Lifestyle

In a decidedly “whoops” moment for Google, the latest image app Google Photos which (mostly) tags images with names of the objects in the photos, mislabelled a picture of two black people as “Gorillas”. Not Google’s finest hour. With the company admitting its new image recognition technology has flaws. Image Credit: Jacky Alciné With his interests in equal rights, after seeing the image, Jacky Alciné of Brooklyn, New York, USA, tweeted: “Google Photos, y’all f****d up. My friend’s not a gorilla.” Yonatan Zunger, Chief Architect of Social at Google, responded with tweets of apologies and that there were problems with the technology. With the offending “Gorillas” tag likely caused by issues with obscured faces, skin tones and lighting. Google subsequently formally apologised. Google Photos has since removed the “gorilla” tag from its system. Microsoft got into a similar problem many years back when it labelled one of its clip art images ...

To fly has long been a dream. And much like riding a motorcycle places the rider more alone with the road than does being the driver of a car, flying like a bird isn’t quite the same as flying in a plane or helicopter. Or so Glenn Martin may have thought back in 1981, in Dunedin, New Zealand. When he first conceived the Martin Jetpack. Rocket forward to 1998, with the beginning of the Martin Aircraft Company. Which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, MJP, earlier this year. Capital raising included a A$50 million investment from Kuang-Chi Science Limited; with the Chinese company involved in numerous technologies including aerospace. The Martin Jetpack, which technically is not a true jet engine, but instead uses a two-litre petrol engine to drive two ducted fans either side of the pilot for lift, has been near 35 years in development. Constructed of aluminium and ...

The price of oil has slumped from its high back in 2008, and not withstanding the ups and downs in between, from last year into 2015 oil prices have slid again. As prices have slid, along with questioning whether it’s profitable or makes economic sense to keep producing oil at such low prices, other uses of oil have been sort. These other uses are not necessarily new. Far from it. Around the year 1865, as the discovery of oil and petroleum in the US expanded, there was the question of what exactly to do with the new products. Petroleum at the time was marketed as something which had many uses. Such as it being both a hair oil and a boot grease. Its utility didn’t end there, however. Because it was apparently a vermin killer yet at the same time was also hailed as a cure for kidney stones in ...

Despite the talks of it all being over back in 2013, it seems at least one pairing with Miranda Kerr is on mend. Miranda Kerr and Victoria’s Secret have apparently kissed and made up. All that’s left now is for Miranda to sign a deal reportedly worth $3.8 million with VS, then get back to strutting her stuff on the catwalk. Complete with the wings of a Victoria’s Secret Angel. It’ll likely be bring your own dimples, but Miranda Kerr has that more than covered. Or uncovered. And whether it’s about dimples or something else, almost everyone seems to have their favourite VS Angel, including fantasies about more than just Fantasy Bras. If the reports of a VS insider talking to The FIX are correct, then: “Miranda and VS are talking about her designing a capsule collection with a portion of the proceeds going to one of her charities and ...

The Overtoun Bridge in Milton, near Dunbarton, Scotland, has several dark secrets and a shroud of mystery to it. That some 600 dogs have reportedly leapt from Overtoun Bridge, with over 50 canine deaths occurring over the past 50 years, only adds to the enigma. The supernatural and the scientific have both had their say about the matter. Overtoun House stands nearby, a popular tourist destination. In 1931 Lady Overtoun passed away, and some locals suggest that her sadness still lingers the grounds, and the Overtoun Burn stream and gorge the bridge spans. With the dogs sensing this paranormal activity, and that the bridge itself is haunted. That the area represents a “thin place” according to Celtic lore, where the veil between the worlds of the living and the spirits have been known to crossover and into one another. Adding to this, is the case of Kevin Moy. Who in ...

Seeing how many coins can be stacked on a collarbone, or collarbones – #collarbonechallenge – has been a recent trend on social media within China. The tipping point seemed to have come when Chinese actress Lv Jiarong posted a picture of herself on Weibo, apparently balancing about 80 coins on her collarbones. Image Source: Lv Jiarong, Weibo. Because collarbones are supposedly the new sexy. A bit like ankles were in the past. Images such as the above, have raised concerns by some commentators related to body image and notions of body shaming. As tends to happen on the internet. That if a female has not achieved this latest (and probably faddish) hallmark bodily of perfection as “skinny and sexy” by showing her collarbones, she’s going to be shamed and taunted into poor physical and mental health. The serious concerns are related to females starving themselves to achieve protruding collarbones, and ...

Meet Joe Average. He has been there since the dawn of time. Somewhere in the middle. The everyman. Like it not, about half the males are actually worse than Joe Average. And about half are better. Poor Joe Average, no-one really notices him. In the Middle Ages, while he was sweeping the floor, the ladies were talking of heroes. Like Lancelot. Hoping that a knight in shining armour would sweep them off their feet. Present day, not much has changed. Sure, there’s an app for almost everything. Promising the world. Including those from not-so-secret societies of pickup artists and players, all promising Joe Average that if he just rolls the dice and gets his game on, he too will be able to lance. A lot. So, somehow, Joe Average has got a girlfriend. Whether through luck, pity, or something else. The good news is, on average, something has to work. ...

How to manspread: Take one man, two seats on public transport, and apply the man by liberally spreading him over the two seats instead of one. And that’s how manspreading – or #manspreading – is done. Classics of the manspreading recipe include: the man sitting as normal, but spreading both of his legs wide open; alternatively, the man may sit with his legs crossed either normally or diagonally spread across the seats. Either take next to no preparation time. Their costs could vary, however. In the USA, New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) even created its own subway etiquette campaign, including a poster saying “Dude… Stop the Spread, Please” in an effort to combat the spread of man. Or at least the manspreading. The MTA also has its rules of conduct prohibiting passengers occupying more than one seat if it interferes “with the operation of the Authority’s transit system or ...

Why exactly Swiss cheese has holes has been a mystery a long time in the solving. Near a century of research has gone into finding the vexing answer. And recently, the answer finally arrived. Mice around the world rejoiced. Finally vindicated of being wrongly accused of putting the holes in Swiss cheese. Some may have even been in hiding, as kabbas in the Karni Mata Temple in India, under a rodent witness relocation program. It also debunked other, stranger, theories. Like the Swiss injecting air pockets of neutrality into the otherwise weighty cheese. Possibly with the holes then serving as safety deposit boxes for secret Swiss bank accounts. Because no-one ever suspects the cheese. Indeed, recently it has been quite an epochal time in the world of cheese. From the cheese-rolling at Cooper’s Hill, England. Which never officially happened. Nudge, nudge. Wink wink. To the solution as to why Swiss ...

In a move borne of both comic idolatry and borderline comedic obsession, but for the consequences, in a bid to look like his idol, the Hulk, bodybuilder Romario Dos Santos Alves injected his muscles with synthol. Over the course of three years he did this in order to make his himself appear more muscular. The 25-year-old did manage to achieve biceps of 25 inches. However, while not quite turning green, his arms did begin to harden like rock and at one stage doctors thought his arms would need to be amputated. Just as well he wasn’t obsessed with the characters such as the Thing and Jax as well. Luckily for Alves, amputating his arms was avoided, and he has reportedly been clean of synthol for two years now. His tale is one of caution and also of dealing with the addiction and depression related to his pursuit of bodybuilding and injecting synthol ...