Sewers of Babel : braineel

U.S. Astronuats are learning to breathe piss from the Russians.

NASA's Oxygen Generation System, or OGS, is essentially a copycat of Russia's Elektron, which uses electrolysis to turn purified urine into breathable air and has been used on the space station for the past six years. The new setup offers an important backup for the existing systems, experts said, and a chance to test technology that could prove instrumental for deep-space exploration and colonization.

Advertisers have long sought new modes of breaking through what theY call "clutter" a term in the industry for the proliferation of advertising. As we have all noted it is impossible for the potential consumer to not be constantly bombarded with advertising phenomina from tv, radio, bilboard, mailings, and even product placement we are absolutely up to the gills in the big sell. Advertisers have the problem now of trying to be heard amid the din. A new mode and means of advertising is in the offing: Virtual Advertising. Due to the mass escapism sought by consumers through games advertisers are now moving toward infesting our virtual worlds with ads. The article linked above has many angles on how and why this works also will point you to some interesting games and phenomina in games you already love.

A study last October by Nielsen Interactive Entertainment found that in-game advertising resulted in a 60 percent increase in awareness for a new product and that animated 3-D ads achieved twice the recall of static billboards. Half of 900 respondents to a pre-exposure survey conducted jointly by Nielsen and Double Fusion agreed that in-game advertising makes a game more realistic. Just 21 percent disagreed. Additionally, 54 percent agreed that the in-game advertising caught their attention while 17 percent disagreed. Another Nielsen study conducted with Activision, a game publisher, included 1,350 male gamers aged 13 to 44 split into groups that played games with ads and without ads. The study found that ads that are relevant to the game were tolerated on the screen longer and resulted in improved brand awareness and positive feelings about the product (source: MediaLife).

oh and by the way enjoy coke