Thursday, January 26, 2012

8 interesting things (this is an octagon after-all):

! While 4 Republicans are vying to become the 45th President of the United States at the expense of the 44th did you know - and can you contemplate - that the 10th President still has living grandchildren? Blows my mind at least.

2. A fun game you can play with an age-appropriate contemporary is something Lis and I call "pre-dating". Think of products, institutions etc that you personally pre-date. As a man born in the final weeks of the 70's I pre-date cellphones, the Reagan Administration, Hip Hop etc. The truly intrepid will play "Pre/Post-dating...things you predate and postdate like, for me, the NASA shuttle program. Count your rings, tree trunk!

3. The National Soft Drink Association estimates that the average American consumes over 56 gallons of Soda every year. If soda were gasoline and if my Jeep were running at its optimal efficiency I'd be able to travel 952 miles on the amount of soda I drink...but what is most interesting to me is that, if bought in 20 ounce increments, I'd have spent close to $10.00 a gallon to do so. Makes me glad I only spend what I do on gas and - on a cold, snowy night like this - makes me wish I had 952 free miles at my southerly disposal.

4. Within that same vein it is estimated that the average American worker spends over $1000 on coffee every year.

5. Sweet Moses...an electric unicycle courtesy of Honda:


6. Have you ever heard of the "uncanny valley"? Mori's original hypothesis states that as the appearance of a robot is made more human, a human observer's emotional response to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong revulsion. However, as the robot's appearance continues to become less distinguishable from that of a human being, the emotional response becomes positive once more and approaches human-to-human empathy levels.

7. Check out this home made from the fuselage of a Boeing 727.

8. And coming full circle (or octagon) - The last outspoken widow of a confederate soldier passed away in 2008 but there are two more confirmed (one in Tennessee and one in North Carolina) living widows of Confederate Soliders who prefer to remain anonymous. (the last Union widow died in 2003)

-Job Tate, fellowship of the Octagon.

4 comments:

Josh Tate said...

! also found it interesting that you replaced the number one with an exclamation mark. I don't know if that was on purpose or a helpful mutation, but I think you may have swerved into truth. Such a list SHOULD be preceded by an exclamation mark to prepare its readers for the amazing content to follow. I may begin starting more things with exclamation marks, as you did, just to set the tone.

You wanna run out to Carl's Jr.?

Steve! You want some Carl's Jr.?

How about the rest of you guys?

Josh Tate said...

I think we should acquire some U3X's for the Octagon as soon as they hit the market. I'll spare no expense.

Steve said...

I've never had Carl's Jr., and alas, there isn't much there I can eat now. How about a Low Carb Guacamole Six Dollar Burger® with a strawberry shake? We can take my conventional unicycle.

Beth said...

The "uncanny valley" is often discussed in animation as well. It's why faces in Toy Story are appealing, but faces in A Christmas Carol or The Polar Express kind of creep you out.