17 Thursday Jul 2014
Posted in Fun
Tags
animals, author, entertainment, fun, humor, lol, owls, Stephanie Beavers, writer
This owl likes nose tickles
Grammatically precise owl
Not so much adorable as freaking creepy.
There we go, there’s the cute.
And a bad owl pun to finish things off.
14 Monday Jul 2014
Posted in News
Tags
alone, author, boredom, Science, science news, Stephanie Beavers, writer
Now here’s an interesting study for you. A handful of researchers decided to find out how people reacted to being alone with their thoughts. The article:
Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind
In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more, and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative.
Idle hands (and minds) are the devil’s workshop? Apparently.
Unfortunately I haven’t read the actual study, just a summarized version by Yahoo News, but even just the summary raises interesting questions.
Personally, I like the occasional bit of free time to just relax inside my own head. I don’t do it as much as I used to (ah, the demands of life), but I accredit many of my best ideas to such moments.
Through the ages, great thinkers have bemoaned that not enough people just sit and think, but I wonder, is sitting and thinking now harder than it’s ever been, in our world of constant distractions? What would happen if we all gave our lives a little more thought, I little more- OH LOOK, SQUIRREL!
What about you, dear readers? Can you do it? Can you turn off your phone and your computer and just sit with your thoughts for 15 minutes? Would you enjoy it? I’m curious to know!
10 Thursday Jul 2014
Posted in Fun
Tags
author, campground, camping, entertainment, fun, humor, life, lol, Stephanie Beavers, writer
I appreciated the wildlife activity/camping activity pun this camper wielded in our campground:
07 Monday Jul 2014
Posted in News
Tags
assisted driving vehicles, author, cars, driving, entertainment, fun, Hyundai, robot apocalypse, Stephanie Beavers, technology, writer
So I imagine we’ve all heard of Assisted Driving Vehicles coming out. Honestly, I wasn’t paying very much attention, although in the back of my mind I was a little skeptical. Assisted driving, self driving… I just wasn’t sure about how realistic it really was. That is… until I saw this. Here’s some good advertising for you:
Badass Marketing of the Day: Hyundai Tests Out Assisted Driving Vehicles
This is open road, of course, not in a crazy city or some such, but still.
So what do you think? Is this the way of the future? On day, will all cars be able to do this? Is this one more paver in the path to the robot apocalypse? Please share your thoughts!
03 Thursday Jul 2014
Posted in Fun
01 Tuesday Jul 2014
Posted in Life
Tags
author, Canada Day, music, patriotism, Stephanie Beavers, video
30 Monday Jun 2014
Posted in News
Tags
apocalypse, author, computers, computing, machine, Science, science fiction, science news, Stephanie Beavers, technology, writer
So, exciting news! Computers are about to take a quantum leap.
Now, anyone who loves technology has GOT to be excited about this. Can you imagine where this will take us? I’m all gung-ho for virtual reality. Y’know, like Sword Art Online and .hack and the Matrix? Toes have been dipped in those waters, but this kind of processing speed would put things on a whole new level.
And if you haven’t heard, this new technology is a total overhaul of the old; introduce silicon photonics instead of copper wiring, and clusters of specialized cores instead of more generalized ones. We will be able to sneeze at petabytes. Petabytes.
And since it’s not creepy at all, HP is calling this what? The Machine. …Anyone else watch Person of Interest? At least they didn’t call it Samaritan…
One step closer to the robot apocalypse
In all seriousness, however, it’s this kind of power in the hands of the general public that scares me. “Revolution” isn’t a frivolous concept. Computer security will become non-existent if this is released to joe-public all at once. And as much as I love all my freedoms, there are bad people out there who could take serious advantage of this. With that kind of power, hacking a bank would be easy. Easier than easy.
What do you think, dear readers? What excites you about this prospect? What terrifies you? I’d love to hear.
26 Thursday Jun 2014
23 Monday Jun 2014
Tags
as kids see it, author, campground, camping, children, ducks, entertainment, fun, kids, life, lol, monsters, people, shenanigans, Stephanie Beavers, work, writer
This post is the third of its kind, about stuff that happens at the campground I work at.
This time, the shenanigans are adorable.
The other day, our night guy was doing his rounds at twilight when he saw a little girl all by herself in an empty campsite. Concerned that she might be lost, our night guy went over to check on her.
“Hello,” our night guy said.
“Hello,” the little girl replied.
“Where are your parents?” he asked.
“They’re in site 81,” she replied. The night guy was a little surprised that she knew exactly where they were.
“Why are you here, all by yourself?” he asked.
“I’m guarding my ducks.”
Sure enough, on the grass beside her sat two white ducks in a small, open-top enclosure.
Regardless, it was a curious statement.
“What are you guarding the ducks from?” the night guy asked.
“There’s something in the bushes. You can see its eyes.” She pointed at the bushes. Humoring her, the night guy crouched to look. Two glowing red eyes stared back.
“Aren’t you scared?” the night guy asked. He was a little unnerved.
“I’m terrified,” the little girl admitted. “But I’m not leaving my ducks.”
(So you can crank the “Aaaaaaaaawww!” factor up to 10.)
Impressed with the little girl’s bravery, the night guy made a few attempts to scare the “monster” away, but the two eyes kept staring at them, unblinking and unmoving.
A little daunted but unwilling to leave the little girl alone with the monster, the night guy began to dig into the bushes to find the owner of the eyes.
As it turned out, the offender was a flashlight with a string of red LEDs on it. It had tangled in the bushes and somehow the lights had come on. The leaves of the bushes had blocked out all but two, spaced perfectly to create the ominous eyes that had glared so menacingly at the ducks.
Monster crisis averted, the little girl picked up her ducks and returned to her parents.
The monster.
19 Thursday Jun 2014
Posted in Fun
Tags
author, cat, cats, entertainment, fun, goat cat, humor, jenga, jenga cat, lol, spider cat, Stephanie Beavers, writer
As any cat owner knows, there’s no such thing as a “normal” cat. These three will prove it to you:
Spider Cat!
Stephanie Beavers 