Behold, the Sword of Expensiveness

Games,what have you done with the society?

How much would you spend on video games? Less, presumably, then you would spend on second-hand car. One gamer in China feels differently.

 The man blew 16,000 dollars at the pre-release auction to purchase a virtual sword in the game Age of Wulin. Yep, at the time, the game wasn’t even out yet, which should tell you on how much of a fanboy he is.

My exact reaction.

 A fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or MMORPG, set in feudal China, it will allows players to roam the picturesque countryside, kicking pixilated enemy butt.

Look how happy he is. Or is he?

Other players made pre-purchases too, though not as hefty as the man. One lucky fan walked (or perhaps strutted) away with an as –yet nonexistent Hook of Departure sheath for 1,600 dollars. Another awaits his 2,500 dollars on Lordly Spear sheath with what we can only assume is insane level of anticipation and fanboyism.

Worth 16,000 of your money? Nope.

Personally, if we were going to spend 16,000 dollars on a sword, we would want it to a) Be in real-life b) boast magical powers, like the ability to cut the steel or even the wall and c) to have a phone built, or tablet , or hot tub or better yet, the real life light saber that can cut through anything.

Happy Camper

Brains like to be happy. And what makes them happy is certainty, a sense of control and the notion that everything happen for a reason. Another thing that seems to make brain happy is reading about this very thing, for What Makes Your Brain Happy And Why You Should Do The Opposite is the latest of several books and hundreds of articles that show how glitches in our cerebral software distort our thinking.

Picture unrelated

Such psychological quirks include confirmation bias (preferring evidence that supports our beliefs), framing (the narrow viewfinder through which we look the world) and the illusion of agency (seeing intent behind accidental events). They evolved because in general they help us survive and the contentedness they engender reflects this. What David DiSalvo makes clear is how they can put us at risk.

DiSalvo employs the engaging writing style you would expect from a regular contributor to Scientific American and Psychology Today. He peppers the text with cautionary anecdotes, while providing study references at the back of the book for those want to dig deeper. There is little here that will be new to regular readers of popular psychology, but that shouldn’t stop your enjoyment. Confirming what we already know is, of course, one of the things that make our brain happy.

Astronomer Relish long Winter Nights

Northern Hemisphere night sky

Isn't it beautiful~

 Wintertime in the northern hemisphere means one thing to an astronomer: the long dark and invariably, cold nights are back. While most life forms have started hunkering down inside to avoid biting breezes, now’s the time the astronomers are bursting into life.

Orion the Hunter description

The winter night skies are bustling with glittering jewels just waiting to be found, and the constellation of Orion is a rich hunting ground for some of these cosmic treasures. Orion, the Hunter, is a magnificent sight to behold. The bright orange-tinted star Betelgeuse marks his shoulder, while the blue supergiant star Rigel marks one of his feet.

Orion Constellation

Yet it’s another object in Orion that astronomer often look for when observing during these frosty months- the Orion Nebula. It’s an enormous cloud of gas where stars are being born. With dark skies you can just about make it out with naked eye. A pair of binoculars will show it as misty patch, while a small telescope will begin to reveal swirls of glowing gas. It’s a sight I never tire of seeing.

So while some may sit in the warmth, enjoying the wonders of television, we astronomers know the real fun it had to be outside, in the cold, looking up at the magnificent display taking over the horizon.

Astronomer would love this

Paper Cut

No surprise there

Surprisingly, in this technological age, more paper is being wasted than ever before-with industry analysts claiming that up to 95 percent of business information is still stored on paper. Some inspiring innovations enable us to help the planet, by minimizing paper wastage.

Save trees; recycle paper. Figures for paper wastage make for thought –provoking reading. According to the European Environmental Paper Network, over 50 percent of the world’s paper is consumed by just 10 percent of the population.

Better still; look through the trees to another paper source. Products using using bamboo, hemp, kenaf (made from African hibiscus plant) and even elephant dung is become widely available as viable alternatives.

Farewell natural beauty...

Cutting down on how much paper you bin (reportedly more than 200 kilograms a year for the average North American or European) is also impacted by the type of ink you use. Soy ink, made using soybean oil, is now available to consumers in printer cartridge and toner form as a greener replacement for traditional petroleum- based ink. Paper printed with soybean ink is easier to clean and in turn simpler to recycle. Cost comparable to usual printer supplies, this natural alternative also supposedly has a superior clarity.

To save paper, only print when necessary. Wherever possible, review documents and make changes electronically. Spread the word; you can sign off on emails suggesting that the recipient only prints if it is essential, as many people already do.

Closer Than Ever

Facebook account,i haz em~

“ Six degrees of separation”, goes the popular phrase, showing that we are just six connections from every other person on the planet – including American actor Kevin Bacon (hence the trivia game known as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon).

Facebook is said to bring people closer than ever

Now, Facebook’s social network has demonstrated that it is closer to four degrees separation. Using the immense network of 721 million Facebook users across the globe, researchers examined that the total number of Facebook friendships (an impressive 69 billion) and tested how many connection needed to tie two people on the planet together.

They found that most people could link within four connections, even older people aged 60 years old. In addition, within the same country that number dipped to only three. It’s a small world after all.

A graph worth a thousand word

Art From Trash

HA Schults with the art from trash

Everyone knows the phrase, “reduce, reuse, recycle”, but whether they do it is another matter. What about upcycling? No, it’s not biking up a hill. It means converting waste materials into something new and useful. In this case, arts. Artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster create beauty from ugliness. View their work from one side and you will see a pile groaning with toilet paper roll, crushed soda cans and rusty scrap metal. Look like a haphazard scrap heap right?

In fact, the duo spend hours crafting yesterday’s junk to exact positions, so when a projector shines on it at the right angle , the resulting silhouette is a thing of beauty like the sleek shadow of a beautiful woman or a dirt bike or a man in a top hat. Simply put, their work brings order in chaos.

From trash you say? It look awesome to me. 

Elsewhere, German concept artists HA Schults has built his own private army. Since 1996, his thousands of silent sentinels have stood in formation around New York City parks, public plazas and even the Great Wall of China. In 2008, these soldiers could be seen standing in Antartica’s wastelands, as artful ambassadors for sustainability. Made from computer parts, cans and other scrap, it took Schult and his 30 assistants half a year to complete his sculptures.

Another work of HA Schults

The travelling Trash People aren’t Schults’s only contribution to recycling awareness. In 2010, he even created a hotel made entirely of garbage. As with the Trash People, the mobile hotel has travelled across the world, erected in South Korea, Brazil, Pakistan , Vietnam and several others countries. “The philosophy of this hotel is to expose the damage we are causing to the sea and coastline, he says.

Given the weight of the issue at hand, his question to humanity is relatively simple: “Do we really want this world? We live in an era of trash and we are running the risk of becoming the trash ourselves.”