This really looks like fun flying. Halfway between hang gliding and piloting a small plane.
http://youtu.be/OpemglwS8XA
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Video stabilizer
Thought you'd like this portable gimbal gadget: The All-In-One Camera Stabilizer
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teamluuv/solidluuv-the-all-in-one-camera-stabilizer
I think this is very cool if you're ever shooting videos. It's a kickstarter campaign.
http://youtu.be/itEhHlEMBVA
Here they show a side-by-side comparison of footage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu1P9-b-WV4
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teamluuv/solidluuv-the-all-in-one-camera-stabilizer
I think this is very cool if you're ever shooting videos. It's a kickstarter campaign.
http://youtu.be/itEhHlEMBVA
Here they show a side-by-side comparison of footage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu1P9-b-WV4
Monday, September 28, 2015
Moveable barrier - zipper - between lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge
Nice idea - a solid barrier that prevents head-on collisions but moves to allow more traffic in one direction according to the time of day.
Here's a narrated video of its installation.
Here's a narrated video of its installation.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Monday, September 21, 2015
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Concrete documentary
At 10:13, they describe the 8 different gradations of concrete used by the Romans in constructing the Pantheon, going from large aggregate at the base for strength, to using 90% pumice at the peak for light weight.
At 22:07, the Hoover dam took 21,000 men to build, and took three lives of 100 men, or 0.5%
http://youtu.be/NoD4Vin7Ghc
http://youtu.be/NoD4Vin7Ghc
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Ants marching
Ants
Take-no-prisoners ant invasion.
A bridging column of ants protects the food procession as a colony of 20 million nomadic ants moves home:
Sheer numbers marching
Monday, September 14, 2015
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Weird twin town
Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele 'created twin town in Brazil' - Telegraph
The Nazi doctor Josef Mengele is responsible for the astonishing number of twins in a small Brazilian town, an Argentine historian has claimed.
The steely hearted "Angel of Death", whose mission was to create a master race fit for the Third Reich, was the resident medic at Auschwitz from May 1943 until his flight in the face of the Red Army advance in January 1945.
His task was to carry out experiments to discover by what method of genetic quirk twins were produced – and then to artificially increase the Aryan birthrate for his master, Adolf Hitler.
Now, a historian claims, Mengele's notorious experiments may have borne fruit.
For years scientists have failed to discover why as many as one in five pregnancies in a small Brazilian town have resulted in twins – most of them blond haired and blue eyed.
But residents of Candido Godoi now claim that Mengele made repeated visits there in the early 1960s, posing at first as a vet but then offering medical treatment to the women of the town.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shuttling between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, he managed to evade justice before his death in 1979, but his dreams of a Nazi master race appeared unfulfilled.
In a new book, Mengele: the Angel of Death in South America, the Argentine historian Jorge Camarasa, a specialist in the post-war Nazi flight to South America, has painstakingly pieced together the Nazi doctor's mysterious later years.
After speaking to the townspeople of Candido Godoi, he is convinced that Mengele continued his genetic experiments with twins – with startling results.
He reveals how, after working with cattle farmers in Argentina to increase their stock, Mengele fled the country after fellow Nazi, Adolf Eichmann, was kidnapped by Israeli agents.
He claims that Mengele found refuge in the German enclave of Colonias Unidas, Paraguay, and from there, in 1963, began to make regular trips to another predominantly German community just over the border in Brazil – the farming community of Candido Godoi.
And, Mr Camaras claims, it was here that soon after the birthrate of twins began to spiral.
"I think Candido Godoi may have been Mengele's laboratory, where he finally managed to fulfil his dreams of creating a master race of blond haired, blue eyed Aryans," he said.
"There is testimony that he attended women, followed their pregnancies, treated them with new types of drugs and preparations, that he talked of artificial insemination in human beings, and that he continued working with animals, proclaiming that he was capable of getting cows to produce male twins."
The urbane German who arrived in Candido Godoi was remembered with fondness by many of the townspeople.
"He told us he was a vet," said Aloisi Finkler, a local farmer interviewed by Mr Camarasa. "He asked about illnesses we had among our animals, and told us not to worry, he could cure them. He appeared a cultured and dignified man."
Another farmer, Leonardo Boufler, said: "He went from farm to farm checking the animals. He checked them for TB, and injected those that were infected. He said he could carry out artificial insemination of cows and humans, which we thought impossible as in those days it was unheard of."
But the Nazi eugenicist did not concentrate on animals alone.
A former mayor and town doctor, Anencia Flores da Silva, set out to try to solve the town's mystery. He interviewed hundreds of people, and discovered one character who crept on cropping up: an itinerant medic calling himself Rudolph Weiss.
Dr da Silva said: "In the testimonies we collected we came across women who were treated by him, he appeared to be some sort of rural medic who went from house to house. He attended women who had varicose veins and gave them a potion which he carried in a bottle, or tablets which he brought with him. Sometimes he carried out dental work, and everyone remembers he used to take blood."
The people of Candido Godoi now largely accept that a Nazi war criminal was an inadvertent guest of theirs for several years in the early 1960s. The town's official crest shows two identical profiles and a road sign welcomes visitors to a "Farming Community and Land of the Twins". There is also a museum, the House of the Twins.
While the twins birthrate varies widely in different countries, it is typically about one in 80 pregnancies – a statistic that has left Mr Camarasa certain in his claim that Mengele was successfully pursuing his dreams of creating a master race, a real-life Boys from Brazil.
"Nobody knows for sure exactly what date Mengele arrived in Candido Godoi, but the first twins were born in 1963, the year in which we first hear reports of his presence," he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/4307262/Nazi-angel-of-death-Josef-Mengele-created-twin-town-in-Brazil.html
The steely hearted "Angel of Death", whose mission was to create a master race fit for the Third Reich, was the resident medic at Auschwitz from May 1943 until his flight in the face of the Red Army advance in January 1945.
His task was to carry out experiments to discover by what method of genetic quirk twins were produced – and then to artificially increase the Aryan birthrate for his master, Adolf Hitler.
Now, a historian claims, Mengele's notorious experiments may have borne fruit.
For years scientists have failed to discover why as many as one in five pregnancies in a small Brazilian town have resulted in twins – most of them blond haired and blue eyed.
But residents of Candido Godoi now claim that Mengele made repeated visits there in the early 1960s, posing at first as a vet but then offering medical treatment to the women of the town.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shuttling between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, he managed to evade justice before his death in 1979, but his dreams of a Nazi master race appeared unfulfilled.
In a new book, Mengele: the Angel of Death in South America, the Argentine historian Jorge Camarasa, a specialist in the post-war Nazi flight to South America, has painstakingly pieced together the Nazi doctor's mysterious later years.
After speaking to the townspeople of Candido Godoi, he is convinced that Mengele continued his genetic experiments with twins – with startling results.
He reveals how, after working with cattle farmers in Argentina to increase their stock, Mengele fled the country after fellow Nazi, Adolf Eichmann, was kidnapped by Israeli agents.
He claims that Mengele found refuge in the German enclave of Colonias Unidas, Paraguay, and from there, in 1963, began to make regular trips to another predominantly German community just over the border in Brazil – the farming community of Candido Godoi.
And, Mr Camaras claims, it was here that soon after the birthrate of twins began to spiral.
"I think Candido Godoi may have been Mengele's laboratory, where he finally managed to fulfil his dreams of creating a master race of blond haired, blue eyed Aryans," he said.
"There is testimony that he attended women, followed their pregnancies, treated them with new types of drugs and preparations, that he talked of artificial insemination in human beings, and that he continued working with animals, proclaiming that he was capable of getting cows to produce male twins."
The urbane German who arrived in Candido Godoi was remembered with fondness by many of the townspeople.
"He told us he was a vet," said Aloisi Finkler, a local farmer interviewed by Mr Camarasa. "He asked about illnesses we had among our animals, and told us not to worry, he could cure them. He appeared a cultured and dignified man."
Another farmer, Leonardo Boufler, said: "He went from farm to farm checking the animals. He checked them for TB, and injected those that were infected. He said he could carry out artificial insemination of cows and humans, which we thought impossible as in those days it was unheard of."
But the Nazi eugenicist did not concentrate on animals alone.
A former mayor and town doctor, Anencia Flores da Silva, set out to try to solve the town's mystery. He interviewed hundreds of people, and discovered one character who crept on cropping up: an itinerant medic calling himself Rudolph Weiss.
Dr da Silva said: "In the testimonies we collected we came across women who were treated by him, he appeared to be some sort of rural medic who went from house to house. He attended women who had varicose veins and gave them a potion which he carried in a bottle, or tablets which he brought with him. Sometimes he carried out dental work, and everyone remembers he used to take blood."
The people of Candido Godoi now largely accept that a Nazi war criminal was an inadvertent guest of theirs for several years in the early 1960s. The town's official crest shows two identical profiles and a road sign welcomes visitors to a "Farming Community and Land of the Twins". There is also a museum, the House of the Twins.
While the twins birthrate varies widely in different countries, it is typically about one in 80 pregnancies – a statistic that has left Mr Camarasa certain in his claim that Mengele was successfully pursuing his dreams of creating a master race, a real-life Boys from Brazil.
"Nobody knows for sure exactly what date Mengele arrived in Candido Godoi, but the first twins were born in 1963, the year in which we first hear reports of his presence," he said.
Sent from my iPhone
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Landslides
Interesting documentary highlighting the Oso landslide in Washington State.
I learned the word "gabions" - a cylinder of wickerwork filled with earth - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gabion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ_ykqJuGI0
I learned the word "gabions" - a cylinder of wickerwork filled with earth - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gabion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ_ykqJuGI0
Friday, September 11, 2015
Smartphone interface on your handlebars
I liked the simplicity of this device, combining navigation alerts, tampering alerts, and phone alerts with smart tracking of your exercise. However, it's probably little improvement on mounting your smartphone on our handlebars.
SmartHalo - Turn your bike into a smart bike
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1106460188/smarthalo-turn-your-bike-into-a-smart-bike
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1106460188/smarthalo-turn-your-bike-into-a-smart-bike
Salt
Well researched documentary of all aspects of salt. Did you know that pickling ironically involves promoting bacteria - lactobacillus. And that 980 access of low humidity storage exists under Kansas because an abandoned salt mine draws moisture out of the air; what do they store? Original movie reels for Hollywood.
50,000,000 tons of salt are put on US roads per year.
http://youtu.be/gI5qV-kvLeg
50,000,000 tons of salt are put on US roads per year.
http://youtu.be/gI5qV-kvLeg
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Unlucky People Compilation
These are usually a waste of time, these compilations. But watch the woman at 1:30, and I'm sure you'll laugh.
http://youtu.be/J2xVqrHAXPk
http://youtu.be/J2xVqrHAXPk
Clever dump truck
Clever nesting of one dumpster inside the other... until some part of this mechanism jams, and then you'd wish you'd bought the simpler version.
http://youtu.be/6G4WZcPTCd0
http://youtu.be/6G4WZcPTCd0
Laying trenchless drainage pipe.
Cool tractor custom design for burying drainage pipes. Nicely photographed.
http://youtu.be/_5hfE8ReeiI
http://youtu.be/_5hfE8ReeiI
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude:
- satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.
What harvesting Guinness World Records attempt
I was most impressed with the statistic that they only used about 1 liter of fuel per tonne of grain harvested.
http://youtu.be/Y5I04EObZNo
http://youtu.be/Y5I04EObZNo
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Amazing railway track laying machine
Railroad track laying machine. I liked the crane that runs along the top of the train.
http://youtu.be/_MKcTbYDP7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02pWbr9bgbA
http://youtu.be/_MKcTbYDP7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02pWbr9bgbA
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Coke rocket
Wow! No wonder this went viral. Here's the science behind this:
Coca-Cola is filled with dissolved CO2. The CO2 can escape (creating gas) if the partial pressure of CO2 is too low next the liquid. That's why Coke goes flat if you leave it exposed to air.
Next we have butane, which is a nonpolar liquid at low temperatures, but boils at about 0 Celsius. When you add a bunch of butane to the coke bottle, it probably starts to form a liquid on top of the coke (it won't mix), which causes water ice to form, which acts as an insulator.
Now, you flip the bottle. Not only does the liquid butane come into contact with warm coke, which causes it to boil, creating butane gas... but the newly gaseous butane doesn't contain any CO2. That causes CO2 to rush into the new butane bubbles and expand even more.
The end result: a bunch of new butane gas and CO2 gas, also known as an explosion.
Next we have butane, which is a nonpolar liquid at low temperatures, but boils at about 0 Celsius. When you add a bunch of butane to the coke bottle, it probably starts to form a liquid on top of the coke (it won't mix), which causes water ice to form, which acts as an insulator.
Now, you flip the bottle. Not only does the liquid butane come into contact with warm coke, which causes it to boil, creating butane gas... but the newly gaseous butane doesn't contain any CO2. That causes CO2 to rush into the new butane bubbles and expand even more.
The end result: a bunch of new butane gas and CO2 gas, also known as an explosion.
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