TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

It's been over two years since I last wrote about the inevitable machine uprising and, while Boston Dynamics continues to claim they're not inadvertently trigging the first attack by pushing their robots around with hockey sticks, the future is leaning toward 'friendly' service robots (or at least the robots want you to think they're friendly so you'll casually pass them your laser gun to 'look after'). Honda's Asimo is no more. Possibly the most famous 'friendly' robot, Honda's Asimo, is unfortunately no more. Honda shelved further research into human-like, bipedal robots in 2017, though will be using some of their robot technology in things like making it possible for your motorcycle to self balance and follow you around like a puppy dog. Soft Bank's Pepper Robot Assistant. Japanese Robot manufacturer, Soft Bank (who as I understand it bought Boston Dynamics and recently sold  an 80% stake to Hyundai), is going from strength to ...

I've seen a few reviews of Marvel Studios, Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier , where the reviewer's have said that Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, A.K.A The Falcon was perfectly fine with accepting Captain America's shield at the conclusion of Avengers, Endgame , but he wasn't. He clearly wasn't going to turn down the shield from his now very aged looking friend, Steve Rogers. He definitely accepted it with clear doubts about himself being the right choice. Hence his exchange at the time... Old Steve Rogers : How does it feel? Sam Wilson : Like it's someone else's. Old Steve Rogers : It isn't. Sam Wilson : Thank you. I'll do my best. He wasn't dancing around, and over the moon to receive Cap's shield. He really didn't have the time, in that moment, to properly consider the implications. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is the jumping off point for Sam to really start thinking about whether he is really the right per...

Australian movie, June Again , stars acting legend, Noni Hazlehurst, in the title role, along with Claudia Karvan, and Stephen Curry as her two grown siblings, Ginny and Devon. June, who once was the family matriarch, now lives an assisted living aged care facility due to fairly severe dementia. However, one morning she wakes up in complete control of her senses, appearing to be dementia free. Unfortunately much time has passed, and everything is no longer how she remembers it, with her children's lives, and family business, seemingly falling apart. She sets about putting things right. Any film that Noni Hazlehurst is in is reason enough to go see. Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry are both well on their way to being that type of performer too. I've never seen either give a bad performance or make poor choices in the roles they take on. June Again does a relatively good job giving the audience a general sense of what having dementia may be like but it doesn't dwell on it too...

Why didn't we bring that suit as well?! Personal Jetpacks are cool, and Gravity Industries appears to be the leader in this race with their Jet Suit. Having seen a few video's of company founder, Richard Browning, demonstrating his suit in action, along with a few celebrities like Adam Savage giving it a go, it's nice to finally see the suit in a more real world setting and application. In the video below Gravity set up some exercises in conjunction with the Royal Marines to test how the jet suit could be used for underway boarding of seaborne craft in various scenarios. Kind of wish Gravity had brought this suit along for extra 'cool' points over the sea. While it does look insanely cool to see a soldier flying onto a ship in a jet suit it still feels a little impractical for anything but peaceful operations such as a rescue, or low risk reconnaissance missions. Apart from being a very exposed target in flight, the hand held jets still seem a little too bulky and...