Category Archives: amusements

amusements

Oddity of the Week: Internet Connected

New! Amazing! Awesome!
Low-benefit (but Internet-connected!) devices now on sale (from February 2015 MacLife magazine):

  • HAPIfork — Bluetooth-connected, alerts you if you’re eating too fast
  • iKettle — heat water at different temperatures for different drinks, controlled by phone
  • an LG washing machine — lets you start the wash cycle while away; provided, of course, that you’ve already loaded the machine
  • Kolibree “smart toothbrush” — tracks and graphs “brushing habits”
  • Satis “smart toilet” — remotely flushes, raises and lowers the seat, and engages the bidet — all features which MacLife touts mainly good for “terrorizing guests”.

Culled from Weird Universe.

amusements, history, people

Ten Things #22

In a couple of days time my mother should have been celebrating her 100th birthday, but sadly she died earlier this year. So for this month’s Ten Things I thought we should do something to reflect on the momentous events my mother saw in her lifetime.
Ten Historical Events from My Mother’s Lifetime before She was 21 (in October 1936)

  1. Russian Revolution (1917)
  2. End of the Great War (1918)
  3. Spanish Flu Epidemic (1918-19)
  4. Creation of Irish Free State (1922)
  5. General Strike (1926)
  6. Universal suffrage for everyone over 21 in UK (1928)
  7. First talking films (1928)
  8. Wall Street Crash (1929)
  9. Hitler comes to power in Germany (1933)
  10. Accession of Edward VIII (1936) (but not the Abdication as that didn’t happen until December 1936)

And that is just the tip of the iceberg!

amusements

Oddity of the Week: Password Security

Soheil Rezayazdi has suggested the following Nihilistic Password Security Questions:

  • What is the name of your least favourite child?
  • In what year did you abandon your dreams?
  • What is the maiden name of your father’s mistress?
  • At what age did your childhood pet run away?
  • What was the name of your favourite unpaid internship?
  • In what city did you first experience ennui?
  • What is your ex-wife’s newest last name?
  • What sports team do you fetishise to avoid meaningful discussion with others?
  • What is the name of your favourite cancelled TV show?
  • What was the middle name of your first rebound?
  • On what street did you lose your childlike sense of wonder?
  • When did you stop trying?

Lots stupidity in this vein over at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.