An important yet easily unnoticed part of games is their graphic design. A game can be enjoyed well if it can convey not just the gameplay, but also the information a player needs to play the game. This is done through the menu, user interface, a good color scheme, and font choice. Watch Design Doc as he analyses the graphic design choices made in some popular games.
Robberies work because of excellent planning. So when you plan a robbery (which I hope you don’t), make sure you have plans as well as backup plans, so that you won’t end up like these guys who just went head first and decided to conduct robberies that, well, ended in failure.
Ozzy Man compiles yet another set of robbery fails, from a man who attempted to steal a laptop attached to a rather strong power cable, to a man who tried to steal a necklace and ends up trapped inside the store, and many more.
(Video Credit: Ozzy Man Reviews/ YouTube)
Musicians take care of their instruments, so if you want to traumatize a musician, have them watch videos of people destroying their instruments.
Just look at the horrified reactions of these violinists as they witness instrument violence.
(Video Credit: TwoSetViolin/ YouTube)
With artificial intelligence improving at a quick pace, it is becoming a more and more reliable assistant to doctors. Researchers at the Eye Clinic of the University Hospital Bonn, Stanford University and University of Utah, have developed a software which can precisely assess the progression of geographic atrophy (GA), which is an eye disease caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
This innovative approach permits the fully automated measurement of the main atrophic lesions using data from optical coherence tomography, which provides three-dimensional visualization of the structure of the retina. In addition, the research team can precisely determine the integrity of light sensitive cells of the entire central retina and also detect progressive degenerative changes of the so-called photoreceptors beyond the main lesions. The findings will be used to assess the effectiveness of new innovative therapeutic approaches. The study has now been published in the journal "JAMA Ophthalmology".
While there is no effective treatment for geographic atrophy as of the moment, having this software at hand could be a key to predicting the progression of the disease, which may make slowing down of the disease possible.
More details about this over at EurekAlert.
(Image Credit: Universitäts-Augenklinik Bonn/ EurekAlert)
It is commonly thought that taste cells are very specific, only detecting one or two flavors. There are even taste cells that only respond to one compound, like taste cells that can only detect sweet sucralose or bitter caffeine. And so scientists were surprised to find supersensing cells in the taste buds of mice which can detect four of the five flavors that the buds recognize, namely, sweet, sour, umami, and bitter.
“The presence of these [newly discovered] cells completely disrupts how people think the taste bud works,” says Kathryn Medler, a neurophysiologist at the University at Buffalo in New York.
More details about the study, as well as its implications, over at ScienceNews.
(Image Credit: George Shuklin/ Wikimedia Commons)
It’s official. Cats are really extraordinary creatures. Not only do they have very flexible bodies which enable them to fit in tight spaces; they also have the ability to defy gravity, which enable them to move like spiders, and levitate at will.
Sad and Useless compiles pictures of cats caught using this strange ability on camera. Check them out over at the site.
(Image Credit: Sad and Useless)
On the island of Kungshatt, Sweden, there is a tall pole with a large hat on top. It's been there since the 17th century, although it has been replaced a few times. The name Kungshatt translates to "King's Hat," and thereby lies a tale. The king in this tale was the 9th-century Swedish ruler Erik Anundsson, whose reign was long and filled with conquests of nearby lands, which could not easily be explained by mere military strategy, number of troops, and bravery. Well, maybe it could be, but the tale of the hat is a better story.
The answer to this comes to us in a local legend in the Mälar Valley region of Sweden – the very heartland of the old Swedish kings. According to this tale Erik was so successful on his raids and campaigns because of his allegedly magical hat. We do not know from where he acquired this hat, but we are told of its magical properties. When Erik wore this hat, handily he could control the winds and the weather by simply turning the hat in any given direction. This was, of course, quite useful in the Viking Age when the main way of transportation was by ship and when sudden attacks by sea could be incredibly devastating. The powers of the hat increased the king’s prestige and he would no longer be called “Erik Anundsson” … He became Erik Weatherhat! We’ll leave it to you to decide whether his hat was actually magical or just made him look magically dapper.
Whatever the case, years passed and Erik became a rich and powerful king through plundering and subjugating the east, much due to the magic of his powerful hat. As he grew older, however, his earlier humility had left him and he had become very ambitious, and now sought to rule the west as well. He made plans to greatly expand the Swedish realm by incorporating the disputed regions in modern-day western Sweden, and even to conquer another country – Norway.
Weatherhat’s ambition was to create a kingdom as great as that ruled by the Swedish king Sigurd Ring and his son Ragnar Lothbrok. Apart from western Sweden, this also meant conquering the area of Viken in what was then southern Norway. This land was, however, already ruled by a king called Harald Fairhair, who was to become Erik’s greatest rival- someone with magnificent hair always being greater than one who merely wears a hat, no doubt to hide hideous baldness…
One may think that realms conquered mattered more than a rivalry over headgear, but in any case, the battle between Erik and Harald led to the hat on a pole in Kungshatt according to local legend, which you can read at Today I Found Out.
Leave it to Ze Frank to come up with the raunchiest possible description of charming little hummingbirds while staying technically SFW. All they're doing is sipping nectar! But the best part of this video is the hummingbird mating dance, which seems too funny to believe. -via Geeks Are Sexy
On August 12, 2005, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched into space. Ever since that time, the orbiter has been providing us with amazing images of the Red Planet, and it continues to do so. In fact, NASA has released a new batch of images from the MRO in celebration of its 15th anniversary, and they are downloadable for free!
The new batch of images can be found by clicking on this page of NASA’s website. That’ll bring up what looks like a blog post with images and then descriptions of them. To see any of the images up-close, or to download them, click on the image itself. You’ll then have the option of downloading it as a JPG or TIF, or as wallpaper.
But as you view or download some of the photos, you might notice that some of them are predominantly blue in color, instead of red.
In these images, “false color” was added to highlight features like the tops of dunes and ripples to show how different aspects of the Mars landscape change over time (similar to what happens on Earth, but without the impact of human residents).
Learn more details about the MRO as well as how it takes these photos over at LifeHacker.
(Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
With the permafrost across the cold regions of our planet such as in Russia, Canada, and Alaska, slowly melting, the resurgence of viruses thought to have been long gone, such as smallpox, as well as viruses we have never seen before, could soon be wreaking havoc in our planet.
These could be disaster movie storylines, but they are also serious and increasingly plausible scenarios of epidemics unleashed by global warming, scientists say.
Climate change—already wreaking havoc with one degree Celsius of warming—is also emerging as a driver of infectious disease, whether by expanding the footprint of malaria- and dengue-carrying mosquitos, or defrosting prehistoric pathogens from the Siberian permafrost.
"In my darkest moments, I see a really horrible future for Homo sapiens because we are an animal, and when we extend our borders things will happen to us," said Birgitta Evengard, a researcher in clinical microbiology at Umea University in Sweden.
"Our biggest enemy is our own ignorance," she added. "Nature is full of microorganisms."
And perhaps the sad thing about this is that this awakening is inevitable.
Even if humanity manages to cap global warming at under two degrees Celsius, the cornerstone goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the permafrost area will decrease by a quarter by 2100, according to the UN's climate science panel, the IPCC.
In other words, we will have to deal with this sooner or later.
More details about this over at PHYS.org.
(Image Credit: FlorenceD-pix/ Pixabay)
Irene, a kindhearted person from Montreal, Canada, spotted these adorable kittens in the street. Since the kittens were still young, she tried looking for more kittens and waited for the cat mom but didn't find any.
Thus, she decided to care for them and fed them until they we're strong enough to be weaned!
"Once the kittens were big enough to wean, she decided to seek help from her local rescue Chatons Orphelins Montréal, so the pair could get the medical attention they needed and a chance at a better life.
"These kittens were very lucky. Irene took them home just in time and nursed them back to health," Celine Crom of Chatons Orphelins Montréal shared with Love Meow.
When they arrived at the rescue, volunteers immediately noticed their strong bond. "The two brothers (named Merlot and Mojitos) have always been very close. They follow each other everywhere they go.""
Indeed, they were inseparable even in their sleeping area!
If you were the one who found them, what will you name them?
Images from Love Meow
Yesterday, it was announced that piracy websites for anime and manga have been shut down. A lot of people got mixed emotions from it. On the one hand, it was good because we should support the creators of these manga and anime by legally watching them! On the other hand, anime subscriptions are expensive and they’re not yet available in a lot of countries.
Weebs, here’s the good news, then. There are legal sites like Anime-Planet and Crunchyroll and Youtube Channels like Muse Asia, Animelog, Ani-One, and GundamInfo.
Here's the better news from a new Youtube Channel named Anilog:
Japan Animation Leaders Unite for YouTube Initiative. Anime content providers have banded together to start a channel on YouTube. Aims free content for fans to watch with official subtitles so they aren’t forced to torrent episodes.
If you're a fan of anime, go subscribe and support anime artists!
Video Credits to Anilog via Youtube
On August 7, NASA’s Mars helicopter, called Ingenuity, received the first charge of its batteries from the power supply of the Perseverance Rover, according to a statement by NASA last August 13. This was the first time that the helicopter was charged in space, and it was a success.
"This was a big milestone, as it was our first opportunity to turn on Ingenuity and give its electronics a 'test drive' since we launched on July 30," Tim Canham, the operations lead for Mars Helicopter at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, said in the statement. "Since everything went by the book, we'll perform the same activity about every two weeks to maintain an acceptable state of charge."
Charging the batteries took eight hours, during which NASA tested and analyzed their performance. The batteries were charged only to 35% of their maximum level, in order to maintain optimal battery health, according to the statement.
The Perseverance rover is scheduled to land on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021. Some time after that, the Mars helicopter will detach itself from the rover, and take test flights. If successful…
...Ingenuity will prove that robotic flight is possible on Mars, opening the door for extensive aerial exploration on future missions.
(Image Credit: NASA/ Space.com)
A work of art.... pic.twitter.com/bnj8fTwIMj
— Holy Cross W. Hockey (@HCrossWHockey) August 15, 2020
The anonymous artist goes to work, preparing the rink for the women's hockey team at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He uses no machines--only his skill, sharpened like the edge of a razor. It is a wonder to behold.
-via Super Punch
Meet this two-year old cat named Manchester, who is a mixture of two breeds, namely the Scottish straight and the Munchkin. While he may have gotten the face of Scottish straight, he has the body of a Munchkin, which caused him to have extremely short legs. Manchester, nicknamed Manchy, currently lives with his owner in Moscow, Russia.
I wonder how he jumps.
Check out his wonderful pictures over at 9GAG, and check out his Instagram account.
(Image Credit: cat_manchester/ Instagram/ 9GAG)
