Virtual meetings, Wonder Woman, WarriOrb & Autism Studies

Welcome, to the World of TOMOROOOW!

What does listening to a podcast have to do with listening to your boss? Science is now showing benefits to virtual meetings. Which means one day, even your boss might be replaced by a voice over the wire. This still doesn't mean you can get out of wearing pants.

Wonder Woman's director thinks DC shouldn't follow the tried and true MCU formula. Sure, it worked for them, but can it be pulled off twice? Let us know if you have a good argument for there being room for two comic cinematic universes.

WarriOrb is a new game that's just been released on Steam. But following a highly popular demo, WarriOrb's initial sales have been disappointingly low. The devs have posted their own analysis on Reddit, and they're understandably confused.

Wrapping up, we have a discussion about scientific studies involving Autistic people.

We played Crysis and Legends of Runeterra this week. Professor's computer didn't melt playing Crysis, and DJ isn't any better at counting cards.

Wait around to hear from us next week with another great episode.

Scientists love virtual meetings

            -https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6490/457

            - https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/368/6490/457.extract.jpg

Wonder Woman Director: Do Not Copy the MCU

            -https://www.gamesradar.com/wonder-woman-director-patty-jenkins-marvel-had-such-success-doing-a-shared-universe-but-that-shouldnt-be-the-status-quo/

The Story of WarriOrb

- https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/gbgg6t/over_16k_wishlists_we_were_listed_in_popular/

Autistic people take the helm of studies

            -https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6490/460

            - https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/368/6490/460.extract.jpg

Games Played

Professor

– Crysis - https://store.steampowered.com/app/17300/Crysis/

Rating: 4.75/5

DJ

– Legends of Runeterra - https://playruneterra.com/en-us/ 

Rating: 4.5/5

Other topics discussed

Doctors trapped in cruise ship off Chile during Coronavirus

- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/17/coronavirus-covid-19-australian-doctors-dentists-stuck-cruise-ship-coast-chile

Apple iPhone 4 presentation fail

- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7809941/Apple-iPhone-4-technology-fails-Steve-Jobs-during-presentation.html

Birds of Prey : Harley Quinn movie…a box office risk

- https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2020/04/06/box-office-birds-of-prey-harley-quinn-sequel-margot-robbie-ghostbusters-solo-alita/#4f474e367274

Studio Interference ruined 2015 Fantastic Four movie

- https://www.indiewire.com/2015/08/its-a-mess-details-of-studio-interference-emerge-in-behind-the-scenes-fantastic-four-debacle-261010/

WarriOrb (action platformer game)

- https://store.steampowered.com/app/790360/WarriOrb/

List of Renaissance artists (Renaissance artists ended in the late 14th century and includes famous painters and sculptors.)

- https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Renaissance_artists

Walking Simulator (An adventure game focused on gradual exploration and discovery through observation, with little in the way of action.)

- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1214280/Walking_Simulator/

Crysis Remastered coming to Nintendo Switch

- https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/16/21223384/crysis-remastered-nintendo-switch-leak-website

Crysis Minigun Scene

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCrLBTR0ay0

Kizuna AI (Japanese virtual YouTuber and self-proclaimed artificial intelligence)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizuna_AI

2002 Spiderman : upside down kiss scene

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpwrORhKWU

Irrfan Khan filmography

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrfan_Khan_filmography

Royal Flying Doctor Service (The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS, informally known as The Flying Doctor) is an air medical service based in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation which provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia who cannot access a hospital or general practice due to the vast distances of the Outback.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Doctor_Service_of_Australia

Lego Masters (Australian reality television show based on the British series of the same name in which teams compete to build the best Lego project.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Masters_(Australian_season_1)

Lego Masters ((stylized as LEGO Masters) is an American reality competition television series based on the British series of the same name.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Masters_(American_TV_series)

Felix Baumgartner (Austrian skydiver,daredevil, and BASE jumper. He is best known for jumping to Earth from a helium balloon from the stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landing in New Mexico, USA as part of the Red Bull Stratos project.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Baumgartner#Main_jump

Flight altitude record (This listing of flight altitude records are the records set for the highest aeronautical flights conducted in the atmosphere, set since the age of ballooning.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_altitude_record#Balloons

Grand Moff Tarkin (Governor Wilhuff Tarkin is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, first portrayed by English actor Peter Cushing in the 1977 film Star Wars.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Moff_Tarkin

An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents (TNC Podcast)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/grandiloquentspodcast

The Mistholme Museum Of Mystery, Morbidity, And Mortality (TNC Podcast)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/themistholmemuseumpodcast

Shout Outs

30th April 2020 - Scrubs co-star Sam Lloyd passes away at 56 - https://ew.com/tv/sam-lloyd-scrubs-actor-dies-at-56/

Character actor Sam Lloyd, who played recurring character Ted Buckland on the sitcom Scrubs, has died at the age of 56. The nephew of Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd appeared in more than 60 films and TV series during his three-decade career, including Seinfeld, Modern Family and The Middle. He was also a talented singer who was a member of the a cappella group the Blanks and Beatles tribute band the Buttles, although right-handed, he learned to play bass left-handed like Beatles bassist Paul McCartney to maintain authenticity. He died from an inoperable brain tumor and metastatic lung cancer that had spread to his liver, spine, and jaw in Los Angeles, California. His death was not announced until the 4th of May this year.

03 May 2020 - Kizuna AI Hosts #StayHomeWithAIchan Project - https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2020/05/02/kizuna-ai-hosts-stayhomewithaichan-project-streams-first-concert

With everyone looking for a creative way to have fun at home, Kizuna AI is here to help. The virtual idol has officially kicked off the #StayHomeWithAIchanproject, highlighting her desire for everyone to have more fun at home. It all started with a live stream of Kizuna AI's first live concert, "hello, world," which is now available to watch in its entirety for free for one day. The two-day solo concert was held on December 29 at Zepp Diver City in Tokyo and on December 30 at Zepp Osaka Bayside. The second part of the project is a new lineup of goods themed after "Matching with Kizuna AI."

03 May 2020 – Sam Raimi’s Spiderman turns 18 years old - https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2020/05/03/spider-man-succeeded-batman-failed-marvel-box-office/#254383ad2b3e

The well-reviewed Marvel adaptation rode a wave of anticipation, buzz and post-9/11 populism to become the first movie to A) earn $40 million in a single day (after a $39 million Friday) and B) gross over $100 million in its Fri-Sun domestic launch. It followed up that $114 million weekend debut with a $71 million (-37%) second weekend, also a record at the time, legging out to $403 million domestic (the fifth-biggest grosser ever in 2002) and $821 million worldwide on a $130 million budget. Spider-Man ushered in a new wave of big-budget, present-tense comic book superhero movies that featured characters whom audiences wanted to see.

Remembrances

29th April 2020 - Irrfan Khan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrfan_Khan

Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan known professionally as Irrfan Khan or simply Irrfan, was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema as well as in British and American films. Cited in the media as one of the finest actors in Indian cinema, Khan's career spanned over 30 years and earned him numerous accolades. Khan made his film debut with a small role in Salaam Bombay!, which was followed by years of struggle. He had supporting roles in the Hollywood films The Amazing Spider-Man, Life of Pi,Jurassic World, and Inferno. His other notable roles were in Slumdog Millionaire and, New York among other movies. Khan was described by Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian as "a distinguished and charismatic star in Hindi and English-language movies whose hardworking career was an enormously valuable bridge between South Asian and Hollywood cinema". He died from neuroendocrine tumour at the age of 53 in Mumbai,Maharashtra.

4th May 1938 - Kanō Jigorō - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kan%C5%8D_Jigor%C5%8D

Japanese educator and athlete, the founder of Judo. Judo was the first Japanese martial art to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic sport.Pedagogical innovations attributed to Kanō include the use of black and white belts, and the introduction of dan ranking to show the relative ranking among members of a martial art style.

In 1915, Kanō gave this definition to judo:

“Judo is the way of the highest or most efficient use of both physical and mental energy. Through training in the attack and defence techniques of judo, the practitioner nurtures their physical and mental strength, and gradually embodies the essence of the Way of Judo. Thus, the ultimate objective of Judo discipline is to be utilized as a means to self-perfection, and thenceforth to make a positive contribution to society.”

In his professional life, Kanō was an educator. Important postings included serving as director of primary education for the Ministry of Education from 1898 to 1901, and as president of Tokyo Higher Normal School from 1900 until 1920. He played a key role in making judo and kendo part of the Japanese public school programs of the 1910s. Kanō was also a pioneer of international sports. Accomplishments included being the first Asian member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) (he served from 1909 until 1938); officially representing Japan at most Olympic Games held between 1912 and 1936; and serving as a leading spokesman for Japan's bid for the 1940 Olympic Games.

He died from pneumonia at the age of 77 aboard MVHikawa Maru.

4th May 2008 - Fred Baur - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Baur

Fredric John Baur, Americanorganic chemist and food storage technician notable for designing and patenting the Pringles packaging. Baur filed for a patent for the tubular Pringles container and for the method of packaging the curved, stacked chips in the container in 1966, and it was granted in 1970. His other accomplishments included development of frying oils and freeze-dried ice cream. Some of Baur's ashes were buried in a Pringles can at his request. Baur's children said they honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave in suburban Springfield Township. The rest of his remains were placed in an urn buried along with the can, with some placed in another urn and given to one of Baur's grandchildren. He died at the age of 89 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Famous Birthdays

4th May 1655 - Bartolomeo Cristofori - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeo_Cristofori

Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco, Italian maker of musical instruments famous for inventing the piano. During the remaining years of the 17th century, Cristofori invented two keyboard instruments before he began his work on the piano. The spinettone, Italian for "big spinet", was a large, multi-choired spinet (a harpsichord in which the strings are slanted to save space), with disposition 1 x 8', 1 x 4'; most spinets have the simple disposition 1 x 8'. This invention may have been meant to fit into a crowded orchestra pit for theatrical performances, while having the louder sound of a multi-choired instrument. The other invention was the highly original oval spinet, a kind of virginal with the longest strings in the middle of the case. It was thought for some time that the earliest mention of the piano is from a diary of Francesco Mannucci, a Medici court musician, indicating that Cristofori was already working on the piano by 1698. The first unambiguous evidence for the piano comes from the 1700 inventory of the Medici mentioned in the preceding section. The entry in this inventory for Cristofori's piano begins as follows:

Un Arpicembalo di Bartolomeo Cristofori di nuova inventione, che fa' il piano, e il forte, a due registri principali unisoni, con fondo di cipresso senza rosa..." (boldface added)

An "Arpicembalo" by Bartolomeo Cristofori, of new invention that produces soft and loud, with two sets of strings at unison pitch, with soundboard of cypress without rose..."

The Medici inventory goes on to describe the instrument in considerable detail. The range of this (now lost) instrument was four octaves, C to c″″′, a standard (if slightly small) compass for harpsichords. He was born in Padua,Republic of Venice.

4 May 1852 - Alice Liddell - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Liddell

Alice Pleasance Hargreaves, was, in her childhood, an acquaintance and photography subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories he told her during a boating trip became the children's classic 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. On 4 July 1862, in a rowing boat travelling on the Isis from Folly Bridge,Oxford, to Godstow for a picnic outing, 10-year-old Alice asked Charles Dodgson (who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll) to entertain her and her sisters, Edith and Lorina, with a story. As the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed the boat, Dodgson regaled the girls with fantastic stories of a girl, named Alice, and her adventures after she fell into a rabbit-hole. The story was not unlike those Dodgson had spun for the sisters before, but this time Liddell asked Mr. Dodgson to write it down for her. He promised to do so but did not get around to the task for some months. He eventually presented her with the manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground in November 1864. The extent to which Dodgson's Alice may be or could be identified with Liddell is controversial. The two Alices are clearly not identical, and though it was long assumed that the fictional Alice was based very heavily on Liddell, recent research has contradicted this assumption. She was born in Westminster, London

4 May 1966 - Jane McGrath - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_McGrath

Jane Louise McGrath, England-bornAustralian cancer support campaigner, and the wife of former Australian cricket fast bowler Glenn McGrath. In 2005 Glenn and Jane McGrath founded the McGrath Foundation, a charitable organisation dedicated to raising money to fund breast care nurses in rural and regional Australia, and to increase breast awareness in young women. As of December 2018, 120 McGrath breast care nurses have been placed in communities throughout Australia, supporting over 67,000 Australian families experiencing breast cancer. The third day of the first Sydney test cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground each year is now known as Jane McGrath Day, where money is raised for the McGrath Foundation. Spectators at the SCG wear pink to show their support and sponsor logos in various places are also recoloured pink for the match. On 5 January 2013, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced an $18.5 million donation to the McGrath Foundation from the Australian Government. The funding allowed all 44 existing McGrath breast care nurse positions to continue and expand the program by 10 full-time equivalent places. She was born in Paignton, Devon.

4 May 1970 - Will Arnett - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Arnett

William Emerson "Will" Arnett, Canadian-American actor, comedian and producer. He is best known for his role as BoJack Horseman in the Netflix series of the same name and George Oscar "Gob" Bluth II in the Fox/Netflix series Arrested Development, receiving a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He has appeared in films such as Blades of Glory, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. His performance as Devon Banks in 30 Rock earned him four Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nominations. His deep, smooth baritone voice has landed him prolific roles within animation, including Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ratatouille, Horton Hears a Who!, Monsters vs. Aliens, Despicable Me,The Nut Job, and as Batman in the Lego Movie franchise. His involvement with The LEGO Group continues as Fox Network announced him as the host of their show LEGO Masters, which premiered on February 5, 2020. He was born in Toronto, Ontario.

Events of Interest

2nd May 1970 - 50th anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman at the Kentucky Derby - https://theathletic.co.uk/1783460/2020/04/30/an-inside-look-at-how-sports-shaped-hunter-s-thompsons-gonzo-journalism/

“The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" is a seminal sports article written by Hunter S. Thompson on the 1970 Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, first appearing in an issue of Scanlan's Monthly in June of that year. Though not known at the time, the article marked the first appearance of gonzo journalism, the style that Thompson came to epitomize through the 1970s. The genesis of the article has been described by Thompson as akin to "falling down an elevator shaft and landing in a pool of mermaids." Accompanied by Ralph Steadman's sketches (the first of many collaborations between Thompson and Steadman), the resulting story, and the manic, first-person subjectivity that characterized it, were the beginnings of the gonzo style of journalism. The article is less about the actual race itself – indeed, Thompson and Steadman could not actually see the race from their standpoint – but rather focuses on the celebration and depravity that surrounds the event. Thompson's depiction includes the events in Louisville (his home town) in the days before and after the Derby, and Steadman captured the debauched atmosphere in his surreal drawings. Thompson provided up-close views of activities in the Derby infield and grandstand at Churchill Downs, and a running commentary on the drunkenness and lewdness of the crowd, which he states in the article as the only thing he was focusing on with the work. The narrative ends with a bittersweet anagnorisis, somewhat common in Thompson's work; after several days of immersing themselves in raucous partying and alcoholism to get a sense of the event, Thompson and Steadman realize that they have become exactly the type of people they originally planned to caricature.

4th May 1961 – Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km). - https://www.patriotspoint.org/news-and-events/world-record-balloon-flight-set-by-navy-at-113739-9-feet/

On 04 May 1961 Navy balloon pilot Commander Malcolm Ross and flight surgeon Lieutenant Commander Victor Prather (MC)  ascended to the world record height of 113,739.9 feet above sea level in their open gondola Strato-Lab. This record still holds today in 2011 for manned balloon ascent. The record-setting flight on 04 May 1961 from the USS Antietam was scheduled to test the new Navy Mark IV pressure suit. The Mark IV suit’s performance impressed NASA scientists and a modified version was selected  for use by the Project Mercury astronauts.  Strato-Lab remained in the air for 9 hours 54 minutes, and covered a horizontal distance of 140 miles during its flight.  The research goals of the flight were successful, unfortunately LCDR Prather drowned when he slipped into the water and his pressure suit filled with seawater.

4th May 2013 - Dr. Who And The Daleks enjoyed a rare theatrical re-release - https://www.scifihistory.net/may-4.html

On this day in 2013 (in the United Kingdom), 1965's Dr. Who And The Daleks enjoyed a rare theatrical re-release.  The feature starred Peter Cushing as the signature Timelord, and here's the plot summary as provided by IMDB.com:

"An eccentric inventor and his companions travel in his TARDIS to the Planet Skaro and battle the evil menace of the Daleks."

It was followed by Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Filmed in Technicolor, it is the first Doctor Who story to be made in colour and in a widescreen format. The film was not intended to form part of the ongoing story-lines of the television series. Elements from the programme are used, however, such as various characters, the Daleks and a police box time machine, albeit in re-imagined forms. The Daleks were redesigned slightly for the film. They had larger base sections, which made them taller and more imposing than the TV Daleks, which were only about five feet high. They had large, red dome lights and some were fitted with a two-jawed mechanical claw instead of a plunger. They also had more colourful paint schemes. Standard Daleks had blue domes, skirt balls and fenders, and gold collars. A Dalek leader was painted predominantly black and a second-in-command in red. Originally the Daleks were to be armed with flamethrowers, but these were vetoed on health and safety grounds and because they were considered too frightening for a young audience. Instead, the guns produced jets of CO2 gas from internally mounted fire extinguishers. Some of the Daleks used in the background for crowd scenes were constructed from moulded fibreglass, and can be distinguished by the slightly different shape of the collars around their midsections.

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

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