It looks like Elon Musk is following through with his plans to launch his personal Tesla Roadster into a Mars orbit. At first, it was thought that the claim was merely a lot of grandstanding, but now we have pictures of Musk’s beloved red roadster being prepped for its trip into infamy as it arrived in Florida for the launch.
The vehicle payload will be used to test the new SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which utilizes two additional Falcon 9 first stages as well as other multiple stages. As to how Elon Musk feels about launching his car into space, he states,
I love the thought of a car drifting apparently endlessly through space and perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future.
Could First Contact be done through a bright red Tesla Roadster? Well, I can think of worse ways to make a first impression on an alien species. And you know that some future episode of Star Trek is going to find the interstellar Tesla, only by then it will be artificially enhanced by an advanced robotic race. Or maybe it will be the Borg that finds it, and soon everyone will be assimilated by bright red robotic Tesla Roadsters. Resistance (and gas) is futile!
Either way, this sounds like a Heavy Metal cartoon that has come to life, and I can’t help but feel downright giddy at the idea of such a thing actually happening. Here’s hoping that everything works as expected and the Telsa Roadster is launched into space and beyond.
Another month, another binging of a time-traveling series on Netflix. Last time we checked out the German made adventure Dark. This round we look at Netflix’s Erased, an original time-traveling series which finds its roots in Japanese Manga.
Netflix’s Erased Is Based On Manga
The show is based on the manga series Boku dake ga Inai Machi, which was published from 2012 to 2016. At that point, it was made into an Anime series, and now for 2017, we have the live-action version on Netflix. The big question, though, is it binge-worthy? Let’s take a look, and we promise to be as careful as possible to not reveal any important spoilers.
Time Travel Plot
Poster Image Netflix
The series is basically about a young man that has episodes, he calls them “revivals”, where he goes back in time a few minutes. It happens randomly and rarely, but when it does our main character, Satoru, usually finds something that needs to be corrected or fixed. Once he does this time resumes again, and all is good. We are not privy to his previous revival experiences, but we are told that they happen.
Image Netflix
We soon find that a revival leads Satoru down a path that leads into big trouble for him and others. A new revival then happens, leading him back into his past farther than he has ever travelled in the past. During his time in the past, which he lives through a younger version of himself with all of his memory intact, Satoru discovers that the real problem with the future stems from this time. Our hero goes about trying to save those around him that are impacted by an unknown nemesis. Things don’t always work out as planned, but our hero is determined. And so our story unfolds.
Limited Special Effects
The show doesn’t spend a lot of time on CGI or special effects, and it doesn’t need to – the only time effects are used is to show a revival taking place. Instead, the story is very character driven, with the interactions between Satoru and others taking precedence over time travel itself. The end result is a story that is very much a look at a less than perfect hero that (hopefully) triumphs over a faceless enemy.
Image Netflix
The story seems like it is wrapped up midway through the series, but it is actually just getting started. There are a few twists and turns that you don’t want to miss if you have invested the time to make it this far. I found the character of Satoru to be a very likable one, and watching Erased invoked a sense of understanding with the character, limited as he is as a student in school.
No English Dubbed Version
The show is presented in the original language with only subtitles for English viewers. While we have spoken about the convenience of dubbed foreign media before, Erased will require your full reading attention in order to experience it if you don’t speak the language. But a lot of the story relies on facial expressions and other such visual mechanisms, so giving it your full attention is worth it if you enjoy the story.
Is Netflix’s Erased binge-worthy? I do think it is, but not everyone will like the slower pace. If you are not enjoying it by the second episode, you probably should stop there before spending any more of your time. But I think that most people will find the show a treat, and if you like time travel stories that are soft on the time travel aspects I certainly recommend giving Erased a try.
The description for this book describes it as an “essential phrasebook”, and for once I think the word “essential” is warranted. After all, anyone that has dealt with human beings in potentially stressful situations realizes that not everyone is nice at the time. However, your typical travel guidebook rarely covers this type of situation. So this book, “How To Swear Around The World”, steps up and fills the void for those, um, difficult situations.
The book breaks it down into dozens of different languages ranging from the simple family curse to the more vile expressions dealing with relations with beasts that we will not discuss here. Phonetic pronunciation is offered so that you can curse like a native speaker, and there are even handy illustrations so that you can be sure to get the proper insult to the warranted situation.
But you don’t have to be a bearer of expletives to find this book valuable. It might be that others around you are using language that your reference material doesn’t cover, but they seem very intent on telling you just the same. A quick check in this book might be enlightening at to exactly the message they are conveying to you in no uncertain terms.
At the risk of sounding like a tired cliche, this is one handy travel book that you may not want to leave home without. You can find “How To Swear Around The World” on Amazon. While you are shopping, you might want to check out a good book on self-defense, just in case you find the guidebook a little TOO effective…
It’s hard to argue with the fact that airbags have saved a lot of lives since their introduction. But have you ever considered the mechanics that it takes to deploy an airbag? To have this much inflation in a fraction of a second requires a lot of explosively charged gases allowed to expel into a confined area. What generates a lot of explosively charged gases? Why, an explosion, of course.
Yes, the airbag a few inches from your face as you drive is actually an explosive device set to detonate at the slightest impact detection. Because of this delicate balance between security and potential disaster, it is highly recommended that people don’t mess with these small bombs designed in the name of safety. But there is nothing wrong with watching as someone else does explore exactly how much punch an airbag packs. Watch below as Giaco Whatever experiments with these devices.
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