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Paper, Scissor, Rock – Do have what it takes to win?

By That's life

So did you beat me?

Chances are, if you’re male, you lost the first round as experiments have shown males have a tendency to throw a rock on the first move, hence, I played paper in round one – sneaky, huh?

Yes, I did my Google homework in constructing this gif. Searching ‘how to win at paper, scissor, rock’ lead to a bumper search result of 968,000 hits, with a plethora of strategies and tips to win. Here’s a summary of winning moves:

  • If competing against a male, throw paper in round one
  • Inexperienced players tend to throw paper on their first throw, so play scissor in round one
  • Copy cat counter move – inexperienced players tend to throw the winning move from their last play. So, if they threw rock, their next move is more likely to be paper, so you throw scissor – Boom!
  • Be unpredictable – when in doubt, throw paper as a surprise.  Average stats are 35.4% rock, 35.0% scissor and 29.6% paper
  • Three in a row – most people don’t want to feel predictable, so typically if they throw a rock two times in a row, their next move will either be paper or scissor. Improve your chances by throwing a rock on round three as statistically they are more likely to throw scissor.

So now you know as much as me, let me know how your next paper, scissor, rock challenge goes.

PS. I find I revisit topics every now and then, and paper, scissor, rock is one of them. Check out my last take on the game.

The blind carbon copy

By That's life, Work

I had a bit of fun this week, trying to personify the three email types: to, cc (carbon copy / courtesy copy) and bcc (blind cc). Couldn’t help but feel that the bcc was bit ghost like in nature.

A bar graph

By Word play

A bar graph of alcohol

I’ve been doing a bit of work involving spreadsheets lately – I guess this the result of the mind wandering after reaching overload.

Where do your day dreams lead you?

 

Emoji Maths

By That's life

the mathematics of emoticonsIf you can do emoji maths, then you probably can do emoji art, right?

And yes, once again Google has shown me all things ’emoji art’ at the click of a button.

Check out LA artist Yung Jake who has taken emoji art to a fine art status with his celebrity portraits which typically include 15,000 to 30,000 emojis.

If you’re feeling a bit creative, then access the online emoji.ink app that Yung uses to create his masterpieces. You’ll be welcomed by the following screen of what appears to be an endless selection of emojis. Select one, and click to start drawing. then hit any key to return to the emoji selection page to change emojis. Enjoy!

Emojiink

Dogs don’t see in black and white

By Animals, Dogs

Dogs see in black and white

The irony in the making of this cartoon, is that dogs can indeed see in colour, but not within the red and green spectrums. In fact, dogs can see yellow, grey and blue – this is equivalent to the human red-green colour blindness. Dogs only possess two colour receptors (commonly called cones), whereas humans have three, allowing them to see a broader spectrum of colours.

What can we learn for this? Well for one thing, you might be better off buying yellow or blue coloured toys rather than red or green, making it easier for the dog to distinguish it from the green grass.

Why not test the theory and throw two toys simultaneously – one blue/yellow, the other red/green – See if there is a preference.

 

10,000 steps to success

By That's life

Thomas Edison light bulb

Are you up for fun fact?

What filament material was used for Edison’s light bulb?…Drum roll…

Carbonized bamboo. If you’re like me, you probably were way off the mark, but I welcome the good company.

In the race to develop the first practical lightbulb for home use (electric street lights were already in use), inventors were using all sorts of materials to find the ideal luminescing substance. According to records, Edison’s research factory tested over 6,000 different materials before it discovered a material with the superiority of long life – when the Japanese bamboo was cut to the proper dimensions and carbonized, it incandesced for more than 1,200 hours when electrified. Nowadays, tungsten wire is used, but the average running time is about the same – 1,000 to 2,000 hours.

PS. This was a fun thinking exercise. Why not take 1 minute and scribble down as many ideas as you can think of to design a new light for the 21st century.

 

The vision

By That's life

I love this quote by Thomas Edison and his life’s work truly encapsulates this sentiment.

A prolific inventor, he lodged over 1,000 US patents, many resulting in new industries that could capitalise on his designs which specifically lent themselves to mass production. We know him for the light bulb, but he also created inventions in sound recording (phonograph), motion pictures (Kinetograph – a one person peep hole style movie viewing machine), stock ticker (transmitted stock price information over telegraph lines,), mechanical vote recorder (machine to register and tabulate votes) and the nickel-iron battery used in automobiles and other devices.

What’s your favourite quote?

Living in a bubble

By That's life

This cartoon was inspired by my daily train trips to work. I remember there was a time when some passengers would strike up casual conversations, or make eye contact with regular passengers to simply say ‘hi’ to a familiar face. But now, it’s very different. Over 90% are glued to some form of technology; it’s silent and all heads are down. I sometimes think if I came in dressed in a clown suit, no one would notice.

What’s your public transport experience like these days?

Feeling flat?

By That's life

When a balloon pops unsuspectingly in real life, it can be a bit a shock to system. However, balloon popping in slow motion is really, really cool and pleasantly satisfying to watch.

Interestingly, there’s a bit of science behind how a balloon pops and it depends on how stressed it is before being popped – low stressed balloons pop along a crack line but highly stressed ones shatter into tiny pieces. Watch these two videos to simultaneously show you the difference and then watch this one (start at 1 min 30 sec mark to avoid the slow build up) to see a colourful high resolution version.