Category Archives: Culture

Wristwatches: Is it time to disband?

Wristwatches at a store in London
Image courtesy David Castor

Every few years, someone writes an article about how kids today don’t know what a rotary phone is, or have never heard of a cassette tape, or are losing the ability to spell or write cursive. I still remember, years ago, when one study revealed that not only did today’s youth not know how to wind a watch – they didn’t know what the phrase meant.

As someone who was required to be able to understand references to technology, art and entertainment dating back to my grandmother’s time, I take these articles with a grain of salt. That includes the recent spate of pieces in blogs and news outlets declaring the death of the wristwatch. Sure, we all have cellphone, and there are as many clocks in my kitchen as appliances, but – as I point out in this misleadingly named article – the watch has yet to tick its last tock.

Why don’t we wear wristwatches anymore?

It’s like Dazzler and Tesla had a baby, and it was a t-shirt

Orange Sound Charge T-Shirt
Photo courtesy Orange

The pages of ThinkGeek teem with techno-tees fitted with LEDs, speakers, DIY artwork, virtual instruments and WiFi meters. Meanwhile, companies vie to gin up greener charging methods for cell phones.

Is it time for a mashup? A cellphone-charging tee? Maybe – but good luck wearing one through airport security.

Can a T-shirt turn sound into electricity?

And if you believe that, I’ve got some Venusian swampland to sell you

Earthrise on moon.
Photo courtesy NASA

History is so replete with property swindles that we still have jokes about them. The phrase, “if you believe that, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you” derives from a favorite dodge of turn-of-the-century confidence men like George C. Parker, who sold the Brooklyn Bridge multiple times — along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Statue of Liberty and Grant’s Tomb. Selling Florida swamp land, a favorite scam of the early 20th century, continues to this day.

Scan the internet, and you’ll quickly find a half-dozen companies ready to sell you your very own piece of space property, starting with the moon. In this article, I ask whether anyone can actually own our nearest neighbor, or if all these companies are exchanging for your green is a load of green cheese.

Can Someone Own the Moon?

Who’s going the distance in the private sector space race

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft
Image courtesy NASA/Bill Ingalls.

While Russia struggles to make up ground following a dozen-plus 2011 launch problems and the American Space Launch System sinks in Capitol Hill quicksand, the commercial space sector is racing to fill the gap — and to open new markets in space taxis, trucks and tourism. Since you can’t tell the players without a program, here are the . . .

10 Major Players in the Private Sector Space Race
Quiz: Branson or Bezos: How well do you know the players in the new space race?

Big Mouth Billy Bass sings all the way to the bank

Eddie hops aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, along with Iraqi security forces and Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division.
Photo courtesy U.S. Army.

Some inventions save people’s lives, others improve them and still others end up as the white elephant gift no one wants to take home. Sometimes the question isn’t, “Why didn’t I think of that?” it’s, “Why would anyone think of that?”

Well, if benefit to humankind were the only means of making a profit, there would be no reality TV. In that spirit, here’s a list of ten kooky creations that made a mint, including one that turned out to fill a legitimate need.

10 Weird Inventions That Made Millions