Page 32 - MidWeek - Nov 30, 2022

32 MIDWEEK NOVEMBER 30, 2022
T alk about taking your gaming seriously. Palmer Luckey, a defense contractor and, ac- cording to Vice, the father of modern virtual reality, has in- vented a VR headset that lit- erally presents a life-or-death
Dying In VR Game Means Dying In Real Life
outcome.
Inspired by the NerveGe-
He admits, though, that he needs to keep tinkering: “There are a huge variety of failures that could occur and kill the user at the wrong time. This is why I have not worked up the (nerve) to actually use it myself. At this point, it is just ... a thought-provoking reminder of unexplored ave- nues in game design.”
ar VR headsets in the anime Sword Art Online, Luckey’s headset features three explo- sive charge modules that det- onate and instantly destroy the user’s head if the user dies during gameplay.
In other Weird reports:
But the real creme de la creme came when people started requesting jewelry made from semen. Booth transforms the liquids to pow- der and mixes them with clay, then sculpts the jewelry piece.
“Pumped-up graphics might make a game look more real, but only the threat of seri- ous consequences can make a game feel real to you and ev-
Fashioned From What?
ery other person in the game,” said Luckey, co-founder of Oculus VR and the designer of Oculus Rift.
da, Oddee reported on Oct. 31. Her first pieces were of clay, but then a friend contacted her and asked if she could make a jewelry set from her son’s ashes. Booth has “never said no” to a friend, and the set in- spired other customers — one who asked if she could use breast milk to make jewelry. She posted about the jewelry on TikTok and business took off, including orders for items made with umbilical cords, placenta and hair.
“I am an open-minded art- ist,” Booth said.
Life In The Fast Lane
Brandy Bottone of Plano, Texas, who argued success- fully in June that her unborn fetus qualified her to drive in the HOV lane, is now the namesake of House Bill 521 in Texas’ 2023 legisla- tive session, MSN reported. The Brandy Bill, introduced by state Rep. Briscoe Cain, states that a pregnant driver “is entitled to use any HOV lane in the state.” Texas penal code stipulates that an unborn child is considered a person “at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth.” If the Brandy Bill is signed
Designer Amanda Booth, 33, of Toronto, Canada, has a business making jewelry, apt- ly named Trinkets by Aman-
Oddly Made Trinkets
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