How Airplane Black Boxes, Virtual Pop Stars, and DIY Dorito Seasoning Work
This week we speculate on an alternate future, add cheesy good beginnings to all things, sit down and get dirty with black airplane boxes, and of course offer some inspiration to get your week off the ground.
Virtual pop stars, clones and an alternate future where we are all avatars
On the Flash Forward podcast, presenter Rose Evelet transports listeners to a different, alternate future every week. In one, the Internet suddenly disappears. Otherwise, artificial uterus is the norm. In another case, space pirates take over the moon. This week we look to a future in which pop stars and other public figures move around the world, appear in public and interact almost entirely with the world through avatars and other holographic images, and the idea is interesting considering how much attention we pay today to make sure that our public characters are always attractive and interesting to everyone who may look in our direction, compared to our real, normal “me” behind closed doors.
Combine that idea with some Vocaloid and virtual idol Hatsune Miku connections and some Beyoncé conspiracy theories, and you’ve got a pretty interesting episode and a new podcast to subscribe to. Check it out above. [ via Flash Forward and Wired ]
How plane black boxes work
When a plane crashes, the first thing you hear on the news is the quest to find the plane’s black box or flight recorder. This is incredibly valuable for figuring out what happened to the plane. It usually contains records of what was happening in the cockpit at the time, instrument readings throughout the flight, location data, and additional details that investigators can use to figure out what went wrong. But how do they work? How do they write down so much and store it in a bag small enough to actually fly with the plane without being destroyed when the plane crashes? This video from Vox explains. [ via Vox and Kottke ]
What’s the worst courtesy meal you’ve ever eaten?
This Quora thread will honestly make you laugh so hard it will take you a little time for yourself, so either read it if you have incredible self control or save it for later. The main plot (“cheesecake”) is perfect in every way, but as the discussion continues, you will hear from people who dislike things like chocolate or soy sauce and how they managed to suppress it out of goodwill.
Here’s an excerpt from the cheesecake story, and if that doesn’t make you read the rest, I don’t know what will happen:
I had a friend in Australia, a sweet little girl from Malaysia. She was one of the sweetest and friendliest people you will ever meet. She was at my dinner party and tried cheesecake for the first time. Two weeks later we had a large group lunch at a restaurant and she announced that she had a surprise.
“I made a cheesecake for everyone! This is our dessert! “
We were all very happy because you know who doesn’t like cheesecake? Awesome and delicious. But she takes it out of the box and it’s transparent and yellow. … Now I know cheesecakes. This is not a cheesecake, and if it is, something has gone terribly wrong. She puts it on the table and it sways like jelly.
Please continue. Come back then. I’ll wait. [ via Quora ]
DIY Dorito Spice and delicious applications for it
We’ve already shown you how to make Dorito all this , but this short video from Epicurious shows you some practical uses of this delicious DIY Dorito spice that’s so easy to make from the comfort of your own home.
For example, if you need a little inspiration to create your own batch of Dorito seasoning, try a batch of cheese snacks, fried broccoli nacho, or even a Dorito-flavored chicken cutlet to spice up any weekday evening meal. Check out our guide to making Doritos condiment and then try these recipes. [ via Epicurious ]
Social norms and what happens when you try to push them
NPR’s Invisibilia podcast is a great look at the hidden, invisible forces that control and guide human behavior – things like social norms, culture, and our own interpersonal programming. In this week’s episode, the first of their new season, they talk about what happens when you encourage people to go against the tide:
You probably don’t even notice them, but social norms go a long way toward determining your behavior – how you dress, talk, eat, and even how you allow yourself to feel. These norms are so ingrained that we cannot even imagine that they can change. But Alix Spiegel and new co-host Hannah Rozin are exploring two epic social experiments that try to do just that: Teaching McDonald’s employees in Russia to smile and oil rig workers to cry.
I could imagine that both would give interesting results. Listen to the show to see what these results actually were. [ via NPR ]
Cave diving in Yucatan
It’s a short video, but it’s absolutely stunning, with a beautiful view of the underwater underwater world that most of us will never get to experience. There is already something amazing about scuba diving, but cave diving is a whole different level of amazing, challenging and beautiful. This video about diving in El Toh cave in Mexico is simply magical and is worth two minutes of your time, and if you are an adventurer, maybe even on your next vacation. [ via BoingBoing ]
Everyone this week! If you have thought-provoking stories, interesting podcasts, eye-opening videos, or anything else that you think is perfect for Brain Buffet, share it with us! Email me, leave it as a comment below, or send it in any way convenient for you.