YouTuber C4D4U gives us an experimental animation featuring Tetris played with what appears to be gummy candies or jello jigglers. He talks about "rendering textures," while the rest of us are mesmerized and can't stop watching. The whole video is frustrating on many levels. Tetris is such a familiar game that we can't handle the rows not disappearing when they are filled. And we can't handle not being able to control where the blocks fall. Seeing them scooch into place after their turn is over is bothersome, too. Also, gummy candy is such a familiar thing that we can't handle not eating it. Metafilter calls it "profoundly unsatisfying." Yet that frustration is due to the realism, so you have to admit the animation experiment was successful.

@DudeWithSign is a dude with crudely-made protest signs about the actual injustices that we face in everyday life. His name is Seth and he regularly protests the real issues that the human race must address before it's too late.

I have personally been in a company-wide email reply-all chain. It lasted two days.

Two. Days.

Two whole days of people replying-all and saying "Please remove me from this list" or "Don't reply-all to this email."

Therapy helped.

Recently, Chinese company Big Pixel posted a panorama photo of Shanghai. And when I say “panorama”, it is not just your ordinary panorama photo that your phone can replicate. It is a panorama photo of the whole city, and you can zoom in and see everything in detail.

With this kind of scale, it wouldn’t be a surprise if you find funny or weird details in the photo. Check out some of them over at Bored Panda.

(Image Credit: Bored Panda)

Because Science settles the real question: does anime-style running make someone faster than regular running? Whether it’s any style of fictional running, or specifically, the Naruto-running style, can running that way make you reach your destination faster? Watch as the channel tackles the question with a gold medalist runner. Maybe this will help you decide whether you should Naruto-run when you’re running late! 

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is now taking their campaign to prevent STIs to the galactic level by partnering with Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi to make Sailor Moon-themed condoms. The Sailor Moon-themed condoms have a package with a heart shape and a picture of Sailor Moon, with the text “prevention of STI.” These special condoms will be distributed for free at STI prevention events throughout Japan. 

(via Otaku USA Magazine)

image credit: Naoko Takeuchi via Otaku USA Magazine

You’ve been invited to a friend of a friend’s party. You’ve never been to this house before, and you’ve also never been to this street. As you track the street numbers, you notice you’re getting close, and you (automatically) turn the radio down in order to look for the house better. The question is, why?

One response might be: “When we need to concentrate a little more, like when we’re looking for a house in the dark, we often try to get rid of distractions so we can focus.”

This answer is intuitively appealing. It’s also exactly the kind of answer cognitive psychologists try to avoid.

The words concentrate, distractions, and focus all point towards something (attention) that is left undefined. Rather than detailing its properties and how it works, we just assume people intuitively know what it means.

Find out more about this over at The Conversation.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Tired of just staying in an Earthly hotel? You might consider going to a space hotel within the next few years. Numerous plans that detail the construction of the Von Braun Space Station were revealed by its designer.

Built by the Gateway Foundation, the world's first space hotel will have gravity, bars, inviting interiors and full-fledged kitchens. They plan to have the station visited by about a 100 tourists per week by 2025.

More details about the space hotel over at Big Think.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Von Braun Space Station)

In ancient Japan the year was divided into 24 seasonal stages and 72 microseasons, each lasting a few days, with names like, "mist starts to linger," "wild geese fly north," "first lotus blossoms," and "deer shed antlers" pic.twitter.com/g7doEBp0O9

— Ferris Jabr (@ferrisjabr) November 14, 2019

Science writer Ferris Jabr talks about seasons. We in the temperate zones learn there are four: winter, spring, summer, and autumn. But tropical regions have only rainy and dry seasons. And polar regions have only light and dark seasons. Once you get past those simple calendars, different cultures mark the passing of seasons in many different ways. And even here in the US, people are very aware of microseasons, particularly mud season between winter and true spring.   
 

amazing

— Ferris Jabr (@ferrisjabr) November 15, 2019

Read the discussion with contributions from all over the world at Twitter. You'll find more thoughts on the matter at Kottke.

Celebrities, influencers, and athletes often follow a vegan diet. Will this animal-based produce abstinence be of assistance to the common folk as well? According to David C. Nieman, a professor of health and exercise science and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, it’s a simple answer. It’s a “no.” Nieman understands the reasons why someone would want to become vegan, but it’s not really that helpful, as Ecowatch’s Healthline details: 

"The only possible way it [a vegan diet] may help some people is if they're involved in a sport that takes more than an hour," Nieman stated.

"And that's only if they were on a low carb, high fat diet and switched to a vegan diet, which would mean they'd be taking in more carbs. Those people would see improvement in endurance — not sports skill," he said.

"The results suggest that there are no differences in exercise capacity between vegan, lacto-ovo-vegetarians and omnivorous recreational runners," the study's authors wrote.

The bottom line: "All kinds of diets are compatible with performance," Nieman said.

That's if you make healthy choices compatible with whatever diet you want to follow.

Lewin agrees that any diet needs to include wise choices if you're eating for health or performance.

"If you're living on crackers, vegan cheese, and other processed foods, it's not a good choice. For a vegan diet to be healthy and to work for the elite athlete, it has to have a strong foundation in vegetables and fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds," she told Healthline.

image credit: via wikimedia commons

Disaster strikes in an upcoming episode of Sesame Street. In the episode Abby Cadabby’s brother, Rudy, messes up a drawing he’s been working on, and he gets very frustrated with himself.

But since this is a kid’s show, we know (or rather, we expect) this to have a happy ending.

Alan, the current owner of the show’s gathering place Hooper’s Store, encourages Rudy not to give up. Eventually, Rudy gets inspired by his mistake and creates a new picture.

The episode—designed to teach that messing up is okay, but giving up is not—is in keeping with the curriculum focus of the show’s 50th season, which begins airing on November 16: “Oops and Aha!: Embracing the Power of Possibilities.”

“Today’s preschool kids are under an unprecedented amount of stress and pressure,” Rosemarie Truglio, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president of curriculum and content, said in a statement. “That result-oriented mindset can make kids afraid to take even the safest risks — never trying to pour their own milk for fear of spilling it.”

The episode is a timely one as perfectionism has become increasingly common in young people over the past decades. Perfectionism has been linked to a number of psychological issues, such as depression and social anxiety.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: ScribblingGeek/ Pixabay)

This is Narwhal (short for “Narwhal the Little Magical Furry Unicorn”). He was born with an extra tail on his head. Unicorns might not be real, but I think we can compensate with a furry unicorn. I’ve got no problem with that.

Rochelle Steffen, founder of the Jackson, Missouri, animal rescue Mac's Mission, noticed the one-of-a-kind dog in a Facebook post. The puppy had been abandoned and was in need of a new home. Mac's Mission takes in a lot of animals with histories of abuse, injuries, or physical abnormalities that make them harder to adopt. When Steffen saw the unicorn dog, she knew that he was a perfect candidate for her rescue.

Narhwal's [sic] "tusk" is about a third of the size of his regular tail, and according to his veterinarian, it causes him no pain or medical issues. He can't wag the bonus tail, but it does wave back and forth when he plays.

The extra tail indeed adds cuteness to Narwhal. What do you think?

(Image Credit: Mac the pitbull/ Facebook)

As of 2010, Formula One racing does not allow refueling at pit stops. They are only for tire changes. DHL runs a competition for the fastest pit crews, and it appears that Red Bull will be the winners this year. During the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, they serviced Max Verstappen's car in a mere 1.82 seconds, setting a new world record! Verstappen went on to win the race.  -via Digg

It would be helpful if we could retain word for word the reviews, lectures, and information we need. Whether it’s for an exam, a job interview, or a meeting, don’t you sometimes wish you could remember all the information you find? The truth is, we forget a lot of the things we read and learn. Research shows that within an hour, most people have forgotten about 50% of what they learned, and that percentage increases as time passes. While there isn’t a full scientifically proven step by step process for what we can do to remember information, Thomas Oppong shares some tips on how we can retain it the best that we can: 

Spaced repetition

One method is spaced repetition — repeating intake of what you are trying to retain over a period of time. For example, when you read a book and really enjoy it, instead of putting it away, reread it again after a month, then again after three months, then again after six months, and then again after a year. Spaced repetition leverages the spacing effect, a memory phenomenon that describes how our brains learn better when we separate out information over time. Learning something new drives out old information if you don’t allow sufficient time for new neural connection to solidify.

The 50/50 rule

Dedicate 50% of your time to learning anything new and the rest of your time to sharing or explaining what you have learned to someone or your audience.

Topic demonstrations

Another valuable method is to make the most of topic demonstrations to understand a topic inside out. Unlike simply reading or listening to an explanation, demonstrations show you how something works and help you visualize the concept. When learning photography, design, public speaking, negotiation, or a useful new technology, watching instructional videos that demonstrate what you’re trying to learn can improve your retention rate.

Sleep

Finally, use sleep as a powerful aid between learning sessions. Sleep after learning is a critical part of the memory-creation process, and sleep before learning strengthens your capacity.

image credit: wikimedia commons

Chilean artist Victor Castillo reveals the dark truths of his country (under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet) masked by nostalgic propaganda through his work, “Hollywood Dreams”. In addition to Castillo’s own work, a documentary of the same title was created, where he explains his artistic ideas as his painting come to life in CGI animation, thanks to Loica and Barefoot Productions. KCET has the details: 

The paintings feature characters that have become his trademark: children (adults are rare in his universe) and animals with long, red noses and deep, dark and hollow eyes.

The short film features animated versions of his characters blown up to gigantic proportions. A little girl in pigtails, for example, stands many stories tall and starts excavating a newly industrialized region of the country. Meanwhile, CGI versions of his characters appear alongside him in real-life settings such as the annual Halloween party and parade in West Hollywood and inside a bar where Castillo enjoys playing pool.

image credit: Victor Castillo via KCET

Many of your favorite movies were adapted from books you never read. And sometimes that's a good thing. People who have both read the book and seen the movie often say the book was better, because the book usually lasts longer and has more detail. That's fine for a great story, but sometimes movie directors and scriptwriters see room for improvement and take things to a more satisfying level.

Now, let's be fair. Mean Girls was written by Tina Fey, who was inspired by the book Queen Bees and Wannabes. The plot is all Fey's.

 

I wouldn't even want to read that book. See 30 examples of movies that improved upon its source material at Cracked.