The city of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts program is unveiling a piece dedicated to the work of The Roots today. The hand-painted image took almost two years to complete on a wall down the street from the special high school for the performing arts that several members of the group attended. The Roots are still involved in community outreach programs in the Philadelphia area and are behind “Roots101,” a youth-targeted lecture series … Discuss

This Mr. T Transformer, which alternates between awesomely terrifying Mr. T Autobot and A-Team getaway van, has managed to redefine what a toy can be. Unfortunately, this amazing '80s memorabilia hybrid is not available in stores, and the only way you can have a chance to own the one-of-a-kind piece is to go to RetroCon in September and enter a live contest. It’s probably a good thing a limited number of these Mr. T Transformers aren’t actually for sale, as there is no unjustifiable amount of money that could be paid for one … Discuss

A writer from Mother Jones magazine has posted this report about attending a gun building party in California. According to his article, these 8-hour classes are relatively common, and in just one day, attendees can walk away with a fully-functioning, totally untraceable, AK-47 assault rifle. And, because the guns are assembled from individual parts and are just for “personal use,” the serial numberless weapons are completely legal. The gun build parties use legal loopholes and slight design modifications to allow students to own unregistered assault weapons, even though—as the reporter found—law enforcement agencies didn’t seem aware that such parties even took place. In many states, the homemade guns can be sold without any background checks or documentation. Those one-time use, 3-D printed guns suddenly seem a little less scary … Discuss