In an episode of Antiques Roadshow, an Air Force veteran learned that his rare Rolex was worth $700,000! The man purchased the Rolex Oyster Cosmograph for $345.97 in 1975, which was a very hefty sum. It came more of a shock to him when he learned that his old $300 watch is now worth more than what he paid for back then. Gizmodo has the details: 

The Rolex Daytona, as this timepiece is also known, is coveted by watch collectors for many reasons, including the fact that Paul Newman wore a similar model in the film Winning. This Rolex Daytona is considered a step up from the model appearing in that movie, however, with improved water resistance as denoted by the word “Oyster” on the face, making this model especially rare.

But because this veteran never actually wore his Rolex, preserving even a foil label on the back of the watch that usually rubs off over time, the watch is essentially in brand new condition even though it was manufactured back in 1971. That, with the original packaging, paperwork, receipts, and warranty documentation that was never filled out, led the Antiques Road appraiser to estimate that it could fetch anywhere from $500,000 to $700,000 at auction, given the recent popularity and demand for this specific Rolex model. That is a significant return on investment, and a good enough reason to rifle through your grandparents’ watch drawer the next time you stop by for a visit.

Samsung is expected to announce their new flagship phones in their upcoming event. With rumours flying around, it is impossible to dismiss the rumours that the company is introducing a new foldable phone model, even after the poor reception of the Galaxy Fold got. The rumored new foldable phone model, the Galaxy Z Flip, is a phone-sized object, smaller that the Galaxy Fold. The Verge has more details: 

The Galaxy Fold was a tablet-sized thing that folded into a phone, but the Galaxy Z Flip looks to be a phone-sized thing that can get even smaller. You can get a decent idea looking at the alleged pictures of the Z Flip, posted to Weibo, that we’ve included in this post. The Z Flip looks like most other smartphones when unfolded, but seems to fold up into a small square in a way that reminds me of a closed-up Game Boy Advance SP.

The phone’s OLED display will apparently be 6.7 inches diagonal, according to leaker Ishan Agarwal, which would make it bigger than the Razr’s 6.2-inch display.

The Z Flip may use a Snapdragon 855+ chip, says Weinbach, which offers higher peak clock speeds and a 15 percent GPU performance improvement over the non-plus Snapdragon 855 and a flagship-tier processor. The upcoming Motorola Razr has a midrange Snapdragon 710, by comparison.

Weinbach also reports that the Z Flip may have dual 12-megapixel back cameras, one wide and one ultra-wide, and that hole-punch front camera you see in photos may contain 10 megapixels, according to Ishan Agarwal. And Ajunews reported the Z Flip might be the first phone to be able to record 8K video, though it’s not clear at what quality.

The Z Flip may also have a 3,300mAh battery and support 15-watt fast charging, wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging, according to Weinbach, meaning you could be able to charge your Galaxy Buds just by placing them on the phone. (Though I’m curious which side of the phone might actually do the charging.) Weinbach also says the Z Flip may have a capacitive fingerprint sensor on its side.

image via 王奔宏 (Weibo)

It’s a shock to many that the famous, A-list celebrity Brad Pitt wore a name tag at the 92nd Oscars nominees luncheon. The actor actually didn’t wear the name tag on the red carpet, he wore it the moment he entered the luncheon. It seems that he pinned the name tag on in case someone didn’t know him (which would come as a surprise, but at least he was prepared), or someone forgot his name. The name tag read, ‘Brad Pitt. Actor in a Supporting Role, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood’. Metro UK also reported that he was one of the few celebrities who chose to wear his name tag.

image via Metro UK

Wood, concrete, and steel are a big no nos for these European researchers. They envision mankind living in natural, living, and eco-friendly monolithic structures made of living fungus. Yes, imagine tall stacks of structures made of mushrooms and other types of fungi. From the walls to the ceilings, all made of fungus.Researchers claim that these monolithic structures would revolutionize the environment and economy, as Futurism details: 

“We propose to develop a structural substrate by using live fungal mycelium,” reads the paper. “Fungal buildings will self-grow, build, and repair themselves.”

The idea is a response to the prospect of catastrophic climate change. Growing our building materials from biological materials, the theory goes, would make construction less dependent on fossil fuels and environmentally-destructive mining operations.

“Fungal materials can have a wide variety of mechanical properties ranging from foam-like to wood-like to polymer-like to elastomer-like,” Han Wösten, a microbiologist at The Netherlands’ Utrecht University who co-authored the not-yet-peer-reviewed paper, told Futurism. “The fact that we can make wood-like materials implies that we can use it for the building industry.”

So far, they say, no one else has explored the possibility of building monolithic structures out of living fungus. 

“The selling point of our materials is that it is biodegradable, thereby helping to create a circular economy,” Wösten said. “At the same time, it should not degrade when actually used as a building material. We can work around this apparent paradox by coating the material. In fact, we also coat wood with paint of oils to protect it against degradation.”

  “It may be that we will find a fungus that creates wood-like materials without the need of pressing,” he said.

Important to note: those ideas, like much of the team’s research, remain fairly speculative.

image via wikimedia commons

If you ever feel like eating at random times of the day, even if you just had a meal, there might be other factors that made you hungry, besides having not eaten enough. While it is actually not bad to eat every three to four hours, according to dietician Rebecca Ditkoff, there could be other legitimate reasons as to why you’re always craving another batch of food. GQ has the details: 

1. You need to get better sleep: Sleep is important for basically everything you do during your waking hours—it affects how alert you are during a morning run; it affects your sex drive—so it’s no surprise that it impacts your hunger levels, too.

“When we don't sleep enough, it increases our hunger hormone, ghrelin, that can increase our appetite and make us think we’re more hungry than usual,” says Lori Zanini, RD, CDE, and creator of For The Love of Diabetes.

2. You’re not drinking enough water: It’s normal to confuse thirst with hunger, according to Ditkoff. “In order to make sure you are staying adequately hydrated, you should be drinking about half of your body weight in ounces of water every day,” she suggests. For example, if you weigh 180 pounds, try drinking 90 ounces—or 11 glasses.

3. You’re not fueling with the right foods: You might be trying to stay keto-friendly (hey, John Wall does it) by limiting yourself to steamed chicken breasts all day, but your body needs a range of foods to feel full.

4. You’re just not eating enough: There are loads of factors that prevent us from eating enough to fuel our bodies throughout the day. Maybe you’re trying out a new fad diet, or perhaps you just missed lunch because Matthew in accounting just had to have that report by 2 p.m.

image via wikimedia commons

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if the media (and the world) treated other professions as if they were professional athletes? Key and Peele created a segment that does just that. In the new episode of “TeachingCenter”, watch as Boyd Maxwell and Perry Schmidt report on the latest developments in the exciting world of pro teaching . You might even see the teacher’s play of the year!

The year is 2020, and the world is now controlled by artificial intelligence and machinery. At least, that’s how most science fiction writers mostly envisioned the world in 2020. While the real 2020s are nowhere near machinery takeovers and dystopias, isn’t it fun to think about how the people in past decades envisioned the present? Tim Maughan lists fictional works that created their own world set in 2020. Head over to his piece on Medium to read more. 

image via Medium

Runescape streamer Amro Elansari tried to sue Runescape’s developer, Jagex,who muted him, making him unable to communicate with other players of the game. Elansari claimed that Jagex violated his human rights, and requested a jury trial to remove the mute on his account. A federal court in Pennsylvania dismissed his case, as Vice detailed:

Unable to prove Jagex had violated his human rights, a judge dismissed Elansari’s lawsuit. He appealed and a federal court upheld the lower court’s decision.

“Even generously construing Elensari’s complaint to raise a claim of public accommodations diesciriation and assuming Elansari can bring such a claim in this context," Federal Circuit Judges wrote in their dismissal, "at no point either in the District Court or on appeal has Elansari alleged losings access to Jagex’s online game due to discrimination based on any grounds."

According to PennLive, Elansari has a history of filing ridiculous lawsuits. In another case, Elansari attempted to file a class action lawsuit against Tinder (something he can’t do, as he’s not a lawyer) because he felt the dating app was scamming people. These are just two of the ten lawsuits Elensari has filed in the U.S. Eastern District Court in the last 18 months. 

image via Vice

Nansledan is a residential community in the southwestern corner of England. Residents of Nansledan have to abide by some rules, such as painting their homes and doors in certain colors, and no fast-food chains should be set up, only local businesses. It just happens that these rules must be followed because your landlord, the Prince of Wales, told you so. Having Prince Charles as your landlord in Nansledan is no surprise, as the community is a project taken by the Duchy of Cornwall, as The New York Times details: 

Nansledan, which will eventually have about 4,000 homes, could be the most ambitious project undertaken in the 700 years of the Duchy of Cornwall, the patchwork of properties spread across England, covering more than 200 square miles, that provides an income to the Prince of Wales.

A dukedom within a kingdom, the duchy was created in 1337 by Edward III for his eldest son, Prince Edward (known after his death as the Black Prince, perhaps because of the color of his armor). Prince Edward became the first Duke of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales, but he was never king — he died, probably of an illness, at age 45 while his father was still on the throne.

Most of the time since then, the duchy has passed to the eldest surviving son of the monarch, who is also heir to the throne and holds the title of the Duke of Cornwall.

Since 1952, that has been Prince Charles. At age 71, he has been in charge of the duchy longer than anyone before him (thanks to his mother, still reigning at age 93).

The duchy, which receives rent from tenants that include farmers, homeowners and shopping centers, earned 21 million pounds, or about $28 million, for the year that ended in March 2019, and Charles shared some of that income with his two sons and their families.

image via The New York Times

The Curiosity rover froze in place thanks to a software glitch. The multi-billion dollar rover has been operating on Mars since 2012. The unexpected glitch came in the form of the rover forgetting its awareness. Curiosity is designed to maintain an awareness of where each of its arms and implements are so it won’t damage them as it goes around Mars. On January 20, Curiosity lost this awareness, triggering a safety mode in which it ceases any movement, as SlashGear details: 

According to Dawn Sumner, a Planetary Geologist at University of California Davis and one of the people working on the Curiosity project, that “body awareness” – also known as attitude – is checked before any motor on the rover is activated. That way, it stands a better chance of spotting a potential issue before it happens.

“When the answer is no – or even maybe not – Curiosity stops without turning the motor,” Sumner writes. “This conservative approach helps keep Curiosity from hitting its arm on rocks, driving over something dangerous, or pointing an unprotected camera at the sun."

It was that safety evaluation which was interrupted, with “some knowledge” of Curiosity’s attitude escaping it, Sumner explains. The rover did continue sending back information to Earth, and that allowed scientists on the ground to come up with a recovery plan. “The engineers on the team built a plan to inform Curiosity of its attitude and to confirm what happened,” Sumner says. “We want Curiosity to recover its ability to make its safety checks, and we also want to know if there is anything we can do to prevent a similar problem in the future.”

image via wikimedia commons

The new Star Wars series The Mandalorian takes a step away from how the usual Star Wars films were created. Instead of building massive and elaborative sets, Lucasfilm is using new Stagecraft technology. They are using a rear-projected LED screen to create a dynamic environment, essentially a real-time green-screen. New photos from the set showcase the Stagecraft technology at work, as SlashFIlm details:  

 Here’s a wide glimpse at the Stagecraft being utilized in the opening scene of The Mandalorian from the first episode. As you can see, the screen surrounds the entire set and allows the crew to shoot from any angle. The technology allows the screens to change how the environment looks based on how a scene is being shot.

So if the camera is panning along with a character (as above), the perspective of the environment moves as the camera does, recreating what it would be like if a camera were moving in that physical space. You can get a better idea of how this is achieved over here.

image via SlashFIlm

London-born artist Chris Kenny crafts dancing figures and abstract portraits by gathering and piecing together small twigs. Viewing his collection, one might see patterns or objects in the simple and minimalistic works.  From his twig recreations of different saints to a small baby, check out his works on Instagram. 

(via Colossal)

image via Colossal

Digital illustrator and graphic designer Kostis Pavlou reimagined well-known cartoon and comic characters and redraws them in a more mature way, from Marge Simpson to Popeye to Smurfette. Pavlou wondered what these characters would look like in a more adult style, and if they can become models even with their character design. Does his reimagined Marge Simpson look like a model to you? 

(via Design You Trust)

image via  Kostis Pavlou

Rolls-Royce revealed their plan to BBC about installing and operating power stations by 2029. The manufacturer is leading a consortium to build small nuclear reactors and install them in former nuclear sites. The company estimates they will build 10-15 stations in the UK. While these mini nuclear stations reduce costs, some people are against the idea of nuclear power, as BBC details: 

But opponents say the UK should quit nuclear power altogether.

They say the country should concentrate on cheaper renewable energy instead.

Environmentalists are divided over nuclear power, with some maintaining it is dangerous and expensive, while others say that to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 all technologies are needed.

However, the industry is confident that mini reactors can compete on price with low-cost renewables such as offshore wind.

image via BBC

Tinder will unveil a new feature that lets its users alert the authorities if they need help or are in danger during a date. Tinder will partner up with Noonlight, a safety app that tracks people’s locations and sends the information to emergency services when the user alarms the trigger in the app. If a user hits the panic button in Tinder during a date, it will alert a certified Noonlight dispatcher, who will then notify the authorities. Buzzfeed news has more details:

Once a Tinder user opts in to Noonlight, they have the option to add a badge to their profile.

Tinder CEO Elie Seidman told the Journal, “I liken this to the lawn sign from a security system."

"It serves as a deterrent if people feel comfortable putting it on their profiles," a Tinder spokesperson added to BuzzFeed News.

Though location sharing may be a privacy concern for users, the Tinder spokesperson said users will be sharing that data with Noonlight, not the dating app itself.

"Noonlight does not share or sell any data, and we only use data to get you help in the event of an emergency," Addy Bhasin, a Noonlight spokesperson, told BuzzFeed News.

Bhasin said users have the option to turn location sharing on and off when they choose.

"So when you go on your date you can turn it on, and when your date ends you can turn it off," she said.

image via Buzzfeed news