The best material to build a 2km dam on...

has to be water-soluble gypsum (nl: gips). They did it in Iraq in 1983! The Mosul Dam:

• Mosul Dam is Middle East's fourth largest dam in reservoir capacity and Iraq's largest
• Key component in Iraq's national power grid, with four 200 megawatt (MW) turbines generating 320 MW of electricity a day
• Built on water-soluble gypsum, which causes seepage. Subsequent erosion creates cavities beneath dam that must be plugged or "grouted" on a regular basis or dam will fail, say experts
• Array of piezometers have been deployed to measure water pressure and leakage
• Seismic equipment provides information to monitor dam's stability

View Larger Map

xRez: Extreme Resolution

Here are some large scale panoramas. I like the zoom function! perhaps we should introduce a label 'panorama'?

Test Panel

I need you guys as a test panel for one of my assignments for study. It's supposed to be a pictogram -like a traffic sign- so Im looking for one or two words that pop-up in your head the second you see this...

*edited by Douche

try this,
I added a waterline in the glass to actually make them look more like wineglasses.
I added bubbles to make it look like champagne instead of normal wine.
Adding an explosion type thing is kinda hard with only white lines, but I did what I could.

edit dekus:
As a reply to wiki's last comment, I made one with the glasses in the center, though I also added people which I'm not very pleased with so thats why this design didn't make it. I have to present this assignment tomorrow so any good thoughts are still welcome!

(one of the early drawings)
this is a fast sketch on how it looks like when you put them togheter. by wiki

A380 Cockpit

Falling Up

Great Pre-flight Safety Announcement

It's a bit hard to understand sometimes, but it's much more amusing than your standard safety talk.

James Randi and Project Alpha

Project Alpha was a hoax orchestrated by the stage magician and skeptic James Randi. It involved planting two fake psychics, Steve Shaw and Michael Edwards, into a paranormal research project. The researchers became convinced that the pair's psychic powers were real. The hoax was later revealed publicly.

Wikipedia has a really interesting article on this project. Gotta love Randi and how he destroyed the pseudoscientific parapsychology field.

>10,000 people enjoyed my sperm!

Do you remember the video of my sperm I posted here on the blog!?
Google video views: 5,153
YouTube views: 8,716

Total Annom's sperm views: 13,869

I think my sperm is hereby one of the most famous sperms in the world! And still going strong!

Todo-in-life list Annom:
(.......)
[ ] Watch Titanic without laughing when Leonardo dies
[x] Let more than 10,000 people view my sperm
[ ] Receive a male blow job
[ ] Shoot a cow with a bazooka
(.......)

Colbert on Meet the Press

The presidential campaign continues

Ecuador in Panoramas

I made a lot of potential autostitch pictures in Ecuador. It took me some time to stitch most of them. I made a simple website around them for my own fun. It contains the panoramas only. Click here for Ecuador in Panoramas

Masturbation Lesson

Uncle Andy teaches Shane how to pleasure himself without disrupting the plumbing.

If you somehow feel you're going to miss Weeds every Monday at 10pm ET/PT on Showtime, I strongly suggest the following links:

• Stream Weeds via allUC
• Season 1 & 2 on isoHunt
• Season 3 episodes 1-6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 on isoHunt

Rsizr

Rsizr is a powerful online photo editing tool. It uses a technique called seam carving to resize images with little distortion. It does this by removing the least important pixels. The video by the creators can explain it better.

I tried it out with at rsizr.com. I used the preserve tool on the people in the image:

It didn't work too good in Firefox so I tried it in IE. The interface also isn't that great. I would prefer a standalone version and apparently you can download it as a plugin for Photoshop, but I haven't tried the plugin t yet.

Schiphol vs NS : 1-0

Google Body

This is a new program from google coming up. Its a digital body where you can tour around in . Kinda like google earth. Its not realy my interest but think if you are an amateur doctor you would like it.

Cockfight

I supported some bloody animal fight with $1 by going to a Cockfight in Otavalo, Ecuador. There were only 5 tourists; most people had gamecocks and play this "sport". They bet and play for fun and they don't need any money from visitors to keep playing.

The rules are simple. The cocks fight in a ring. The game ends when a cock dies, runs away scared, is too tired or when 20 minutes have passed.

They put metal spikes on the legs to make the fight more fun and lethal.

Here is a movie I made of part of the fight. This is all they do, it is very repetitive. It is a bit boring and I had seen enough after 3 fights.

Click title for my cockfight pic gallery....

Record poll win for Swiss right

The right-wing Swiss People's Party has won the most votes recorded in a Swiss general election, despite a campaign marred by accusations of racism.

Official campaign poster

The SVP, already the country's largest party, won 29% of the vote and gained seven seats on the National Council.

Click title to read more...

Female hormones

Travelbuddy

Because everybody is traveling around the world these days, this a nice way to show where you have bin. dekus:

Annom:

Pimp-a-lot bear:

Special vest lets players feel video game blows

From Physorg.com:

A US surgeon working on a "tele-health" breakthrough has devised a way for video game warriors to feel shots, stabs, slams, and hits dealt to their on-screen characters.

A vest designed by doctor Mark Ombrellaro uses air pressure and feedback from computer games to deliver pneumatic thumps to the spots on players' torsos where they would have been struck were they actually on the battlefields.

The "3rd Space" vest will make its US debut in November at a price of 189 dollars. It will be launched with the first-person shooter game "Call of Duty" and a custom-made title.

"It was originally designed as a medical device," Ombrellaro told AFP while letting gamers try the vest at the E for All video game exposition in Los Angeles.

"To give medical exams via the Internet to prisoners, the elderly, those in rural communities and other isolated people."

The medical version of the vest is more sophisticated, enabling doctors sitting at their computers to prod, poke and press patients' bodies from afar and get feedback on what they are virtually feeling, according to Ombrellaro.

Full Article...

Het Gesprek: Maarten van Rossem

Een interessant gesprek met Maarten van Rossem over de Nederlandse politiek, de opkomst van Fortuin, democratie and many more. Wordt interessant vanaf de 21ste minuut.

Virtual Earth 3D buildings

Did you know that Microsoft Live Virtual Earth offered 3D textured buildings in some cities? It's pretty impressive. I hope Google Earth incorporates something like this. At this point only some buildings in New York are textured in Google Earth.

Colbert for President!

Stephen Colbert appeared on the Daily Show to make an official announcement: He was officially considering a run for president and would announce his decision "some time soon."

"Some time soon" was 20 minutes later on The Colbert Report

He is really doing it, the only question is how far will he take it? AP news report

What should we do?

or

Time Fountain - Optical Illusion

This device creates the illusion that a simple stream of water droplets can defy the known laws of physics. By controlling a set of flickering LEDs, the dripping water can appear to slow down, freeze in mid-air, and even reverse in direction. This illusion exists because the brain attempts to fill in the gaps between flashes with its anticipated motion. It is the same reason that your brain interprets the 24 frames/second of a movie to be in-motion, rather than recognizing the individual still frames . The credit for this device belongs to Nate True. You can learn how to build your own, or buy one at: http://cre.ations.net/creation/the-time-fountain

What an awesome trip toy this would make, I want one!

The Eden Project

I went to the southwest of England last week and visited the Eden Project which was quite impressive. It's basically two giant greenhouses containing two biomes, a tropical and a mediterranean one. There's also a big garden outside with some art. Coincidentally it was named Britain's best building of the past 20 years while I was there.
More info @ wiki. My panorama photo was taken from exactly the same place as the one on wiki that's why they look so similar.

Verkoop verse paddo's verboden

(Novum) - De verkoop van verse paddo's wordt verboden. Smartshops die de hallucinogene paddenstoelen blijven verkopen, moeten hun deuren sluiten. Dat hebben de ministers van Justitie Ernst Hirsch Ballin (CDA) en Volksgezondheid Ab Klink (CDA) besloten, laten woordvoerders van beide ministeries weten. De verkoop van gedroogde paddo's was al verboden.

De ministers komen hiermee tegemoet aan een wens van de Tweede Kamer, die een verbod wil naar aanleiding van de dood van een 17-jarig Frans meisje in maart. Zij sprong onder invloed van hallucinogene paddenstoelen van een brug bij de Amsterdamse IJ-tunnel. Klink gaat het besluit de komende tijd verder uitwerken. De afgelopen jaren steeg het aantal ernstige incidenten met paddo's flink, constateerde de GGD in een rapport. In 2004 rukten ambulances nog 55 keer uit na ongelukken waarbij paddo's in het spel waren, vorig jaar was dat 128 keer. D66 vindt het besluit van de ministers onverstandig en onverantwoord. Volgens Boris van der Ham (D66) zet het kabinet hiermee 'de bijl aan de wortel van een realistisch drugsbeleid'. Drugsgebruik komt overal voor, en daarom zou Klink zijn energie moeten steken in het reguleren van dit gebruik, in plaats van een verbod. "De minister gaat er echter vanuit dat paddo's en de behoefte van jongeren aan psychedelische drugs verdwijnen door een verbod", stelt de sociaalliberaal. Van der Ham pleit onder meer voor een bijsluiter voor paddo's en wiet, zodat mensen zich bewust zijn van de gevaren van het gebruik. Ook wil hij dat de leeftijdsregels streng worden gehandhaafd. Hij wil een debat met Klink over de uitgangspunten van het drugsbeleid.

Beachbeasts

Not sure if this was already bin posted but couldn't find it anywhere. Beachbeasts is an project of the dutch artist Theo Jansen. He study physics at the university of delft but when he finish he focus on making art. You see a lot of physics in his art so the study wasn't totally a waste of time.

The idea of his beachbeasts is to create a new kind of life at the beach. Also a theory of him is that we think in wheels since the discovery of the wheel. while the wheel isn't the most efficient transport mechanism on every surface, for example mull sand. He give an other solution to transport on sand with watching. On youtube you can find more interesting video's of him. It aint a monk that put his self on fire but if you guys think its interesting enough we maybe can arrange an excursion to this sometime.

I'm a true Rainbow Boy...

because I sleep in the Rainbow Hostel!

OMFG, and you thought the monk was amazing for showing restraint.

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Vrijheid

Weliswaar aan de late kant, maar nu een aantal uitlatingen van Geert Wilders over de 'vrijheid' waar zijn partij voor strijdt. Afkomstig uit de Algemene Beschouwingen 2007

De heer Rutte (VVD): In de naam van uw partij staat het begrip vrijheid, net als in de naam van mijn partij. Dan is het toch vreemd om met twee maten te meten? [..]

De heer Wilders (PVV): Vrijheid betekent dat de mensen in de wijken waar het om gaat worden bevrijd van dat Marokkaanse tuig. Vrijheid betekent dat je over straat kunt lopen zonder bang te hoeven zijn dat je weer, als burger, als homofiel of als oudere, in elkaar wordt geslagen of beroofd. In deze wijken zijn negen van de tien jongeren helaas Marokkanen. Ik verzin dat niet; dit zijn de feiten. Als zij naast Nederlander ook Marokkaan zijn, kunnen wij hen hun Nederlandse paspoort afpakken als het kabinet bereid is een aantal verdragen en wetten te wijzigen en kunnen wij hen uitzetten.

lol...

Don't know if it's real... But who cares, it's funny...

Crash Testing A Boeing 720

More info and a few clips at the NASA site.

a new design

CAREBEARS FOR THE WIN

I Wanna Be A Popstar!

Toyota - Human Touch

That's why the japanese cars are so reliable!

Random Facts

just a question

Who has been messing with the template of this blog? The background behind the posts were missing and we're still missing the background behind our names.

Ron Paul and Mike Gravel Call for End to Drug War

Ron Paul is a Republican presidential candidate. Though I don't agree with some of his views, overall he seems like a great sincere candidate who isn't afraid to speak the truth. He isn't influenced by all the lobbies and spinmeisters in Washington. Mike Gravel is a Democratic candidate who also opposes the drug war. Too bad none of those guys is a serious candidate. But at least they speak about the issues in presidential debates.

Four week hangover anyone?

Sixty pint beer binge leads to four-week hangover It may be the longest hangover in the history of binge beer drinking. When a 37-year old man walked into a hospital emergency room in Glasgow, Scotland last October complaining of "wavy" vision and a non-stop headache that had lasted four weeks, doctors were at first stumped, the British journal The Lancet reported Friday. The unnamed patient "had no history of head injury or loss of consciousness; his past medical record was unremarkable, and he was taking no medications," Zia Carrim and two other physicians from Southern General Hospital said in a case report. Body temperature and blood pressure were both normal, and a neurological exam scanned negative. But when an eye specialist was called in, the fog began to clear, at least for the doctors. The patient, said the ophthalmologist, had swollen optical discs, greatly enlarged blind spots and what eye doctors call "flame haemorrhages," or bleeding nerve fibres. "We sought a more detailed history" from the patient, noted Zia drly. That is when the man revealed he had consumed some 60 pints -- roughly 35 litres -- of beer over a four day period, following a domestic crisis. Severe dehydration caused the alcohol, the doctors guessed, had led to a rare condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). A scan of the brain's blood vessels confirmed the diagnosis. CVST -- which can cause seizures, impaired consciousness, loss of vision and neurological damage -- strikes three or four people per million, mainly children, every year in Britain. The cause is generally unknown. It took more than six months of long-term blood-thinning treatment to restore the man's normal vision -- and to get rid of the headache, the doctors reported.