With ATMs, debit cards, and a circular, rather than square playing board, the 75th anniversary, or “Revolution Edition” of classic board game Monopoly, is certainly moving with the times:

“Monopoly: Revolution Edition” is slick and round instead of dull and square, with debit cards and an ATM instead of paper money and a banker, clear plastic representations of the classic tokens (bye-bye, little boot!), and clips of popular songs (like Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day,” and Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love”) that play after certain actions.

While 100 year waves – at up to 14 metres in height – may not be what many seafarers wish to encounter, their now greater frequency could be just the news some surfers are waiting to hear.

Now measurements from a deep-water buoy moored off the Oregon coast since the mid-1970s indicate that the “100-year” waves – the monster waves with a 1 per cent chance of occurring in any given year – could be 40 per cent larger than previous estimates, at 14 metres high.

Even if we weren’t the least bit interested when younger, it seems we generally take to classical music as we get older. That’s certainly been the trend up until now, or until Generation X – those born between 1961 and 1981 – came along.

Recent research shows that Gen Xers are yet to “participate” in classical music, despite the fact many are now middle-aged, and this is a concerning trend for classical composers.

In the meantime, classical musicians essentially need to be in the business of adult education if they are to keep their audience and their livelihood. They must convince grown people with little or no knowledge of Bach and Brahms and Messiaen why these composers should matter to their daily lives.

There’s been plenty of rain (and humidity) in Sydney these last few days.

Reading books seems to be more effective than listening to music, or walking, when it comes to reducing stress.

Reading worked best, reducing stress levels by 68 per cent, said cognitive neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis. Subjects only needed to read, silently, for six minutes to slow down the heart rate and ease tension in the muscles, he found. In fact it got subjects to stress levels lower than before they started.

Degree qualified professionals tend to prefer the company of cats as pets – rather than dogs – as cats require less overall attention, something that suits the lifestyle of professionals, who often spend long hours away from home working.

Researchers at the University of Bristol said that the superior intelligence of cat owners could in no way be attributed to their famously cunning and selfish pets. Rather, better educated people tended to work longer hours and chose a pet that fitted in with their lifestyle. Unlike dogs, cats do not need walks and cope with little human company.

The Japanese capsule hotel concept, where guests literally sleep in a space about the size of a single bed, has been given a classy make-over by Cubic Corp, who have recently opened a new style capsule hotel called 9 Hours.

On the eve of Chinese New Year – being the year of the Tiger – Design Federation is hosting a gathering to mark its third anniversary in the Australian design community, this Friday, 12 February, at theclub, 33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, Sydney, from 7pm.

Enjoy an evening of wine, music, and the work of upwards of 50 Australian designers and artists.

Craft your own disaster/catastrophe movie, in the ilk of say The Road, or 2012, with the Random Filmpocalypse Plot Generator:

Our future may be uncertain and destined to be very short and feature lots of boiling lava blasts and homicidal angels, but one thing is certain: the end-of-the-world genre is currently booming like a nuked metropolis, and so we all might as well get in on the action.

Distractivity. A link blog that points to the distracting items you find so enjoyable may be a part of the answer.

Distractivity is what you’re doing when you get distracted from what you should be doing. It’s generally what you want to do, often what you need to do, and arguably, what you’ll do best.