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Month: April 2020

$2.4 Trillion went where?

$2.4 Trillion went where?

This website has been created to report on where pandemic stimulus money is going, and allow anyone to file waste complaints they might witness.

Anyone else find it interesting it cost $82 BILLION dollars just to oversee the spending of $2.4 trillion? That’s almost 6 times what is going in assistance to schools.

Virtual Racing

Virtual Racing

What happens when a global pandemic shuts down F1, Nascar, Indycar and other professional auto racing? The pro racers become internet competitors! Real life F1 stars Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, IndyCar drivers Simon Pagenaud and Felix Rosenqvist, and a bevy of popular professional sim racers and YouTube personalities got together and raced online. There were commentators and the virtual event was every bit as good as an actual live one by most accounts.

Before that, Nascar did a similar race earlier and was met with good reviews. Like real life, one race event even lead to its own scandal.

This raises some really fascinating implications for our post-corona world. With computers and simulators becoming ever better – as good as real life – could the likelihood of increasing numbers of pandemics like H1N1 and Covid-19 cause a major shift in real sports?

Could real or interrupted seasons be augmented, or even completely replaced, by online competitions? What would this mean for the millions in advertising and promotion that ride on these events? Will giant, technology ladened stadiums become a thing of the past? And while these online events were friendly, it also brings up the extremely difficult topics of hacking, doping, cheating, and other nefarious activities already plaguing e-Sports.

Grocery Trip

Grocery Trip

“Computers are good at lots of tasks – but they’ll never replace creative activities and artists”

May I present Pouff’s grocery shopping video was created back in 2015, using neural network technology which attempted to identify animal faces in places where they didn’t actually exist.

Incidentally, Mario Klingemann disagrees with the first statement. “Humans are not original,” he says. “We only reinvent, make connections between things we have seen.” While humans can only build on what we have learned and what others have done before us, “machines can create from scratch”

Wes Anderson’s camera style

Wes Anderson’s camera style

Wes Anderson’s movies have a very unique look and feel to them. One of my favorites is Grand Budapest.

This fascinating little analysis shows how he uses his camera in unique ways to create that look and feel – and how it’s changed/refined after his animation movies.

Cool Runnings: Self worth

Cool Runnings: Self worth

Irv (John Candy) is a disgraced Olympian that was caught cheating. Asked by  Darice why he did it, Irv gives a beautiful answer:

Irv: “I HAD to win. You see Darice, I’d made winning my whole life. And when you make winning your whole life – you have to keep on winning – no matter what. Do you understand that?”

Darice: “No, I don’t understand that coach. You had two gold medals, you had it all!”

Irv: “ Darice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.”

Tears…in the rain

Tears…in the rain

Rutger Hauer enjoyed an international reputation for playing everything from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains. His list of movies is impressive: The Hitcher, Hobo with a Shotgun, Batman, and probably his crowning work: Blade Runner.

Hauer died in July 2019 at the age of 75 – the same year his character died in Blade Runner. Dystopian LA 2019.

A wild mix

A wild mix

One more example of how there is nothing new under the sun – and that there are some universal rhythms and patterns across time and cultures.

Like Rings in a tree

Like Rings in a tree

Future historians will use the date+timed comments in youtube videos (and other social media) like rings in a tree. There’s clearly a ‘Covid-19’ ring being formed on social media right now.