Well, here we come, waltzing down the street, getting hot and sweaty, with all this humidity. Hey hey we’re the Nerds yeah, and people say we look kind of funny, particularly Buck the big Boomer. Haha, admit it, you started to sing that in to the Monkey’s theme tune didn’t you, if not you just went back and tried it. We this week we bring you another awesome episode to listen to while you rest in the shade and enjoy a breeze on the long weekend.
First up we are taking flight with Buck, Toyota, and Joby. No, Joby is not a new host, it is an aviation company that Toyota is investing in to increase its presence in the transport arena. Also this is the next step to having vehicles like in the Jetsons. Check out the drawings in the link, a tilt-engine vehicle that looks like a cross between a drone and a helicopter. This is seriously cool. Also while looking around at all the different transport tech news Buck also found some artists renderings of potential vehicles for space travel from Lexus. Wait till you hear what Buck and Professor think one of them looks like. Which is your favorite option?
Next up DJ has a story about the Producers Guild Awards, in particular 1917. Want to know what movies won which awards, listen in. Also you can hear about the movie 1917, with some of the various story plot points to look out for. For those unfamiliar with it 1917 is a movie set in World War One. It is the story of a soldier and his friend trying to save the lives of 1600 British troops. There are some funny parts, but it is a moving drama based on stories told by the Grand Father of the Director Sam Mendes. DJ has also asked for your predictions for the Oscars and who you think should be nominated and win, so let us know on either: Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Next up we have Professor bringing us an update on the saga of Crytek and CIG (Star Citizen). Would you believe that so far CIG have spent over $900,000 on this legal matter? Yep, for the company started on kickstarter and now sells space fleets for $27000 they are really going hard. Want to know what has happened then listen in. As usual we have all the shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and events of interest. Until next week, please remember to take care of yourselves, look out for each other, and stay hydrated.
Toyota joins Joby Aviation - https://www.technology.org/2020/01/17/toyota-is-joining-forces-with-the-leader-of-commercial-evtol-technology-electric-air-taxis-are-coming/
Lexus brings us drawing of Moon/space vehicles - https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/18/lexus-moon-space-vehicles/
‘1917’ Becomes Oscar Front-Runner After Producers Guild Win - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/19/movies/1917-producers-guild-america-award.html
Crytek vs Star Citizen an update - https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/eqedb8/crytek_vs_star_citizens42_update_cigs_response_to/
Does Google Stadia Stink like old socks? - https://www.businessinsider.com.au/google-stadia-early-adopters-giving-up-2020-1?utm_source=reddit.com&r=US&IR=T
Games Played
Professor
– Steamworld - http://imageform.se/game/steamworld-dig/
Rating: 4/5
Buck
– Thunder Run: War of Clans - https://www.facebook.com/ThunderRunWarOfClans/?epa=SEARCH_BOX
Rating: 3/5
DJ
– Darwin Project - https://store.steampowered.com/app/544920/Darwin_Project/?fbclid=IwAR0Sp5FnKYv9vrxu9FdrXRH5PLWk4rooNt8vIqMEPAnx3GvOjU-Ob8cGZxc
Rating: 4/5
Other topics discussed
Joby Aviation (American venture-backed aerospace company and developer of VTOL personal air vehicles designed for air taxi services)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joby_Aviation
Nine News Australia - Mates go fishing from drone towed deck chair
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LLx8JKCrhM
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (governmental body of the United States with powers to regulate all aspects of civil aviation in that nation as well as over its surrounding international waters.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration
Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) (Australian national authority for the regulation of civil aviation.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Aviation_Safety_Authority
The Verge: Uber’s air taxis will resemble nice helicopters on the inside
-https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/11/18661129/uber-air-taxi-cabin-interior-elevate-helicopter
Want to escape Sao Paulo's traffic? Take a flying taxi
- https://phys.org/news/2017-07-sao-paulo-traffic-taxi.html
China Daily: Market for air taxis set to take off
-https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201910/15/WS5da5c483a310cf3e35570a5a.html
Big Yellow Taxi (song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1970, and originally released on her album Ladies of the Canyon.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi
More details on Lexus’s concept drawings on space vehicles
- https://pressroom.lexus.com/lexus-creates-moon-mobility-concept-sketch-for-lunar-design-portfolio/
James May contemplating retirement
31st Producers Guild of America Awards (honoring the best film and television producers of 2019)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31st_Producers_Guild_of_America_Awards
War Horse (2011 American war drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, based on Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel of the same name and its 2007 play adaptation.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Horse_(film)
World War I (also known as the First World War or the Great War, contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars".)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
Dad’s Army (BBC sitcom about the British militia called the Home Guard during the Second World War.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dad%27s_Army
Doomsday Clock: 100 seconds before midnight.
1917 (2019 British-American epic war film directed, co-written, and produced by Sam Mendes. Filming took place in England and Scotland, with cinematographer Roger Deakins and editor Lee Smith using long takes to have the entire film appear as two continuous shots.) (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1917_(2019_film)
Dunkirk (2017 war film written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan that depicts the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_(2017_film)
92nd Academy Awards (presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), will honour the best films of 2019)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Academy_Awards
Jeff Bezos (American internet and aerospace entrepreneur, media proprietor, and investor. Best known as the founder, chief executive officer, and president of Amazon.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos
Jeff Bezos’ divorce worth $35 billion
CryEngine (game engine designed by the German game developer Crytek.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryEngine
Amazon Lumberyard (free cross-platform game engine developed by Amazon and based on CryEngine, which was licensed from Crytek in 2015.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Lumberyard
jacksepticeye & Google Stadia
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW-hfrqmMlw
Google Glass (simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses—an optical head-mounted display designed in the shape of a pair of eyeglasses.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass
Killed by Google (Killed by Google is the Google Graveyard. A full list of dead products killed by Google in the Google Cemetery.)
PlayStation will not be in E3 2020
- https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-01-11-playstation-will-not-participate-in-e3-2020
Steam controller (game controller developed by Valve for use with personal computers running Steam on Windows,macOS,Linux,smartphones or SteamOS.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Controller
Snow overtakes Canadian home
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bub7FY8UYh0
Floof & Pupper (TNC Podcast)
- https://thatsnotcanon.com/floofandpupperpodcast
Everybody Wants To Be A Cat (TNC Podcast)
- https://thatsnotcanon.com/everybodywantstobeacat
Shout Outs
- 21 January 2020 – Terry Jones - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones
Terry Jones died on 21 January 2020 from complications of dementia at his home in Highgate, north London. Jones was a Welsh actor, writer, comedian, screenwriter, film director and historian. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy team.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin (whom he met at Oxford) wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Eric Idle, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, and American animator/filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punchlines. He made his directorial debut with the team's film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthology series Ripping Yarns. He also wrote an early draft of Jim Henson's 1986 film Labyrinth, though little of his work remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written several books and presented television documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's book author. In 2016, Jones received a Lifetime Achievement award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film. After living for several years with a degenerative aphasia, he gradually lost the ability to speak and died on 21 January 2020 from frontotemporal dementia.
- 19 January 2020 – SNOWMAGEDDON - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/snowmageddon-cleanup-begins-after-record-newfoundland-storm
Massive snow fall during epic blizzard swallows entire towns in Canada in a record breaking event
- 19 January 2020 – SpaceX successful mission abort test - https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-launch-abort-test-success.html
SpaceX just took a giant leap forward in its quest to launch astronauts. The private spaceflight company intentionally destroyed one of its rockets on Sunday (Jan. 19) as part of a crucial test of its new Crew Dragon capsule's launch escape system.
- 21 January 2020 – Cyclist saves Doggo - https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/heart-warming-moment-a-cyclist-carries-a-dog-to-safety-on-his-back-after-finding-the-abandoned-pooch-dehydrated-in-the-middle-of-a-road/ar-BBZa7c3
This is the moment a cyclist in racing gear carries a dog on his back after finding the animal abandoned and severely dehydrated in the middle of the road. The incident was filmed in the southern Argentine province of Rio Negro and the footage was shared on Facebook by 'Marican Team' where it has been viewed over 600,000 times. In the footage, a man in cycling gear is seen carrying the large black and white dog slung across his back as he pedals along the road.
Remembrances
- 21 January 1793 – Execution of Louis XVI - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/king-louis-xvi-executed
One day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention, King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris.
- 21 January 1950 – George Orwell - https://www.onthisday.com/people/george-orwell
Died: January 21, 1950 (aged 46) Cause of Death: Burst pulmonary artery
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and essayist, journalist and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism.
As a writer, Orwell produced literary criticism and poetry, fiction and polemical journalism; and is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics and literature, language and culture. In 2008, The Times ranked George Orwell second among "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian" – describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices – is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", and "Hate week", "Room 101", the "memory hole", and "Newspeak", "doublethink" and "proles", "unperson" and "thoughtcrime".
- 21 January 1926 – Camillo Golgi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Golgi
Golgi and the Spanish biologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal were jointly given the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1906 "in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system". Camillo Golgi was an Italian biologist and pathologist known for his works on the central nervous system. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia between 1860 and 1868 under the tutelage of Cesare Lombroso. Inspired by pathologist Giulio Bizzozero, he pursued research in the nervous system. Italian physician and pathologist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Santiago Ramón y Cajal in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system.
Famous Birthdays
- 21 January 1953 – Paul Allen was born in Seattle Washington https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen
Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He is best known for co-founding Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which helped spark the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s and became the world's largest personal computer software company. Allen was ranked as the 44th-wealthiest person in the world by Forbes in 2018, with an estimated net worth of $20.3 billion at the time of his death.
- 21 January 1869 – Grigori Rasputin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (/ræˈspjuːtɪn/;[1] Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn]; 21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia.
Born to a peasant family in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye in the Tyumensky Uyezd of Tobolsk Governorate (now Yarkovsky District of Tyumen Oblast), Rasputin had a religious conversion experience after taking a pilgrimage to a monastery in 1897. He has been described as a monk or as a "strannik" (wanderer, or pilgrim), though he held no official position in the Russian Orthodox Church. After traveling to St. Petersburg, either in 1903 or the winter of 1904–05, Rasputin captivated some church and social leaders. He became a society figure, and met the Tsar in November 1905.
- 20 January 1934 – Tom Baker – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1981, a longer tenure than any other actor in the title role, and provided narration in the television comedy series Little Britain. Wikipedia
Born: 20 January 1934 (age 86 years), Liverpool, United Kingdom
Height: 1.91 m
Events of Interest
- 21 January 1981 - Rocket Labs launch successfully reaches orbit - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab
On 21 January 2018 at 01:43 UTC, their second rocket on a flight named "Still Testing" launched, reached orbit and deployed three CubeSats for customers Planet Labs and Spire Global. The rocket also carried an additional satellite payload called Humanity Star, a 1-meter-wide (3 ft) carbon fiber geodesic sphere made up of 65 panels that reflect the Sun's light. Humanity Star re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up in March 2018. On 11 November 2018, the first commercial launch (third launch in total) of Electron occurred from Mahia Peninsula carrying satellites for Spire Global, GeoOptics, a CubeSat built by high school students, and a prototype of a dragsail.
- 21 January 1981 - DeLorean 25 anniversary - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMC_DeLorean
Throughout production the car was generally unchanged, although minor modifications were made to such parts as the hood and wheels. The first production car was completed on January 21, 1981. About 9,000 DeLoreans were made before production halted in late December 1982.
In 2007, about 6,500 DeLorean cars were thought to still exist.
- 21 January 1960 - Little Joe 1B - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Joe_1B
The Little Joe 1B was a launch escape system test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. The mission also carried a female rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) named Miss Sam in the Mercury spacecraft. The mission was launched January 21, 1960, from Wallops Island, Virginia. The Little Joe 1B flew to an apogee of 9.3 statute miles (15.0 km) and a range of 11.7 miles (18.9 km) out to sea. Miss Sam survived the 8 minute 35 second flight in good condition. The spacecraft was recovered by a Marine helicopter and returned to Wallops Island within about 45 minutes. Miss Sam was one of many monkeys used in space travel research.
Intro
Artist – Goblins from Mars
Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)
Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ
Follow Us On
- Page - https://www.facebook.com/NerdsAmalgamated/
- Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/440485136816406/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamated
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6Nux69rftdBeeEXwD8GXrS
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/top-shelf-nerds/id1347661094
RSS - http://www.thatsnotcanonproductions.com/topshelfnerdspodcast?format=rss
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nerds_amalgamated/
General Enquiries
Email - Nerds.Amalgamated@gmail.com
Rate & Review us on Podchaser - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/nerds-amalgamated-623195
