Giving the gift of walking

(Photograph by Bartholomew Cooke for Time Magazine)

Yesterday morning, as I was boarding the subway train, I had the good fortune of finding a brand spankin' new copy of the latest National Geographic Magazine. (Why anyone would leave behind something so precious is beyond me, but I digress.) Almost immediately after opening it, one particular article caught my eye. It was entitled "This Suit is Made for Walkin'" and presented a tantalizing bit of information on an invention called eLEGS.

Berkeley Bionics is a California-based company which excels in the production of devices they call "exoskeletons." These light-weight, electronic contraptions conform to the human body, enabling it to do things that would otherwise be impossible. Take their HULC™ (Human Universal Load Carrier) for example, which was introduced in 2008 and licensed to the Lockheed Martin Corporation in 2009, that "provides users with the ability to carry loads of up to 200 lbs for extended periods of time." Thanks to built-in micro-computers, the titanium-legged exoskeleton moves in sync with the individual and is also flexible enough to permit crawling and deep squats.

In 2010, Berkeley Bionics unveiled eLEGS, a 45-pound exoskeleton with a strap-on backpack computer that has the ability to enable those afflicted with lower-body paralysis to stand up and walk independently. This incredible innovation utilizes multiple sensors to sustain smooth, natural movement and maintains a walking speed that is dependent upon its user's ability and condition. Although not yet available to the general public, eLEGS is currently being used to complete investigational studies in a handful of rehabilitation centers around the United States. If you or anyone you know is paraplegic, under 6'2" tall, weighs less than 220 pounds and has sufficient upper body strength, then you may be eligible to enroll in Berkeley Bionics's eLEGS training program. For more details, see their information page here.

According to the September issue of the National Geographic Magazine, a more versatile model of eLEGS is scheduled for release by 2013.

Bento art: because playing with food is fun

In Japan, bento is a single-portion meal that is either packed at home or prepared at a restaurant for take-out at lunchtime. The food is typically housed in a wooden, aluminum or plastic box with individual compartments separating the different types of edibles. Sometimes, however, people can get a tad creative when preparing these portable dishes, slicing and dicing the meat and fish until they take on the appearance of popular manga characters, classical composers or professional athletes.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(Photograph from the Rico & Coco blog)

The "miracle romance" of manga characters Serena and Darien

(AKA Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen).

(Photograph from Bento Box World on Tumblr)

  

The characters Nana Osaki (a punk band member) and Nana Komatsu (a small town girl) from the manga-series-turned-movie "Nana."

(Photograph from the Rico & Coco blog)

 

The Harry Potter crew.

(Photograph from Bento Box World on Tumblr)

Hiroki Kuroda, the former pitcher of the Japanese professional baseball team the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Currently, he is pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

(Photograph from the Rico & Coco blog)

Hiro Fukuchi, the host of a Japanese TV show called "Ichioshi" which comes on the Hokkaido Television Broadcasting (HTB) station. The yellow blob next to him is On-Chan, the HTB mascot.

(Photograph from the Rico & Coco blog)

Boys, girls, sci-fi and fantasy

In college, my then-boyfriend introduced me to the comic book series "ElfQuest" and often asked me to bond with him via hours and hours of Dungeons & Dragons and Diablo. When I interned as a scenic painter at a local theater I soon discovered that the favorite pastime of the all-male carpentry crew was Dungeons & Dragons. When I volunteered to help paint the set for a church Christmas play last year, the men of the tech team frequently engaged in lengthy discussions about "Lord of the Rings."

Warriors, wizards, dragons, elves, hobbits, ewoks and wookiees.

Seriously, what's the appeal?

(Image by Colin Anderson from the Photographer's Choice Collection/Getty)

 The predominantly male fascination with fantasy role-playing games has perplexed and vexed me just as much as the predominantly female obsession with shoes and handbags. So intense was my irritation that I Google-searched questions like "Why do men like science fiction?" and phrases like "Guys like D&D fantasy role play." As it turns out, the attempt to decipher the correlation between sci-fi/fantasy and testosterone is an ongoing hot topic in cyberspace and a quest that induces intense debates. Below are just a few of the recurring answers I found which attempted to explain the gender imbalance in relation to the two genres.

1.) Men want action. Women want conversation.

According to an article on The Spearhead, which bemoans the feminization of sci-fi and fantasy, men prefer a plot in which "technology acts to radically change a society" or a story which retells historical events with a twist. These concepts stand in stark contrast to what many internet users say women want. When answering the question "Why do women like science fiction books and movies less than men do," one commenter on the inquiry site Quora, I believe, did the best at summing up public opinion: "Women value human relationships as a central plot element... Conversational interplay and subtle interactions/reactions between characters."

2.) The Peter Pan Syndrome

Face it: Many aspects of adulthood suck. There are rules on top of rules... and taxes. In the opinion of Rafael Behr, who authored the blog post "Why men love science fiction so much", women are supposedly more adept at adjusting to adult life than men. The appeal of the fantasy realm lies within its escapism aspect, "because it effaces all remnants of the grown-up world" and has laser guns and space ships to boot. In short, this article claims that men have no desire to grow up and are essentially "dragged kicking and screaming into grown-upness."

3.) Genetic and social influences

Repeatedly, researchers have stated that boys excel in problem-solving and building (two factors at the heart of most science fiction tales) while the fairer sex is more hard-wired for language communication and social bonding. Merge these innate qualities with the fact that science and math teachers interact with male students more and the increased likelihood that boys will be introduced to computers, blocks, and sci-fi/fantasy material at an earlier age and you have a gender that dominates the science and engineering field (73% vs. the female 27% in 2007) and one that takes greater delight in almost anything written by H.G. Wells and R.A. Salvatore.

Android twins with vision beams?

Nope. Can't get excited.

(Image by Chris Alan Wilton from The Image Bank Collection/Getty)

 

For the record, there are plenty of SF/fantasy-lovin' gals out there, but they continue to be vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts. Why? I don't know, but I think the ultimate answer will continue to be as allusive as the Holy Grail.

Thoughts after the quake

Although today is actually Thursday, I am back-posting this entry to Wednesday since that is the day it appeared on Studio 30 Plus, an online haven for bloggers thirty and over.

(Thanks, Studio 30+ for asking me to guest post!)

______________________________________________

*The proceeding was written following the evacuation of my office building in Washington DC.

About 30 minutes ago I was at my desk in the middle of writing my feature post for Studio Thirty Plus. It dealt with the classic role playing game of Dungeons & Dragons and expounded on the gender imbalance that exists in the arena of sci-fi/fantasy fanaticism.

Now, it's 2:18PM and I'm standing outside under a tree in a park a few blocks away from my building. Coworkers huddle together in clusters under the other trees which dot the landscape chatting away about what just happened: a 5.9 earthquake hitting DC.

Admittedly, when I first felt the floor rumbling beneath me, I thought that a fleet of trucks was passing by the building. However, by the time the whole room started swaying to the point where I had to grip my cubicle's walls to maintain equilibrium, I knew I was in deep doo-doo. Since I work on Capitol Hill, I initially thought it was another terrorist attack, a bomb specifically. Then people started shouting "earthquake" and my next thought was of the floors collapsing, especially since there were at least five other levels above me.

"I never felt anything like that," were the words on many people's lips.

As of right now, we have been notified that we can go home. Unfortunately, many of us are Metro riders and rumor has it that the subway is closed due to the emergency.

Suddenly, Dungeons & Dragons seems pretty trivial.


P.S. - Fortunately, the rumor of the subway being closed turned out to be just that: unverified and untrue. I eventually got home via Metro after an hour and a half.

Meh

(Image from 123rf.com)

Eeyore. Misanthrope. Rain cloud.

These are just a few of the nicknames that have been bestowed upon me since I was a teenager. To be honest, I don't consider myself to be a negative person, just realistic. Life's not all sunshine and lollipops and people who are ALWAYS smiling and are incessantly giddy freak me out like nobody's business... and trigger a deep primitive desire to wallop them. Don't worry, I never give into this temptation, but it does hover near the surface quite often, especially during the AM hours.

Just for kicks (and because I was bored), I took a bunch of "happiness tests" to find out what the faceless "sages" of cyberspace had to say about my well-being. The results were predictable, mildly entertaining and, surprisingly, somewhat true...

 

Happiness Self Test

It looks like your lifestyle may be seriously impeding your level of happiness.

Quiz: How Happy Are You?

You're happy enough, but could be more so.

How Happy Are You?

You Are 28% Happy

You're not miserable, but you could stand to be a lot happier.

Focus on what's right in the world, and you'll be happier than you ever thought possible.

Understandably, every test I took contained questions about relationships, jobs, finances, hobbies and the quality of one's social life since all of these things do have an impact on one's happiness. However, I believe that one of the most important keys to contentment is learning to appreciate and be thankful for all of the things/people that you have in your life instead of focusing on what you feel is lacking. "Because," as the Veggie Tales cartoon characters sang, "a thankful heart is a happy heart!"

View this question on Skinnyscoop

Strange traffic

For the sake of personal amusement, I often click on Blogger's "traffic sources" tab in order to find out what keyword searches are drawing people to my site. In the beginning of the year I literally had THOUSANDS of people dropping by in hopes of finding anything to do with Disney's animated film "Aladdin." (I'm still not sure what that was all about.) And apparently many women and/or men desperately want to know if German rocker Bill Kaulitz has a girlfriend. (For the record, as of February this year, he did not. At least that's what this web site claimed.) I also get a lot of steady traffic from Ukraine and Romania... and hundreds of people looking for mail order husbands. One guy even conducted a search in an effort to find out how to become one. (Bless his heart.)

And who keeps looking up "dark elf armor"?

("EverQuest 2: Rise of Kunark" Wallpaper ©GameWallpapers.com hosted by JTLnet.com)

The following is a list of some of the more memorable phrases (in red) which drew traffic to Adult Awkwardness. My responses are written beneath each of them.

"is size 4 jeans fat?"

Really?

"everybody loves my screenplay"

Well, good for you, buddy.

"epcot's little mexican skeletons"

Epcot Center has skeletons? I had no idea, but apparently they do. Check out the skeleton mariachi band and the painted ceramic skulls in their Mexico Pavilion.

"contemporary romance about girls who have always been unpopular"

Isn't that what practically EVERY teenage romance is about?

"how i met my boyfriend through a blog "

And, pray tell, what blog was that?

"piano corset overbust"

After Googling "piano corset" I couldn't find one either. Darn.

"fat girls get some"

I don't even wanna know.

A reason to smile

Yesterday, I could not stop reading the multiple news articles or watching the video reports about the major milestone which occurred in the American heartland: Joplin, Missouri's school year began on time. After being devastated on May 22nd by an EF-5 tornado that killed 160 residents and injured more than 900 others, the resilient town fought, and continues to fight, its way back to normalcy with the help of  volunteers and donations from around the world. Not many people believed Joplin school superintendent C.J. Huff when he publicly declared just 48 hours after the storm that the 2011-2012 school year would begin on August 17th, but now that it has he is being hailed as something of a hero. And that is an honor, I believe, that is rightfully his and one that should be extended to all of the survivors, volunteers, donators, prayer warriors and, most important, to God Himself.

iPads, iPhones, and... iTables???

As of yet, I haven't felt the need to purchase any of the latest technology gadgets that seem to endlessly preoccupy the time and attention of so many of my coworkers, acquaintances and family. I honestly don't have a clue as to what I would do with such electronics. On average I send maybe two e-mails a week, receive no phone calls and don't possess the digital dexterity to text anything in less than 15 minutes. If possessing the iPad or iPhone ever moved up the priority list of my life, I would definitely purchase them in the form of coffee tables.

iPhone Coffee Table

by Tuan Nguyen, Ken Thomas and their associates

(Photographs from Toxel.com)

 I'm not sure how sturdy this dining furniture is considering that it's made from corrugated cardboard glued together, but at least it looks cool... and comes with its own built-in coasters!

 

iPod Coffee Table

by Ashley Burrows

(Photographs by Ashley Burrows from Toxel.com)

Constructed from pine wood and medium density fibreboard, this piece of home decor was a project for Burrows's Design Technology class. Even though I'm sure that he scored an A+, the talented designer still says that he would've "made the other two legs USB connectors if I had more time."

 

iPad-equipped Salsa Table

by Bram Boo for educational design consultancy Vanerum

(Photograph from I New Idea Homepage)

The Belgian designer Bram Boo takes information sharing to a whole new level with this four-seater table with embedded iPads. Ideal for quiet environments, like libraries, its interactive system allows users to communicate with each other without saying an audible word.

iTable

by PQ Labs

(Photograph from SlashGear)

At only 1.5 inches thick, this sleekly designed oversized computer boasts a 42-inch touch screen which is capable of recognizing up to 32 fingers on its monitor at one time. If you plan on accessorizing your living room with it, however, then get ready to fork over some serious moola: $7,000 to $12,000.

Only the lonely...

...Would stoop so low as to Google the terms "virtual boyfriend" and "make your own boyfriend," but I confess that I've done just that during times of weakness and/or delirium. (Hey, at least I've got the guts to admit it.) To be frank, relationships aren't my specialty, which explains why I conducted my cyber search in the first place. In my opinion, male humans require too much time and effort. Unfortunately, trying to interact with virtual men is even more confusing and unsatisfying than attempting to interact with the real thing.

Below are a just a few of the lame sites which I came across during my fruitless search for effortless companionship.

What's a girl have to do to meet a quality virtual man?

(Image by Michel Tcherevkoff from the Image Bank Collection/Getty)

1. GetBoyfiriends.com

This is actually a game, the goal of which is to "score the most boyfriend points" by (wait for it) "keeping him happy." Now, according to society there a few specific things which gals can do to keep their men happy, but since this is a game geared towards very young girls, the things which make a virtual boyfriend happy include "buying him things, taking him places, and talking to him." Honestly, I'm not sure if this is the best message to send to girls of an impressionable age, i.e. that you have to become somebody's chauffeur and sugar-momma just to keep them. And what I found even more troubling was the selection of gifts available to purchase for one's virtual honey, specifically an iPhone, a leather jacket, a gold ring, and a Movado designer watch which typically starts at around $200 and goes upwards to $5,000. What?!

2. Virtual Boyfriend

Supposedly, the "artificial intelligence" of this program, which the site claims is downloaded 800 times a day, makes this virtual boyfriend superior to all other online companions. Sergio, as he is called, can allegedly "mimic human awareness" and remember "everything you tell him." You can even alter his voice, accent, and learning ability to suit your personal preferences. Unfortunately, none of these factors transforms Sergio into a great conversationalist. The program quickly boils down to a robotic man memorizing what you say and regurgitating it back to you while throwing in the occasional "I love you" and "I think you look pretty." Basically, he's a bare-chested, recorder zombie stuck on playback.

3. Create Your Perfect Boy!

According to the description, this is a "special game for girls" which permits them to create their own "dream boyfriend." To be honest, there is no point to this game. It's essentially a glorified time-waster which allows you to alter the appearance of a male avatar with anime-inspired features. This site's target audience appears to be tween girls, so if you get tired manipulating the looks of your "perfect boy," then you can always try your hand at dressing up Justin Timberlake or Justin Bieber. While putting clothes on the Biebs, you can also read comments left by his adoring fans like "hes so hot!!!!!!!!!!!!but this does not look like him this 1s lips are too pink."

*rolls eyes*

Worship

And the day begins as it ends,

with praise to the One above,

Who rotates the sun as well as my heart

with His gracious, everlasting love.

Tonight, I will lay my head down

and rest safely within His perfect peace

knowing that throughout the night

my very life and soul He will keep.

Then in the morning, I may rise yet again

to stretch out my arms like rays from the sun

extending them up high above in praise

evermore, always to the One.

(Photograph by Ed Freeman from the Stone Collection/Getty)

Speaking of "flying away"...

For all of the local (MD/DC/VA Metro area) folks who love or "casually admire" the game of football, Air Tran Airways is sponsoring the Air Tran Fan Fly Away contest in collaboration with the Baltimore Ravens. Two privileged individuals can win the chance to fly to Jacksonville, Florida to see the Ravens take on the Jaguars on October 24th. According to the contest description roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation are just some of things provided. Honestly, football and Florida seemed like such an awesome combo, not to mention that I haven't been to the Sunshine State since high school, that I absolutely HAD to enter.

(Image from B-More Bird's Nest)

Florida not your thing? Then try Hawaii. Dove Chocolate is giving away a trip for two to Honolulu so they can witness the best players of the AFC clash with the best athletes of the NFC at the 2012 Pro Bowl. The travel package includes a 7-day/6-night stay at a hotel, a $600 gift certificate for spa services, and $2,500 of spending money. The contest began July 25th and ends on December 17th. And even though I don't particularly care for making a daily submission for several months, I DO need a vacation and have always wanted to go to Hawaii. And what better time to visit than when the NFL's all-stars will be there?

Reverting back to the Ravens, they kick off the NFL preseason TONIGHT at Philly against the Eagles starting at 7:30pm. Both teams are strong (Ravens more on defense and Philadelphia on offense) and made it to the playoffs last season, but it's the Eagles who have emerged as the "go to team" this year during free agency signings. I'm guessing a lot of the enthusiasm has to do with 1.) their monster offense, 2.) quarterback comeback kid Michael Vick whose consistent versatility on the field had repeatedly propelled his team to victory last season, 3.) and wide receiver DeSean Jackson who, even though he won't play in tonight's game, has grabbed multiple headlines during his 3-year career in the league thanks to his record-breaking thirteen 50-plus yards touchdowns, including the renowned "Miracle at the New Meadowlands" which enabled his team to clench a inconceivable come-from-behind win over the New York Giants after trailing for three quarters.

Now, I'm not saying that the Eagles will win tonight. I'm just saying that this should be one amazing game and, to me, that's all that matters.

(Image from PhillySportsCentral.com)

Ravens - Preseason 1 Game

at Eagles: Thu, Aug 11

7:30 PM, Lincoln Financial Field

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tuesday's Tune-Ups: My favorite tunes explained - "Fly Away"

("Fly Away" CD cover image copied from Amazon.com)

Earlier this summer, Lenny Kravitz rocked the stage as U2's opening act for their 360° Tour. Fans all across Seattle and California got the coveted chance to hear this multi-talented native New Yorker pump out some of his greatest psychedelic funk rock jams, one of which was "Fly Away." According to the online music encyclopedia Soundunwound, the 1998 song from Kravitz's fifth studio album 5, was "his most successful single to date." It also garnered the renowned musician his first Grammy award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

From the opening guitar riff to the addictive bass line which slides into whispered vocals that climax into the primal scream refrain, it's clear to even a casual listener why this song rocketed up to #1 on US and UK charts shortly after its release. Additionally, the popular tune claimed a spot within the top 10 singles charts in both Canada and New Zealand. "Fly Away" also had great commercial success, in the most literal sense, after being featured in television advertisements like this one for the Nissan Xterra sports utility vehicle and this one for the French subcompact car Peugeot 206.

"Oh I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah yeah yeah"

Those words which comprise the song's refrain are incredibly simple and yet they still resonate with all who are "stuck" in the daily monotonous routines which comprise life. Honestly, I believe that the audience's ability to identify with the frustration behind these powerfully-sung lyrics is one of the reason why the song achieved such amazing success. Who hasn't, at some point, desired to "fly away" from it all?

One of my most poignant experiences involving this Lenny Kravitz hit was when I was a senior in college. Final exams were over and the school year was officially done, so I took a refreshing walk outdoors and was immediately met by the sound of "Fly Away" being blasted from someone's open window. Yes, all of us seniors wanted to get away then... just as I often want to do now while sitting within the cubicle maze that is my office. Even though I am infinitely thankful to have a job, "flying away" still sounds like an awesome idea on most days.

Check out "Fly Away" for yourself here on YouTube.

Me and Mr. McQueen

(Photograph of Alexander McQueen Dress, autumn/winter 2010–11 © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce)

Yesterday marked the end of a record-breaking fashion affair at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since it's premiere on May 4th, the Savage Beauty Exhibit, which showcased the exceptionally innovative costumes of the late virtuoso Alexander McQueen, has attracted more than 650,000 visitors. According to the New York Times, it was "among the 10 most visited shows in the museum’s history, and the most popular special exhibition ever at the Costume Institute, which is housed at the museum." As a matter of fact, the show was such a hit that the MET extended its original closing date from May 31st to August 7th and permitted viewing up until midnight on the last two days of the exhibit.

During the last weekend of July I made the Amtrak trek up to New York City in order to see the show for myself. I wanted to get an up-close look at the couture concoctions created from such unconventional elements as clam shells, glass medical slides, taxidermy crocodile heads, wood, aluminum, impala horns and resin vulture skulls. And although doing so meant waiting in line for over 2.5 hours and overcoming bouts of claustrophobia while being trapped within a slow-moving mob of spectators for nearly an hour inside of the exhibit, the priceless experience was well worth the temporary torture.

Thanks to the Goth fashion blogger Courtesan Macabre, I found out about the spectacle within hours of its opening and was able to make arrangements to go see it shortly thereafter with my sister who just so happens to reside in the Big Apple. Speaking of my sibling, below are a just a few pictures which she snapped while we waited in line to see the show. Taking photographs within the exhibit was not permitted.

We knew we were in trouble when this sight greeted us shortly after entering the museum. (Notice the line on the second floor.)

Once on the upper level the wait didn't get any better. The line snaked through multiple exhibits, including the Ancient Near Eastern Gallery and European Paintings, the latter of which permitted me to gaze upon one of my favorite artworks "Joan of Arc" by Jules Bastien-Lepage.

Unfortunately, this is as close as we could get to the exhibit before we had to turn off our camera. If given the chance, I would definitely do this all over again... mega-long wait and all :)

Going through the motions

Some days, many days, like today, I wake up and say,
"What's the point?
How did I get here?
Where am I going?"

Nothing makes sense.

Everything seems blah, like a royal waste of time
and so I meander through the morning
and watch the clock in anticipation of the afternoon
and rush home in the evening only to discover
that things are no different there either.

Sometimes I sit and think and ask myself,
"Why even bother?
What's my motivation?
What's my drive to stay alive?"

Must focus.
Must focus.
Keep focusing.

I pray to God and go to sleep
and wake up only to do the same things again,
to run around in the hamster wheel,
to play bumper cars in traffic,
to get packed like a sardine in the Metro.

Wake, work, sleep, repeat.
Wake, work, sleep, repeat.
Wake, work, sleep, repeat.
And then comes the spin cycle.
And then comes...

And then...

I think I just need a vacation.
 

(Photograph by ColorBlind Images from Corbis Images)

Why duct tape never ceases to amaze

I was skimming through the July issue of National Geographic Magazine when I came across a brief column about a Nepalese porter who had forgotten his snow goggles on a Himalayan expedition. Without them he risked snow blindness which burns the cornea via ultraviolet B rays. Thanks to some fast thinking on the part of his fellow travelers and the rudimentary tools of duct tape and string, the porter's vision was saved. Check out his fashionable eyewear here.

After reading this article I began to ponder the multiple fascinating ways in which duct tape can be used and promptly conducted a Google search. My investigation led me to the Science Channel site where a list of the top 10 uses for duct tape resides. Below is a selection from that list.

Duct tape: Never leave home without it.

(Photograph by Purestock from Getty Images)

Strapless Bra

I've actually done this and, I must say, it works like a charm. In college I wore a dress with a sheer back to a dance and didn't own any pasties, so I proceeded to encase the front of my torso in layers of duct tape. The results? Instant push-up. And as I boogied the night away everything stayed perfectly in place. The only negative was having to (gingerly) peel the makeshift bra off at the end of the evening. Can we say "ouch"?

Wart Remover

I had no idea that something called duct tape occlusion therapy even existed. Basically, warts need exposure to air in order to survive and enclosing them in a piece of the silver sticky stuff essentially suffocates them and stifles their growth. The undergraduate researchers at the Journal of Young Investigators advise that you leave the tape on for about a week, remove it, soak the area in water and then rub the wart with an emery board or pumice stone. Allow the skin to dry overnight and repeat the technique again until the wart is gone.

Astronautical Life Saver

In 2005, a group of engineers were finally lauded for devising a plan in 1970 which involved duct tape, plastic bags and cardboard to save the lives of the Apollo 13 space crew when their shuttle was damaged after an explosion.  Lithium hydroxide canisters on board had the capacity to remove the carbon monoxide of two people for two days. However, there were three men trying to survive the four-day trip back to earth. After some clever retrofitting was performed on the canisters with duct tape, it was smooth-sailing back home for all aboard.