Mortality - Death and Avoiding it

Hi,

There has been alot of press lately on death and cheating it.

In one startling case a man chose to commit suicide after his partner did. By drugging himself and then jumping in the mortuary freezer that her corpse lay in.

I kid you not...

The kind of place someones head has to be in to pull this kind of stunt is beyond me. It also goes to show you're better off killing yourself at home rather than in a public institution.

There are other more reliable ways of offing yourself of course. Quite a few of which include over indulging in something pleasurable.

I'm not surprised that a man overdosing on an aphrodisiac based on poisonous toad venom made the top news.

People cheating death have also been media noticeable in the last week and a bit.

From doctors misdiagnosing patients death, through to people overcoming huge odds to walk away from certain death.

The ebb and flow of media stories seemed quite mundane until I came across some intriguing articles about people who strive to postpone or overcome death itself - through many different kinds of augmentation.

Immortality questers like this have been documented since the middle ages. It's actually quite shocking about some of the key historical figures in the 20th century who have been a part of this diverse movement.

The big question here is not "would you commit suicide"- but "what would you do to prolong your life?"

Personally I can't even give up cigarettes...

NP Out

Reality was Great until the power went out

Hi,

You can walk around my place of work like a ghost some days. People are at their desks working at their PCs and listening to music. They don't even register someone passing their work space because they are too intent on a different landscape.

OK maybe not just working, but chatting, blogging, researching, networking and gaming.

Not too long ago we had a power cut at the office, along with the rest of the city, which lasted over 3 hours.

Cue alot of unreasonably angry and somewhat insecure people forced to relate to each other using old fashioned methods of communication.

This occurrence started me wondering about more extreme ways of creating artificial reality. I'm not talking about sci-fi VR such as Cronenberg's eXistenZ, but what is freely available right now on the open market.

Equipment like the Digital Escape mask being worked on by Frog Design really interest me. Its not there yet but will eventually allow the sight, sound and even sense of smell of the wearer to be under their own control.

Technology for projecting scents has come a long way recently, with new patents being lodged for all kind sof virtual smell appliances. My favourite is the smell gun.

Sensory suits have been around for a while, but have been beset by problems. Not least of all them being a bit rubbish.

Mass produced vests for use with computer games are hitting the market right now.

Did that guy shoot me in the back? Hell yeah my kidneys are complaining...

They also come in pink for the ladies.

But does all this equipment actually help to create a convincing virtual reality? The extra sensory inputs would no doubt help to impose a reality - but will it also be more restrictive than someone just using their imagination?

Maybe we're already there, and our minds are sophisticated enough to conjure our own reality without all the hardware.

Read a good book lately? They always have better special effects than their movie adaption.

NP Out

Star Wars Merch - from Sublime to OMFG!

Hi,

The creator of Star Wars continues to cash in on his success with merchandising. I say - Go for it Lucas at least two of your movies were great!

Just coming available now is a remote controlled droid (R2D2) which acts as a home media center. It projects your movies against a wall, plays your DVDs and CDs and will follow you around like a dog on a power lead.

The remote control is a step too far, but all in all it is pretty much excellent.

There is a definite dark side to this whole merchandising thing...

Lucas also does pet dress up costumes, and the only one available right now is this one.

Dressing a pug up as Darth Vader is one thing. But dressing a dog up as the Star Wars sex symbol Leia in a harem outfit?

That's just disturbing, and the people who buy it need to be closely watched. As a colleague put it "this is borderline bestiality".

I'm not sure if bestiality has a border-line. However now that I think about it I am sure that the way people act can be identified by what they buy for fun.

Or maybe it is already happening...

NP Out

Boom!

Hi,

10 cool points to those who can name 90% of these references. There are only 2 frames I was stuck on:-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0tVjmHhnCo

Np Out