K2: The Killer Summit

Low quality youtube link here. There is also a 720p torrent out there (highly recommended because of the scenery), should I post the link or are we then endangering the blog?

I found this documentary quite fascinating although it doesn't really teach anything, it only tells the story of the most lethal day in the history of K2 using rather good re-enactments and stunning images of the landscape.

ps. I've slightly adjusted the width of the blog so that embedded clips have a better fit when set on 640x360.

The Egg - probably my favorite 5 minute read

The Egg

By: Andy Weir

You were on your way home when you died.

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

  Full story...

Andy Weir also wrote The Martian which is one of my favorite hard sci-fi books and is currently being made into a movie. I read the book due to Adam Savage recommending it in a Tested video.

ONN Exclusive: One-On-One Interview With God

Incidentally this is also what Salvia often feels like to me.

They're finally here... our very own Rainbow Doritos!

Sub Explorer II "B2" Birthday Present Videos

We gave A Pimp Named Slick a Sub Explorer for a birthday present. He recorded a video. ExpendableAsset messed it up with horrible music.

Shroominati

ExpendableAsset came by with his camera to record the effects of color cycling RGB lights on the mushroom artwork in Cyberbeast's attic.

dekus, can you fix this?

When I visit our blog at 2560x1440 resolution I see this. Could we make the background autostretch or something? With your new webdev skills I'd think you should be able to.

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp - The Chump Code Caper

How come I've never seen this before :)

 

Wiki
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is an American action/adventure comedy series that originally aired on ABC from September 12, 1970 to January 2, 1971. The Saturday morning live-action film series featured a cast of chimpanzees given apparent speaking roles by overdubbing with human voices.

If you can remember all your passwords, you’re doing it wrong

You need strong unique passwords. Those that you can't easily remember. That's where a password manager comes in. Security experts use them.

I've been using a password manager for some time now. It improved my browser experience. It's faster and more secure.

I use LastPass to store (client side encrypted) all my login information in the cloud. I use their browser extensions to sync these passwords among my different devices. On trusted devices, like my desktop and laptop, login fields are automatically filled in. On non trusted devices, I need to enter my LastPass password before the fields are filled in.

In addition, and this is optional, I need to insert my YubiKey (USB) and press its button to authenticate with a one-time-password, again only for non trusted devices, which is rare. You could use your phone for this too.

LastPass can also store encrypted notes. These can be used for other passwords and secret information that you want to access from anywhere.

Don't forget your LastPass password ;)

Transit Visualization Client

"This tracker provides movement visualization of transit data published by transit agencies and operators from all over the world. The movements are mostly based on static schedule data. Wherever real-time data is available it is also included in the visualization."

It does not (yet) use real-time data in the Netherlands, but it shows what is possible once real-team data is available.

The NS app already uses real-time data, edit: and has an in-app overview map.

Global Fishing Watch

Global Fishing Watch is  a technology to show all of the trackable fishing activity in the ocean. It was created to recognize the patterns of fishing boats and in this way to to detect them from other boats.
Nice use of data technology to identify illegal fishing, so it can be stopped. 

More information: http://globalfishingwatch.org/

G-Force simulators for the home

Do want! But screw those screens, this seems tailor made for an Oculus :)




Maybe for the arcades?

AHN, my favorite open geographic dataset of NL

One of the most detailed heightmaps in the world! www.ahn.nl

Access to this data used to be very expensive, now it's all open! I've made a selection of some layers and chosen special places to the Rainbowboys. Can you guess where they are? (file names will reveal location, so be careful when hovering over the images).

A: AHN2, raw data with legend

B: AHN2, Blue to Red, water=green

C: AHN3, Raw data

D: AHN2, Shaded Relief, water = aerial photo

E: AHN2: Raw data 50% transparency, Hillshade

F: AHN2: Raw data, shaded relief

G: AHN2: Shaded relief, red to blue

Here you can play with the data viewer yourself. Would love it if you added some special places to the list!

Year of construction map, the Netherlands

Future Space Tribe :)

Monday I started work on a website and though there is enough to share now.

It's still very much a WIP! Made with Squarespace, had no idea how awesome it is, and I've only scratched the surface.

http://futuretribe.space/

Laser drones!! The future is now.

One of the coolest things I saw at Psy-Fi.

I contacted the creator on Facebook, he used a DJI Spreading Wings s1000 with a 2W laser.
Take-off weight: 6Kg~11Kg
Should be more than enough for our movie plans :) $3,299 on Amazon.