Are these cameras gimmicky or are they something more? Things That Blew Us Away Rob: At the time of recording, the Omicron variant of Coronavirus has an “R” value of 10. We can’t find that video now and what we can find all point to an R value of 2 or 3. Christen: Core 77’s Best of Cool Tools Spotted in 2021 Next time: An autonomous vacuum that has a camera built into it. Clean your house and take your next video call on your vacuum.

Now that we’re into the long-tail adoption of the internet, how does technology influence how we interact with information related to conspiracies? Can AI get better at locating radicalizing content? At what point should speech be censored? Is there a conspiracy that you believe in, or something you believe in so much that your mind could not be changed no matter how much evidence to the contrary? Is this something we can know about ourselves? Rob thinks humanity is doomed, but he may be swayed. Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Wishcycling is when people try to recycle something that cannot be recycled. Christen: Nermal (Nims) Purja climbs 14 of the tallest peaks in the world in under six months. Check out the documentary, 14 Peaks, on Netflix.

Our end-of-year episode reflects on podcasts – what has been and what we’ve enjoyed. Rob’s been podcasting since 2016 and we chat about origins and inspirations. If you’ve not listened to Dark Winter Nights, True Stories from Alaska, we highly recommend it. Our Favorites Christen Mission to ZyxxKing Falls AMOligiesAnd That’s Why We Drink Rob Dark Winter NightsCar TalkDuolingo PodcastsBubbly Sesh We’ll catch everyone in the new year! Things That Blew Our Minds Christen: Ultra-compact cameras that are the size of a grain of salt. Rob: Gunpowder was discovered by Chinese Taoists searching for the elixir of immortality.

Storing and managing all the photos we take with our phones is a perennial challenge. This week we talk about what we do, and all our good intentions. Storage we talk about (prices at the time of recording) Google Photos 100GB for $1.99/mo200GB for $2.99/mo Apple Crapple (iCloud) 50GB: $0.99200GB: $2.992TB: $9.99 Flickr *Crickets* $6.99/mo – Some breaks for annual pricing Dropbox Sure Smugmug $7/mo for unlimited, full-res storage Adobe Cloud Storage Adobe for teams – cloud storage 100GB Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Most people have an above average number of legs. Christen: That time former Russian president Gorbachev made a Pizza Hut commercial. Next episode we will podcast about podcasting!

We’ve been thinking about the possible costs of files we leave orphaned up in our online storage. Someone pays to maintain it up in the cloud, on a computer in the sky somewhere. What impacts do all the resources going to maintain the files we never go back to access have on the environment? First, when we talk about cloud computing, we have in mind services similar to: Google DriveMicrosoft 360DropboxNetflix (to name a few) It’s a long list, and we aren’t even getting into video storage and streaming. In research conducted by MIT, Perdue, and Yale, streaming video makes an impact on the environment in terms of land usage, carbon emissions, and water usage. Turning your video off during a web meeting reduces your environmental impact by 96%. “To store and transmit all of the data powering the internet, data centers consume enough electricity to account for 1 percent of global energy demand — which is more than the total consumption for many countries” Reduce the Environmental Impact of your Next Virtual Meeting Additional reading on the topic and studies by Microsoft and Google are linked below.  There’s also a link to the Arctic Circle Data Center (ACDC) in development, Kolos, which appears to still be raising capital. Their aim is for more sustainable data storage. Uncovering the Environmental Impact of Cloud Computing This article, above, states that digital technologies might seem like less of an impact but they are responsible for 4% of global CO2 emissions. Organizations like MightyBytes attempt to steer companies toward more sustainable solutions. The Cloud isn’t Inherently More Sustainable Lucivero, F. Big Data, Big Waste? A Reflection on the Environmental Sustainability of Big Data Initiatives. Sci Eng Ethics 26, 1009–1030 (2020). Google is messaging about this as well The Environmental Impact of Keeping Files Online So what do we do about it? Check out the Digital Cleanup Day website to learn more about how people are creating mindful practices with their digital assets. Things That Blew Us Away

Have you ever been in a bad meeting? When did you realize it was going off the rails? Do you purposefully sabotage meetings that are floundering? This week we talk about meetings because we’ve been sucked into and stuck in so many that this episode turns into a bit of therapy. We also have been meeting facilitators, and understand that sometimes work must be accomplished – but how do we get there? Meeting Tips Are you leading a meeting? Some questions to ask before your meeting: Does every person need to be there?Who ISN’T represented there?Avoid long introductions about dogs. Maybe do them in chat or via email beforehandHave the courage to shove the car out of the mudWhat is the goal of this meeting?Creative meetings vs. informative meetingsMeetings are not the solution to people not reading email, unless it’s a safety thing.Meetings are not therapy sessions – BUT SOMETIMES THEY ARE  Zoom Meetings Know how to mute everyoneHave people raise their handsDon’t ask a question to the whole group if it’s over six peopleHave them raise hands or call on peopleSet people up for success in the meeting. If you want to accomplish something in the meeting, let people know ahead of time so that they can think ahead. Meetings are Like Dinner Parties Invite meeting attendees into the meeting as guests. Set expectationsInvite people into conversations who seems to be hanging back. Set the table. Even just the presence of food can help grease the wheels.Followup afterward with notes and actions to keep everyone on track. What Some Smart People Have to Say About Meetings Interesting thoughts on meetings by people that do them prolifically and study them – Meeting Facilitation by Doug Ferguson. They alsotTalk about what to do after the meeting and how to talk about what was accomplished. Suggested Tools: Google Docs, MURAL, Miro, Figma Why Meetings Go Wrong (HBR) includes some controversial strategies like, banning the mute button. They also suggest that if you’re using an agenda, write it in the form of questions to invite people to think deeply about the points. Things That Blew Us Away Rob: A family that walks on all four limbs Christen: Social loafing! The phenomenon that people working in a group exert less effort when working on a goal together. When is it loafing and when is it letting others run with an idea?

We sat down to watch this visual extravaganza of a movie from 2017, and to chat about what we liked about it. The movie didn’t receive much acclaim on its release, but there’s so attention paid to the world building that one can’t discount there is much to see and love about this space opera – yes, space opera. Who doesn’t love a good space opera? The movie was based on a French graphic novel (Valerian and Laureline 1967-2010), and was directed by Luc Besson. If that name sounds familiar it’s because it should. He has also directed the cult classic The Fifth Element – I know you’ve seen it. On top of having visionary director and a whole lot of independent capital, the cast touts some big names like Ethan Hawke, Rianna, John Goodman, Clive Owen, Herbie Hancock (really?). This movie tries to cover a whole lot of ground in a very short amount of time. The scope of world-building is momentous and the visuals are good enough that the movie pulls it off. If you’re someone who watches this movie without any background on the original story, your expectations should be framed in that way. It’s still very enjoyable to watch, fast-paced, and written like a comic book. Don’t expect neatly polished narrative, academic exposition, or a spiritual deeper meaning. It’s fun, there is something interesting to look at every second of this movie, there’s not a bunch of gore or outright violence, and it can hold a kid’s attention. Lots of visual touchstones that make the world look familiar and believable for people who have watched lots of scifi (Fifth Element, Roger Rabbit, Avatar, Return of the Jedi, Star Trek franchise, etc). You might even notice minor characters such as the Dogan Daguis are very much styled in a manner similar to the Ferengis of the Deep Space Nine series. What’s Bat-shit Crazy Cute little armadillo guinea pigs that can poop pearlsValierian cannot stop proposing to his coworker.After thousands of years of peace in the Universe, agents Valerian and Lauraline have 10 hours to find the thing disturbing this peace.BIG MARKET!There’s a HUGE space station, Alpha, that’s a cultural melting pot in space.An entire planet and race are erased from historical records by a military officer.Ethan Hawke is Rhianna’s pimp (who ever thought that would be a sentence we would ever write?).Rhianna’s Glamopod danceLaureline contracts an ancient space captain and his space submarine to steal a jellyfish from the blowhole of a giant sea creature, then she puts her head into that jellyfish to retrieve some memories.A seemingly tribal race leaves their planet and learns sufficient technology to build their own spacecraft within a single generation. Technology in This Movie Something like a Star Trek HolodeckVirtual playlists of former loversCommunicatorsBIG MARKET! AR/VR for the shoppers and for the soldiers (one of them “hacks” into one of the guards and controls it as part of their mission to recover the Mül converter)Mül converterAlpha space stationSpider bots that can fit in your mouth“Evil” imperial robots Looking for more voices in this conversation? The Verge has a great write up of this movie. Things That Blew Us Away Christen: In keeping with the recent Halloween holiday, the Smithsonian Magazine has a story about what might be the first depiction of a ghost, datin

Rob read a book by Jean Twenge, who makes a case that GenZ should really be named iGen. In this episode, we spend some time talking about this generation, how it is different from our own generation, GenX, and what generations really are. Formally named generations are a relatively new idea, along with the rise of social sciences. Note that generations are also dependent on cultural contexts. If we look back, earlier generations include: The Lost Generation, 1883-1900The Greatest Generation, 1901-1927The Silent Generation, 1928-1945Baby Boomers (Generation W), 1946-1964Gen X, 1965-1980Millennials, 1981-1996Generation Z, 1997-2012Generation Alpha, 2010-2021 Timeline of generations in the Western world with notable events by CMG Lee. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Twenge has a TEDx talk Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Research suggests that the east side of cities are statistically the more economically depressed because it was historically the stinky side of the towns. Christen: The movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, have you seen it? If not, it is really fantastic and has flown under the mainstream radar since it was released. The movie does such a fabulous job of world building on an epic scale in the length of one movie, I just want to live there. Next episode we are going to talk about this movie and the technologies depicted.

This week we talk about Rob’s childhood charge to become famous. What is the draw to fame and why do some seek it, while others do not? Val Kilmer Documentary – Watch on Prime Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Latrophobia is the fear of healers, or put another way, doctors. Why be afraid of someone who is interested in helping you? Christen: Despite driving in snow at least half of the year, why are drivers often confounded at the first few snowfalls that obstruct lines on the road?

Breathing techniques have been used by humans across history to access the parasympathetic nervous system for various benefits – meditation, healing, mitigating stress, free diving. For background on different techniques look into Qi Gong, breath of fire, box breathing, Wim Hoff method (not new and like pranayama). Beyond that, breathing through the nose as opposed to breathing through the mouth, helps condition the air coming into the body and it brings in more oxygen. Mouth breathing contributes to a 40% loss of moisture compared to nose breathing.  Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor – The impact of switching from mouth to nose breathing. CO2 therapy for controlling chronic anxiety – Dr. Justin Feinstein is overseeing research going on right now, funded by the NIH in Tulsa, OK. Introducing CO2 into patients to help them become more tolerant to the condition. Katarina Schroth (born 1894) developed a therapy for correcting scoliosis by using breathing techniques. More background The Future of Breathing – A presentation given at The Interval, venue for talks hosted by The Long Now Foundation. This talk is also by James Nestor (see book referenced above). Vice documentary on Wim Hoff Wim has broken many records for sitting in cold, running in heat without water, and has battled sickness with his breathing techniques and cold therapy. More about Morozko Forge, cold thermogenesis and breathing. Inhaling 2nd hand stress – This article discusses this phenomenon. NPR’s article on the benefits of breathing – Breathing promotes relaxation and research supports that claim. It’s not a new idea. Things that Blew Us away Rob: Easterland paradox Christen: Copped out and said breathing blew her away – pun intended. Next week: Fame

Float tanks – sometimes referred to as isolation tanks, sensory deprivation tanks, and restricted environmental sensory therapy (REST). It seems to be that people choose  to use these for both physical recovery and mental self care. In the context of physical recovery, it ranks up there with cryotherapy and infrared saunas. Does it really help recover the nervous system? Does it help lower blood pressure and cortisol? Float tanks have occasionally made appearances in popular culture: Altered States (1980), Stranger things, Tanis (podcast), and we can’t forget the ever hyping Joe Rogan, of course. Vice documentary on floating Research Therapeutic Potentialities of Sensory Deprivation Procedures. Adams, H.B. Virtual Reality Games in Sensory Deprivation Tanks. Mann, Steve. Hao, Max Lv. Warner, Jeremy Things That Blew Our Minds Rob: Opening a bottle of wine with a shoe Christen: Ready-to-wear mushroom leather, coming to clothing near you. Next time: Breath work + cryotherapy

Welcome to Season 2! We are kicking off the new season with a comparison of Archive (2020) the movie, and Upload (2020) the series on Amazon Prime. Both productions deal with issues that might arise when and if humans devise a way to extend posthumous consciousness digitally. What’s interesting is that they imagine a digital afterlife very differently. BE WARNED: There are spoilers in this article and in the episode. Archive (2020) This story is set in the near-future of 2038 and hinges on the development of artificial intelligence, jealousy, and a huge plot twist right at the end. George’s wife did NOT want to be archived, so it’s conceivable this all may be happening without her consent. This bleak vision of the afterlife is terrifying, where it seems that George is being suspended in death at the behest of his employer to finish out his contract to develop an advanced AI. This fact is revealed at the VERY end of the movie, but alludes to the twist throughout the entire story. George’s daily routine never deviates outside the bounds of the compound, save for a single meeting with the Risk Assessor. He is, essentially, a prisoner in his afterlife AND of his memories.   Upload (also 2020) A much more uplifting and comedic vision of a digital afterlife that manages to introduce many really deep questions that arise when considering artificially delaying death such as: Class divisions (the 2Gigs and less enhanced, cheaper afterlife platforms)Practical aspects of using self-driving carsWearables and mobile tech (also how are they making phone calls to the uploaded?)Tech support for those enjoying their afterlifeThe “deceased” must obey the rule that they are not permitted to work. There is MUCH more diversity in this cast, but there are also just more people in the cast. Things that Blew Our Minds Rob: Pascal’s wager – the idea that it is better to bet on God and be wrong, than it is to not believe at all. Christen: A company, named Sila, has found a way to pack more energy into a lithium ion battery. The technology is being released in the upcoming Whoop 4.0 release. The company has been able to reduce the size of the wearable device, while still being able to hold a charge for 5 days. Join us next time for a conversation about float tanks.

This week we reminisce about Google Glass as it enters its next generation beta, and we get a glimpse of the items Rob is adding to his 80s museum. Google Glass was another example of tech we wore on our faces, but the hype fizzled out. We decide to revisit them, though, since the next generation of Glass is entering beta. Google isn’t giving up on the augmented/mixed reality spaces with Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft vying for those spaces as well. Things That Blew Us Away Rob – Tactical Framing is a strategy where someone talks about how people are reacting to an issue, rather than talking about the issue itself. Christen – Why is there nowhere to buy a bathing suit in Fairbanks?!

Today we review the 2013 movie, “Her”. It isn’t a new movie, but it’s an emotional rollercoaster that ends in a technological singularity of which we only see the briefest of glimpses. At the end of the rollercoaster this movie dumps us into a post-singularity future that we can only imagine. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched it yet! Some of the notes we collected while watching: Samantha is purchased as an object.Theodore works for a company that emulates hand-written notes.Samantha evolves into a post-human, something that is part object, AND that transcends a post-singularity consciousness.Ultimately she realizes that not having a body is advantageous beyond the limitations of humanity.Is it true that the more one loves, the more capacity they have for love? What about children?Theodore begins to question the relationship when he’s challenged by other’s perspectives and cracks continue to form in the relationship until he thinks to ask if she is in love with others and learns that not only is she talking to thousands at the same time she talks with him, she loves over 600 of those individuals.OS Not Found scenes – Has he lost his lover, his data and organization, his control – all of the above? Is this a power imbalance? Things That Blew Our Minds Rob: Veblen Goods, products for which demand increases as the price increases. Christen: Dire Straights is a totally different band than Christen thought and they sing, “Money for Nothing”.

Another episode where we find ourselves talking about something we have put on our heads! It’s not the first time and certainly won’t be the last. This week, Rob shares what it was like to wear Echo Frames, Amazon’s smart glasses product that connects with Alexa. Christen wonders what life might be like when companies vertically integrate their smart technologies to the point that they are able to detect when we need health services, provide medication through a pharmacy, and recommend health interventions. Things That Blew Our Minds Rob watched a TED Talk on what is referred to as the Empathy Gap. Humans have trouble feeling empathy for people we can see, who are physically distant, or who do not exist yet – including our future selves! Christen found a project that is using a biopolymer made from orange peels to 3D print objects. Find more information about 3D printing with orange peels on the Core 77 website and check out the project’s Kickstarter.

Do these glasses make us look nerdy? If you could do anything in mixed reality, what would that thing be? Today we share our first impressions of the Hololens, we talk about what we are interested in doing with it, and we also post the unboxing video. Rob makes lots of faces while he watches Christen experience the set up process. Unboxing Video Microsoft’s Hololenses come in Corporate and Developer versions. We have the Corporate version.

What’s new in the world of underwater drones and how might they be used in the future? This week we look at how underwater drone propulsion is changing, and Rob shares his experience with Finding Dory – the drone, not the forgetful fish. A video about DARPA’s Manta project A video featuring 7 incredible drones – first is the dolphin drone A video on drones gathering data about the oceans Things That Blew Our Minds Rob hates mosquitoes and remains disgusted that no one is trying to eradicate mosquitoes as quickly as he would like. Christen is amazed at Google’s incoherent messaging over their many many messaging apps, which all do different things.

We’re back! Took us about 7 minutes for us to get caught up on the latest of Rob’s Delorean drama before we got back into the groove, but today we are talking about two very different technologies today.. So what are hyperloops and would you ride on one? A hyperloop overview Virgin’s vision for hyperloop Did you know Rob has a hoverboard? He brings it to work occasionally. The movie, Back to the Future, gave us a glimpse of what the future might like, but is that hoverboard really better than these? Things That Blew Our Minds Rob gets into the Momentum Effect – If you buy something cheap, you’re more likely to buy something that’s more expensive at the same time Christen learns there’s a new BCI typing record that has been recently set. The previous record had been approximately 40 characters a minute. The new record is about 90 characters per minute. Finally, if you heard us wondering during the episode about the radiation we are exposed to when we fly. We found what the CDC has to say about cosmic radiation and our exposure to it when we fly.

Where do you store your drone – in the drone drawer? Would you keep a drone in your pocket to take selfies? This week, we remember the early RC airplanes, Rob admits flying his drone too high, and he also explains how to crash a drone while landing. A drone light show (video) Drones rescue swimmers in distress (video) Things that Blew Our Minds Rob: A body of a man is found in a metal dinosaur. He accidentally dropped his phone into the Dino’s leg and died trying to retrieve it. Do phones need to be ultra-expensive, precious objects? Christen: Considering antimicrobial coatings for glass, antimicrobial/antiviral textiles, AND antimicrobial UV-C lights – how are these technologies affecting healthy living? Do they kill microbes that benefit us? Are they contributing to the rise of “super bugs”?

Would you ride in a self-driving car? What would our lives be like if ride sharing and vehicle sharing were more pervasive? This week Rob and Christen have a conversation exploring how self-driving cars might impact how we think about our vehicles and the roles they play in our lives. To explore these ideas further we recommend watching Malcom Gladwell’s documentary, “Autonomy”. Things that Blew Our Minds Rob imagines a day when the Earth and the Moon are both tidally locked. He also learns that our Moon raises the surface of the Earth 12 inches as it passes above. Christen takes a peek at the technical mastery of the glass lenses made by Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek through the sorcery of neutron tomography. She continues to mis-remember Vermeer’s name, incorrectly calling him VanDermeer. Regardless, at the same time in the Netherlands, Vermeer was painting amazing likenesses of individuals. Experts hypothesize that is because of the quality of the glass lenses a handful of individuals were beginning to product the time. Was he influenced by Leeuwenhoek?