How to Nail a Front Flip in a Monster Truck

Monster trucks. You might think, hey, it's just a truck with giant tires. Oh, but no. These trucks are also incredibly powerful. They can jump and bounce and do wheelies. They can even do flips in the air. First it was a backflip, but at the Monster Jam World Finals XVIII, a truck known as…

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The History of Food Photos—From Still Lifes to Brunch ‘Grams

Brunch looked great before your friends whipped out their iPhones, angling for perfect shots of their avocado toast as yours went cold. It’s 2020, and people still photograph their food, though by now such behavior is cringey enough to elicit some eye rolls. Everyone knows it isn’t really about the food.“It’s about them,” says photography…

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‘Kingdom Hearts III Re: Mind’ Is the Antidote to Bad Endings

Last year was, in pop culture terms, a year of disappointing endings. Both Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Game of Thrones demonstrated just how difficult it is to end a major mass-media storytelling project in a way that's satisfying. It's the Lost problem all over again: Narrative answers are never as satisfying as…

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The 10,000-Year Clock Is a Waste of Time

There is a clock being constructed in a mountain in Texas. The clock will tick once a year, marking time over the next 10,000 years. The clock is an art installation. It is intended as a monument to long-term thinking, meant to inspire its visitors to be mindful of their place in the long arc…

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Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry’s Best Kept Secret

Last summer, a secretive space company took up residence in a massive warehouse in the sun-soaked industrial neighborhood that surrounds Long Beach Airport. Reflections of turboprop panes flit across the building’s mirrored panes. Across the street a retro McDonnell Douglas sign perches above the aerospace giant’s former factory, and just around the corner Virgin Orbit…

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When ‘Ghost Kitchens’ Become Mystery Grubhub Listings

Happy Khao Thai has an address on San Francisco’s Mission Street, but don’t go there looking for a storefront. A sign on the sidewalk reading “Food pick up here” points, improbably, through the maw of a demolished theater, of which all that’s left is the marquee. Behind it, in what would have been the lobby,…

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