by Steve Wettlaufer -

A Kind Of Sort Of GPS System From 1971

This was actually a pretty ingenious idea in some ways, but unfortunately if even the smallest thing about any of your surroundings ever changed or the tape got eaten, you’d be kind of screwed.

In a fascinating segment from an 1971 episode of the BBC science show Tomorrow’s World, host Michael Rodd gave a demonstration of a pre-recorded cassette tape navigation control device to help drivers find their way. The control device was connected both to the cassette player and to the car’s odometer, using real time information through wheel rotations and communicated with a series of bleeps to determine distance.

by Steve Wettlaufer -

So He Won?

Police: Man found dead in vacant Detroit building was playing hide-and-seek with friends

According to officials with the Detroit Police Department, the man, whose identity has not been released, was with a group of friends suspected of trespassing between midnight and 1:30 a.m. when they played the game on the ninth floor of the building on Detroit’s east side. Police said the man was running to hide and possibly fell through the elevator shaft.
The group of friends could not find him and left the building, police said. They returned later Saturday morning and found the victim’s body on the first floor in the elevator shaft, covered in debris.

by Steve Wettlaufer -

Rassie In The Buppy In The Disappointing Logic

I’m a little bummed because I loved the randomness of it, but the mystery of how Someone’s In the Kitchen With Dinah became Rassie In the Buppy In the Kitchen appears to have been solved.

My sister happened to notice the words to one of the songs playing in the background yesterday and heard the line “Breakfast is a-cooking in the kitchen”. And a further look at the lyrics also explains the part about “Cookin’ on the skove!”, which I forgot to mention the first time.

But even armed with this new information, I’m still ready to fight anyone trying to argue that Rassie In the Buppy In the Kitchen isn’t song of the year.

Everybody wake up in the morning
Everybody’s hungry I know
Everybody wake up in the morning
It’s breakfast time, let’s go!

Breakfast is a-cooking in the kitchen
Something yummy I know
Breakfast is a-cooking in the kitchen
Cooking on the stove!

Pancakes, bacon and ham
Buttered toast and berry jam
Pancakes, bacon and ham
Buttered toast, berry jam

Eggs fried sunny-side up
Hard-boiled in a little tea cup!
Eggs fried sunny-side up
Hard-boiled in a cup.

Waffles baked with buttermilk
Yogurt soft and smooth as silk!
Waffles baked with buttermilk
Yogurt smooth as silk!

Sausage patties, muffins baked
Yummy fruit salad, coffee cake
Sausage patties, muffins baked
Yummy fruit, coffee cake!

by Steve Wettlaufer -

I’m Here For Help Quitting Smoking, Dr….Wait…What?

Our friend Barb sent along this article on the issue of vaping teenagers and addiction, complete with quotes from smoking cessation physician Dr. Andrew Pipe. Because when you think it’s time to quit smoking, you think Pipe. It’s just common sense, people!

This is not a quote from Dr. Andrew Pipe, but it’s so friggin ridiculous that I have to share it. What in the hell is wrong with this kid?

“I would say it is out of control,” said George Kourtis, program co-ordinator for health and physical education at the Toronto District School Board.
He recalled the story of one student sent to the principal’s office for the third time for vaping. The principal was called away for a moment, leaving the confiscated vape device on the desk.
“He was out of there for 10 seconds and the child picked it up and vaped,” said Kourtis. “He asked the child, and he said, ‘Sir, it was standing right there, I had to.'”

Like seriously? I realize the two are somewhat different, but can you imagine the balls it would take to get called to the office for smoking and then light up when the principal stepped out for a minute? I knew a few kids who fancied themselves badasses back in my day, but I don’t recall any of them ever doing that. I feel like vaping maybe isn’t the major issue at play here.

by Steve Wettlaufer -

Alexa, Open The Pod Bay Doors

I swear somebody did this gag years ago just with Siri instead of Alexa because Alexa wasn’t a thing yet and that one of us posted it then, but hell if I can find it. So here’s what it might be like if the HAL-9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey had been Echo powered.

If HAL-9000 was Amazon Alexa

Alexa, open the pod bay doors.

Posted by The Dailies on Wednesday, January 31, 2018

And here’s the real scene, in case you’ve never seen it.

Be sure to stick around to watch Carin find what I’ve just spent ten minutes looking for and put it in the comments section after about thirty seconds.

by Steve Wettlaufer -

Watch A Smartphone Tell You About All The Snooping It’s Doing

We all know (or at least I hope we know by now) that our cell phones are spying on us. But I don’t think a lot of us quite understand just how much they’re doing it. I’m not sure how much this short film is going to do to change that, but it sure does make you stop and think. And if it makes you stop and think before you’re about to absentmindedly mash “I agree” on something next time, then perhaps it’s done its job.

Harvest” is a brilliantly chilling documentary short about the daily life of a woman named Jenni as seen through the voyeuristic perspective of her smartphone. Director Kevin Byrnes purposely gave the film a particularly ominous mood in making it appear as if the phone were a stalker lying in wait and watching every move with Jenni as its prey. In reality it’s the fine print of third party app location services that would actually allow her to be stalked in such a way.
During one week of filming in March 2016, Jenni’s phone transmitted her GPS coordinates 3,545 times to third party apps based on the fine print authorizations provided as part of her installation of common applications.

A Chilling Documentary About a Woman’s Life Told From the Voyeuristic Perspective of a Smartphone

by Steve Wettlaufer -

Well, Suppose I Can Forget About That

Looks like I won’t be getting the Hideo Itami vs. Buddy Murphy match I was hoping for.

Hideo Itami has asked for his WWE release.
In weeks following Mike and Maria Kanellis, The Revival, and Dean Ambrose all informing WWE of their desires to leave the company, FightfulWrestling.com has learned that Hideo Itami asked for his WWE release this week. He finished up on Tuesday night’s episode of 205 Live in a losing effort to Akira Tozawa. The talk backstage was that Itami will actually be granted his release, pending a 90-day no compete clause.

Fightful was told that Itami, much like the other wrestlers who had asked for a release was unsatisfied creatively.
Itami changed his twitter handle back to KENTA in recent days and sent out the following tweet late Tuesday night:

I was surprised but not surprised by this news. After all of the injuries (to himself and others) and false starts, he seemed to finally be gaining some traction on 205 Live, but it’s 205 Live. It’s a show that, while much better than it used to be, is likely never going to be what it could have been because of the poor decisions and worse execution that plagued it from 2016 when it began until WWE finally started figuring things out in 2018.

With the independents doing well and companies like ROH, NJPW, MLW, AEW and even Impact rushing to lock up talent and apparently throwing around solid money to do so, now is the best time arguably since WCW died to be unsatisfied creatively with WWE and actually do something about it. If you have a name and the will to put the work in on the open market, why not take your chances?

And this is another reason to get so upset about WWE’s piss poor writing. I know in many ways now it doesn’t matter what they do thanks to the billions of dollars in television deals that should carry them through the next few years and then some, but what good is all the money in the world if people are so upset with their positions that they’re turning it down? Watching the product as a consumer and long time fan can be tough, but think about how terrible things must be for guys being offered six or seven figures to say no thanks, you can keep that. It’s easy to say WWE doesn’t have to care, but they should care. Things look great now, but eventually those rights deals are going to come up for negotiations again, and it’s not entirely unthinkable that we could get to a point where nobody is going to want to pay big money for something that nobody is watching.