TEDx Talks: Jack Horner, Shape Shifting Dinosaurs

There is a cool TED Talk [see video at the end] by dino-guru Jack Horner about why we never find "small" dinosaurs. It seems that paleontologists often find "new" species of dinosaurs when in reality, they really find a juvenile dino of a species that has already been discovered. Horner claims that this is due, in part, to the ego of men and their claim to fame in discovering and naming a species. His hypothesis about why many "different" dinosaurs are really just one dinosaur at various stages of its life is pretty compelling.

FOOD: Seoul Chako (Montreal)

The rather new Korean BBQ place in Montreal is located at 1824 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest. If you're not familiar with Korean BBQ's, the concept is based around cooking your own food on a grill. Seoul Chako's decor is nice and the restaurant is pretty spacious.

Kickstarter: Double Fine Adventure

For those who are unfamiliar with Kickstarter, here's how Wikipedia defines it:

Kickstarter is an online crowdfunding website for creative projects. Kickstarter has crowdfunded a diverse array of endeavors,^[1]ranging from indie film and music to journalism, solar energy technology and food-related projects.^[2]

Basically, this means that you, or anyone, can create a project on Kickstarter, and hope that everyday people from around the world will "back" up the project's development. The idea is that small amounts from a large "crowd" can generate sufficient funding, thus reducing the dependency on traditional investors (VC, banks...). Backers are usually compensated with the first production samples, a limited edition item or a behind the scenes look at development. Kickstarter takes 5% of projects that reach their fund raising goals (projects that don't reach their goal receive no money) and Amazon Payments takes an additional 3-5%.

LEGO Mini Figurines: Lord of the Rings and More

LEGO has long dominated the land with huge licenses for its iconic construction sets (scroll to see DC Universe, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Toy Story and more). The latest and greatest upcoming LOTR theme is timed to coincide with the release of The Hobbit. Here are some cool images of some of the mini-figs, a must for all LOTR and LEGO fans!

Tennis: Australian Open 2012, Djokovic vs Nadal Rivalry

Novak Djokovic does it again to win his fourth Grand Slam title. What's interesting to note is that he now owns Rafael Nadal (he won his last seven matches against Nadal, three in Grand Slam finals) after starting off with a mediocre 30% win percentage in their first 23 head-to-head matches over a five-year span.

*Just added at the bottom, a video of Nadal and Djokovic about to collapse after playing for six hours at the Aussie Open Final and having to listen to the long winded sponsors and admin speeches. Pretty funny.

What's interesting about this rivalry, compared to say Federer vs Nadal is that the tide has completely shifted. Federer never owned Nadal, in fact, Nadal went from beating Federer half the time, to almost beating him every time (just like how Federer owns Roddick). Even though Federer destroyed Nadal (6-3, 6-0) in the 2011 year ending Championships in London, he hasn't beaten the Spaniard in a Grand Slam in five years.

Technology: Samsung's Transparent Smart Window CES 2012

After introducing some cool new tech like the Flexible AMOLED Screen, Samsung revealed it's Transparent Smart Window at CES this year. Dubbed by many online reviewers as the "Minority Report" screen, the screen acts as like a one-sided pane that allows you to use widgets and to block out sunlight like regular blinds on a window. It will go into mass production this year but its size seems to be a bit smaller than most windows I know of.

My question is: Will future architects start to plan their designs around these more sophisticated devices?

AWESOME FOOD: Kiss Grill (Montreal)

All "Kiss Grill" photos courtesy of Whirl256 (Josie)

We tried this place for my birthday after reading good reviews. I like grilled food so didn't think I could go wrong. The best too is that the service is REALLY fast so you get your appetizers right away and your main 5-10 mins after that. We ordered a bunch of things and here is what I tasted:

Appetizers:
- Japanese Vegetable Salad
- Spicy Julienne Salad
- Duck
- Won ton soup
- Grilled Chicken Wings

TRAVEL GUIDE: Saint Lucia - Soufriere, Marigot Bay, Castries & Rodney Bay

Petit and Gros Piton: UNESCO World Heritage Site

What better way to escape the cold than by going to the Caribbean for some sun? Here is a travel guide for anyone considering a trip to Saint Lucia based on my recent trip.

Quick Overview:


- Saint Lucia [pronounced LOO-SHA] is a British Commonwealth country that changed hands between the English and the French 14 times since 1660
- Tourism is the main economic activity (although some sites say UK-bound bananas is still first but declining quickly)
- English the the official language but 95% of locals speak a French-based Creole (called Patois)
- Most of the cities and beaches are on the west coast. The middle of island has a rain forest and is mostly untouched by man
- Roads are extremely narrow, full of blind turns (hairpin turns up/down steep hills every 10 seconds). Drivers honk when turning a curve and although there aren't many cars on the road, it's intimidating for non-locals. The east coast road is easier to drive but parts of the road were collapsed due to landslides from last year's hurricane.
- Negotiating is part of the culture, especially with taxi drivers. In some places, all the drivers are together so it's hard to get a good price (collusion) but in the cities, you can walk a few blocks and easily find another cab. I will outline the rates we got in the taxi descriptions below for each city.
- EC$ (East Caribbean) is the local currency and pegged at 2.71EC$ = 1 USD. USD were accepted everywhere so there is no need for EC's but most people accept USD at a rate of 2.5 EC= 1 USD so you lose a bit. I will quote all prices in USD.
- Local buses cost less than $1 (2.50 EC) but there is no schedule so good luck getting one. They also don't stop unless you wave them down on the highway. They are also more like vans than buses and we tried to get on one once but every bus was filled to capacity. At that price, it makes sense that buses are always full.

The Hobbit Trailer

It's been a while since the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was released and it will forever be remembered as one of the greatest fantasy films of all time. I remember seeing the trailer for the first LOTR on Jackie Chan's Rush Hour DVD and the excitement it created. As I watch The Hobbit trailer, I don't quite get the same feeling as it looks like a lot of singing sprinkled with bits of action. We'll have to wait until next year for the film but let's hope it'll be good. Trailers below:

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Being a fan of the original 80's cartoon, I was very disappointed by Michael Bay's live action movie of The Transformers in 2007. The sequel to the movie wasn't much better and the third movie was ok.

However, all you fans out there should try out the latest series of Transformers games. I had the chance to play the XBOX 360 version of Transformers: War for Cyberton and it's actually a faithful representation of the Transformers universe. The transformation from humanoid to vehicle is smooth and relevant. I think that High Moon Studios did a great job where so many fail. The games are much better than the movies in every way (story, rendition, action, faithfulness...).

Google's 10 Billion App Downloads Special: $0.10 Apps!

If you have an Android phone, and have been living under a rock for the past three days, then you wouldn't know about the $0.10 sale on some "Editor's Choice" paid apps. Who wouldn't know about this you ask? Well I know someone who bought a Samsung Galaxy S when it launched last year and he checks his emails every 2-3 days...he actually only uses it to make phone calls. Here is a look at the Top Paid Apps and as you can see many of the apps are at the discounted rate while some went back to regular price.

Technology: Samsung Flexible AMOLED

Samsung is working on creating a transparent, paper-thin and flexible AMOLED screen that can be rolled up and slipped into your pocket. The concept video shows really cool uses for reading and video chatting but the greatest potential could be in the use of augmented reality. As the screen is transparent, you can see what's behind it (i.e. poster, menu, text...) and do an automatic search for more info and with the use of some imagination, a whole lot more (think Avatar and Minority Report). You can also apply the current use of AR of instantly identifying your surroundings and explaining details that you would otherwise not know about. See the video below: