The entire cast of Futurama on one massive poster onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The entire cast of Futurama on one massive poster

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Over the course of seven seasons, Futurama assembled an enormous animated cast, and artist Unrellius has managed to squeeze just about every alien, robot, and head in a jar into a single poster.

Unrellius says it took him 14 months to put this piece together. You can see the full-sized image at deviantART and search for your favorite characters in a massive mutant game of Where's Waldo?

The cast of Futurama [Unrellius via Popped Culture]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The entire cast of Futurama on one massive poster

Here's part one of the astounding Robotech fan flick Valkyrie Project onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Here's part one of the astounding Robotech fan flick Valkyrie Project

It's been over two years, but the folks behind Argentina's have finally released more than a trailer for their fantastic-looking Robotech fan flick. The first 10 minutes have just been posted; there are no subtitles, unfortunately, but who needs subtitles when there are Veritechs and Zentraedi Battle Pods running around?

Admittedly, since this is part one, there's a generous portion of set-up, but if you want the highlight reel: watch the first minute for some Zentraedi action, then 3:50 to 4:20 to see the Veritech, then 7:00 to 9:00 for a Veritech test and to see Breetai addressing the Zentraedi troops.

Given that the live-action Robotech movie is stuck in development hell and the Robotech anime rights are the legal equivalent of a black hole, this is probably the best Robotech anything we'll be getting for the foreseeable future. Much thanks to director Cesar A. Turturoo and writer Jorge Luis Sucksdorf for making it, and here's hoping they don't get sued.

[Via Anime News Network]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Here's part one of the astounding Robotech fan flick Valkyrie Project

The completely impossible tasks you accomplish every single day onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The completely impossible tasks you accomplish every single day

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If you switched on the light this morning and walked to the bathroom, you've put yourself in the middle of a philosophical conundrum. In one case, you have accomplished what's known as a supertask. In the other case, you've done something that shows supertasks are impossible.

What are Supertasks?

Supertasks are an infinite number of things done in a finite amount of time. Ever since they have been described, people have been arguing about whether they are possible or not. Admittedly, at first it looks like common sense to simply say "no," and move on with your day. But before you make up your mind, consider the fact that you accomplished your first supertask as soon as you were born.

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Supertasks were first proposed by Zeno of Elea, a philosopher who was considered a smartass even by ancient philosopher standards. He was fond of paradoxes, and came up with one which proved that motion is impossible. For a person to get from one place to another, they have to pass by a point half way between those two places. For them to get to the half-way point, they have to get somewhere half way between that. Since there will always be more half-way points, a person will have to pass through an infinite number of points in a finite amount of time. That's not possible, argued Zeno, and so all motion is impossible.

That was the first supertask, then, and it is obviously doable. In fact, that's the tack philosophers took to refute it. No talk about the fundamental nature of reality, and no arguments about continuous versus discrete space — because we can move, Zeno's argument was clearly wrong. Either there is a certain scale at which there is no longer half-way point between to places, or supertasks are possible. So you accomplished a supertask by walking anywhere, taking a single step, or getting from one end of the birth canal to another. (I guess all you c-section kids were late bloomers or something. Don't worry. You caught up. Although whether anyone can catch up to someone with a head start is yet another debatable supertask.) What could be simpler than a supertask?

Thomson's Lamp

On the other hand, supertasks are completely impossible. That comes from no less an authority than James F. Thomson, the man who coined the word "supertask." He came up with his own version of a supertask, which he believed showed that they could not be done. Following Zeno's lead, he went with the idea of halves, but instead of halving an amount of space, he chose to halve an amount of time.

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Thomson's Lamp is meant to be switched on and off very quickly. This is a good thing, because Thomson wants you to switch it on and off an infinite number of time in two seconds. The lamp starts out in the on position. At the one-second mark, you turn it off. At the 1.5-second mark, you turn it back on. At the 1.75-second point you turn it off again, and so on and so on, until you reach two seconds. The clock hits the two-second mark. You reach out your hand. Is the lamp on or off?

Thomson argues that, if supertasks were possible, there should be an answer to that question. But is there an answer? Let's say the lamp is on at the two-second mark. If the lamp is on as you stretch your hand out at the two-second mark, it had to have flipped on just before the two-second mark. But if it was flipped on at that time, then halfway between that time and the two-second mark, it had to have been flipped off.

That means the lamp is off as you stretch out your hand, but if it is off, it had to have been off at some time before the two-second mark. Which means that halfway between that time and the two-second point, you had to have switched it on. That means the lamp is on. Which means it had to have been turned off before, making it off again. The point is, supertasks are impossible.

Or are they? Obviously, there are practical limits to any investigation you try to conduct on supertasks (although, if they actually are possible, there theoretically shouldn't be). Do you think it's possible to accomplish a supertask? If so, what supertask would you propose?

[Via Infinite Pains, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, MathLair, Mathematics]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The completely impossible tasks you accomplish every single day

50 years ago, Isaac Asimov predicted what 2014 would look like onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com 50 years ago, Isaac Asimov predicted what 2014 would look like

Fifty years ago, the 1964 World's Fair got Isaac Asimov to thinking about just what 2014 would look like, and he wrote up his predictions in an essay for The New York Times. It's a mixed-bag that includes early forecasts of GPS, TV dinners, and a dead-on summation of our relationship with robots ("Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence.") Then there's also a couple that are somewhat less dead-on — the underground city, for instance, with massive farms occupying the surface.

Said Asimov:

There is an underground house at the fair which is a sign of the future. if its windows are not polarized, they can nevertheless alter the "scenery" by changes in lighting. Suburban houses underground, with easily controlled temperature, free from the vicissitudes of weather, with air cleaned and light controlled, should be fairly common. At the New York World's Fair of 2014, General Motors' "Futurama" may well display vistas of underground cities complete with light- forced vegetable gardens. The surface, G.M. will argue, will be given over to large-scale agriculture, grazing and parklands, with less space wasted on actual human occupancy.

Gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs. Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare "automeals," heating water and converting it to coffee; toasting bread; frying, poaching or scrambling eggs, grilling bacon, and so on. Breakfasts will be "ordered" the night before to be ready by a specified hour the next morning. Complete lunches and dinners, with the food semiprepared, will be stored in the freezer until ready for processing. I suspect, though, that even in 2014 it will still be advisable to have a small corner in the kitchen unit where the more individual meals can be prepared by hand, especially when company is coming.

Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence. The I.B.M. exhibit at the present fair has no robots but it is dedicated to computers, which are shown in all their amazing complexity, notably in the task of translating Russian into English. If machines are that smart today, what may not be in the works 50 years hence? It will be such computers, much miniaturized, that will serve as the "brains" of robots. In fact, the I.B.M. building at the 2014 World's Fair may have, as one of its prime exhibits, a robot housemaid*large, clumsy, slow- moving but capable of general picking-up, arranging, cleaning and manipulation of various appliances. It will undoubtedly amuse the fairgoers to scatter debris over the floor in order to see the robot lumberingly remove it and classify it into "throw away" and "set aside." (Robots for gardening work will also have made their appearance.)

Read the rest of the essay here.

Image: The Unisphere from the 1964 World's Fair in New York, Dan Brown Photography.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com 50 years ago, Isaac Asimov predicted what 2014 would look like

The first Vampire Academy clip reveals some serious baby (herpes) drama onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The first Vampire Academy clip reveals some serious baby (herpes) drama

Let me be honest with you; I know nothing about the Vampire Academy movie, or the books. In fact the only reason I know this first clip features Mia and Lissa is because the video is titled "Mia attacks Lissa." But if the rest of the movie features this much insanity — including accusations of babies with STDs — I'm in.

Vampire Academy opens on February 14th.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The first Vampire Academy clip reveals some serious baby (herpes) drama

Let's write some six-word science fiction! onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Let's write some six-word science fiction!

Sometimes six words is all you need to tell a story. Last time, we fell in love with your six-word science fiction, ranging from the tale of a search engine that has had quite enough ("Answer it yourself," Google sighed finally." — denverhed) to the time-traveling device we're already coveting ("iTime's on Help! shuffle. stuck My" — seesome). Now we want more.

So spin us a bit of very, very short science fiction in the comments on any topic you want, using just six words, now!

Image: dark.molly.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Let's write some six-word science fiction!

All 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy have now been rescued. onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com All 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy have now been rescued.

All 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy have now been rescued. The ship had been trapped in Antarctic ice for nearly 10 days. The passengers were flown to the Aurora Australis in groups by a helicopter from a Chinese ice-breaker; the remaining crew of 22 are expected to stay on board the Shokalskiy until the ship becomes free.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com All 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy have now been rescued.

How one man's willinginess to eat anything got him a career in science onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com How one man's willinginess to eat anything got him a career in science

There was a time when being willing to eat anything got people a career at a carnival. And then there was a time when being willing to eat anything got a very special person a career in science. Fortunately, both those times are over.

As a teenager Frederick Hoelzel was, concerned about his weight. He decided to lose weight, without being hungry, by eating nondigestible substances. Anything that passed through his system undigested got a regular spot on his plate. This included the parts of a plant that you aren't supposed to eat, like the cob of an ear of corn, or the stem of a banana. He also wolfed down fabrics, feathers, and even asbestos, but cotton balls were his favorite. Today, we would recognize this sort of thing as a disorder and get Hoelzel some help. In the 1920s, the great minds of science took a look at him and asked, "Hey, you wanna try eating this?"

Hoelzel got the nickname "Human Billygoat," and received all kinds of strange food assignments. One was simply a 15-day fast that left him with visible ribs and knees that stood out from his shrunken legs. More often, he was asked to eat various things and record how they passed through his body. A sample chart of his culinary adventures records what he ate, how many pieces he ate, the objects' specific gravity, the percent of the material that was "recovered," and how long it took to pass through his system. Most actual food took about 25 hours. Carbon dioxide gas took two to six hours (no mention of the percentage recovered, which I think is a shame). Gold pellets weren't recovered until twenty-two days after they were eaten. Silver wire took about 80 hours. Gravel (directly from the lab driveway) took a little over 50 hours. String proved the quickest mover, emerging explosively after only about an hour.

Amazingly, this did not do wonders for Hoelzel's career. He only made it as far as "assistant in physiology." He was a press darling, though, and the subject of many articles before his death in 1963.

[Via Mad Science Museum]

Top Image: Public Domain Images.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com How one man's willinginess to eat anything got him a career in science

Could the Governor really be returning to The Walking Dead? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Could the Governor really be returning to The Walking Dead?

There's speculation that Dwayne Johnson's playing a role in Batman Vs. Superman, with one guess being pretty logical and another being pretty out there. And why does an Arrow EP think that more comic book adaptations are good for everyone? Plus, new Captain America photos. Spoilers now!

Batman Vs. Superman

Since Dwayne Johnson's tweet about meeting with DC and Warner Bros., there's been speculation about what role he could be talking to them about. First, as mentioned yesterday, Johnson had previously been linked to a Lobo movie, so maybe that's being resurrected. But second is this piece of speculation from SciFi Now, wondering if he could actually have a part in the Man of Steel sequel. He could fit the image of Doomsday, a character rumored to be in the film. Or, SciFi Now speculates, could they be adding Aquaman, and going for a somewhat untraditional look for that character? [Sci Fi Now]

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Go here for more new photos from the sequel. [Coming Soon]

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The Walking Dead

Even though the Governor is, by all appearances, well and truly dead, David Morrisey's being a little bit cagey about whether we'll see him again:

Something happened to him. I feel like a shady politician where I can't confirm and I can't deny anything. Certainly, bad things befell him at the end of the last episode but we just have to wait and see.

This could just be that he's under an obligation never to confirm or deny anything — or he could actually be hinting at something surprising. The Governor was shot in the head, which precludes his undead return, and he's been confirmed dead by an executive producer. Maybe he'll just be seen as a dream/hallucination/memory for someone. [Zap2it]

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Grimm

Bitsie Tulloch says this season's given her character, Juliette, a new and active role:

Juliette's gone from being a somewhat passive character to a very active character and it's certainly been incredibly fun, especially for me and David [Giuntoli], because as actors we are able to do a scene and our characters aren't at each others throats and someone isn't sad because someone's hiding something from the other.

They're asking each other for advice and figuring it out together. She's turning into a sleuth which is really cool.

She also says that what this season created was a stronger relationship between Juliette and Nick, as Nick recovered from his time as a zombie:

This is something that's going to be primarily strengthening their bond because they've spent so long keeping each other at arms length, but now they can go forward as a team.

[Sci Fi Now]

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Arrow

Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg doesn't care for even favorable comparisons between his show and Agents of SHIELD. When presented with a comment by someone asking Agents of SHIELD to watch Arrow and learn how to do a comic book show "right," Kreisberg just said that they don't see anyone as competition, and are just focused on doing better than their own previous work. Mostly, he's glad to see any and all comic book adaptations:

I think all of us here — not just as writers but as viewers — are thrilled that we're in what feels like a golden age of comic book adaptations in both film and television. We're excited to be part of this real shift in the TV landscape that includes S.H.I.E.L.D. and hopefully for next season Gotham and Constantine, and even the Daredevil show, which I'm really excited about.

. . . We really feel like a rising tide lifts all ships,so the more comic book adaptations the better!

[TV Line]

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American Horror Story

Here's the long synopsis for episode 3.11, "Protect the Coven":

1830: Madame LaLaurie, newly arrived in New Orleans, discovers her penchant for cruelty.

Today: As the Coven mourns one of their own, Cordelia realizes that her mother needs to be stopped. Meanwhile, The Corporation covers their tracks, as Harrison plans a double-cross. We learn more about Madame LaLaurie's past and present, as she finds her circumstances more and more intolerable. She returns to a horrifying pastime of old that will make the hours bearable for her again... and finds an unexpected ally and kindred spirit, who offers her a chance at getting the one thing she truly wants. As Fiona and the Axeman make plans for the future, Cordelia tries to regain the trust of an embittered Queenie. Zoe and Kyle pursue justice – but they're interrupted by a jealous Madison. Cordelia makes a desperate sacrifice to gain the power she needs to protect the Coven from enemies without and within. Myrtle gives Zoe an unexpected gift to help her and Kyle, though Zoe's not sure she wants it. Fiona and Marie Laveau have a deadly face off with Harrison and The Corporation. And Madame LaLaurie finds that sometimes, you don't get what you want... but you get what you need.

[SpoilerTV]

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Agents of SHIELD

Go here for a complete set of photos from episode 1.12, "Seeds." Looks like a) the team goes to a bar and b) Coulson's back by then, and he's driving Lola. [SpoilerTV]

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[SpoilerTV]

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Person of Interest

Here's the promo for the midseason premiere, "Aletheia." [via SpoilerTV]

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Almost Human

Below's the official synopsis for episode eight, "You Are Here":

A MAGIC BULLET TRIGGERS A MYSTERIOUS MURDER ON AN ALL-NEW "ALMOST HUMAN" MONDAY, JANUARY 13, ON FOX

Det. Kennex and Dorian investigate a crime scene involving a self-guided bullet that can track, target and kill specific people at any moment. Meanwhile, Maldonado revisits the deadly ambush that almost killed Kennex in the all-new "You Are Here" episode of ALMOST HUMAN airing Monday, Jan. 13 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX

[SpoilerTV]

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Dracula

And here's the description of episode nine, "Four Roses":

01/17/2014 (10:01PM - 11:00PM) (Friday) : As Mina recovers from her attack, Harker joins The Order Of The Dragon and Grayson goes to war with them. Everything begins to unravel. Browning desperately searches for his children, Lady Jane prepares for the ultimate vampire hunt and Lucy confesses her betrayal to Mina, destroying their friendship and ultimately suffering the ultimate backlash. With all the surrounding chaos, Grayson decides to make a heart-felt confession to Mina.

[SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Charlie Jane Anders and Jason Krell

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Could the Governor really be returning to The Walking Dead?

Robert Goddard's Secret Plan for the Future of Humankind in Space onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Robert Goddard's Secret Plan for the Future of Humankind in Space

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On January 14, 1918—six years before he began the world's first experiments with liquid fuel rockets—Robert H. Goddard wrote an essay called "The Ultimate Migration." He asked a friend to keep it in his safe, hidden in a sealed envelope labeled "Outline of Certain Notes on High-Altitude Research."

Illustration, "Exploring Harpalus," by Chesley Bonestell

In this secret document, Goddard said he "speculated as to the last migration of the human race, as consisting of a number of expeditions sent out into the regions of thickly distributed stars, taking in a condensed form all the knowledge of the race, using either atomic energy or hydrogen, oxygen and solar energy… [It] was contained in an inner envelope which suggested that the writing inside should be read only by an optimist."

It would not appear in print until November 1972. In four pages of handwritten manuscript, Goddard considered the eventual abandonment of the solar system by humanity "when the sun and the earth have cooled to such an extent that life is no longer possible . . ."

"Will it be possible," Goddard asked, "to travel to the planets which are around the fixed stars, when the Sun and the Earth have cooled to such an extent that life is no longer possible on the Earth?" Goddard hoped that the discovery of "intra-atomic energy" would be the key. And if this proved to be impossible, he thought it might "be possible to reduce the protoplasm in the human body to the granular state, so that it can withstand the intense cold of interstellar space." Bodies would have to be freeze-dried first, "before this state could be produced. Awakening may have to be done very slowly." Goddard suggested that a special breed of human might be deliberately created specifically for this purpose.

And if reducing humans to a powder isn't feasible, Goddard thought that "granular protoplasm," might be launched into interstellar space, "this protoplasm being of such a nature as to produce human beings eventually, by evolution."

If "intra-atomic energy" could be harnessed, interstellar "transportation can be a comparatively simple matter." Near-light speeds would result in "a reasonably short trip." For the spacecraft, Goddard thought that "an asteroid or a small moon" might be adapted. But after a journey lasting generations, what finally arrived at the destination might not be fully human. "There is the possibility," Goddard wrote, "that after many thousands of years, the characteristics and natures of the passengers might change, with the succeeding generations."

And if nuclear power proves impossible, mankind would have to fall back on chemical fuels or solar sails. Flights to distant stars, however, might take thousands or even millions of years. The pilot of such a ship, Goddard suggested, "should be awakened, or animated, at intervals, perhaps of 10,000 years for a passage to the nearest stars, and 1,000,000 years for great distances, or for other stellar systems." A radium-powered alarm clock would be used for this. Energy for the various operations of the ship would be produced by "radioactivity, rather than, say by super-conductors, or by chemical substances that might change with time. Probably most chemical substances would remain very inert at the low temperature of space."

And where would Goddard's colonists go? "The most desirable destination would be near a large sun or twin suns," he thought, "on a planet like the Earth." A planet would be selected that was in as stable an environment as possible, so that the human race could continue its evolution. And a destination would be chosen from that "part of the sky where the stars are thickly clustered, so that further migration would be easy..."

"With each expedition," he wrote, "there should be taken all the knowledge, literature, art (in a condensed form), and description of tools, appliances, and processes, in as condensed, light, and indestructible a form as possible, so that a new civilization could begin where the old ended."

Will this ever happen? Goddard thought so. "The only barrier to human development," he was convinced, "is ignorance, and this is not insurmountable."

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Robert Goddard's Secret Plan for the Future of Humankind in Space

Strange Historic Photos From Antarctica and Other Kingdoms of Ice onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Strange Historic Photos From Antarctica and Other Kingdoms of Ice

Right now, a science expedition to Antarctica is trapped in ice, waiting to be freed so they can continue exploring. They're just the latest group of humans to venture into the unpredictable, frozen world of the South Pole and beyond. Here are some of the most incredible and awe-inspiring images from over a century of icy exploration.

Gilbert Kerr, a member of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition plays the bagpipe for an indifferent penguin during the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-1904

(via Wikimedia Commons)

Grotto in an iceberg, photo taken during the British Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1913, on 5 Januay 1911, by Herbert Pointing

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(via National Library NZ on The Commons)

A dreamy Venice in seal-land, taken during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition by Frank Hurley, between 1911 and 1914

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(via State Library of New South Wales)

Wreck of the Gratitude on Macquarie Island, 1911

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(via State Library of New South Wales)

Ice-crusted Adélie Penguins after a blizzard at Cape Dension, taken during the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, between 1911 and 1914

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(via State Library of Victoria Collections and State Library of New South Wales)

Catch of the day: Whalers on South Georgia stand on the beach alongside their catch, 1912

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(via The National Archives UK)

The "ice mask" of C. T. Madigan, taken during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition by Frank Hurley, between 1911 and 1914

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(via State Library of New South Wales and National Library of Australia)

Herbert George Pointing and his telephoto apparatus, Antarctica, January 1912

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(via National Library NZ on The Commons)

Playing football on ice, taken during Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917. Photo by Frank Hurley.

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(via Slate)

Mawson and men at Christmas dinner with menu and balloons, on board the S.Y. Discovery in Antarctica, 1930

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(via National Library of Australia)

Feeding polar bears from on top of a tank, Russia, c. 1950

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(via ClassicPics)

Feeding polar bears with a tin of condensed milk, 1950s

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(via EnglishRussia)

"The nearest phone booth is at the corner of Mitchell St. at Busselton road, Fremantle, WA, 2400 miles away" – Group Captain S.A. Campbell (centre) officially opening the first Australian Post Office to be set up in Antarctica on Heard Island, c. 1955

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(via State Library of New South Wales)

Free hugs during The First Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1955, shortly before the USSR have built the Mirny station

(via English Russia)

A Tucker Sno-Cat balanced precariously over a crevice, during the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1955-1958

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(Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

The southernmost Lenin statue of the world near a temporary Soviet base on The Southern Pole of Inaccessibility, the point on the Antarctic continent most distant from the Southern Ocean, 1958

(via South Pole Station)

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Strange Historic Photos From Antarctica and Other Kingdoms of Ice

Who's your favorite character that risked everything for love? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Who's your favorite character that risked everything for love?

Some people roll the dice for power, others for honor. And some people never throw the dice at all. But the characters who risk all for love are often the most captivating. Who's your favorite character that cast their fate to the wind for the sake of love?

Please include a clip or picture of this amazing romantic. And mention where they come from, their name, and why they're a poster child for love and devotion.

Top image: Simon Tam did it all for River, in Firefly.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Who's your favorite character that risked everything for love?

Sex toys are getting smarter onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Sex toys are getting smarter

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The new movie Her imagines the future of sex with its romance between a man and his operating system. We may not be falling in love with artificial intelligences any time soon, but a new crop of twenty-first century sex toys could turn your next hookup into something like a videogame.

The Sydney Morning Herald takes a look at the future of sex with vibrators like the Limon are reaching new levels of innovation — with USB charging and a minimalist functionality that remembers how you like to get things done. And some sex toys like the Real Touch will supposedly let help you get each other off over the Internet with the help of some special equipment and a webcam. Even well-known names like Durex are getting in the game with inventions like their Fundawear. This unisex pair of underpants has vibrating nodes that you can activate over your iPhone, because yes — there's even an app for that.

As for whether or not you'll ever be able to have a romantic relationship with an AI, you only have to look at video games to see how close we are to that reality. Games like Love Plus give you a virtual girlfriend, and one man in Japan even married a character from the game back in 2009. Maybe Her isn't that far off after all.

Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Sex toys are getting smarter

The best guzheng cover of Daft Punk's "Derezzed" you'll hear all day onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The best guzheng cover of Daft Punk's "Derezzed" you'll hear all day

I don't care how many Chinese zither-based covers of Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy soundtrack you listen to today, I feel quite confident that Michelle Kwan's adaptation of "Derezzed" is going to top your list. I know, it's a bold statement, but I stand by it.

Honestly, I think it may well be the best guzheng cover of Derezzed" you'll hear all year, but let's not go crazy here, okay?

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The best guzheng cover of Daft Punk's "Derezzed" you'll hear all day

Watch as scientists levitate these objects with sound waves onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Watch as scientists levitate these objects with sound waves

Using ultrasound, a team of Japanese scientists has levitated small particles, and moved them around mid-air. It's incredible to see.

This isn't the first time we've seen ultrasonic levitation, but it's a small step toward being able to move objects around once they're off the ground. Write the researchers in a paper just posted to Arxiv:

In the present study, we considered extended acoustic manipulation whereby millimetre-sized particles were levitated and moved three-dimensionally by localised ultrasonic standing waves, which were generated by ultrasonic phased arrays. Our manipulation system has two original features. One is the direction of the ultrasound beam, which is arbitrary because the force acting toward its centre is also utilised. The other is the manipulation principle by which a localised standing wave is generated at an arbitrary position and moved three-dimensionally by opposed and ultrasonic phased arrays. We experimentally confirmed that various materials could be manipulated by our proposed method.

Read the whole paper at Arxiv.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Watch as scientists levitate these objects with sound waves

Watch Dubai's insane, record-setting New Year's Eve fireworks show onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Watch Dubai's insane, record-setting New Year's Eve fireworks show

2013 ended with a bang in Dubai —not a metaphorical one, but a very real one, as the wealthy city ushered in the new year by launching over 500,000 fireworks. The six-minute extravaganza set the world record for the biggest fireworks display, according to Guinness, triumphing over the previous record holder by, oh, about 420,000.

The above video is of Dubai's entire event, which involves some lovely singing and fountain shows, amidst some long breaks of people standing around; the fireworks begin ay 28:35 (literally and metaphorically).

[Via Laughing Squid]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Watch Dubai's insane, record-setting New Year's Eve fireworks show

What you'll wear after the pollution apocalypse onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com What you'll wear after the pollution apocalypse

Designer Chui Chih designed this plant-based breathing apparatus, inspired by the idea that humanity will soon have to adapt to a crowded, urban world with bad air quality. Her vision is showcased in some truly stunning photos.

The design/"survival kit" is part of the project Chiu Chih calls "voyage on the planet." Inspired by the ideas of the world's constant state of flux and humanity's uncertain future, the designer imagined one piece of equipment future humans would have to create to survive. While the design may not actually provide you with enough oxygen in a truly oxygen-free environment, it's more about simplicity. And the beautiful image of this single green plant, preserved in a case, and carried through a world lacking others.

Front and back:

And here's a clean look at the apparatus made:

via Design Boom

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com What you'll wear after the pollution apocalypse

Watch this video if you want to know how to eat light onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Watch this video if you want to know how to eat light

Photosynthesis is the chemical process that allows plants to get their energy from carbon dioxide and light. It's one of the most amazing adaptations in any life form. It's also incredibly complicated. Start the new year right by learning how it works, in this video.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Watch this video if you want to know how to eat light

The true origin of "squee!" onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The true origin of "squee!"

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Among fans, "squee" has become a word that sums up all our feelings of reckless abandon when we wholeheartedly fall in love with a story or character. New Firefly movie? Squee! Shirtless Benedict Cumberbatch photos revealed? Squee! The next Game of Thrones book is out? SQUEE!!! But squee was first used as comic book sound-effect word made by dying robots.

Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 AD fan Richard Rae has put together this compilation of robot squee death scenes to help us understand this key moment in the term's etymology. He writes in to io9 to explain his collage masterpiece:

Always was a big fan of "Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 AD" in the comics, and I was using "squeee!' long before it became a trendy "delight" noise. Of course, it wasn't always this way — in the comics, whenever a robot was wrecked or beheaded by Magnus, its death cry usually consisted of "Squeee!" or something akin to it (obviously the sound of the robot's voice box feedback upon destruction). So for your enjoyment, edification, or just plain SMH on the time I spent on this, here's a compilation I made consisting of every occurrence of "Squee" in the original Russ Manning Magnus Robot Fighter comics (not counting the reprints or the couple of issues where there was nary a "squee" to be found).

Good to know!

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The true origin of "squee!"

9 Extraordinary Underground Cities onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com 9 Extraordinary Underground Cities

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Humans like to build cities that reach for the sky, but sometimes they also build downward. Whether for protection, or just because they can, we've created many cities beneath the Earth's crust - or dug deep into the rocky faces of mountains. Here are nine of the most awesome.

Photograph by Martin Gray/National Geographic

1. Petra

Built in Jordan in the 2nd century by the Nabataeans, this massive monastery is just one of hundreds of dwellings carved into the rocks.

2. Barry Troglodyte Village

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People have lived for hundreds of years in this village, carved into the rocks of a hillside overlooking Rhone, France. Some of the carvings in the region look downright spooky, like this skull face, but others are simply doors and windows into homes that stretch back into cozy caves.

3. Moose Jaw

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Beneath the streets of Saskatchewan, Canada town Moose Jaw, there lurks an extensive network of tunnels, full of what were once shops, factories, homes, and speakeasies. Rumor has it that Al Capone used them for smuggling, and that Chinese immigrants lived and worked there in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There is no solid evidence either way, but you can take a tour. Learn more via Tunnels of Moose Jaw.

4. Leavenworth

Beneath the streets of this small Kansas town, residents recently discovered three blocks of abandoned storefronts. No one is sure what they were used for. Were they the homes of escaped slaves, who hid from authorities? A haven for bootleggers in the 1920s? Or was it simply a part of town that was abandoned and turned into landfill for the Leavenworth we know today?

5. Montreal

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Connected to metro stations and shopping districts, Montreal's "underground city," or Réso, boasts 20 miles of tunnels, making it the largest such installation in the entire world.

6. Derinkuyu

This ancient Turkish city could house up to 20 thousand people, reached eleven stories below ground, and was built in the 7th or 8th century by Christian villagers hiding from persecution and brigands. Central Turkey, known as Cappadocia, is full of underground cities because the volcanic rock in the region is so soft that people can carve tunnels quickly.

7. Cheyenne Mountain

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Once home to NORAD, this underground city was built beneath Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain to hold thousands of people and withstand a nuclear attack. Though it was secure during the Cold War, advances in missile technology mean that it's no longer a sure bet when the nukes fall. So NORAD has been moved to a new location, and the city remains standing - some people still live there but it may become a museum soon.

8. Beijing Underground City

Like NORAD, Beijing's famous Underground City was built during the Cold War to withstand a nuclear attack. Now the vast network of tunnels has become a tourist attraction.

Image via SeraSphere

9. Portland

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In Portland, Oregon on the west coast of the United States, there's a vast network of underground tunnels, former homes and businesses. The place was used almost entirely for bars before and during Prohibition, and earned the nickname "Shanghai Tunnels" because unwary sailors were often "shanghaied" - drugged while drinking, only to find themselves aboard a ship the next day, where they had to work until they hit another port.

This io9 Flashback was originally published in 2011.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com 9 Extraordinary Underground Cities