Step Back in Time: Adorable Couple Constructs Massive 1950s Town

Prepare to be transported back in time with Debbie and Ronnie’s incredible creation – a sprawling 1950s town nestled right in their backyard! For the past 25 years, this adorable duo has poured their hearts and souls into crafting a nostalgic wonderland that’s going to leave you speechless.

From a charming diner complete with functioning soda machines to a full-size gas station straight out of a retro postcard, every inch of this town oozes with authentic 1950s charm. But what makes this project truly remarkable is that Ronnie built each of the 14 separate buildings almost single-handedly, using mainly recycled materials, while Debbie added her magical touch through painting and meticulous detailing. Be sure to check it out in the video below!

[Coolest Thing]



Sad AI Sings a Heartbreaking Interpretation of a Software License

Listen as a sad AI lady, prompted by engineer Riley Goodside, delivers a soulful rendition of the MIT software license. Accompanied by a melancholic piano, this haunting performance evokes the bittersweet essence of freedom and reuse. This is quite possibly the greatest sad song of all time.

I just love how the AI interprets the part of the license were “The Software” is written inside parenthesis. It’s just perfect… and hilarious!

Five Traumatic 80s Cartoons That Might Have Scarred Me For Life

Being an 80s kid sure had its perks. I mean, we had it good. The heyday of consoles, some of the best geek movie franchises in history, and of course, some of the most amazing hand-drawn animation to ever hit the screen.

But that’s not to say everything was good. In fact, if you were a Disney Channel aficionado like I was, or happened to have parents who couldn’t tell a good cartoon from a bad one (or anime from Looney Toons) you may have stumbled across some of these cartoons that may well have scarred me for life. I was a very imaginative kid, and while some of these films certainly influenced me as a writer, they also made room for some pretty enduring nightmares.

5) The Hobbit (Rankin-Bass) – Sure, now we laugh at this movie. In contrast to Peter Jackson’s films it somewhat pales in comparison in its rendering of Middle Earth. But the Rankin-Bass version, at the time I saw it in the mid-80s, was like a long, drug-induced fever dream. Not that I knew about drugs, but I swear I could feel it. It was in Gollum’s eyes, and the gaping throats of those horrific Orcs. I recall many nights laying awake in bed, unable to shake the visions (and the songs) from my mind. While technically a late 70s movie, I think the aftershocks of this film were felt well on into the 80s. Especially for those of us who got to relive the story over and over again with LPs and storybooks! Here is the trailer (the audio is slightly delayed):

4) Gallavants – So I’m going to say right off that there’s not much about this film I recall. But I do remember this: the main character went on a journey, and he needed to have a “kabump” appear on his butt. Seriously, it was a rite of passage. Oh, he tried to fake it for a while when all his friends got their kabumps, with a piece of fruit. But eventually everything got figured out… except my sanity. I spent years wondering if this film was a hallucination or just a half-remembered dream. Turns out it actually existed, and somehow that makes everything worse.

The Last Unicorn – Don’t get me wrong, I love this film. I love Peter S. Beagle. But as a child, man. There was no terror like the terror of The Last Unicorn: talking skeletons, well-endowed trees, horrifying birds, and of course that indomitable red bull. The weird thing about this film was that, in spite of my absolute fear of it I never could stop watching. I mean, it has unicorns. And pretty princesses. Even if they did haunt my dreams for years to come. (Although, I think this is where I can trace my propensity for crushing on nerdy wizard types; Schmendrick is so dreamy. Or something.)

2) The Sea Prince and the Fire Child / The Legend of Sirius – This 1981 anime is real. I know this now. My cousins know this. My sister knows this. For some reason it was the film my parents rented every time they came over to the house. There’s something about old gods, fire and water, star crossed lovers, eclipses, and a little horned merman named Bibble who frakking dies. (Spoiler?) Bibble’s death was a black mark on my childhood, shaking me to my very foundations. It really is a beautiful film, however—just at the time, my raw, emotional response to it was off the charts.

1) Unico. Okay, this may be a little obscure. But there is nothing as terrifying as Unico. Nor will there ever be. Now we have Wikipedia to chronicle our 80s traumas, but when I was in college I remember mentioning Unico to a friend in passing, who stopped me and gasped. “Oh my God!” he nearly shouted. “Someone else in the world has seen Unico! I thought it was just me… oh my God.” Unico was adapted from a manga, I’ve since learned, and the first film (yes there are more than one) was released in 1979. There’s all kinds of nightmarish stuff in those films, though, including a deranged puppet, vengeful gods, and of course bricks made out of real people. Not to mention that Unico himself looked like a creepy little unicorn crossed with a cat with a human child’s face.

So, that’s my top five. Any of you experienced films that left an indelible mark on your soul for decades? Share the trauma!

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Today’s Hottest Deals: Funko POP, Games, and Collectibles, Samsung Gaming Monitors, JBL Headphones, and MORE!

For today’s edition of “Deal of the Day,” here are some of the best deals we stumbled on while browsing the web this morning! Please note that Geeks are Sexy might get a small commission from qualifying purchases done through our posts. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Even hands-free, phones and their apps cause dangerously distracted driving

Car infotainment systems are getting ever more sophisticated. AP Photo/Ryan Sun

Shannon Roberts, UMass Amherst

Do you ever use your cellphone while driving? Don’t feel too guilty about saying yes – nearly 60% of drivers admit to using their phone in hands-free mode while driving.

But don’t become complacent either. Using your cellphone in hands-free mode while driving is not a perfectly safe activity, despite the impression you might be getting from laws, marketing messages and the behavior of people around you.

Fatal crashes caused by driver distraction have not gone down significantly over time: Distraction caused 14% of fatal crashes in 2017 and 13% of fatal crashes in 2021. Given that these numbers are calculated based on police-reported crashes, many experts believe the actual number of crashes caused by driver distraction is much higher. For example, real-world crash data from teens indicates that 58% of their crashes are due to driver distraction.

I am a human factors engineer who studies how drivers interact with technology. I see a gap between what people are told and what people should do when it comes to using your cellphone behind the wheel.

Hands-free calling

Most U.S. states ban hand-held cellphone use while driving but allow hands-free devices. However, hands-free devices are still distracting. Talking on a hands-free phone and driving is multitasking, and humans are not good at doing two cognitively demanding tasks at the same time.

For example, having a phone conversation in hands-free mode while driving causes you to stop looking out for hazards on the road and gets you into more close calls where you slam on the brakes than if you were not on the phone.

These detrimental effects last even after you end your call. There is a hangover effect: You can remain mentally distracted nearly 27 seconds after you finish using your cellphone. At 65 miles per hour, you’ve traveled nearly half a mile in 27 seconds.

Third-party apps

Third-party apps that connect your smartphone to your car’s interface, such ass Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, encourage you to use your phone in hands-free mode while driving. You can control things like music, navigation, text messaging and phone calls using voice commands and the car’s interface. IPhone users can connect their phones to more than 800 car models and Android phone users more than 500 models.

But is using these third-party apps while driving safe? Fifty-three percent of people say that if carmakers put the technology in vehicles, they must be safe. Though these third-party apps make cellphone use hands-free, they unintentionally cause you to look away from the road for dangerous amounts of time and they slow your reaction time.

Law-enforcement officers would like to remind you that distracted driving is a threat to the people around you, not just yourself.

Driving automation and distraction

Recent advances in technology have made driving a safer activity. Systems such as Cadillac Super Cruise and Tesla Autopilot control your steering and acceleration in limited situations, but they don’t mean you can text at will. Though it’s often lost in the marketing and enthusiasm for the systems, you are still required to pay attention to the road when you’re using them.

Research has shown that drivers using Level 2 automation, which combines adaptive cruise control with lane centering, are more likely to take their eyes off the road. Research also shows that watching a video or doing anything distracting while using these systems is unsafe – you stop looking at the road, and when you need to respond, it takes more time.

Some systems work to keep you focused on driving by monitoring your eye or head position to make sure you’re looking straight ahead. If your eyes are off the road for more than a few seconds, the systems alert you to bring your attention back to driving. This makes it difficult to get distracted by your phone.

Distracted driving awareness

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Distracted driving – in hands-free mode, using a third-party app or when using driving automation – still claims thousands of lives each year in the U.S. Despite continual advances in vehicle technology, cellphone use while driving is likely to remain a challenging problem for the foreseeable future.

To discourage distracted driving, it’s important to look back to see what’s worked in the past to keep roads safe. Modifying the culture around distracted driving as well as comprehensive education, training and media campaigns, similar to “Click It or Ticket” to encourage seat belt use, are good examples of what works. To that end, on April 1, 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched the “Put the Phone Away or Pay” campaign to discourage distracted driving.

And for all of those who drive with children in the car, be sure to model safe behavior – they are watching and learning from you.The Conversation

Shannon Roberts, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, UMass Amherst

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.