If you pay attention, you'll pick up some profound pieces of wisdom as you go through life. You tuck that bit of wisdom away and never forget it. Sometimes it's something you were told that you thought was worth keeping, other times it's a lesson you learned from experience. Like I tell my kids, "You learn from your mistakes, but it's less painful to learn from other people's mistakes." See, I'll never forget those exact words, and neither will they.  Kevin Kelly turned 70 years old on Thursday, and has picked up some real gems of wisdom along the way. Kelly took the opportunity of his birthday to share 103 things he's learned in life, and they are all good things to remember. Here's a sample:   

• You will be judged on how well you treat those who can do nothing for you.

• The biggest lie we tell ourselves is “I dont need to write this down because I will remember it.”

• Cultivate 12 people who love you, because they are worth more than 12 million people who like you.

• Aim to die broke. Give to your beneficiaries before you die; it’s more fun and useful. Spend it all. Your last check should go to the funeral home and it should bounce.

Read the rest of the 103 at The Technium. -via Boing Boing

Let's say that a Canadian astronaut traveling to the moon commits a crime, such as murder, extortion, or prostitution, can s/he face criminal charges in Canada upon returning to Earth?

Right now, the law is ambigious on that matter. Since Canada is participating in the US-led Lunar Gateway project to return to the moon and what I assume is Canada's practice of recruiting astronauts from its criminal underworld, it's prudent for Parliament to be prepared for the likelihood of crimes committed in space.

CBC reports that there is an amendment in the Budget Implementation Bill that says:

A Canadian crew member who, during a space flight, commits an act or omission outside Canada that if committed in Canada would constitute an indictable offence is deemed to have committed that act or omission in Canada.

The issue of crimes in space rose in 2019 when an American astronaut on the International Space Station was accused of illegally accessing bank records while in orbit. She was later cleared of the charge.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: ESA_events

Ah, I remember it well. When Tim Burton announced that Michael Keaton would play a darker, more serious Batman in his upcoming movie, everyone was gobsmacked. Michael Keaton? Mr. Mom? He was a comedian! He played a crazed lunatic in Beetlejuice! Batman fans were suddenly afraid that their favorite comic book superhero would be changed into an object of ridicule. Strangely, many were more upset because Michael Keaton was short and not as muscular as they pictured Batman. And now Michael Keaton is often ranked as the best Batman actor ever.

Did we learn from this experience? No, Robert Pattinson was dismissed after his casting in The Batman, and it turned out rather well. Fans cried foul when pretty boy Heath Ledger got the part of The Joker in The Dark Knight, too, and he won an Oscar for the role, albeit posthumously. It turns out that a good actor can play many kinds of roles.  -via Geeks Are Sexy

Meet the Infinity Bike, an award-winning bike designed by Stephen Henrich. The unique thing about this vehicle is that its wheels are missing, and surprisingly enough, can still run without them! The Germany-based designer, robotics engineer, and architect replaced the wheels with a chain element that is propelled by a crank over a short chain and a gearbox, which allows the bike to move. “It’s a bicycle with a frame and something like a fork. So, we have a handlebar, we have a saddle, we have pedals and all that. But apart from that, it’s something completely different,” Henrich explained.

Image courtesy of Stephen Henrich

Even if we are swamped with work and other issues in life, we still get hit with an occasional burst of loneliness. According to a study led by Penn State University, we can combat this feeling by doing something that uses your skills and concentration in your free time. Suggested activities include leisure activities such as painting, writing, and skiing. These will actually put us in a state called “flow,” where we become absorbed and focused. 

Learn more about combating loneliness here. 

Image credit: Sasha Freemind

This player is a legend. Weeks after the release of the latest FromSoftware hit, Elden Ring, players have complained over defeating one of the game’s hardest bosses named Malenia. 

One player has offered their services in helping others to defeat this character. Their presence in the gaming community started with a Reddit post that told of their encounter with a naked, jar-wearing crusader who just wants to slay Malenia by himself. Aptly named “Let Me Solo Her,” the player has garnered the attention of the Internet in just a few hours. 

The mythical-sounding player posted a thread, with a video of them beating Malenia as a summon. This person is now officially an icon, I tell you!

Image credit: FromSoftware 

Well, you’re definitely… contained. 

Meet the ootbox (you  read that right; that is its name), a rentable portable office made of an upcycled shipping container. An American entrepreneur designed and built a prototype of this contraption in his backyard when he had the urge to have a private but nearby place to conduct business. 

The ootbox was a result of his collaboration with business development specialist Allison Zofan. The portable office measures 10 feet long by 8.5 ft high by 8 ft wide (3 by 2.6 by 2.4 m). It also sports a fiberglass door, along with large windows and signage panels. The interior is simple and beautiful, equipped with finished/insulated plywood ceiling and walls, carpeted flooring, motion-activated lighting, and a smart thermostat.

 The ootbox is actually available for rent, with rates starting at $1,000 a month.

Image credit: ootbox

This user has single-handedly saved most of us through his walkthrough maps. StarFighters76 is still creating maps to this day– overall, he has made over 3,700 maps , and helped a lot of people get out of many roadblocks during their playthroughs. 

Creating maps since the early 2000s, this user has made them just in Microsoft Paint, as can be seen by the bright, basic color palettes and thin visible black lines. As to how his creations have helped players, his simple-looking images actually contain legends, arrows, and other instructions that guide players through different games. Learn more about his work here!

Image credit: StarFighters76

When she was 18 years old, Madeleine Talmage Force seemed destined for a happy life. In 1911 she had married one of the richest men in the world and embarked on an extended honeymoon that included travel to Bermuda, Egypt, and various European countries. Before long, she was expecting a baby. Her marriage to John Jacob Astor IV was controversial, coming what the public considered to be too soon after his highly-publicized divorce the previous year. He was 47 years old, and had a son older than Madeleine.

The Astor's lives would take a turn when they decided to return to America on the luxurious ship called the Titanic. Madeleine was accompanied by her husband, her dog named Kitty (yes, really), a maid, and a private nurse. After the ship hit an iceberg, John Jacob Astor helped his wife, the maid, and the nurse into a lifeboat, but was denied a seat for himself. Read how that adventure played out and what became of Madeleine Astor afterward at Mental Floss. -via Strange Company

A couple of musicians walk along the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn playing the Gloria Gaynor hit "I Will Survive." It starts out fairly simple, but then more and more musicians join in until it's a rollicking musical celebration, getting jazzier by the minute. Everyone gets a solo! They end with a surprisingly plausible fade by descending the steps into a subway station. This is actually a collaboration between three bands, Too Many Zooz, Lucky Chops, and High and Mighty Brass Band.   -via Laughing Squid

Two years ago, NASA's latest Mars rover Perseverance landed on Mars in a stunning maneuver we got to witness in real time (though delayed, because Mars). Although the spacecraft crashed, that was part of the plan. The Perseverance mission took along Mars' first helicopter, named Ingenuity. On its 26th Martian reconnaissance flight, Ingenuity revisited Perseverance's landing site and recorded the debris left behind from an overhead view.

With no scavengers, fungi, bacteria, or rain on the red planet, the debris is in almost pristine condition after two years. The wind on Mars has partially buried the spacecraft's parachute under dust. The backshell is surprisingly intact, considering the speed and heat involved in its landing. Photographing and studying the debris field will help NASA to plan future missions, including one designed to return to earth carrying Martian samples. Read about Ingenuity's photographic mission and what it means at NASA. -via Kottke

(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

This sea lion named Wendy sure acts like she owns the joint. First she waddles into a luxury hotel's pool, swims a bit, then kicks a man out of his very own deck chair to do a little sunbathing!

Early in Nike's history, the company was in a fight for its life against a crushingly large tariff assessment. So what's a scrappy little sneaker company to do? Phil Knight revealed the story of how Nike actually produced its own counterfeit Nike shoes called The One Line to fight the US government ... and won!

"A Young Boy Running at Midnight" is a touching story of a journalist who came across a teen running at midnight, after he got off work at a local McDonald's in the northern Indian city of Noida near New Delhi. But why did the young man run? You'll never guess the reason.

This biblically accurate Clippy is an angelic Microsoft Office Assistant drawn by illustrator Evangeline Gallagher.

Clippy with many eyes didn't scare you? This Furby wrapped Xbox video game controller will.

Thousand-year-old conical vessels dug up in Jerusalem turned out to be ancient hand grenades used against the Crusaders and perhaps also against the Rabbit of Caerbannog.

Usually, when you need to reach something a bit too high and all you've got is a chair, well, you stand on the chair like it's a stepladder. Apparently that inspired the creation of this artful Stepladder Chair: it transforms from a regular kitchen chair into a three-step staircase though at $1,800 a piece, you could presumably buy a chair and an actual stepladder instead, or simply hire a butler to do your bidding.

Concert at the cemetery is a touching event by the Last Words Legacy Project to help people heal.

For more neat posts, check out our new sites: Pictojam, Homes & Hues, Pop Culturista, Laughosaurus, Infinite 1UP, Supa Fluffy and Spooky Daily.

Why aren't they wearing capes? Looks like anyone can be a Bat in the Hat in Mana-hatta! This funny What We Do in the Shadows-inspired t-shirt design is by indie artist Nemons.

Current special: Last day to save up to 20% on all Sci-Fi T-shirts, Fantasy Shirts, and Horror Tees at the NeatoShop.

When the US airline industry was deregulated in the late 1970s, it opened the door for almost anyone with some money to incorporate a new airline. That opportunity gave rise to an entire crop of specialty airlines, each with a gimmick to draw passengers with particular tastes or desires. For a few years, flyers could select an airline that would cater to your religion, let you smoke despite FAA regulations, fly your cat or dog to a new city, or make you feel like a movie star. There were certainly travelers who chose such amenities, but those specialty passengers mainly wanted to get to a particular destination, and none of the niche airlines were big enough to travel to that many destinations. Eventually, the novelty wore off as passengers prioritized ticket prices, direct routes, and availability over novelty. Read about five such bygone specialty airlines at CNN. -via Digg

(Image credit: Aeroprints.com)

Zombies come from dead bodies, right? No, they come from movies and TV. No, that's not right, either. The idea of zombies is much older. You're thinking of Haiti, aren't you? That's the answer if you're discussing the origin of zombies with your friends, yet this TED-Ed lesson from Christopher M. Moreman starts even further back than that. But how they were regarded in Haiti is more chilling than any movie about undead brain-eaters. The zombie metaphor was true horror, because it was a little too close to the truth. Maybe you should reserve a little sympathy and respect for zombies. Well, maybe not the walkers, but the people whose lives gave rise to the zombie myth. -via Geeks Are Sexy

By the way, the 1932 film White Zombie is available at YouTube.

#Japan - QR codes and cranes: Japan embraces modern cemeteries.
📸 @BEHROUZZZZ #AFP pic.twitter.com/uEKM8QVwS5

— AFP Photo (@AFPphoto) April 21, 2022

In a densely populated city like Tokyo (16,122 people per square mile), land must be used thoughtfully. A sprawling graveyard with plots for individual graves can be expensive. Japan has a solution. AFP describes a modern cemetery that takes up a floor of an office building. Vistors wait in individual mourning booths while a machine retrieves the ashes of the dead from storage and delivers them to the booth.

Facilities such as this one may, after 30 years, send the ashes to collective memorials far away from Tokyo. But these memorials are marked with QR codes for individual interred persons, which family members and monks use while praying for the departed.

Read more about these innovative burial solutions at AFP.

-via Super Punch