Misc Visuals

How to Pick a Perfect Watermelon

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It is almost watermelon season! That means venturing to the grocery store or market and to choose the most perfect, juicy, ripe, flavorful specimen from the bunch. How do you choose the perfect watermelon? How can you tell a watermelon is ripe? Eagle Eye Produce has created this simple and helpful visualization of how to pick the most wonderful watermelon to make your summer dreams come true.

The Ultimate “How to Pick a Watermelon” Chart

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how-to-pick-perfect-watermelon-chartistry

In addition to the visual “how to pick a watermelon” chart, Eagle Eye Produce also provided these tips for choosing the perfect watermelon:

  • Choose a watermelon that is uniform in size – both oval and round are okay. The important thing is to avoid irregular bumps.
  • Choose a watermelon that is heavy for its size. This usually indicates a sweeter, juicier fruit.
  • Look for a creamy orange field spot. A field spot is where the watermelon was resting on the ground. The darker the spot, the longer the watermelon was on the vine. This maximizes flavor.
  • A white field spot may be a sign that the melon is not quite ripe.
  • Larger webbing or “sugar spots” means that the melon is seeping out sugar and could be an indicator of a sweet taste.
  • Dark, dull melons are typically ripe while shiny melons are unripe.

There are many wonderful ways to enjoy the ripe melon you just picked out! It is so important to stay hydrated while having fun in the sun (especially if alcohol is involved), so here are some infused water recipes to try out with watermelon and other tasty fruits and herb

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Misc Visuals

Explore Optical Technology Through These Featured Films

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The team at Pulsar offers us a visual look at a unique niche within the film industry through the lens of optical technology. Infrared optics are used to elevate fictional settings, highlight characters, and improve camera technology and special effects. The study sheds light on a previously overlooked aspect of filmmaking and storytelling, providing a fresh perspective on films we all know and love.

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The Most Iconic Uses of Thermal Optics in Fiction

How Optical Tech Enhances Filmmaking

In the film Predator, infrared optics are a prominent feature of the storyline. An advanced race of aliens used infrared to better hunt for sport in terrifying twists and turns. But the filmmakers used infrared to their own benefit, too. They portrayed the aliens’ infrared vision by using an Inframetrics thermal video scanner to bring the vision to life. The film is full of optical challenges that director Joel Hynek overcame in fascinating ways, including the aliens’ unique camouflaging effect.

The team’s chart includes a recent and powerful sci-fi film example, Dune 2. In the film, the planet Giedi Prime is portrayed in a haunting grayscale that enhances its brutal, joyless atmosphere. The film’s director, Denis Villeneuve, used a groundbreaking technique to achieve the effect. He filmed in infrared and then removed saturation in post-production to create a unique, almost ghostly, ethereal appearance for the actors, along with a stark, sharp grading for the architecture and scenery. The technique is now known as “The Harkonnen Effect.”

Infrared technology is especially powerful when filming military movies. For example, in the Oscar-winning Zero Dark Thirty, filmmakers blended infrared light with night vision optics to create a tense atmosphere that reflected the gritty world of Navy SEAL warfare for the film’s dramatic climax. Filmmakers used infrared for a similar effect in the A24 film Zone of Interest. In the infrared scene, a woman sneaks through the cover of night to leave food for Auschwitz prisoners during the Holocaust. The director chose infrared lighting to show the act as a small, hopeful point of light during a period of intense darkness.

Optical Technology as a Plot Point

From the silly to the scary, the chart also thoroughly covers examples of optical technology used to enhance the plot or define a character. The team highlights superheroes like Daredevil and Superman. Superman uses infrared vision to store solar energy in his eyes and blast lasers at his foes, while Daredevil uses his superior senses to create a mental heat map that helps him overcome blindness. Nick Fury sports a pair of infrared glasses in Marvel’s Secret War series. The beloved cartoon alien Stitch from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch boasts a long list of special abilities, including heat vision that causes his eyes to glow red.

Plenty more military films are featured here, too, starring characters from the armed services who use real technology to overcome tremendous odds. Some of the weapons featured include a Barrett M82A1, PVS-7 goggles, and Accufire Incendis.

Pulsar’s roundup of optical technology used in film does a perfect job of demonstrating both realistic and imaginative uses of the tech, as well as demonstrating the ways filmmakers have applied new optical technology to cameras to push the limits of special effects and filmmaking.

 

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Maps

Study Reveals the Most Sexually Adventurous States in America

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Ever wondered which states are the most daring behind closed doors? A recent Too Timid survey of 1,427 Americans sheds light on the most sexually adventurous states in the U.S. The study ranked states based on four key factors: the average number of sex toys owned, sexual partners, sexual experiences, and fantasies that turn people on.

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Which States Are the Most Sexually Adventurous?

Here are the top 10 most adventurous states:

  1. Montana
  2. Iowa
  3. Oklahoma
  4. Arkansas
  5. Minnesota
  6. New Jersey
  7. Oregon
  8. Nevada
  9. Alaska
  10. Indiana

Meanwhile, the least adventurous states include Rhode Island, North Dakota, Maine, and South Dakota.

Beyond state rankings, the study uncovered some intriguing trends in American bedrooms. The most common sexual experience is watching porn with a partner, followed by one-night stands. When it comes to fantasies, most people keep it simple, dreaming about sex with their current partner and enjoying some steamy dirty talk.

The Too Timid team highlights the positive effects of sexual openness, noting that people who embrace their sexuality often report better body image, stronger relationships, and more satisfying sex lives.

While this survey offers a fascinating glimpse into America’s intimate habits, more data and future studies could reveal even more surprising trends. Whether your state made the top ten or not, one thing’s clear—America’s curiosity about sex is alive and well!

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Misc Visuals

Exploring Science Fiction Technology That Became a Reality

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Science fiction often features futuristic technology that once seemed unimaginable. Yet, many sci-fi stories have accurately predicted innovations that eventually became real. Throughout history, countless fictional inventions have transitioned from mere ideas to actual advancements. This fascinating work from AI PRM illustrates the time gap between when these imaginative concepts first appeared in fiction and when they were finally brought to life.

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50 Science Fiction Technologies and How Long They Took to Become a Reality

Their research examined sci-fi technology that exists today in these categories:

  • Space Exploration
  • Communication
  • Robotics and AI
  • Health and Biotechnology
  • Weapons and Defense

When the 1927 film Metropolis became a hit, it was difficult to imagine that the video calls in the movie would ever become a reality, but today, this is a commonplace technology we rely on. The team shows us that the first real-world video phone was created by AT&T in 1964. In 2003, Skype made video calls widely accessible.

As for artificial intelligence in our lives, E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops depicted a world where people had automated phones that could respond to their commands and help them manage their lives. This became a common trope in science fiction, but today, with the rise of devices like Alexa and Google Home, this technology doesn’t seem unusual at all. Believe it or not, when Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was released in 1870, submarines seemed like a feat of imagination to the reading public. But the Nautilus was inspired by a French sub prototype. The first submarine was launched just a few years later by Isaac Peral in 1888. Explore more technology once thought impossible throughout the team’s article.

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