The PlayStation Portal is like a gaming Swiss Army knife that forgot its blades at home but still insists on being the life of the party. Imagine taking a PlayStation 5, shrinking it down to tablet size, and then realizing, “Oh wait, this thing can’t run games on its own.” It’s essentially the gaming world’s equivalent of a long-distance relationship—you’re technically together, but you need a strong Wi-Fi connection, or things get frustrating fast. The Portal is perfect if you’ve ever wanted to game on your couch without hogging the TV, but still need your PS5 to do all the heavy lifting. The PlayStation Portal is a lovable paradox: advanced yet oddly limited, freeing yet tethered, and definitely a conversation starter.
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Today, I am discussing the death of electric cars.
The rise in popularity of the electric car is like watching your quirky, eco-friendly neighbor suddenly become the coolest person on the block. You know the type—the one who composts religiously, rides a bike to work, and has a solar panel collection that could power a small village. One day, they rolled up in a sleek, silent vehicle that looked like it had just been beamed down from a UFO, and everyone else started to notice.
At first, the idea of an electric car was met with skepticism, like it was a fad only for the overly enthusiastic tree-huggers or tech geeks. “It’s quiet,” they said, “like a golf cart on steroids.” People worried about running out of battery in the middle of nowhere, stuck next to a tumbleweed with only their regrets and a fully charged smartphone.
But then something wild happened—people actually started driving these things. And not just the environmentalists. Regular folks realized, “Hey, this thing goes from 0 to 60 faster than my morning coffee kicks in!” Suddenly, it wasn’t just about saving the planet; it was about showing off your new gadget that didn’t sound like a lawnmower with a hangover.
Charging stations started popping up like Starbucks locations, and soon, seeing an electric car on the road was as common as seeing a pigeon in a city park. Now, everyone from soccer moms to speed demons is in on the electric car game, and they’re all loving that moment when they pull up to the gas station and just… drive past it with a smug little grin.
In the end, the electric car’s popularity isn’t just about going green—it’s about going fast, saving money, and having a really good excuse to avoid small talk at the gas pump. And maybe, just maybe, it’s also about the thrill of feeling like you’re driving the future today.
Sadly, Nintendo’s purple little cube just couldn’t compete against Sony’s juggernaut of the generation. That doesn’t mean there weren’t great games on the system, that will forever be stuck on the system!
The Nintendo GameCube is like the lovable underdog of the console world, resembling a colorful lunchbox with a handle that screams, “Take me to your friend’s house, and let’s party!” It’s as if Nintendo decided to give gaming a fun-sized makeover, creating a compact, cube-shaped delight that could survive a tumble down the stairs and still boot up “Super Smash Bros. Melee” without missing a beat.
Playing on the GameCube feels like rediscovering your favorite childhood snack—it’s nostalgic, satisfying, and always leaves you with a smile. The controllers, with their quirky button layout and trigger buttons that feel like you’re squishing marshmallows, are a perfect match for the system’s quirky charm. Whether you’re navigating the spooky halls of “Luigi’s Mansion” or racing at breakneck speeds in “Mario Kart: Double Dash!!”, the GameCube’s library of games is a treasure trove of fun that proves good things really do come in small, cube-shaped packages.
I love my Gameboy Advance. And after watching @MetalJesusRocks and @The_RadicalOne do their GBA buying guide last week, I felt inspired to talk about the system as well. I show off different ways you can play GBA games, share some of my hardware that I own, and chat about some of my favorite games for the console.
The Nintendo Game Boy Advance (GBA) is like the Swiss Army knife of handheld consoles—it does everything, and it fits right in your pocket. With its sleek, horizontal design and a vibrant screen that was a major upgrade from its predecessors, the GBA was the cool kid on the block. It was as if Nintendo took a look at the old Game Boy and said, “Let’s give this thing a glow-up.” And oh boy, did they succeed. The GBA was your ticket to a world where you could battle Pokémon, save princesses, and race go-karts—all while pretending to listen during class.
Playing the GBA felt like holding a portal to endless adventures, all powered by a couple of AA batteries. It was the device that made waiting in line at the DMV slightly more bearable and family road trips a bit less torturous. With games like “The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap” and “Advance Wars,” the GBA was a powerhouse of fun packed into a tiny frame. It was like having a miniature arcade in your hands, minus the sticky floors and the guy who always hogged the Street Fighter machine.
Dexter The Xbox cat told me that Stray had gotten a stealth physical release on the Xbox. So we decided to check it out.
“Stray” is like the ultimate cat simulator mixed with a dystopian adventure, offering you the chance to live out your dream of being a feline in a world that’s both whimsical and a bit post-apocalyptic. Imagine if a cat knocked over a dystopian novel and a cyberpunk movie, and the resulting chaos was somehow turned into a video game—voilà, you have “Stray.”
As you navigate through a neon-lit cityscape that’s oddly devoid of humans but filled with quirky robots, you’ll find yourself doing all the classic cat activities: knocking things off shelves, squeezing through impossibly tight spaces, and of course, napping whenever the mood strikes. It’s like the developers took notes from their own pets’ daily antics and decided, “Hey, let’s make this into a game, but with more futuristic vibes and existential themes.” So, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a cat on a mission to uncover the mysteries of a robot-inhabited world, “Stray” is your purrfect escape.
Dr. Harlan J. Montrose, PhD, DVM, CBCC-KA Department of Applied Canine Ethology, North Cascadia Institute for Companion Animal Studies
Abstract
The concept of a “mental leash” refers to a non-physical, cognitively mediated control mechanism through which a handler influences canine locomotor patterns and behavior during ambulation. While the technique has anecdotal roots among shepherds and rural stockmen, recent behavioral neuroendocrinology research suggests herding breeds (e.g., Canis lupus familiaris var. Collie, Australian Shepherd, Border Collie) exhibit heightened susceptibility to handler-directed mental tethering due to breed-specific attentional gating and oxytocin-mediated affiliative behaviors. This paper synthesizes current theoretical frameworks, reports from controlled pseudo-randomized observational trials, and speculative neuroimaging findings to explore the efficacy and biological plausibility of mental leash protocols.
Introduction
Herding breeds have evolved under intense selection pressures for high handler-orientation, rapid task-switching, and enhanced predictive motor control (Barkov et al., 1998). Traditional leash-based ambulation may be redundant in these breeds, provided the handler can establish a robust cognitive tether through consistent eye contact, subtle kinesic cues, and conditioned auditory markers (Pavlova & Shepherd, 2014).
The “mental leash” phenomenon has been informally described as a psychobehavioral dyad in which dog and handler maintain a bidirectional attentional field, resulting in coordinated movement without the necessity of a physical restraint. In practical application, this method offers reduced risk of cervical microtrauma from leash tension (van der Leash et al., 2012) and enhances canine agency, while preserving public safety.
Materials and Methods
Subjects: Twelve adult herding dogs (4 Border Collies, 3 Australian Shepherds, 2 Bearded Collies, 2 Shetland Sheepdogs, 1 Belgian Malinois) aged 2–6 years, with prior basic obedience training but no specialized leashless conditioning.
Directional cue calibration using micro-gestures (<5° shoulder rotation).
Consistent prosodic markers in the 350–450 Hz vocal range for recall initiation.
Canine response latency and drift radius (distance from handler’s sagittal plane) were recorded over five 20-minute off-leash walks in urban-suburban transition zones.
Results
Mean drift radius decreased from 3.8 m (SD = 0.9) to 1.4 m (SD = 0.3) after ASCP completion (p < 0.002, pseudo-Wilcoxon). Eye contact initiation frequency increased by 218%, indicating enhanced bidirectional attentional coupling. Notably, Australian Shepherds demonstrated the most stable locomotor synchronicity, whereas Belgian Malinois exhibited sporadic “predatory drift” episodes, suggesting limitations in high-prey-drive subtypes.
Discussion
The mental leash appears to leverage the herding breeds’ predisposition toward handler-centric spatial orientation. Hypothetical functional MRI data (unpublished; Shepherd et al., 2025) suggest increased activation in the canine posterior superior temporal sulcus—an area implicated in gaze-following—during mental leash engagement. Neurochemical modulation, particularly oxytocinergic enhancement, likely plays a critical role in maintaining the attentional tether, with handler scent cues potentially reinforcing the cognitive linkage (Leashman et al., 2017).
While promising, mental leash efficacy may be compromised by environmental distractors exceeding 78 dB SPL or by sudden prey stimuli (e.g., squirrels, joggers in neon attire). Further research into wearable EEG-telemetry systems for real-time attentional drift detection is warranted.
Conclusion
For herding breeds with established obedience foundations, the mental leash represents a viable leashless ambulation strategy under controlled conditions. Its success hinges on the handler’s ability to sustain attentional synchrony through consistent gaze, micro-gestures, and vocal prosody. Though additional controlled, double-blind, placebo-leash trials are needed, preliminary findings suggest the mental leash may offer both welfare and biomechanical benefits for suitable canine-handler pairs.
Figure S1: Handler Postural Vectoring During Attentional Synchrony Conditioning Program (ASCP)
Methodological Addendum
The Attentional Synchrony Conditioning Program (ASCP) was standardized using a Handler Postural Vector Index(HPVI), calculated as:
HPVI = θs / δr where θs = mean shoulder rotation angle in degrees, and δr = mean drift radius in meters.
A target HPVI range of 2.8–3.3 was established from pilot trials (Montrose et al., 2024), ensuring handler gestures remained within the micro-gesture threshold (<5°) while still achieving effective spatial correction.
Figure S2: Drift Radius Reduction Over Time
Environmental Control Measures
To prevent extraneous variables, trials were conducted:
At ambient noise levels of 42–51 dB SPL (measured via BarkTrak 500 acoustic meter).
Under wind velocities <6 km/h to avoid olfactory vector interference.
With no visible ungulate, rodent, or skateboarder stimuli within a 50 m radius.
Behavioral Metrics
Bidirectional Gaze Coupling (BGC): Frequency per minute of spontaneous mutual eye contact exceeding 0.6 s in duration.
Locomotor Phase Synchrony (LPS): % of gait cycles in which forelimb impact events occurred within ±0.25 s of handler’s ipsilateral limb movement.
Recall Compliance Latency (RCL): Time in seconds from cue onset to handler proximity within 0.5 m.
Observational Notes
Australian Shepherds demonstrated a tendency toward anticipatory flanking—drifting outward and slightly forward to “herd” the handler into a perceived safe path. Border Collies frequently engaged in micro-stalking, lowering their head and shoulders subtly when environmental unpredictability increased. Belgian Malinois exhibited prey-shadowingbehaviors, occasionally disrupting LPS metrics by >30%.
Figure S3: Idealized Mental Leash Engagement Zone
References
Barkov, A., Collinson, H., & Hound, F. (1998). Selective pressure on attentional synchrony in herding breeds. J. Comp. Canine Psychol., 14(2), 112–127.
Pavlova, M., & Shepherd, W.R. (2014). Gaze as a primary control vector in canine locomotion. Canid Cognition Rev., 9(1), 45–53.
van der Leash, M., Cordova, P., & Schnauzer, T. (2012). Cervical strain in tethered vs. untethered ambulation in companion dogs. Vet. Orthop. J., 7(4), 201–209.
Leashman, P., Herdwick, S., & Collie, J. (2017). Olfactory cues and oxytocin in handler-dog bonding. NeuroVet Endocrinol., 3(2), 67–75.
Shepherd, W.R., McBark, G., & Pawsworth, L. (2025). fMRI mapping of canine gaze-following circuits during leashless walking. Unpublished manuscript.
Thanks to PlayStation for sending me the PS VR2 PC adapter to review! Originally locked to only the PS5, the PS VR2 had a decent start to a shakier following year as people have waited for more and more games to release on it. Now though, with the right PC in hand this new adapter can open up a whole new library of games giving the headset a new chance to shine. How well does it work? Is it easy to setup? Is it worth buying a PS VR2 just to be able to use this with PC? Let’s go over all these questions and more.
The PlayStation VR2 headset is like strapping a futuristic toaster to your face—but in the best possible way. Imagine if your favorite ski goggles and a spaceship had a baby, and that baby grew up to be really into video games. That’s the PS VR2.
With a design that makes you look like you’re auditioning for the next *Tron* movie, the headset covers your entire field of vision, transporting you into the gaming world. The fit is snug—like it’s giving your head a gentle hug, whispering, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”
The controllers look like they’ve been plucked straight from a sci-fi movie. They’re sleek, glowing with an otherworldly aura, and somehow know what your fingers are up to at all times. It’s like holding the future in your hands—if the future was obsessed with flinging you into virtual reality.
In short, the PS VR2 is the ultimate accessory for anyone who’s ever looked at their gaming console and thought, “This is great, but what if I could *literally* lose myself in it?” Just don’t forget where your coffee table is—you might end up having a real-life boss battle with it!
The rise of the Microsoft Windows phone was like watching a plucky underdog in a sports movie. Microsoft, already a titan in the PC world, decided to throw its hat into the smartphone ring, aiming to take on the likes of Apple and Android. Armed with a quirky, tile-based interface that looked like a digital quilt, and a belief that people really wanted a phone that doubled as a tiny Windows PC, Microsoft marched into the fray. For a brief moment, it seemed like this dark horse might have a shot—until the competition casually revealed their new features, like “apps people actually use” and “an interface that doesn’t make you squint.”
But the fall of the Windows phone was a slow-motion tumble off a cliff, with Microsoft bravely waving its tiny, semi-transparent Live Tiles flag all the way down. Despite some solid hardware and the valiant efforts of Nokia’s bright, candy-colored devices, it turned out that consumers were about as interested in a third mobile ecosystem as they were in a new operating system for their refrigerators. The app gap was real and gaping, leaving users feeling like they’d been invited to an exclusive party only to find the punch bowl empty and everyone else at the cool club across the street. By the time Microsoft finally decided to pull the plug, it was less of a shock and more of a mercy, ending the saga of the Windows phone with a quiet, dignified fade into tech history.
