Oct 13 2009 Aliens Are Here, Apparently Vodka Drinkers
Aliens were recently spotted (well, not literally) hovering over Moscow and playing with the clouds above the city because they have that technology and like to make our meteorologists jealous for sucking so bad at predicting the weather (you said no rain today, jerks!). And don't even try to tell me there's some other reasonable explanation for this video, because there isn't. Even Stephen Hawking agrees with me, and that guy knows his stuff. Isn't that right, Stephen? STEPHEN?! Need I remind you you're parked precariously close to the stairs?
Thanks to Sergey, melissa and roy, who would have at least thrown a rock at it or something.
Sep 23 2009 Beautiful Shot Of The Pinwheel Galaxy
The Pinwheel Galaxy (higher res version HERE) got its name because it looks like a pinwheel. Geez, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure that one out. Or maybe it's cause it loves Little Debbie Pecan Spinwheels so much. Well guess what -- so do I! And Starcrunches? Don't even get me started!!
This new three-color composite image was captured by the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma, Spain.
Known more officially as Messier 101 or NGC 5457, this classic spiral galaxy is 27 million light years from Earth in the Ursa Major constellation, also known as the Big Dipper. Its slight asymmetry is thought to be the result of an encounter with another galaxy in the recent (astronomically speaking) past. This event also left many huge clouds of glowing gas and plasma known as H II regions.Though the galaxy, which measures 170,000 light-years across, is visible with the naked eye as a fuzzy spot, large telescopes are needed to see any detail.
You know what I love most about outerspace? I heard it's super quiet. What do you mean, "space is a vacuum"? Those things are loud as shit!
Jun 23 2009 Don't Squash Me, Bro!: Cockroach Heart May Hold Key To Better Artificial Human Hearts
Sure it may look like an electric motor inside a bocce ball inside a bomb with nipple shields glued on, but it's actually a pump inside a bocce ball inside a bomb with nipple shields glued on. And apparently it's the key to building a better heart.
...while human hearts have four chambers, a cockroach heart uses 13 leaving plenty of redundancy. When a chamber fails in a human heart, you basically have a heart attack and most likely die, while a cockroach can have a chamber fail and barely notice it.
This new Biventricular Pump artificial heart developed at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, uses a multi-chamber design just like those pesky roaches, and designer Sujoy K. Guha says that this vastly improves its long term reliability when compared with more traditional pneumatic designs.
Well alright, I'm all for a better built heart. Especially considering how women are so prone to RIPPING THEM OUT AND TEARING THEM APART. No, really, I'm not bitter.
Indian artificial heart design uses cockroach heart technology [dvice]
Thanks to FDSY, who is helping me build an iron heart.
May 13 2009 SICK!: Fly Turns Ants Into Zombie Nurseries
The phorid fly turns fire ants into zombies by laying eggs inside them. When the larvae hatch, they eat their way to the ant's brain, which they also eat, leaving the fiery bastards to wander around like zombies before dying. Sick.
"At some point, the ant gets up and starts wandering," said Rob Plowes, a research associate at UT.
The maggot eventually migrates into the ant's head, but Plowes said he "wouldn't use the word 'control' to describe what is happening. There is no brain left in the ant, and the ant just starts wandering aimlessly. This wandering stage goes on for about two weeks."About a month after the egg is laid, the ant's head falls off and the fly emerges ready to attack any foraging ants away from the mound and lay eggs.
ZOMG -- it's head falls off. That reminds me of the time I was getting it on with a velociraptor when my parents came home early so I tried stuffing him in the closet but accidentally slammed the door closed on his neck and his head fell off. I buried it in the backyard, but I kept the body. What? It's okay if it's a dinosaur!
Hit the jump for a video of the flies in action (first video) as well as another of what jewel wasps do to cockroaches (same concept of zombification, but with a completely different method (read: injecting venom straight into the brain)).
Continue Reading " SICK!: Fly Turns Ants Into Zombie Nurseries "
Apr 10 2009 BA-BOOSH!: More Volcano Lightning Action
I don't actually know if that's the sound volcano lightning makes, but for the sake of my journalistic integrity, let's run with it.
When Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano began rumbling back to life in January, a team of researchers scrambled to set up a system called a Lightning Mapping Array that would be able to peer through the dust and gas of any eruption that occurred to the lightning storm happening within. Lightning is known to flash in the tumultuous clouds belched out during volcanic eruptions.
The lightning produced when Redoubt finally erupted on March 22 was "prolific," said physicist Paul Krehbiel of New Mexico Tech.
Cool. Not as dramatic as last year's Chaitén volcano eruption, but this one does have a smiley face in the lightning. Can you see it? It's there on the right. Kind of looks like a giant monkey head....
....
....
THEY'VE FOUND MONKEY ISLAND!
Dramatic Image Shows Volcano's Lightning [livescience]
Thanks to Watch, who once punched a cloud in the face and made it cry rain. True story.
Mar 20 2009 Underwater Volcano: Ka-Boom Shacka Lacka!
That's right folks, an underwater volcano off the coast of Tonga (near Fiji) has been erupting recently, causing all kinds of mean-nasty things to happen. Just kidding. There has been some smoke and ash though.
Scientists sailed Thursday to inspect an undersea volcano that has been erupting for days near Tonga -- shooting smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet into the sky above the South Pacific ocean.Authorities said Thursday the eruption does not pose any danger to islanders at this stage, and there have been no reports of fish or other animals being affected.
Really, no reports of fish or animals being affected? I find that a little hard to believe. Come on now folks, I'm not five anymore, I can take some deceased fishes. Seriously, you don't have secretly replace my dead hamster with one that looks like him. Wait, you did what? NOOOOOOO -- NOT MR. CHEEKEYS! WAAAAAAAAA, I JUST WANT TO DIE!
Hit the jump for a worthwhile VIDEO of the action.
Continue Reading " Underwater Volcano: Ka-Boom Shacka Lacka! "
Mar 17 2009 Oh Grow Up: Flat Worms Fencing....Sexually
I know, I know, I should grow up. I just can't help myself. At least not when there's penis fencing involved. Superficial Writer, en garde!
Thanks to LeftRIGHTleft, a college champion in Tit Kwon Do.
Feb 27 2009 Coooool!: All Glass House Has Sliding Exterior
The Sliding House is an all glass house built by Ross Russell and his wife in Suffolk, England. Its exterior walls and roof are all one piece that can be rolled off of the glass shell via a system of wheels and motors, exposing the entire house to sunlight. I want one. And not just because I'm an exhibitionist, but because HEY, LOOKIE HERE! Haha, yeah, because I'm an exhibitionist.
Thanks to Dan and Joemo, whose houses don't just slide, they electric slide.
Feb 20 2009 Coca-Cowla, Now With More Bovine Urine
Cow urine soda, folks, it quenches your thirst and is packed with vitamins like Yellow #5. Mmmm, delicious AND nutritious.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist conservative party, plans to sell 'Gau Jal', or 'Cow Water', as a rival to soft drink giants Pepsi and Coca Cola...the drink will not contain any additives and that inclusion of medicinal and ayurvedic herbs ensures it doesn't smell bad.
The cow is sacred to Hindus and the RSS has already promoted its urine as a cure for everything from liver disease to cancer.
Well sign me up for a case. And also, how do they collect all this cow urine. Is it anything like collecting semen from a bull? If so, count me in!
Hindu group makes cola from cow urine [msn]
Thanks to Ramy and Cosmic Rocket Man, who once drank Chupacabra urine and developed x-ray vision. Sweet!
Dec 16 2008 Scientists Find World's Oldest Spider Web (Until Another, Much Older One Is Found)
Scientists have found what they believe to be the world's oldest and least circular spider web, encased in a piece of amber. It's allegedly 140 million years-old.
"It's not a striking, perfect web," Braddy said. "(But) this seems to confirm that spiders were building orb webs back in the early Cretaceous" -- the geological term for the period of time between 145.5 and 65.5 million years ago when dinosaurs and small mammals shared the earth.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? If it's, "let's clone whatever that spider bit and have sex with it", then you are. High five for being on the same page.
Oldest Spider Web Found, Scientist Says [aolnews]
Thanks to Pat, who doesn't get bitten by spiders because he bites them. That's pretty freaking sick, Pat.
Dec 12 2008 But Can I Smoke It?: The Wii Hemp-Mote
No -- it's hemp, not chronic. But that didn't stop modder Dhreck, who may or may not smoke the f*** out of the sticky-icky (hint: he does), from wrapping a Wii-mote in the stuff.
The Hemp-Mote is absolutely playable, all buttons, accelerometers and the infrared camera accounted for. Unfortunately its exterior is also quite fragile and prone to degeneration, being in the raw state that it is.
Using saws and files I removed most of the hard plastic shells, then rebuild the underlying shapes using modeling putty. After Smoothing the result out with fine grained sandpaper I give the whole a quick black paint job to ensure eventual gaps didn't stand out too much. Tadaa, a base to wrap stuff around.
Good looking, Dhreck. I'd post some pictures of my potted PS3 controller but my roommate smoked it. So you know what I did? I killed him and made a bong out of his bones. But not the skull! That's a candy dish.
Hit the jump for several more views and a link to Dhreck's work.
Dec 8 2008 Eye Candy: Aurora Borealis From Space
This is a time-lapse video made of still images by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station. It shows the Aurora Borealis in all its auroral beauty -- from space. And while it's not THE most beautiful thing I've ever seen, it's second only to the boobs I saw yesterday.
Thanks to Larry, who apologizes for saying Dan stinks but will still see him on the hike tomorrow rain or shine. Just be careful guys, and don't get f***ed by any bears.
Nov 30 2008 Gay Penguins Steal Eggs From Straight Couples, Get Proposition 8'ed By Zoo
Two gay penguins at Polar Land in Harbin, China have been stealthily stealing eggs from straight couples and replacing them with rocks. Brilliant!
But the deception has been noticed by other penguins at the zoo, who have ostracized the gay couple from their group. Now keepers have decided to segregate the pair of three-year-old male birds to avoid disrupting the rest of the community during the hatching season.
"One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite this being a biological impossibility for this couple, the natural desire is still there," a keeper told the Austrian Times newspaper."It's not discrimination. We have to fence them separately, otherwise the whole group will be disturbed during hatching time," he added.
Not discrimination my ass. Next thing you know the couple won't even be allowed to marry. Seriously, I have had it up to here *raising arm as high over head as possible* with this nonsense. Penguins are people too, you know? And wow, my pits smell like chili-dogs with lots of chopped onion. F***ing love those things. Gay penguins too. Pittsburgh, eh, not so much.
Gay penguins steal eggs from straight couples [telegraph]
Thanks to Matt, who allegedly saw a turtle threesome at the zoo once.
Nov 24 2008 PEEEW!: Meteor Blasts Over Canada
A brilliant meteor shone its alien light over Alberta and Saskatchewan at approximately 5:30 p.m. last Thursday.
[The meteor] likely weighed between one and 10 tons and shone brightly enough to be seen over an area 700 km (435 miles) wide.
"It was somewhere between the size of a chair to the size of a desk," said Alan Hildebrand, a planetary scientist at the University of Calgary and a coordinator of a fireball reporting service.
Well damn, you think there were any aliens aboard that mother? I dunno, but rest assured I'll be sleeping underwearless tonight to find out. Report tomorrow.
UPDATE: We aren't alone. Wait a minute -- this is just a broken television antennae!
Meteor lights up skies over Western Canada [yahoonews]
Oct 31 2008 Miners Stumble Upon Fortress Of Solitude, Superman Pissed, Can't Find Solitude
So apparently what scientists are dubbing the 'Cave of Crystals' was discovered 1,000ft beneath the Chiihuahua Desert in Mexico.
Up to 170 giant, luminous obelisks - the biggest is 37.4ft long and the equivalent height of six men - jut across the grotto like tangled pillars of light; and the damp rock of their walls is covered with yet more flawless clusters of blade-sharp crystal.
When, about 600,000 years ago, the magma began to cool, the minerals started to precipitate out of the water, and over the centuries the tiny crystals they formed grew and grew until 1985, when miners unwittingly drained the cave as they lowered the water table with mine pumps.
Unfortunately, the temperature stays around 112F with a humidity near 100%. So yeah, Superman likes it hot and muggy. Superman living in Mexico -- who would have thought! I figured he had set up shop in Norway or Iceland. He must stick around to put the moves on the drunk co-eds that come down to Cancun for spring break. A couple margaritas with the little umbrellas in them, and then BAM, Superman dem hoes! Holy shit, Superman's a predator.
Hit the jump for two more pictures (including a picture of the real Fortress of Solitude) and an informative video. Learning is fun!
Continue Reading " Miners Stumble Upon Fortress Of Solitude, Superman Pissed, Can't Find Solitude "
Sep 30 2008 Watermill Provides Drinkable Water From Air!
The Watermill is a glorified dehumidifier that pulls water from the air and purifies it to drinking quality.
Inside air is up to 70 times more polluted than outside air. The WaterMill is installed unobtrusively on the outside of your home, using outside air, so it won't dry out the air you breathe in your home. And don't worry if your outdoor air is less than pristine - even if you live in a crowded city, the Watermill's filtration system ensures your drinking water will be clean and free of toxins and bacteria - more pure than tap water or even spring water.
The WaterMill provides you with:
* clean, fresh water for drinking and cooking
* up to 12 liters of water per day
* a sustainable, elegant appliance for your home
Sound too good to be true? No, not really. Like I said before, it's just a dehumidifier with an ultraviolet sterilizer attached. Fun fact: ultraviolet sterilization isn't an effective form of long-term birth control. Hello child support!
Thanks to Dan, who's holding out for a BeerMill.
Sep 26 2008 Wait, What?: An Underwater Lake
So apparently there are lakes of super-saline water at the bottom of the ocean.
During the Jurassic period the waters here were shallow and became cut off from the ocean. The area soon dried out, leaving a thick layer of salt and other minerals up to 8km thick. When ocean water returned after the region rifted apart, the super-saline layer at the bottom of the Gulf became an underwater lake. Now brine, which is continually released from a rift in the ocean floor, feeds the lake.
Now I know what you're thinking -- there has got to be magic involved. But you're wrong, my friend. This is pure sorcery.
Hit the jump for a longer David Attenborough clip about the lakes.
Aug 8 2008 Eye Candy: Lightning Strike In Slow Motion
This is a video of lightning filmed in slow motion. It is wicked awesome and restored my faith in God.
UPDATE: Lost $5 on a lotto scratch-off. There is no God.
UPDATE: Got the prize I wanted in my Happy Meal. God loves me!
UPDATE: Wife came home. Definitely no God, at least not a merciful one.
Slow Motion Lightning Video Is Mind-Blowing, Will Sell A Thousand Slo-Mo Cameras [gizmodo]
Jul 1 2008 When Airplanes Get Hit By Lightning
Not much happens, as the metal shell of the plane acts as a hollow conductor, and the lightning just continues on its way to the ground.
But why doesn't the gigantic amount of current, which is in the neighborhood of 20,000 amps for a typical lightning bolt, harm the passengers inside the aircraft? Because the hull of the plane forms a Faraday cage! A Faraday cage is a hollow shell made of conducting material. A strong electric field outside the cage will force the charge in the material of the cage to redistribute itself, but the interior space inside the cage remains uncharged.
It's still neat to watch though. But that's not why I posted this. I posted this because how did the person filming know the plane was going to get hit by lightning? Here, I'll give you a hint -- sorcery.
An Electric Aviation Experience [popsci]
via
What Happens When Lightning Strikes Your Plane? [uberreview]
Jun 24 2008 The 730-Ton Ball That Keeps The Taipei 101 Earthquake Tolerant Is Pretty Big, Heavy
The Taipei 101, once the world's tallest building, sits a paltry 600 feet from a fault line. So is the structure doomed? Nope -- it's rocking a uni-ball of steel.
To counteract the forces working against it, architects installed a $4 million, 730-ton tune massed damper, which is a big ball 18 feet in diameter, made of 41 steel plates, and suspended by strong cables 3 1/2-inches think. It's said to cut down on the swaying of the building by almost 40%.
Pretty cool stuff there. Anything that keeps buildings standing and people safe during an earthquake is A-okay in my book. Even if it is a 730-ton ball. Which, incidentally, explains why I've never taken a fall. *wink* Ladies?
Hit the jump for some more pictures, an animation of how the damper works, along with a video of the ball in action during the recent Chinese earthquake.
