Category: weird-useful-fun

It\’s Turkey time here in the USA, and we\’ve got a lot of crazy news out there. Let\’s put down the news feed, and instead feast on some Happy Wisdom for a Happy Thanksgiving!

WIERD –

Under the category of WIERD, we find the most unusual form of bad behavior – Spite houses. This is what it sounds like: someone builds a house out of spite for whatever reason. You\’re going to BUILD A HOUSE to get back at someone? That\’s amazing.  This affects the Seattle area in an interesting way – we have an unbelievable real estate boom here, top in the country. There is legislation being proposed to allow people to build Mother-in-law houses on their lots. Before I saw this post from URBO I thought it a good idea, but now, not so much.  Speaking of the Seattle area, check out this little fellow, called the Montlake Pie House house since it\’s about the size of a slice of pie and is shaped like one too.

Guess how much?

Ready?

100k? 300k?

400k? Keep going…$500,000!  I guess location really is everything!

 

USEFUL (for Thanksgiving especially!)  –  

Inc. Magazine often has some great items on it.  It\’s tempting to feel a little life-tip fatigue, but I see it as a way to get reminded in clever ways to do good things for yourself and others.  The title of this one, 7 Rules to Follow If You Want to Live a Life Without Regrets, is quite grand. It\’s a good list though- I\’m particularly fond of the 4th one, especially around Thanksgiving time, when things can get hectic.

4. Value the quiet moments.  

A well-lived life doesn\’t mean a life jam-packed with adventures and achievements. It means a life in which you take the time to appreciate what you have. \”It\’s in the quiet, still moments that we feel what matters in life. Standing on the shore of a lake. Looking out over a canyon. Resting your head on someone else\’s. It\’s a shortage of these moments that give rise to the feeling that we haven\’t lived enough, that we have to keep going. Seeking them out, encouraging them is what makes you feel like you\’ve done plenty,\” insists Holiday.

You can see the rest of those items here: 7 Rules to Follow If You Want to Live a Life Without Regrets

FUN –

The Verge is reporting that Virtual Reality could help save the Movie theater.  I checked in on the Virtual Reality update that we had back in February and it seems that the site is still going strong:

\”Starting today, the first thing you’ll see when you walk into the Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto — even before the giant Klingon Bird of Prey dangling above the escalators — is a state-of-the-art virtual reality arcade. You’ll probably even hear a few of the telltale shrieks that come from someone’s first VR experience. Today, IMAX is opening the latest of its IMAX VR centers with its first location in Canada. The launch follows VR installations in theaters in Shanghai and New York, as well as a flagship location in Los Angeles that debuted back in January.\”

 Apparently, people can go see the movie Justice League and then play as those characters afterward, which is pretty incredible. I think VR will cause a renaissance at sites like this, be it theaters or abandoned retail locations, since most people aren\’t going to able to sacrifice the space and cash needed for these systems, at least for the near future.  Check out this description:

\”…lets you play as each member of the superhero team in different scenarios, and I was able to try three of them. As the Flash, you run through a subway tunnel, dodging obstacles by stepping left and right. You can also drive the Batmobile, using the HTC Vive’s motion controllers to turn the steering wheel and fire machine guns at a seemingly never-ending onslaught of enemy vehicles. As Aquaman, meanwhile, you swim down a trench and stab a giant sea creature with a trident.\”

They also have a Star Trek VR experience as shown in the feature image. It looks pretty great to me! The Toronto experience sounds as positive as mine was PAX West this year. This might be the time that virtual and augmented reality really stick.

That\’s it for now – have a great Thanksgiving!

 

Weird – the Sound from the Deep

Greetings everyone, for a new installment of Weird Useful and Fun!

Under the weird category, I have a very creepy thing for y\’all to listen to.  It is a sound that researchers heard in the ocean, and despite analysis by universities and even the cryptologists in the US Government, no one knows what this is.  A sound only Steven King could appreciate…

..

Useful – Life Extention for Real!

Walters Art Museum: Info about artwork, Public Domain

 

Life extension has been a very hot topic for, well, forever.  Herodotus was among the earliest accounts of a fountain of youth, the 5th century BC.  Check out this quote:

\”The Ichthyophagid then in their turn questioned the king concerning the term of life, and diet of his people, and were told that most of them lived to be a hundred and twenty years old, while some even went beyond that age– they ate boiled flesh, and had for their drink nothing but milk. When the Ichthyophagi showed wonder at the number of the years, he led them to a fountain, wherein when they had washed, they found their flesh all glossy and sleek, as if they had bathed in oil- and a scent came from the spring like that of violets. The water was so weak, they said, that nothing would float in it, neither wood, nor any lighter substance, but all went to the bottom. If the account of this fountain be true, it would be their constant use of the water from it which makes them so long-lived.\”

I\’ve always felt that the earth has some substance that would make us live longer, but our searches have proven futile. Now science has gotten serious at looking at aging as the disease, rather than the diseases themselves, which I think is an important use of root cause analysis. Better yet, they seem to getting somewhere.  There are three dimensions they discuss – Stem cell injections, NAH+ boosting, and elimination of so-called zombie cells that refuse to eliminate themselves. This may not mean having people live to 120 years or beyond, but it might mean that our time during the last two decades of our life will be more healthy.

But what if there was a real fountain of youth?  What if we are really gaining on the age of longer, healthier lives?  There are two resources I\’d like to point you to. First, the video from the awesome guys at Kurzgesagt.

This relatively new perspective on science is being cataloged in a few places, but the latest and one of the coolest is Lifespan.io, who advocate for life extension. The site is an excellent resource for those who want to look into serious treatments while removing the snake-oil salesmen. Caveat Emptor, my friends!

 

FUN @  BLIZZCON!

The fun has to come down a quick shout out to my friends at Blizzard Entertainment. This convention is somewhat amazing in that its ONE company demoing their product line of games. What\’s even more amazing is that this conference is at the Anaheim convention center, which is the largest convention center on the west coast at over 1.2 million square feet. Whats even MORE amazing is that this thing sells out in a few minutes. Does this make it bigger than PAX? I\’m not sure.

Look at the below image. If you don\’t know, this is called Cosplaying, and ALL of these people are characters from the games that Blizzard produces. It is an inspiring story to hear how the company got started from some of the folks that did it and still work at the company.

Finally this – As I\’ve attended this years Blizzcon virtually, I\’ve watched some amazing artist. I found this awesome  Laurel D. Austin, a principal artist at Blizzard, who posts great images like this one here.  This image is from the game Starcraft, hilariously called Cuddling with Zerg ( the little creatures next to her).   If you want to see more about this conference, rush over to Blizzcon.com .

That\’s it for now folks! Have a Weird, Useful, and Fun Week!

Though nearly everyone alive in the US recognises this man as a villain from Star Wars, most don\’t know his name. This man is Peter Cushing and he played Grand Moff Tarkin in the 1977 groundbreaking movie Star Wars. As you might be aware, Tarkin appeared, relatively unaged, in the latest release of the franchise, which is pretty good since he had died over a decade prior to that movie!  I gasped when I saw him. It was, as far as I know, the first digital resurrection of an actor.

But how did they do it? Don\’t just say computers – we know its computers! – I mean…how did they do it?

Filed under the category of WEIRD, I give you the burgeoning field of digital avatars. In an astounding feat of technical prowess and with the full permission of the Cushing estate, this man was digitally inserted to reprise his role of Tarkin in Rogue One.

The latest edition of Wired.com covers the ever-improving technology of mapping people\’s video to things they didn\’t do or say. In an era of fake news, this obviously presents some challenges. In the very near future, they\’ll be able to edit voice and video as easily as we can modify photos in photoshop today.  This isn\’t just for high-budget movies. This tech can possibly make the Fake News issue much worse if we don\’t take the time to understand it.  Check out this – just watch the first few seconds and you\’ll see where this is going.  You will agree that it is weird and somewhat worrisome. Knowledge is power!

USEFUL –  Great resource for HappyWisdomers –  I have an excellent infographic to share with you from my friends over at PositiveHealthWellness.com.

As you might know, I\’m a HUGE fan of the Ketosis lifestyle (not diet) and I can personally attest to the accuracy of this chart. I avoided the bad breath by 1) always drinking coffee, which is different, and 2) having gum in the car. No biggie! I\’ve written a good deal about this lifestyle, but let me touch on some of the points here.

#2 is obviously the big one – lose weight! I am TERRIBLE at this diet, but I still have lost over 20lbs. I intend on getting more serious next year (it is a lot of work in food choices, etc.)

#5 is 100% true and amazing. Since you\’re eating fat, you find yourself full far more often than on other diets. I love sugar, so its hard, but I can always tell when I slip out of Ketosis. I\’m hungrier and my stomach misbehaves more (bloating, etc.)

For numbers 8-10, I have to say it wasn\’t that bad. I use MCT oil for the energy thing, and my digestion has never been better.

Karen Reed, the creator of this and many other awesome infographics, has a great write-up about ketosis and 15 great recipes.

Check those out here.

FUN – Halloween Pumpkins!  

For the last few years, my youngest son and I have tried our hands at copying the Grand Master of pumpkin carving,  Ray Villafane of Villafane studios.  Now, before you see these things, just know that its MUCH harder than it looks, and don\’t try any of it with \”standard\” tooling. What you\’ll need are clay carving tools to get anywhere close to what he\’s doing.

Below are my favs, and our latest attempts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, now here\’s mine and my son\’s. Remember – harder than it looks 🙂

That\’s it for now – thanks for reading, and if you have any designs for pumpkins, send them in!