deerstalker
https://nerdist.com/article/man-builds-wheelchair-disabled-goldfish/
Aquaman, or at least the guy who plays Aquaman, referred to humanity as a “disease” in a U.N. speech on climate change earlier this year, with the harsh words implying a worldwide moral failing for humankind, especially when it comes to how our species takes care of Earth’s oceans. But obviously there are plenty of people who still care about marine life, such as Henry Kim, a Korean fashion designer who built a “wheelchair” for his disabled goldfish.
In a video posted to the YouTube channel, Caters Clips, Kim’s extraordinary act of fish affection is described, and it’s just as selfless and creative as it sounds. In fact, it may even be more impressive than it seems, because Kim has managed to keep the goldfish alive for far longer than it should’ve been; a BoredPanda article discussing Kim’s invention quotes Kim as saying that goldfish infected with a disease like the one that currently grips this wheelchair-using fish usually results in death after just a couple of months, while his fish has already been alive for five months. The average lifespan of a goldfish, by the way, is apparently a whopping 10 to 15 years.
The invention, which we first heard about via Laughing Squid, is an ingenious way of keeping goldfish afloat, right side up, when they become infected with an ailment known as swim bladder disease. Swim bladder disease, sometimes referred to as swim bladder disorder, is common among aquarium fish, and affects their ability to control their buoyancy. While normal goldfish are able to float right side up, and change elevation in water at will, fish infected with swim bladder disease are unable to control their direction and level of floatation. This is because their swim bladder, an internal gas-filled organ, is dysfunctional thanks to either intestinal parasites, or constipation due to overfeeding.
And while the swim bladder disease wiki notes that it can be cured by feeding green peas to an infected fish, or having “fish surgeons” adjust the fish’s buoyancy by putting a stone in the swim bladder—or even removing a part of the bladder—presumably Kim’s wheelchair is more effective and less costly. (We can only imagine how much money it costs to have a “fish surgeon” come out to your house to perform bladder surgery.)
A healthy swim bladder. Uwe Gille
It’s unclear if Kim plans on making his goldfish wheelchair, or at least the instructions on how to build it, available for fish aficionados (a-fish-ionados?) everywhere. In the meantime, people can try that green pea treatment, which is supposed to work within a few hours. If you need a step-by-step guide on how to manage that little maneuver, the website Complete Goldfish Care has you covered.
What do you think about Kim’s goldfish wheelchair? Does a small, yet heartwarming act of kindness like this restore your faith in humanity and its ability to take care of marine life? Float your opinions, in a healthy, balanced way, in the comments!
Feature image: Henry Kim via Caters Clips
The post Kind Man Builds ‘Wheelchair’ for His Disabled Goldfish appeared first on Nerdist.
Aquaman, or at least the guy who plays Aquaman, referred to humanity as a “disease” in a U.N. speech on climate change earlier this year, with the harsh words implying a worldwide moral failing for humankind, especially when it comes to how our species takes care of Earth’s oceans. But obviously there are plenty of people who still care about marine life, such as Henry Kim, a Korean fashion designer who built a “wheelchair” for his disabled goldfish.
In a video posted to the YouTube channel, Caters Clips, Kim’s extraordinary act of fish affection is described, and it’s just as selfless and creative as it sounds. In fact, it may even be more impressive than it seems, because Kim has managed to keep the goldfish alive for far longer than it should’ve been; a BoredPanda article discussing Kim’s invention quotes Kim as saying that goldfish infected with a disease like the one that currently grips this wheelchair-using fish usually results in death after just a couple of months, while his fish has already been alive for five months. The average lifespan of a goldfish, by the way, is apparently a whopping 10 to 15 years.
The invention, which we first heard about via Laughing Squid, is an ingenious way of keeping goldfish afloat, right side up, when they become infected with an ailment known as swim bladder disease. Swim bladder disease, sometimes referred to as swim bladder disorder, is common among aquarium fish, and affects their ability to control their buoyancy. While normal goldfish are able to float right side up, and change elevation in water at will, fish infected with swim bladder disease are unable to control their direction and level of floatation. This is because their swim bladder, an internal gas-filled organ, is dysfunctional thanks to either intestinal parasites, or constipation due to overfeeding.
And while the swim bladder disease wiki notes that it can be cured by feeding green peas to an infected fish, or having “fish surgeons” adjust the fish’s buoyancy by putting a stone in the swim bladder—or even removing a part of the bladder—presumably Kim’s wheelchair is more effective and less costly. (We can only imagine how much money it costs to have a “fish surgeon” come out to your house to perform bladder surgery.)
A healthy swim bladder. Uwe Gille
It’s unclear if Kim plans on making his goldfish wheelchair, or at least the instructions on how to build it, available for fish aficionados (a-fish-ionados?) everywhere. In the meantime, people can try that green pea treatment, which is supposed to work within a few hours. If you need a step-by-step guide on how to manage that little maneuver, the website Complete Goldfish Care has you covered.
What do you think about Kim’s goldfish wheelchair? Does a small, yet heartwarming act of kindness like this restore your faith in humanity and its ability to take care of marine life? Float your opinions, in a healthy, balanced way, in the comments!
Feature image: Henry Kim via Caters Clips
The post Kind Man Builds ‘Wheelchair’ for His Disabled Goldfish appeared first on Nerdist.
Disrupting The Format
Late night is a diverse form of comedic television that allows the host and writing team to treat topics differently while distorting the “classic” format for their audiences. As a Black writer with a background in poetics, I find peculiar ways to tap into “my voice” as I study hosts and cultivate packets for submissions. While I was going through this week’s late night “briefing” I came across similarities between my favorite comic book character and one of my favorite Late Night hosts. Reading Deadpool comics and studying Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj affected my approach to monologue jokes and gave me permission to approach honesty in new ways.
I know what you’re thinking…
Imagine, Wade Wilson — the most chaotic neutral Late Night host that ever existed. We’d love to see it. (Or, maybe it’s just me). Deadpool’s presence in comics, cinema, and video games gave me a way to use his personality as an outline for what makes a show dynamic. What I appreciate in the comics about our beloved Wade Wilson, is that across many interpretations and adaptations, the creative team appeals to the senses of the reader, but will whisk them away into a different image, smell, or emotion often without warning. That amazing feeling. Keeping the reader on their toes, and taking them on adventures that will seemingly go one place but then it takes various sharp turns with the danger of crashing at any moment. I feel the same effects from the Patriot Act creative team and their ability to use visual media and research to take fans on a journey — taking a concept or topic we may love and absolutely destroying it by the end of the episode.
Hasan is Daring, Deadpool Holds no Regrets
When I read Deadpool comics, I am prepared. I might have read the summary before I read the comic, might have seen a couple of preview panels but I know what’s going to happen. I’m about to step in knowing one thing, and look back multiple times and ask: “What just happened?” One of the most important aspects of comedy is the element of anticipation. Comedy explores the identity of power politics. Anticipation creates a middle ground for expectations. Sometimes audiences are able to anticipate jokes, and it reaps a reward, but what I love about Patriot Act and Deadpool comics is their mutual ability to divert the tracks of expectation.
Both Wade Wilson and Hasan Minhaj paint you a scene, then diverge you into a separate image that pushes the limits of absurdity. An example of this in Deadpool is in Skottie Young’s Deadpool #14, War of the Realms Arc. There we see Deadpool and “the knockoff super squad” battling against a terrorizing group of Gremlins. Deadpool’s usual reaction to trouble is: Kill everything, leave nothing behind. By the end of the comic, we see Wade in a business transaction making money off the Gremlins that weren’t killed, turning them into an amusement park attraction. (Remember these Gremlins still have the ability to eat people.) The power dynamic between the gore of monsters that eat people versus the innocence of amusement parks is a strategic comedy method that torments the ideology behind blissful ignorance. Deadpool’s social ineptness is a punchline that begins from the first glance of a panel. The stability from set up to punchline is not linear, and it keeps readers on their toes.
In Patriot Act, Hasan is at his most powerful when he brings in unconventional comparisons to the dark concepts he explores. Like many Deadpool comics, Hasan and his team of writers take a play on knowledge and press it against popular concepts in order to produce witty results. In season one, episode two, the controversial episode surrounding Saudi Arabia, Hasan delves into the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia without holding back the bars of accountability. In this episode, the topic of terrorism, and the United States involvement with the Saudi Arabian government, got a visit from a pop culture reference people normally associate with joy. An example of this is when Hasan stated: “Remember, America hates terrorists. Saudi Arabia gave them passports. Saudi Arabia was basically the boy band manager of 9/11. They didn’t write the songs, but they helped get the group together”.
The similarities that I enjoy from Deadpool comics and Patriot Act is that neither shies away from the gore, but rather accompanies it with something seemingly innocent in order to heighten the bluntness. When I see this tactic used in Late Night, it is utilized in a way of comparing people’s relationship to the public eye, but Hasan connects broader concepts to tangible visual objects and themes. The play on anticipation is that you’re captured with facts that reel you in, and then you’re derailed into a comparison that’s seemingly absurd, but instead feels like a parable.
Hasan and Wade Mock You with Words and Knives
Visual art has the ability to create different worlds for consumers and ignite an emotional pull by latching itself to the imagination. The award winning digital media team at Patriot Act utilizes images in order to create an immersive experience with their audiences. The audience has a relationship to the screen much like how comic book readers have a relationship to the color schemes on a panel. Images have the ability to inform characters of things they are not aware of, create gray areas, and plant emotional seeds for incoming events. When I read Deadpool comics, sometimes the comedy is hidden in the background, or it is expressed in the eccentricity of the kill. Blood is often accompanied with a chuckle, and that’s an important part in cultivating an experience for viewers. The words of Wade could easily be taken as something dark and pensive if accompanied by art that does not accentuate the words. In the same breath, with words in Patriot Act Hasan challenges the relationship the viewer has with the screen by moving away from simple picture in picture and allowing the screen to hold a broad space behind him. Much like movements through the panels of a comic book. Whether it is a graph or pictures of foreign leaders, many Late Night hosts could take example from Hasan’s innovative visual storytelling.
Through the usage of anticipation, the relationship to innocence, and visual accompaniment to aid in storytelling I believe that many aspiring comedians and late night writers can learn from the world of comedy outside of sketches and stand-up. The beauty of storytelling has different gray areas to explore that aid in not only producing laughs but also pushing people to learn about concepts in unconventional ways. I hope to see more interpretations of Deadpool in ways that not only challenge the way we see comedy, but how we perceive gray areas in relationships and self reflection. In Patriot Act I hope to see the creative team challenge the way we ingest comedy. Going beyond just words and quick graphics but creating a story and cultivating an immersive relationship with the audience while using different artistic media.
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The post Deadpool at the Dead of Night: A Late Night Breakdown with Wade Wilson appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
If you need gaming and tech gear for everyone on your list, Newegg’s Black Friday ad is offering many discounts on gaming laptops, PC monitors, and other electronics.
The retailer hasn’t disclosed specific hours for Thanksgiving and Black Friday yet, but our sister site BestBlackFriday.com notes that there are no offline store locations. However, Newegg will likely drop more Black Friday sale details over the next couple of days.
✨ Our #BlackFriday ad is out! ✨ This year, we’re extending our sales, dropping the best deals on Nov. 25. More deals will be unleashed through #CyberMonday, ending on Dec. 8.
Take a peek at the #BlackFriday2019 and #CyberMonday2019 coming your way ► https://t.co/TcKiVpIxJd pic.twitter.com/CPe6FrpBuE
— Newegg (@Newegg) November 16, 2019
In the meantime, you can take advantage of some pre-Black Friday sales on Newegg’s website. (Items we’re eyeing include the MSI GL65 9SC-004 Gaming Laptop and the SkyTech Archangel Gaming Desktop PC.)
For a detailed forecast on Black Friday 2019, visit our general guide and if you need some last-minute tips on how to save money during the holiday season, you can read our Black Friday tips article.
Gaming
Photo Credit: Newegg
MSI GL Series GL65 9SC-004 Gaming Laptop for $599 (Save $200)
Skytech AMD Ryzen 5 2600 AMD RX Gaming Laptop for $639.99 (Save $110)
Acer 24-Inch 144HZ 1MS FHD Built-In Speakers Gaming Monitor for $149.99 (Save $50)
ABS Intel Core i7 NVIDA RTX 2060 Gaming Desktop for $1,199.99 (Save $250)
Tech
Photo Credit: Newegg
Samsung 28-Inch 4K UHD FreeSync Monitor for $249.99 (Save $100)
GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Elite Motherboard for $149.99 (Save $50)
ASUS 27-Inch FHD IPS Slim Bezel Monitor for $134.99 (Save $25)
Cooler Master H500 ATX Mid Tower Tempered Glass Computer Case for $79.99 (Save $40)
For more deals, including all of the latest Black Friday announcements, check out our sister site, BestBlackFriday.com.
More on Geek.com:
- Black Friday 2019: How to Score the Best Gaming and Tech Deals
- Sam’s Club Black Friday Ad: Top Deals for Gaming and Tech Lovers
- The Weirdest Black Friday 2019 Deals
Warning: This post contains major spoilers for episode three of His Dark Materials.
HBO/BBC
Lyra Belacqua’s world might resemble our own in some ways, but His Dark Materials is unmistakably a fantasy. It’s where human souls take form as animals, witches and talking bears live in the North, and magical flies act as spies. Yet the series has been emotionally accessible through three episodes because it focuses on its characters. And no one has done a better job of making a fantasy feel real and grounded than Anne-Marie Duff’s Ma Costa. Her moving performance this week was both heartbreaking and heartwarming; perfect for an episode that showed a mother’s love transcends all worlds.
“The Spies” finally confirmed what non-book readers likely suspected after last week’s episode. Mrs. Coulter is Lyra’s mother. That revelation only makes her actions so far more confusing and malicious, though. We learned Lyra was born out of wedlock, and the resulting shame and scandal nearly destroyed both of her parents. But why did Mrs. Coulter wait so long to take her child home from Jordan College after abandoning her? And why would she do something as unthinkable as torture Lyra via her daemon? The currently distraught Mrs. Coulter clearly cares about Lyra, but she has no understanding of what it means to put someone else first. She doesn’t know how to love someone, even her own daughter.
HBO/BBC
Ma Costa knows what it means to love her children. She’s been a powerful voice for her missing son Billy and a fierce protective of her eager-to-act son Tony. She’s done that despite her overwhelming grief. And somehow during all of this, she has even found the strength to look after a lost little girl who has no one else in the world. It’s what she did when Lyra was a baby, something we discovered in the show’s most powerful scene yet.
Lyra learns about her real mother and her own past with Ma Costa in a very different way in the books. Yet that moment, more than any other on the series so far, exemplifies why Philip Pullman‘s novels have such a profound connection with readers. Lyra lives in a magical fantasy world, but the people who live there experience the same feelings of love and hate, of hope and fear, as any of us. All of that was on display during that painful conversation; Anne-Marie Duff had to tell a scared girl a terrible truth while carrying her own impossible burden. Ma Costa isn’t Lyra’s mother, but she cares for her like one. And what’s more, that means giving her all of the love she’s capable of. Even when we’d understood if she couldn’t.
HBO/BBC
Her genuine love is why Lyra didn’t need to be told the name of the Gyptian nurse who hid her as an infant. It was clear from Ma Costa’s broken voice and the look on her face she had been the one Lord Asriel had turned to when his daughter was in danger. While Mrs. Coulter was afraid for herself, Ma Costa risked her own life to protect Lyra when she held her all night, She’s still holding her now, despite even worse danger, all while she suffers through a parent’s worse nightmare. It’s all so awful for both of them, which is what makes it all so powerful. Ma Costa’s love is enough to keep them both moving through the darkness, together.
With the Gyptian boats heading North to meet with witches and fight Gobblers, His Dark Materials will only feel more and more like a fantasy. The story will get further away from our own world. But as Ma Costa shows, even as it does it will still feel real, because there’s no magic that can match a mother’s love.
Featured Image: HBO/BBC
The post How Ma Costa Makes HIS DARK MATERIALS Feel Real appeared first on Nerdist.