Ghostbusters Ghost Trap Toy Looks, Shakes and Rolls Like the Real Thing [Video]

It's been 27 years (!) since Ghostbusters came out but the crazy far off gadgets they used to snag bad guys are still awe inspiring. Take this Ghost Trap by Mattel, it's ridiculously detailed with sound, shake, and moving effects. More »

Gizmodo

Ghostbusters Ghost Trap Toy Looks, Shakes and Rolls Like the Real Thing [Video]

It's been 27 years (!) since Ghostbusters came out but the crazy far off gadgets they used to snag bad guys are still awe inspiring. Take this Ghost Trap by Mattel, it's ridiculously detailed with sound, shake, and moving effects. More »

Gizmodo

Finance World Versus Real World

Finance world is a fantasy world where Our Galtian Overlords mine for WoW gold using HFT algorithims. That the WoW gold they mine is actually worth a lot of money in real world means many of them get filthy rich mining WoW gold, but we shouldn't forget that basically that's what they're doing. In fantasy finance world it matters if you push the button at the right time. It doesn't matter if people have money to pay their mortgages, or buy cable teevee, or put food on their families, or whatever. So, yes, most of the time our WoW gold miners get to live in their Randian know-nothing fantasy, which is rather obvious to anyone who spends any time watching CNBC. Most of these people don't have a clue.

So, yes, it's quite possible that the WoW gold mines have to come up empty before they realize maybe it matters if anybody else has any money.

What's Popular

A comic about the real scientific process

Made by scientist Paul Vallett for his Electron Cafe blog, this funny cartoon is essentially about the differences between how science happens in the movies, and how science happens in real life.

On the one hand, I like it a lot, because the speed and ease of movie science does lead people to expect major breakthroughs to happen quickly, and makes them less critical of the sort of PR and journalism that tries to paint every new paper as a game-changer. In fact, you could probably make a case for movie science being one of the drivers that helps to create that bad PR and journalism to begin with. If decades of film and television have trained people to expect easy "Eureka!" moments, maybe they're likely to have less interest in nuanced results, or the fact that not all published science is correct. Unrealistic expectations matter.

On the other hand, well-done fiction is bound by reasonable constraints. There's not time for a "and then they do real science" montage in every movie. To a certain extent, I think this particular complaint might be a bit like wondering why nobody in Star Wars ever stops to pee.

Via JA Tetro

What's Popular