“We don’t necessarily need things like smart lights, smart appliances, and even smart homes, so do we really need smart masks? Most of us don’t, but medical professionals working 12-hour shifts and wearing the same mask all day long face unique pandemic challenges. Medical staff usually undergo fit tests to ensure the masks they wear all day provide a proper seal, but it’s a long 20-minute procedure, and not something healthcare workers have time to perform frequently. The FaceBit module can’t replace the fit test, but it can detect if a mask has become loose at a later point, either by using motion sensors to detect when a mask was inadvertently bumped and alerting the wearer who may not have noticed or by detecting a drop in airflow resistance which could indicate a leak has developed.
Monitoring a mask’s proper fit is reason enough to justify the use of the FaceBit module, but its sensors can also turn a face mask into a health tracker too. Respiratory rates can be constantly monitored, while ultra-sensitive motion sensors can actually detect the subtle movement of the head every time a wearer’s heart beats, providing useful health metrics that can be monitored by a connected app on a mobile device.
The collected data can then be analyzed and used to provide helpful suggestions to users such as going for a walk or practicing breathing exercises to reduce detected stress, or when it’s time to replace their mask that’s been worn for a recommended time period. The FaceBit’s creators even suggest that hospitals and medical centers could use the collected health data to keep tabs on healthcare workers who may be especially struggling under the added load of the pandemic in order to provide some needed rest before they completely burn out and walk away, further exasperating staffing issues.”
I wonder if such a mask could wind up going mainstream as well. Removing FitBits from our wrists (where I would prefer not to have to wear it) and putting it on our face within masks that we have to wear anyway. That way we have one less thing to wear and hopefully one less thing to worry about as well: our health.
As you try to figure out why there’s an episode of The Mandalorian inside the Book of Boba Fett you’ll be pleased to learn that we now have real working lightsabers. Well, sort of.
A YouTuber has entered the Guinness Book of World Records after creating the world’s first retractable ‘lightsaber’.
Alex Burkan, who runs the YouTube channel Alex Lab, created a device that looks much like the lightsabers of Star Wars. It can produce a 1-meter (3.28-foot) long plasma blade when initiated – far from just a fancy torch, the 2,800°C (5,072°F) blade can cut through steel.
The life-long Star Wars fan had always wanted his own lightsaber. In 2013 he began working on hydrogen generation equipment, and started to think he could build something that resembled the fictional weapon.
‘The key component of my lightsaber is an electrolyser,’ Burkan explained to the Guinness Book of World Records. ‘An electrolyser is a device that can generate a huge amount of hydrogen and oxygen and compress the gas to any pressure without a mechanical compressor.’
The difficult part – or one of many difficult parts – was making the burner and gas distribution system small enough to fit inside the lightsaber handle. The result is a lightsaber that can cut through steel, even if it doesn’t have the defined edges of the device’s inspiration.
The prototype has a few drawbacks, however.
‘It works for only 30 seconds on full power, the hydrogen torch is not as stable as it could be and you can easily see it when it moves,’ Alex explained, adding, ‘sometimes the lightsaber just blows up in your hand because of hydrogen flashback.’
However, unlike the lightsabers in the films, real-world lightsabers have their advantages.’
‘Plasma is a stream of high ironized particles so this lightsaber can also attract lightning and other high voltage charges.’
Another YouTuber – James Hobson of Hacksmith – has previously made a retractable lightsaber, though that version required you to plug it in.”
Now if only someone can fix Boba Fett we’d be all set.
Yesterday, “Big Papi” David Ortiz got elected into the baseball Hall of Fame with less than 80% of the vote in a contentious election that saw all-time greats Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens fall off the ballot entirely following ten failed attempts to get in. A decision that has led to immediate calls for reform for the voting process considering that Big Papi himself failed a random drug test once and may have been just as guilty of cheating as Bonds and Clemens even if MLB and the Players Association both claim that Ortiz was probably just the victim of a false positive.
In my opinion the calls for change are justified too. How could we let Ortiz in but not let in Bonds if there are suspicions of cheating in both cases? Why, because Ortiz was nice to the media and Bonds wasn’t?! Because there was more evidence against Bonds? Where do you draw the line? Either both should be in or both should be out. The way things have unfolded have invariably led to cries of hypocrisy and I can’t blame those who are fed up with the outdated process.
So, here’s what I’m suggesting. Let’s change the voting process so that former players get a say as well. And fans too! The sports writers who currently control the vote (even though that made more sense in the pre-Internet days) get 33.3% of the vote. The players 33.3%. And the fans the other third. There could be more nuance involved. Like only having players with 10 plus years of service time voting as Cubs outfielder Ian Happ suggested. But at the end of the day giving players, both current and former, at least some say towards honoring their peers does make sense. After all, game recognizes game and there is something to be said for first hand accounts of knowing who the toughest guys you faced were.
All in all, what’s ironic about all this is that exclusion from the Hall of Fame was supposed to hurt the players in question. After all, you can’t reward someone for bad behavior. Yet, in actuality it has wound up hurting the Hall of Fame itself more with the hallowed halls of America’s beloved institution coming under attack from those who scoff at the notion that some of the best players to ever play the game aren’t going to be represented there from the all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, to the all-time home-run leader Barry Bonds, to the all-time Cy Young award leader Roger Clemens. Its credibility damaged to the point where players like Curt Schilling don’t even care if they get in anymore knowing full well that they had Hall of Fame careers in their own minds even if some random sports writers disagree.
So, let’s try this one more time. Let’s put everyone back on the ballot and give a say to the players and fans as well and then see who is left standing. If you still strike out after all that then that’s a decision that we should all have to live with.
Should we change how we vote for the baseball Hall of Fame?
The other day I was browsing Flipboard and came across several amazing new ideas. On the surface this isn’t all that surprising. I use Flipboard daily and often find new ideas on the app. But what was unique about this scenario is that it occurred while I was sleeping. But that doesn’t make the idea I came across any less interesting. Especially since it may already be happening. At least in China.
Yep, you guessed it. The idea that I came up with was updating movies after they come out. Something that just happened with a Brad Pitt classic.
“The finale of ‘Fight Club’ shocked audiences when the film hit theaters in 1999. In a massive twist, the narrator, played by Edward Norton, realizes that Brad Pitt’s slick-talking Tyler Durden character is his imaginary alter ego, and kills him off.
In the final scene, the narrator stands with his girlfriend, played by Helena Bonham Carter, as they watch explosives blow up a cluster of skyscrapers — all part of what was originally presented to the audience as Durden’s plan to destroy consumerism by erasing bank and debt records.
That amount of anarchy — and the government’s inability to stop it — doesn’t appear to have passed muster with China’s notoriously strict censorship rules, though.
In the version available on Tencent Video, which CNN Business was able to view on the platform, the entire scene featuring the explosions has been cut out. Instead, it has been replaced with a caption explaining to audiences that the authorities arrived just in time to save the day.”
What I was imagining was a little bit more benign than this. Instead of state sponsored censorship I was thinking that AI could constantly update movies so that the references were always topical, the jokes never outdated, and the dialogue current with the latest slang. No matter what was happening in the world or how much time had past we would always have movies that hold up no matter how old they were. Thanks to their new found ability to keep evolving after they were initially made.
Plus, it would be infinitely interesting to keep watching slightly different variations of the same movie. As if we really did live in a Multiverse. Each viewing a new adventure with fresh moments just waiting for you to discover.
“So, that’s it? I’m just supposed to stare at my phone for the rest of my life?”
“I couldn’t get into it” – me about a show I didn’t pay any attention to bc I was on my phone the whole time.”
“Not checking my phone has become the new reading a book.”
These are just a few of the many tweets I’ve come across lately lamenting the fact that our phones have taken over our lives. A sentiment that seems to be growing by the second. And one that I don’t think is tied to pandemic life either.
Sure, we’re more isolated than ever before. More limited on how we can spend our free time. Anxious, lonely and depressed all at once. But even if that wasn’t true, even if we could go galivanting around town, even if we could be together, doing fun stuff, we’d still be addicted to our phones. Scrolling and swiping endlessly. Anxiously awaiting the next notification driven dopamine hit. Stuck in never ending feedback loops. Victims of apps, games and services specifically designed by psychologists to grab our attention and keep us coming back for more. Alone. Together.
On the one hand I can’t even get mad about it. Information is the driving force behind everything in the Universe from physics to evolution and it’s information that’s at the heart of these addictions. Our minds craving news, fake or otherwise, and all manner of facts, fiction, gossip, and stories to satiate our primal need to feed our brains 1s and 0s.
But on the other hand I’m furious. Noticing that lately even I have been getting addicted to my phone as well. Constantly refreshing my email for fantasy baseball trade notifications, checking my dating apps for messages that never appear, or searching Twitter for new ideas. Yes, I’m bored. And yes I do want to make trades, find dates, and locate new ideas. It is what it is. A necessary evil. But therein lies the rub. Because it actually is evil. And its not only ruining lives, it’s ruining society.
Just look at nut job athletes like John Stockton and Aaron Rodgers. Their brains rotted by the Joe Rogan podcast, Fox News, and Facebook as the Woke mob, Cancel Culture, a belief that no one can tell them what to do and the idea that they can and should be doing their own research, all combine to create the most powerful idea since the advent of religious faith: the idea that nothing is as it seems, that they’re right and you’re wrong, that it’s them against the world. A worldview perpetuated by the echo chambers they find themselves in online.
What I believe all these conspiracy theorists, insurrectionists, and COVID antivaxxers have in common is access to information. In their case misinformation. But information nonetheless. Fake news poisoning their minds every time they pick up their phones.
The rest of us aren’t any better off. Even if we keep our sanity we’re still losing our independence. Sacrificing our free will by becoming slaves to the machine. Voluntarily plugging our selves into the Matrix. Into a technological prison of our own design.
You see it all the time. Couples or groups of friends at restaurants staring at their phones instead of talking to one another. People texting while driving. Instagram influencers overrunning natural landmarks. TikTok challenges driving poor decision making. The list goes on and on. We’re becoming more and more dependent on our phones and becoming more and more like the plot of the movie Idiocracy as a result.
In order for society to get back on our track and for us to start enjoying movies and TV shows again (as well as each other’s company) we need to limit how much we use our phones. Need to limit how much time we spend online. After all, our brains weren’t created for a 21st Century world. The data deluge that we currently find ourselves in has in fact overloaded our system. Overloaded our cognition. The pace of technology outstripping the pace of evolution.
That’s why I’m proposing that we put a cap on how much time we can spend on our phones in a given day. Mandatory screen time limits that would literally render our phones inoperable when we run up against these hard deadlines. Forget about getting worried when your phone reaches 10% battery. What you should be worrying about is how much phone time you even have left to use at all.
Could this work? Well, thanks to parents setting screen time limits most kids are already growing up with this moderation mindset. And lots of people disable their notifications, silence their phones, go on camping trips, or take digital detoxes every once in a while as it is. Even though most of us are addicted to our phones most of us still at least realize we’re addicted and want to change. And that’s a positive first step. The next most important step is getting the support of the tech giants to build up the infrastructure to actually physically limit their own devices. Which obviously no one is going to do. The more we use our phones the more ads we’re seeing, the more stuff we’re buying, etc.
But what if we could institute a global limit on how much time someone can spend on their phone?! Or at least popularize what I call the Moderation Mindset, a movement designed to push back against technology and regain control of our lives by using our phones in moderation. By voluntarily becoming Luddites. At least temporarily.
I know this is going to be a hard sell. And I can foresee it backfiring horrendously when someone can’t dial 911 during an emergency because their phone is locked. Certainly there are a lot of logistics to work out. But at the same time don’t we owe to ourselves to try? Owe it to the next generation to create a more balanced existence? One that acknowledges that technology can be both good and evil. That all good things should still be done in moderation?!
I certainly think so.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go check my phone.
Straws are so bad for the environment that some places have even banned them. Thankfully, there’s a solution on the way. One that would let us still use straws: an edible version made from bacteria.
“Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China have developed biodegradable straws made from a compound called ‘bacterial cellulose,’ produced by many bacteria after they feed on sugar.
After air drying their bacterial cellulose, the researchers coated it in a material called ‘sodium alginate’ to fill in any small gaps. Because the alginate sticks to itself, this also allowed the researchers to roll the cellulose into a straw shape without any glue.
The result: The new biodegradable straws are far stronger than paper ones (wet or dry), cost about the same as plastic straws, and break down without the need for composting.
The two materials used to make them are also found in existing food products, which means technically you could eat the straws — but it’s not recommended.
‘It is edible, but not specifically designed for eating,’ researcher Qing-Fang Guan told New Scientist. ‘If I were to say what it tastes like, it probably tastes like coconut that has lost most of its moisture.’”
Considering how bad plastic straws are for the environment this is a big win for people who still like to use straws when consuming a beverage.
“Scientists have built the tiniest antenna ever made – just five nanometers in length. Unlike its much larger counterparts we’re all familiar with, this minuscule thing isn’t made to transmit radio waves, but to glean the secrets of ever-changing proteins.
The nanoantenna is made from DNA, the molecules carrying genetic instructions that are around 20,000 times smaller than a human hair. It’s also fluorescent, which means it uses light signals to record and report back information.
And those light signals can be used to study the movement and change of proteins in real time.
Part of the innovation with this particular antenna is the way in which the receiver part of it is also used to sense the molecular surface of the protein it’s studying. That results in a distinct signal when the protein is fulfilling its biological function.
‘Like a two-way radio that can both receive and transmit radio waves, the fluorescent nanoantenna receives light in one color, or wavelength, and depending on the protein movement it senses, then transmits light back in another color, which we can detect,’ says chemist Alexis Vallée-Bélisle, from the Université de Montréal (UdeM) in Canada.
Specifically, the job of the antenna is to measure the structural changes in proteins over time. Proteins are large, complex molecules that carry out all kinds of essential tasks in the body, from supporting the immune system to regulating the function of organs.
However, as proteins rush about doing their jobs, they undergo constant changes in structure, transitioning from state to state in a highly complex process scientists call protein dynamics. And we don’t really have good tools to track these protein dynamics in action.”
It’s a good thing that Mark Cuban is launching a pharmacy because we may have an amazing new pill to put in there. One that both treats and prevents diabetes.
“Yale researchers have developed an oral medication to treat diabetes that controls insulin levels while simultaneously reversing the inflammatory effects of the disease.
The results were recently published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
Developed by Tarek Fahmy, associate professor of biomedical engineering and of immunobiology, the drug has two critical advantages over the standard treatment for diabetes. Because it can be taken orally, it’s much simpler for the patient to stay compliant with his or her treatment. It also addresses three major issues with diabetes at the same time: it helps control immediate blood glucose levels, restores pancreatic function, and re-establishes normal immunity in the pancreatic environment.
‘What excites me about this is that it’s a two-pronged approach,’ Fahmy said. ‘It’s facilitating normal metabolism as well as correcting immune defects in the long term.’
He notes that it’s all done within a nanocarrier composed of materials that our our own bodies make – bile acids – which means that the carrier itself has therapeutic effects that works with the loaded agent to reinstate normal metabolism in the short-term and restore immune competence in the longer term.”
As someone who is at risk of developing diabetes (aren’t we all) this is certainly welcome news. And thanks to Mark Cuban we might be able to get access to this drug at an extra low cost. A win-win all around.
As a host on Shark Tank entrepreneur Mark Cuban is constantly evaluating business ideas in search for the Next Big Thing. And now it seem like me may have finally found it. But it’s not an idea pitched on the hit show. Rather, it’s one that he came up with himself: creating affordable drugs for Americans.
“Last week, tech entrepreneur, Shark Tank investor, and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban entered the billionaire class’s competitive philanthropy race by launching an online healthcare marketplace offering generic drugs at affordable prices. But his new venture isn’t a charity. The new digital pharmacy called Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (MCCPDC) promises to sell medications for the cost of the drugs plus a 15% markup and a $3 dollar pharmacist fee. Shipping is an additional $5. At launch, the website is selling more than 100 medications, and while insurance is not accepted by the company, the pricing for many of these drugs is less than what people would pay even with insurance.
‘It’s ridiculous what the pricing for generic drugs is. Period end of story,’ Cuban told Forbes via email.
The pharmacy’s website costplusdrugs.com further lays out his mission of affordability and transparency. ‘We started Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company because every American should have access to safe, affordable medicines. If you don’t have insurance or have a high deductible plan, you know that even the most basic medications can cost a fortune. Many people are spending crazy amounts of money each month just to stay healthy. No American should have to suffer or worse—because they can’t afford basic prescription medications,’ Cuban wrote on the site.
At launch, drugs for conditions ranging from cancer to high cholesterol, HIV, diabetes, and more are available for sale, and the company plans to expand their offerings. ‘We will add them as quickly as we can,’ Cuban tweeted to someone asking about a medication not initially included on the marketplace.”
Cuban, who rose to fame for being an outspoken NBA owner, critical of referee decisions, is not one to shy away from calling attention to injustice, or taking matters into his own hands to fix them. Which is why there have been some rumors of him eventually seeking political office. For now though lets just be glad he’s still an entrepreneur. One who is tackling a problem that affects us all.
Was Sinbad a genie? When you picture the Monopoly man what is he wearing on his face? Was the cartoon you watched growing up called Looney Toons or Looney Tunes? If you answered yes, a monocle, and Toons you may be suffering from the Mandela Effect. A worldwide phenomenon effecting millions of people who remember things being one way when in fact that were another way. Named after Nelson Mandela who everyone remembers dying earlier than he actually did this powerful effect involves everything from cartoons and movies to board games and household products. Even clothing and food. No brand is safe from getting misremembered whether Fruit of the Loom underwear or Kit Kat bars. Which apparently never had a hyphen in them. If your mind is blown now just wait until you find out that Ed McMahon was never associated with Publisher’s Clearing House or that there’s no such thing as the Berenstein Bears.
How is this even possible? How could so many people have so many memories of things that never existed? One or two people, okay fine, you chalk that up to a faulty memory. Even one or two Mandela effects you could chalk up to our brains all taking the same mental shortcut the way we might not catch an obvious typo when re-reading our own writing. But more than a dozen examples? And getting visual images wrong not just word spellings? That seems like more than just a coincidence. And more to it than just the way our brains work.
So what could be going on?! The obvious answer is that we’re living in a multiverse Spider-Man style with multiple alternate timelines that merged at some point. Depending on what timeline you’re from you’ll either remember one set of things happening or another. For some people Sinbad is a genie in their timeline. For others he never was. But ultimately our brains probably are to blame.
“A more likely explanation for the Mandela effect involves false memories.
Before we consider what is meant by false memories, let’s look at an example of the Mandela effect as it will help us to understand how memory can be faulty (and may lead to the phenomenon that we are describing).
Who was Alexander Hamilton? Most Americans learned in school that he was a founding father of the United States of America but that he was not a president. However, when asked about the presidents of the United States, many people mistakenly believe that Hamilton was a president. Why?
If we consider a simple neuroscience explanation, the memory for Alexander Hamilton is encoded in an area of the brain where the memories for the presidents of the United States are stored. The means by which memory traces are stored is called the engram and the framework in which similar memories are associated with each other is called the schema.
So when people try to recall Hamilton, this sets off the neurons in close connection to each other, bringing with it the memory of the presidents. (Though this is an oversimplified explanation, it illustrates the general process.)
This leads to the likelihood that problems with memory, and not alternate universes, are the explanation for the Mandela effect. In fact, there are a number of subtopics related to memory that may play a role in this phenomenon.
Here are a few possibilities to consider:
Confabulation: Confabulation involves your brain filling in gaps that are missing in your memories to make more sense of them. This isn’t lying, but rather remembering details that never happened. Confabulation tends to increase with age.
Misleading Post-event information: Information that you learn after an event can change your memory of an event. This includes event subtle information and helps to explain why eyewitness testimony can be unreliable.
Priming: Priming describes the factors leading up to an event that affects our perception of it. Also called suggestibility and presupposition, priming is the difference between asking how short a person is, versus how tall a person is. Saying, ‘Did you see the black car?’ instead of ‘…a black car?’ makes a subtle suggestion that influences response and memory.’”
So what do you think? Are our faulty memories to blame? Or are we living in alternate timelines that merged?!
If you love hearing about new ideas that could change the World then you’ve come to the right place. Whether I’m discussing my own ideas or highlighting other people’s ideas there will be no shortage of things to discuss.
My hope is that this site will not only bring awareness to these ideas and start a dialogue about them but also become a springboard for getting them implemented.
Greatest. Idea. Ever. 