyclist gets cut off while merging lanes, but exacts instant vengeance thanks to his helmet-cam recording and a fortuitously-placed patrolman. [Reddit]

Also in transportation news, these magic wheels let a car roll or slide in any direction. Would the DMV consider this cheating on your driver road test?

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you." -- Walt Whitman

Foam remodel

These guys built the alleged world’s largest Nerf gun that uses compressed air to shoot giant foam darts (i.e., pool noodles + toilet plungers) at 40 MPH.

And this would-be supervillain built a DIY thermite mini-cannon just for grins. It's a nice start, though his super-costume needs some work.

"The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play." -- Arnold J. Toynbee

Urban plight

One fast-forward minute of dashcam footage shows what it's like to drive in the streets of Mumbai India -- basically a constant road test on crowded streets filled with taxis, motorscooters, bicycles, and pedestrians.

"The best way out is always through." -- Robert Frost

Air apparent

The Skyslide, an acrophobe's worst nightmare -- a glass slide attached to the tallest building west of the Mississippi -- just opened in above Los Angeles this weekend. And it'll cost you $25 to get those precious few thrill-seeking seconds down a chute suspended nearly 1,000 feet in the air.

"When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity." -- Napoleon Bonaparte

Discomfort food

Are you hungry for some cockroach cake? Are you sure? It's just a chocolate cake... really.

And don't eat these teeny, tiny tapas -- they're made of clay. Phenomenal job with these novel micro-nutrients/pieces of art.

"I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage." -- Erma Bombeck

Luck of the draw

Not that you should try it, but check out the serendipitous happenstance that can result from vaping while faceswapping.


And a trippy infinitely repeating animation to go with it.

"Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again." -- Robert A. Heinlein

Slices of life

Three minutes of minor heartbreak is captured in this video of New Yorkers ~just~ barely missing the subway. And though it doesn't hardly need any help, the cityscape of Las Vegas looks even more bizarre when filmed in infrared.

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe." -- Muhammad Ali

Point taken

This parody video "You've Gotta Love Millennials" allegedly was used at the Church Leaders Conference to encourage understanding, but how can you not take it as blatant mockery? (Thanks JG)

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood." -- Berkeley Breathed

Lovely parting gift

Bouncy house frees itself from the shackles of kid's party, takes flight and crashes into power lines to end its journey, all of which is captured in delightful vertical video.

And maybe you caught this story about the absolute morons who thought it would be a good prank to light up a fireworks display inside a Walmart.

"Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience." -- Laurence J. Peter

Can't Trump this

Strange and ridiculous Japanese-influenced parody "commercial" for Trump can only be taken as an acid-trip-weird mocking of his candidacy. Or whatever. It's original, you have to give it that.

"Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today." -- Mark Twain

Fall from grace

Must be this climate change thing that made it start raining furniture in Miami. (And the filmers were delighted that they uploaded part 2 of the very-mini-series.)

"If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm." -- Frank Lane

Drawing even

This tattoo artist lost his inking arm and got a bionic replacement that seems to work just fine. [Engadget]

"Art hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home." -- Gwendolyn Brooks

Don't fear the reaper

Watch this guy of questionable sanity vape the world's hottest chili pepper (the Carolina Reaper), and then inexplicably snort a line of powdered pepper and rub some leftover juice in his eye.

And for what I imagine the aftereffects might be, this trippy video featuring kaleidoscopic cats, claymation, intentionally cheesy CGI, etc., might fit the bill.

"Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission." -- Arnold Bennett

Sheep's clothing

Bodypaint artist Johannes Stötter amazingly painted three women into a sculpture of a wolf. Some assembly required.

And this artist transforms Starbucks cups into vivid and unique cartoons covering a wide range of topics, from philosophy to parody.

"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation." -- Edward R. Murrow

Hot shots

Stop, drop, pick and roll -- dudes set a basketball on fire to enjoy some sizzling nighttime hoop action.

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." -- Marilyn Monroe

Fluid dynamics

This guy's completely effortless juggling might lull you into thinking that you could easily do the same thing. Good luck.

"The past, the present and the future are really one: they are today." -- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Graveyard shift

Surprise -- this chicken is sleeping, not dead. Slacker...

"Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit." -- George Carlin

Hold that thought

"Thought leader" Pat Kelly gives a fake TED Talk on "thought leadership" in an amusing parody of basically any of these pretentious presentations and a skewering of the common methods they employ to convince you that what you're hearing is important. Certain to inspire.

"The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public." -- George Jessel

It's a rock's life

Art student Seth Boyden's final thesis film is this animated cartoon called "Object at Rest", which follows a stone over its travels through the course of time, facing nature's greatest obstacle: human civilization.

"Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth." -- Zhuangzi

Star struck

Pyromaniacal lunatic builds an exploding Death Star out of 5,000 fireworks.

And in the same bucket, a nicely shot fan film uses drones to simulate a Star Wars spacefighter dogfight out in the real world.

"You don't have to hold onto the pain to hold onto the memory." -- Janet Jackson

Chip it good

Check out how this golfer opens a champagne bottle with a pitching wedge. (It's no tea shot.) Pretty impressive if it's real.

"It always seems impossible until its done." -- Nelson Mandela

Piano men

The good folks at MIT have been working on an interactive self-playing piano with digital animated stick figures that (virtually) dance across the ivories in sync with the music to help you learn how to play it.

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." -- Salvador Dali

Insane bolt

Scientists at Florida Institute of Technology captured a lightning storm at 7,000 fps and played it back at 10x to get this spectacular footage of vein-like electrical streaks emerging from the clouds and creeping toward the ground just before the strike, subtitled, "Missile Command lives".

"A committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing, but who, as a group, can meet and decide that nothing can be done." -- Fred Allen

Watch yourself

Some visitors to the National Watch & Clock Museum in Pennsylvania learned the hard way why you don't touch the objects on display.

And a Tumblr full of photos where guns have been replaced with selfie sticks.

"Blame is just a lazy person's way of making sense of chaos." -- Douglas Coupland