That’s a very literal title.
After all, I wouldn’t lie to you.
It’s no secret that I have a thing about the classic Universal monsters and gothic tales. Nor is it a secret that I have a small problem with chocolate. And so I was absolutely delighted to receive this chocolate coffin. (Or casket, really.)A Chocolate Coffin
I’m sorry; I know the blog’s been a bit dead, with no updates since March. Well, I had a good reason.
I was on vacation.
And it was such a vacation. I had been planning this trip for literally a decade. Slightly longer, actually. And I finally did it.Since I’ve Been Gone….
So a while back I was browsing for something — I don’t know what, because I instantly forgot it when I found this instead.
First of all, somebody’s made a robotic Philip K. Dick. (If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s a major science fiction author whose books became some of the world’s hallmark sci-fi films, such as Bladerunner and Total Recall.) The robot is not only designed to look fairly lifelike (always an interesting choice in robotics, the aesthetics) but has Dick’s thoughts uploaded, in the form of all Dick’s works and recorded conversations. Thus the robot should be roughly able to answer questions as Dick would have done. It’s also capable, using its prodigious artificial intelligence, to form new answers to new questions, integrate new knowledge, and develop new “thoughts.”Truth is Stranger than Science Fiction
There are several stories of dogs showing unbelievable tenacity in looking for or waiting for their missing owners. One of the most famous is Hachiko.
Hachiko was a regular at Shibuya Station in Tokyo, where he spent the first couple of years of life meeting his owner Ueno Hidesaburo as he returned from teaching at the University of Tokyo. But one day in May 1925, Ueno collapsed during a lecture of a cerebral hemorrhage and died at work. Hachiko went to the train to meet him as usual, but Ueno did not arrive.
Icon of Loyalty – Hachiko
So I was picking up around the house, and I noticed a theme to my personal accessories…. It’s been no secret that I like red, and black, and red and black together, but this was a fairly solid example. At least shopping is easy!
With the impending release of The Force Awakens, a lot of old Star Wars material is being revisited about the internet, including several fun conspiracy theories. I delayed writing this post too long, so you may have seen some of these by now, but here’s a roundup of my favorites.
Star Wars and Conspiracy Theories
I think it’s time we were all honest with ourselves and just admitted that Daylight Saving Time is a failed idea.
It’s not a bad idea, in its original form. When early proponents (such as Benjamin Franklin) realized that we could take advantage of longer daylight hours by getting up earlier, that was a legitimate and factual observation. Ben satirically suggested cannons to rouse the populace earlier rather than changing the clocks, because changing the clocks was kind of a dumb idea, but the cannons didn’t exactly take off either.
Since then, Daylight Saving Time (it’s singular, despite popular mispronunciation) discussion has been full of good intentions with poor follow-through.
So, About Daylight Saving Time
I just thought that today, you should see the most badass butter packaging of which I am aware.
Badass Butter
Okay, I’ve seen a number of people post this now. Many are people who don’t know each other. And I’ve seen the sentiment echoed from all demographics, people getting student discounts and people getting senior discounts. It’s everywhere. Here’s the thing:
And I’m going to step into the Old Ben mentor trope for a moment and pontificate, because it seems there’s something critical being missed.
Guys, this is not “that friend.” This is EVERYONE.“That Friend” and FOMO
So I came across an interesting game premise recently.
Well, not a game, per se. There’s no gameplay and no storyline and no final boss battle. There’s no leveling and no skill-building and no farming. No gold, no XP. Instead, it’s just a virtual environment to be explored like an open-world game, for the purpose of prompting would-be writers to actually write.
Lots of people want to write but are then intimidated by the blank page. And traditional writers’ adages don’t necessarily help.
Enter Elegy for a Dead World, a game to encourage novice writers to shut off the self-doubt and just write.
Writing Games