Monday 1/10/22
Celebrate National Houseplant Appreciation, Bittersweet Chocolate, Gluten-Free, Oysters Rockefeller, Clean Off Your Desk, Cut Your Energy Costs, Peculiar People, and Save The Eagles Day.
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If you’ve ever felt indecisive about what color vehicle to buy, BMW may have the car for you. The German automaker showed off its new color-changing paint technology at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that shares more in common with a Kindle than you’d think at first glance.
Relying on E Ink, the electronic paper technology used in e-readers, and the old Pebble watch, the color-changing paint technology is making its debut on a concept version of the BMW iX that is being presented at CES.
The surface coating of the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink contains many millions of microcapsules, with a diameter equivalent to the thickness of a human hair. Each of these microcapsules contains negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. Depending on the chosen setting, stimulation by means of an electrical field causes either the white or the black pigments to collect at the surface of the microcapsule, giving the car body the desired shade.
Just don’t expect to see this at your local BMW dealership anytime soon: the automaker says this is just an “advanced research and design project.”
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Bad news to those that get hangovers. There's no scientific evidence to support hangover cures. Of course the studies have been lacking in method and controls. Read more here.
What's your tried and true hangover cure?
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Stand-up comedian, actor, television host and director Bob Saget has died at a hotel in Orlando, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Hotel staff found Saget unresponsive in his room at the Ritz Carlton on Sunday afternoon around 4, according to police. A cause of death has not been announced, but police said foul play or drug use is not immediately suspected. He was 65.
Bob was on a comedy tour, and is most well known for his role as beloved father Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom Full House and its Netflix sequel Fuller House. He also hosted America’s Funniest Home Videos from 1989 to 1997.
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Michael Lang, famed co-creator of the Woodstock music festival, died Saturday, CNN has learned. He was 77 years old.
Lang died from "a rare form of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma at Sloan Kettering Hospital in NYC," read a family statement provided to CNN by longtime family friend Michael Pagnotta.
Lang was just 24 years old when Woodstock took place in August 1969 in New York's Catskill Mountains.
He also co-founded and produced the planned the Woodstock 50 festival in 2019 -- but that event was canceled.
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Calling all Taco Bell fanatics! The fast-food chain is launching the Taco Lovers' Pass which will let users get a taco every day for 30 days for just $10. Once they're paid up, customers will be able to access a secret menu in the app to order from a selection of fan favorites including a Crunchy Taco Supreme or Doritos Locos Taco.
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A colossal hairball, named Hoss, was created by Steve Warden.
Hoss weighs a hefty 225.13 lbs and holds the record for the largest ball of human hair, beating the previous record by over 55 lbs.
Its weight is equivalent to 300 cans of soup or 15 bowling balls!
Hairstylist Steve Warden owns and operates a salon named Blockers in Cambridge, Ohio, USA, and was inspired by his son to create Hoss.
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It turns out January 1 is more than about learning which friends have decided to start reading again: It’s also Public Domain Day, a “holiday” that marks the date when historic books, movies, songs, and other creative works previously protected by copyright can be freely adapted and used by the public. This year, the public domain This year we are gifted with 100-year-old Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway novels, 400,000 audio recordings, and the ultimate treats: the original stories of Winnie-the-Pooh and Bambi.
Each year, Public Domain Day brings countless pieces of old—and sometimes forgotten—works back to life. In 2022, that means marketers like Ryan Reynolds can legally use Pooh’s likeness to promote his cell phone company. Or you could write a TV adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd set in the Hundred Acre Woods.
A few caveats for your gritty Piglet crime drama. Just the original 1926 story entered the public domain, so you can only use author A. A. Milne’s version of Pooh, not the later, more cuddly interpretation beloved in Disney movies. And Tigger is still off limits for a few more years, since he didn’t enter the cannon until 1928.
When the first US Copyright Law was passed in 1790, it allowed creators to hold the rights to their work for 14 years. The point? Intellectual property protection grants creators an effective monopoly of ownership over their work for a period of time, incentivizing that creator to keep on creating and spurring others to innovate as well.
Since then, additional IP laws have extended copyright protections to 100 or more years, long past the lifetimes of the original creators.
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Mega Millions lottery drawing tomorrow is $300 Million. Enough to make you buy a ticket?
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - Smiling for sixty seconds, even when you’re in a bad mood, will immediately improve your mood. Using these muscles is enough to trigger the happy chemicals in your brain.
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