Indoor SkyDiving, my first attempt

Here is my first indoor skydiving attempt. It was the only run with this instructor, the other instructors were gay and always held me with at least one hand. I think the experience is x3 if they just let you float/fly alone. Here is a youtube video of an open wind tunnel used in the winter Olympics closing ceremony in Turino.

Exclusive Connections for lonely geeks

Apple Introduces New Mac Mini

But I think I prefer the new macbook cybrbeast posted a little while ago.

weather man with green tie on a green screen

Next time he should wear a green suite so i can see the weather behind him.

Smart Bird Uses Bait

Who's Buying What?

Failure hits Nasa's 'CO2 hunter'

"Nasa's first dedicated mission to measure carbon dioxide from space has failed following a rocket malfunction. Officials said the fairing - the part of the rocket which covers the satellite on top of the launcher - had not separated properly. Officials said the spacecraft crashed into the ocean near Antarctica (due to the extra mass of the fairing). The $270m mission was launched on a Taurus XL - the smallest ground-launched rocket currently in use by the US space agency." ~BBC The fairing is used to protect the satellite against air (wind) during ascent through the atmosphere. It is separated as soon as there is almost zero atmosphere, this decreases the mass and therefore increases the acceleration. They didn't see the increase in acceleration and concluded the fairing had failed. The separation of stages, fairings, engines etc is generally done with pyrotechnic switches/bolts/valves or mechanical springs. It's a simple device that fails surprisingly often in space flight. This is another disappointment for climate science, CryoSat failed in 2005. They are rebuilding CryoSat, not sure whether they will do the same with OCO. I suggest they use the cheap and most reliable Russian/ESA Soyuz launcher next time.

Nerds for Life

Nerdcore is a subgenre of hip hop music characterized by themes and subjects considered to be nerdy. In the past geeks and nerds were the exception to the rule, but today most people under 40 have at least one 'geeky' hobby or interest. Nerdcore rappers rhyme about anything, but there are some hot Nerdcore Favorites: video games, Star Wars, science, cult films, anime, comic books, computers and ofcourse the internet. Currently mostly popular in the USA, but it's more than ready to conquer Europe. Which will happen, starting in The Netherlands with the first Dutch Nerdcore Event, GLITCHED.

Sailing Stones

Sailing stones are still somewhat of a mystery to science.

The sailing stones, also referred to as sliding rocks or moving rocks, are a geological phenomenon found in Racetrack Playa, Death Valley. The stones are assumed to slowly move across the surface of the playa, inferred from the long tracks behind them, without human or animal intervention. They have neither been seen nor filmed in motion and are not unique to The Racetrack. Similar rock travel patterns have been recorded in several other playas in the region but the number and length of travel grooves on The Racetrack are notable. Racetrack stones only move once every two or three years and most tracks last for just three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander. Stones sometimes turn over, exposing another edge to the ground and leaving a different-sized track in the stone's wake. More @ wiki

Darwin v. Adam&Eve @ The Netherlands, the epic battle continues.

Nu.nl; 30 januari 2009:

Nederlanders krijgen brochure tegen evolutietheorie EMMEN - Nederlanders ontvangen eind februari een brochure in de bus waarin de evolutietheorie ter discussie wordt gesteld. Behoudende christelijke organisaties die ervan uitgaan dat God de wereld in zes dagen heeft geschapen, zijn voor de tekst verantwoordelijk.

-artikel Nu.nl; 23 februari 2009:

Weblogs samen in actie tegen scheppingsfolder AMSTERDAM - Een groot aantal Nederlandse weblogs is maandag een protestactie begonnen tegen een huis-aan-huis bezorgde folder waarin behoudende christelijke organisaties zich verzetten tegen de evolutietheorie.Onder meer Geenstijl.nl, Sargasso.nl, Geencommentaar.nl, Retecool.com en Flabber.nl roepen mensen op om de folder terug te sturen naar initiatiefnemer Kees van Helden. Ze hebben daartoe de gezamenlijke website terugnaarjemaker.nl geopend.

- artikel Er zijn zelfs stickers die ervoor moeten zorgen dat de folder niet in je bus terecht komt, als antwoord hierop hebben de christelijke organisaties een sticker gemaakt om het juist wel in de bus te krijgen: 'Ja schepping, nee evolutie'.

Mimosa Pudica Does Not Want to be Touched

wiki Mimosa pudica (Sensitive Plant) (pudica = shy), is a creeping annual or perennial herb often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched, re-opening within minutes.

Wiki doesn't mention why the plant does this. But to me it seems like a good way to protect the leaves from small bugs. I wonder why more plants don't have this.

Crocodile Skin Initiation

Tribal initiation rites can be so much fun. You see them use a razor blade, I wonder what they used to use, must have been more painful. The Bullet Ant initiation has also been featured on the blog.

Musafar

Look what I made v2

The old version The new version

Cybrbeast attacks camera

I remembered this photo after seeing cybrbeast's post about long exposures. This one isn't that good, but I post it anyway.

Malaysia Landslide (Tin mine, 1993)

View Larger Map

The Sea Serpent Known as the Oarfish

Oarfish@wiki

Look what I made

I made this with a tutorial which can be found here. From the tutorial:

Christian Bale Freakout on Family Guy

A new internet meme has been doing the rounds. Christian Bale recently had a freakout on the set of Terminator 4 and the audio leaked out. The internet has gone crazy with the audio and mashed it up with other video. Now family guy has taken on the meme.

Also watch the double freakout of O'Reilly and Bale

Satellite collision creates copious space junk

Space weapons are dangerous - but out-of-control, defunct satellites can do just as much damage, if not more.

So says a leading space scientist who has calculated that Tuesday's collision between an Iridium communications satellite and the defunct Soviet-era Cosmos 2251 spacecraft expended a great deal more destructive energy than China's infamous anti-satellite missile test did in January 2007. The detritus could potentially hit a number of Earth observation, communication, and scientific satellites. If that happened, the satellite it struck could itself break up, creating ever more space junk in a cascade effect.

I really wonder if it was accidental or if Russia was testing if it could use a defunct satellite as a space weapon.

15 Pretty Long Exposure Photographs

More...

Tank Silencer

Chinlone

wiki Chinlone is the traditional sport of Burma, it is a combination of sport and dance, a team sport with no opposing team. In essence chinlone is non-competitive, yet it is as demanding as the most competitive ball games. The focus is not on winning or losing, but how beautifully one plays the game. A team of six players pass the ball back and forth with their feet and knees as they walk around a circle. One player goes into the center to solo, creating a dance of various moves strung together. The soloist is supported by the other players who try to pass the ball back with one kick. When the ball drops to the ground it is dead, and the play starts again.

A map of undersea cables from 1901

Related to the post with the internet undersea map is this map of transatlantic telegraph cables from 1901.

"The transatlantic telegraph cable was the first cable used for telegraph communications laid across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.Whereas it would normally take at least ten days to deliver a message by ship, it now took a matter of minutes by telegraph.

Five attempts to lay it were made over a nine year period—in 1857, two in 1858, 1865, and 1866—before lasting connections were finally achieved by the SS Great Eastern (see pic below) with the 1866 cable and the repaired 1865 cable. Additional cables were laid between Foilhommerum and Heart's Content in 1873, 1874, 1880 and 1894. By the end of the 19th century, British-, French-, German- and American-owned cables linked Europe and North America in a sophisticated web of telegraphic communications." ~wiki

Do Women Like Men With A Stubble?

"Stubble is the way to win a woman's heart, a study has shown. Researchers found that women are more attracted to men with stubbly chins than those with clean-shaven faces or full beards. Women participating in the research rated men with stubble as tough, mature, aggressive, dominant and masculine - and as the best romantic partners, either for a fling or a long-term relationships. ..... " I generally don't like these small stupid non quantitative social studies that are hyped by mainstream media, unless they give me a good excuse to be lazy. From now on I'm working on my sexiness when I wake up and do not shave.

Troika - Kinetic Sculpture

Troika was commissioned by Artwise Curators to create a signature piece for the entrance of the new British Airways luxury lounges in Heathrow Terminal 5. In response, we created 'Cloud', a five meter long digital sculpture whose surface is covered with 4638 flip-dots that can be individually addressed by a computer to animate the entire skin of the sculpture. Flip-dots were conventionally used in the 70s and 80s to create signs in train-stations and airports. By audibly flipping between black and silver, the flip-dots create mesmerizing waves as they chase across the surface of ‘Cloud’. Reflecting its surrounding colours, the mechanical mass is transformed into an organic form that appears to come alive, shimmering and flirting with the onlookers that pass by. More...

I want one of those

U.N. Acquires Nuclear Weapon

NEW YORK—The United Nations, a highly organized governing body bent on world peace, has obtained a nuclear warhead and intends to use the dangerous device to pursue its radical human rights agenda, sources reported Monday.

"I will say this as clearly as I can, so you all can hear me," said Ban, his finger hovering inches away from the small red button on his podium. "Either attend the next Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, or prepare to suffer the consequences."

source: The Onion

Told you guys mocha was found by Marco Polo

W00t, we did it. 2 days and counting.

shadow show at the Oscars

I can do shadow bird

I cool aswell

Barricade - the Knights of the Brotherhood vs the Green Blooded Redwoods

Click post title for YouTubeHD version.

Ukrainian Army Ad

Real Life vs. Politics

Distribution of blood types

Atoomstroom

Atoomstroom.nl is de eerste en enige Nederlandse leverancier van 100% met kerncentrales opgewekte elektriciteit: Atoomstroom. Jaarproductie kort- èn langlevend radioactief afval van een gemiddeld Nederlands gezin dat op 100% atoomstroom draait (10 gram)

Google Earth 5.0

* Ocean: Didn't Google Earth always have an ocean? Technically, yes, well, sort of. We have always had a big blue expanse and some low-resolution shading to suggest depth. But starting today we have a much more detailed bathymetric map (the ocean floor), so you can actually drop below the surface and explore the nooks and crannies of the seafloor in 3D. While you're there you can explore thousands of data points including videos and images of ocean life, details on the best surf spots, logs of real ocean expeditions, and much more. * Historical Imagery: Until today, Google Earth displayed only one image of a given place at a given time. With this new feature, you can now move back and forth in time to reveal imagery from years and even decades past, revealing changes over time. Try flying south of San Francisco in Google Earth and turning on the new time slider (click the "clock" icon in the toolbar) to witness the transformation of Silicon Valley from a farming community to the tech capital of the world over the past 50 years or so. * Touring: One of the key challenges we have faced in developing Google Earth has been making it easier for people to tell stories. People have created wonderful layers to share with the world, but they have often asked for a way to guide others through them. The Touring feature makes it simple to create an easily sharable, narrated, fly-through tour just by clicking the record button and navigating through your tour destinations. * 3D Mars: This is the latest stop in our virtual tour of the galaxies, made possible by a collaboration with NASA. By selecting "Mars" from the toolbar in Google Earth, you can access a 3D map of the Red Planet featuring the latest high-resolution imagery, 3D terrain, and annotations showing landing sites and lots of other interesting features.

Ultimate Machine - the LeaveMeAloneBox

Researchers Encode 35 Bits of Data on a Single Electron

Stanford researchers have reclaimed bragging rights for creating the world's smallest writing, a distinction the university first gained in 1985 and lost in 1990. How small is the writing? The letters in the words are assembled from subatomic sized bits as small as 0.3 nanometers, or roughly one third of a billionth of a meter. The researchers encoded the letters "S" and "U" (as in Stanford University) within the interference patterns formed by quantum electron waves on the surface of a sliver of copper. The wave patterns even project a tiny hologram of the data, which can be viewed with a powerful microscope. [...] For Manoharan, the true significance of the work lies in storing more information in less space. "How densely can you encode information on a computer chip? The assumption has been that basically the ultimate limit is when one atom represents one bit, and then there's no more room—in other words, that it's impossible to scale down below the level of atoms. "But in this experiment we've stored some 35 bits per electron to encode each letter. And we write the letters so small that the bits that comprise them are subatomic in size. So one bit per atom is no longer the limit for information density. There's a grand new horizon below that, in the subatomic regime. Indeed, there's even more room at the bottom than we ever imagined." Full Story...

Media & het drama van Dendermonde

Football vs. Handegg. Learn the difference.

Little help for the teachers among us

Flip Mode

Your Computer

Zombies Ahead

Dey Tuk Er jeeerbs!

DERRKKA DERRRRR!