Spooks

Media: Series (BBC) Name: Spooks IMDb / review: IMDb Torrent: Torrentz *

---

Why bother: A BBC series about a team of agents in MI:5. Now normally the simple thought of a spy series would make me want to gauche my eyeballs out because the makers simply can't know what really goes on in such a place. Therefore most of these series and films end up being completely unrealistic/James Bond like, where spies get smashed, tortured, drowned using futuristic vehicles but after redoing his tie all is well and has sex with a 24 year old, incredibly hot, nuclear physicist who also excels in multiple foreign languages. Spooks on the other hand does look quite realistic, although I can't know because I'm not, and have never spoken with, a spy. But it has this "Midsummer murders" with a "Touch of Frost" vibe which makes it, well actually quite good. One episode covers one story (operation). The stories are diverse; it's not all Islamic terror bladibla. Although the personal issues of the characters do flow through several episodes, because it's not a Hollywood production it isn't annoyingly juicy/soapy or something. Now be advised, do not confuse this with Spooks - Code 9, this is an lame spin-off in which the makers were trying to attract a younger crowd. So here the 24 year old, incredibly hot, nuclear physicist comes along again... At this moment I'm working my way trough Season 2, so far so good. Don't know how the series develops during coming seasons, but at request I can keep you updated. Rating: ★★★★ - Warm and fussy feeling inside * Torrents for complete seasons are available but have a disappointing quality (still fine to whatch), so If you only want high res I think you'll need to download episodes separately.

How to become a spartan

Fulko wanted me to show you guys this: "The only way to get a body like the spartans is to do the Spartan trainingsprogram, it really works, you can join for free and you can do it at home"

Different versions of Barricade (Board Game)

I had so much fun playing this game last saterday that I decided to do some googleing on this simple board game. People on Amazon.de are lyrical about this game although it has a bad rating at BoardGameGeek. The BoardGameGeeks think it is a simple game without any tactics("As you will already know by reading the rules this game lacks almost all kind of strategy and is mainly played the way the dice roll.") Here are a few versions of the game. There even is a 6 player version, that has to be chaotic.

Olympic Games: Who Was The Real Winner?

The Olympic games have ended again. China won, US second. To summarize: The country with the most inhabitants wins, the country with the a hugh sports budget second. No surprise here. So who did perform the best on the Olympic games when you take the size, GDP or income into account? The boys from geencommentaar.nl (Dutch, 12th) did a very nice job and this resulted in the following lists: Gold medals per million inhabitants:

Pos Country        Gold        (Actual)
1.  Jamaica        2.139546958 (6)
2.  Bahrein        1.392164342 (1)
3.  Estland        0.764756941 (1)
4.  Nieuw-Zeeland  0.718828023 (3)
5.  Australië      0.679583411 (14)
6.  Mongolië       0.667538695 (2)
7.  Georgië        0.647830491 (3)
8.  Noorwegen      0.645931268 (3)
9.  Slowakije      0.549913141 (3)
10. Slovenië       0.498079654 (1)

12. Nederland      0.420538803 (7)
25. Rusland        0.16346594  (23)
33. VS             0.1184894   (36)
47. China          0.038344579 (51)

Gold medals per billion GDP

Pos Country    Gold        (Actual)
1.  Zimbabwe       0.403781984 (1)
2.  Jamaica        0.277863241 (6)
3.  Mongolië       0.208605842 (2)
4.  Georgië        0.137836275 (3)
5.  Kenia          0.077493519 (5)
6.  Ethiopië       0.063894424 (4)
7.  Noord-Korea    0.044832727 (2)
8.  Bahrein        0.043369606 (1)
9.  Cuba           0.038904614 (2)
10. Wit-Rusland    0.037887804 (4)

30. Rusland        0.010636648 (23)
31. Nederland      0.010923086 (7)
35. China          0.007234826 (51)
47. VS             0.002587105 (36)

Gold per $1,000.- income per person

Pos Country    Gold        (Actual)
1.  China          9.622641509 (51)  
2.  Zimbabwe       5           (1)
3.  Ethiopië       5           (4)
4.  Kenia          2.941176471 (5)
5.  Rusland        1.56462585  (23)
6.  Noord-Korea    1.052631579 (2)
7.  Oekraïne       1.014492754 (7)
8.  VS             0.786026201 (36)
9.  Jamaica        0.779220779 (6)
10. Georgië        0.638297872 (3)

29. Nederland      0.181818182 (7)

Original post - .xls spreadsheet

PimpZilla: The best FF theme ever!

Download here

Familiar?

Cows truly have animal magnetism

German scientists using satellite images posted online by the Google Earth software program have observed something that has escaped the notice of farmers, herders and hunters for thousands of years: Cattle grazing or at rest tend to orient their bodies in a north-south direction just like a compass needle. Studying photographs of 8,510 cattle in 308 herds from around the world, zoologists Sabine Begall and Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen and their colleagues found that two out of every three animals in the pictures were oriented in a direction roughly pointing to magnetic north. [...] Researchers have long known that certain bacteria, birds, fish, whales and even rodents have minute organs in their brains containing particles of magnetite that can act like a compass. But the new results are the first hint that larger land-based mammals may also have such organs, said biologist Kenneth J. Lohmann of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the research.

Full story here

Weightlifting FAIL

Just not quite how you'd expect...

Iraq: The Real Story

About 8 minutes long documentary about American life in Iraq, made by Sean Smith & Teresa Smith

lights in a tall building

Rainbowboys 2nd year!

The Winds That Shakes The Barley

Media: Film Name: The Winds That Shakes The Barley IMDb / review: IMDb Torrent: Mininova *

---

Why bother: Film about 20th century (1920 to be exact) Ireland and the people's struggle against Britain's occupation of the land. Beautiful cinema and good acting. For me personally an eyeopener on the subject, maybe a tad subjective towards the Irish Republicans. But the storyline does contain a love sidetrack which can easily be filtered out without losing the main story. Subtitles are recommended due to the fact that this is an Irish movie. Rating: ★★★★ - Warm and fussy feeling inside * I watched this movie some time ago so I don't really know what torrent I used, but I think this one is oke.

RBB - Media Tips

I've been walking around with this idea fore some time now, and due to complete and utter boredom today I finally started it. A new addition to the blog: The RBB Media Tips. The idea is that when you come across a new film, TV series or music artist you can post it according to a small template so that the rest of us can enjoy it to. Add a tag "RBB Media Tips" and that way we create a list of things that are fun to watch/listen. Here is my idea of a template:

Media: "music, TV series, film etc" Name: "pretty fuckin obvious, but do post album names and artists etc. like: Coldplay - Viva La Vida" IMDb / review: "a source of other commentary on the subject" Torrent: "please make sure it works and has a proper quality"

---

Why bother: "WITHOUT SPOILERS!!!! elaborate why we should even bother downloading it..." Rating: "Pick one of the following:" ★ - Nearly entertaining ★★ - Makes times pass ★★★ - Slight sensation of entertainment ★★★★ - Warm and fussy feeling inside ★★★★★ - Chuck Norris would download it edit: Recommendation changed to rating and "I lit up a cigarette" changed to "warm and fussy feeling inside".

Desktop Tower Defense

Desktop TD is a fun flash based puzzle / strategy game where you have to protect your desktop from invaders by spending money on attacking pieces and building a maze for them to follow. A strangely addictive yet stress relieving game... how many levels can you survive?

Two against the One

In the dead of night in a small hideaway office in the deserted Capitol, a clandestine meeting takes place between two senators with one goal. They grin at each other as they lift their celebratory shots of brutally cold Stolichnaya. “Our toast to The One,” they say in unison, “is that he’s toast.”

Brilliant column about the US08 elections.

Motivational Posters

Ginos

Look, he's trying to give you all cancer with his eyes! More douchebags

From egg to chick

Full photo serie

Telefoon oplichterij: ur doing it wrong...

In mijn zoektocht naar de iPhone 3G zonder contract voor een redelijke prijs kwam ik een advertentie tegen op marktplaats.nl. De beste man beweerde een gloednieuwe, gehackte maar ongebruikte iPhone 3G 16 GB te hebben voor 200,-. Vol verbazing en vol wantrouwen stuurde ik de man een mailtje om te vragen of ik hem werkend mocht zien, verwachtend dat ik met hoongelach beantwoord zou worden... Dit is de reactie die ik kreeg:

Hallo, Al deze mobiele telefoons zijn gloednieuw, zonder scarches op hen, un-gebruikt, Centraal-Europa specs, SIM-nooit op slot, 3-Ronde pin EU lader. Geen operatorlogo. Europese talen software en handleiding. Engels, Duits, Nederlands, Chinees, Frans bedieningspanelen. De telefoons zijn ontsloten en werken wereldwijd in alle netwerk `s. Om een einde te maken aan deze deal in goede termen zal ik u zeggen sommige dingen die ik wil volgen: -Het is beter voor u om te weten dat de items zijn gloednieuw, ze hebben nooit geopend, hebben de internationale garantie die door de fabriek en worden geleverd met alle toebehoren die u nodig heeft. -Ze niet meer nodig dan een SIM-kaart en werkt perfect. De koper zal ontvangen dit samen met alle stukken en recipts dat hij nodig heeft om te registreren in zijn naam. De telefoons worden geopend en werken wereldwijd in alle netwerken. De prijs voor slechts 1 telefoon is 200 euro. 100 euro is de prijs voor 1 telefoon als u minimum 4 telefoons voor 400 euro koopt. Dank u voor uw belangstelling voor deze telefoons en ik verwacht een respons van u verwachten.

tampon-hockey

more the engrish! zo heet dat spelletje dus

Charles Manson Tells us Who he is

Charles Manson @ wiki.

Assembly Instructions by M.C. Escher

World's Worst Olympic Swimming Trial

It's from the Olympics in 2000, but still an amazing race!

Fingerprint method can spot drugs or explosives

Fingerprints could be used to detect traces of drugs or explosives in one of the most significant improvements in the technology for years. Police now have the ability to analyse the traces of cannabis, cocaine and other drugs, or explosives, in a fingerprint itself. The new technique reveals, in extraordinary detail, the chemical compounds that make up the print and could also find medical uses, since tiny traces of chemicals at our fingertips could signal the presence of a disease or an illness. This method can also be used directly on a fingerprint, right where it's found, without the need to lift the print off and take it to a lab for analysis. Dr Demian Ifa, Prof Graham Cooks at Purdue University in West Lafayette, and colleagues report in the journal Science how they used a technique called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI, which involves spraying a solvent onto a fingerprinted surface and then analysing the droplets that scatter off the print with a method called mass spectroscopy. Full story...

Another tool that could be used by oppressive states, though it has positive uses as well. Luckily the use of drugs is not illegal in the Netherlands, only possession.

Policeman "overdose" on marihuana

Italian police

Dutch representation in Beijing

You can "cap" this picture for lol news&politics here.

Space Elevator? Why not the Launch Loop?

From wiki: A launch loop or Lofstrom loop is a design for a belt based maglev orbital launch system that would be around 2000 km long and maintained at an altitude of up to 80 km (50 mi). A launch loop would be held up at this altitude by momentum of the belt as it circulates around the structure, in effect it transfers the weight of the structure onto magnetic bearings at each end which support it. Launch loops are intended to provide a way for non-rocket spacelaunch of vehicles weighing 5 metric tons by electromagnetically accelerating them so that they are projected into Earth orbit or even beyond. This would be achieved by the flat part of the cable which forms an acceleration track above the atmosphere. The published cost estimates for a working launch loop are significantly lower than a space elevator, but additionally with a greater launch capacity, lower payload costs and similar or greater payload masses. Unlike the space elevator no new materials need to be developed.

Magic Waterfall

Sorry for this TELL-SELL clip but i liked the idea of an communicating fountain.

Hole Punch Clouds

For Douche: Beijing Cheerleaders

For your Asian fetish spank-bank Douche! Full gallery here. :)

Rechts op de roltrap: het vervolg

Ik ben het zo onderhand spuugzat aan het worden! Weg met die roltrap terroristen! Het is tijd voor ACTIE! Het is genoeg geweest! Als de NS nalaat om reizigers op hun hufterige gedrag te wijzen is het tijd om zelf het heft in handen te nemen. Wat vinden jullie ervan? Ik moet zeggen dat ik best tevreden ben over mijn eerste Illustrator productie. Iemand nog op- of aanmerkingen voordat ik er een shitload van die stickers bestel? edit: misschien is deze iets beter?

Michael Phelps and his 12000-kcalorie diet

US swimmer Michael Phelps made history yesterday when he scooped a record-breaking 11th Olympic gold medal. He has now topped the podium five times in Beijing. After his latest victory, he revealed the secret behind his six-days-a-week, five-hours-a-day training regime: an extraordinary 12,000-calorie daily diet, six times the intake of a normal adult male. This is a typical day:

Beat that dekus! :)

"Militant Atheists" criticize Spore

As a simulation of evolution from single-cell organism to space-faring civilisation, Will Wright feared his latest creation, Spore, would draw criticism from religious groups. But so far, the game's creator has revealed, the portrayal of religion in the game has only drawn the ire of angry non-believers. Wright told Eurogamer: "I think our bigger fear was that we didn't want to offend any religious people; but looking at the discussion that unfolded from this thing, what we had was a good, sizeable group of players that we might call militant atheists, and the rest of the players seemed very tolerant, including all of the religious players."

Full story here Interview with Will Wright (creator of Spore) here

Kermit the Frog watches 2 girls 1 cup

It's a couple of months old, so maybe you've seen it already...

Truck FAIL

Weird Aircraft 2: strange mountings

YAL-1A Airborne (MW) Laser E-3 Sentry Antonov An-225 and Buran (Russian Space Shuttle) Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (Boeing 747) with Space Shuttle

Photo-Realistic Virtual World Rendered LIVE Server-side

Here is an article on the technology behind it, it claims that the lags can be kept pretty low 12-100ms. Though it would need to be in the low end of this for it to not be irritating. It seems as if it will be used first for a Second Life type application. That is if it ever functions anytime soon, this will require huge render farms and/or p2p to render. Also it need a physics engine if you want to have cool games.

Cloud factory

While driving through Germany, I saw a few chimneys that created large clouds in a clear sky. I made a few pictures because I was impressed by these cloud factories.

Random Picture update

I added 250 new pictures from the blog to the random picture gallery.

Weird Aircraft 1: wide-body cargo aircraft

Antonov An-225

Airbus Beluga Super Guppy Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter

No-nose bicycle saddles improve penile sensation and erectile function in bicycling police officers

An innovative study appearing in the August issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine examined, for the first time, if noseless bicycle saddles would be an effective intervention for alleviating deleterious health effects, erectile dysfunction and groin numbness, caused by bicycling on the traditional saddle with a protruding nose extension. Results from this study may be useful for the estimated 5 million recreational cyclists to alleviate perineal discomfort and maintain sexual health. Ninety bicycling police officers from 5 metropolitan regions in the U.S. (Northwest, Southern, Desert West, Midwest, and Southeast) using traditional saddles were evaluated prior to changing saddles and then again after 6 months of using the noseless bicycle saddle. The findings show that use of the noseless saddle resulted in a reduction in saddle contact pressure in the perineal region. There was a significant improvement in penile tactile sensation, and the number of men indicating they had not experienced genital numbness while cycling for the preceding 6 months rose from 27 percent to 82 percent using no-nose saddles. Use of the noseless saddle also resulted in significant increases in erectile function as assessed by the initial evaluation, but there were no significant changes noted in Rigiscan® measures, a method used to record penile rigidity while the subject sleeps. With few exceptions, bicycle police officers were able to effectively use no-nose saddles in their police work and 97 percent of officers completing the study continued to use the no-nose saddle afterward. Full Story... I want a follow-up study and then maybe a new bicycle saddle :/

New quotes added

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

How Slow Motion Lightning was Made

This clip explains how they made the slow motion lightning video from Annom's post.

And I found another cool slow motion lightning video showing lightning within a cloud.

Isaac Hayes (Chef) is dead

(CNN) -- Soul singer and arranger Isaac Hayes, who won Grammy awards and an Oscar for the theme from the 1971 action film "Shaft," has died, sheriff's officials in Memphis, Tennessee, reported Sunday. Singer Issac Hayes seen performing in the U.K. last year. Hayes was found dead Sunday at age 65. Relatives found Hayes, 65, unconscious in his home next to a still-running treadmill, said Steve Shular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Department. Paramedics attempted to revive him and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m., the sheriff's department said. [...] From the late 1990s through 2006, Hayes provided the voice of "Chef" for Comedy Central's raunchy animated series "South Park," as well as numerous songs. The role introduced him to a new generation of fans, but he left after the show lampooned his own religion, the Church of Scientology. Full story...

Google Hacks

This is the tutorial I was talking about the other night, when bored surf the rest of the site. It's pretty phun!

Deaths in Czech train crash

An international express train has crashed into a collapsed bridge in the Czech Republic, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others. The EuroCity train, travelling from the Polish city of Krakow to Prague, the Czech capital, crashed at a speed of about 140kph near the northeast border with Poland. Radek Joklik, a Czech Railways spokesman, said: "An international train from Krakow to Prague ran into a collapsed bridge which fell on the rails in the area of the town of Studenka." He said six people had been killed, fewer than a previously announced toll of 10. A fire brigade spokesman confirmed six dead, but said rescue teams had not yet searched through all of the wreckage. "There are many injured," said David Ridal, a fire brigade officer. Full story... We made that trip, though in a different train.

magic waterfall!

This is one of the coolest fountains i have ever seen i want one as a douche. Would be a nice to thing to add some colored lighting, and music to make it a full experience. Also it would be nice to have one with human interaction. Like dance or maybe some kind of games with it.

Discontinued Olympic sports

Today the Olympic games of 2008 opend in Bejing here are some stats of the games: Sports: 28 Sport sections: 302 Gold medals: 302 Sportsman: 10.708 Locations in Beijing: 31 Locations out of Beijing: 6 volunteers: 70.000 Some olympic sports didn't last long . Click here for a link to a list of some weird discontinued sports of the Olympic games. My favorites are: Duelling pistol (1906): Shooters fired at mannequins wearing frock coats and bull's-eyes on their chests. Live pigeon shooting (1900): The birds were released and shooters tried to kill as many as possible. Underwater swimming (1900): Swimmers were awarded points for how far they went and how long they stayed under water. Solo synchronized swimming (1984-92): Swimmers were awarded points based on routines synchronized to music.

Geeky Poem

The Square Root of 3 by Dave Feinberg This poem was used in Harold and Kumar

I’m sure that I will always be A lonely number like root three The three is all that’s good and right, Why must my three keep out of sight Beneath the vicious square root sign, I wish instead I were a nine For nine could thwart this evil trick, with just some quick arithmetic I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321 Such is my reality, a sad irrationality When hark! What is this I see, Another square root of a three As quietly co-waltzing by, Together now we multiply To form a number we prefer, Rejoicing as an integer We break free from our mortal bonds With the wave of magic wands Our square root signs become unglued Your love for me has been renewed

The War On Drugs. Or On Whatever.

Lightning in slow motion

I cut a piece out of Feynmans lectures on Physics about electricity in the atmosphere. Download it here. The last two pages describe lightning. The whole chapter, 11 pages, is interesting though.

Rohypnol wanker

The last sentence is brilliant:

Wii FAIL

For those of you who don't monitor fail-blog on a daily bases:

Triumph at Comic Con 2008

Not as funny as the first time I saw the starwars bit, but still.

Christian the Lion

Stupid name for the lion, but a nice story. Apparently cats can form long lasting emotional bonds. So Odin does remember us when we come back from vacation. More at wiki.

Witold Pilecki

During World War II, Pilecki became the only known person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp. While there, he organized the resistance movement in the camp, and as early as 1940, informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz atrocities. He escaped from the camp in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Pilecki was executed in 1948 by the communists. (....) On September 19, 1940, he deliberately went out during a Warsaw street roundup (łapanka), and was caught by the Germans along with some 2,000 innocent civilians (among them, Władysław Bartoszewski). After two days of torture in Wehrmacht barracks, the survivors were sent to Auschwitz. Pilecki was tattooed on his forearm with the number 4859. (....) beginning March 1941, Pilecki's reports were being forwarded via the Polish resistance to the British government in London. These reports were a principal source of intelligence on Auschwitz for the Western Allies. By 1943, Pilecki decided to break out of the camp. When he was assigned to a night shift at a camp bakery outside the fence, he and two comrades overpowered a guard, cut the phone line and escaped, taking along documents stolen from the Germans. In the event of capture, they were prepared to swallow cyanide. After several days, with the help of local civilians, they contacted Home Army units. Pilecki submitted another detailed report on conditions at Auschwitz.

GPS track - Berlin, Krakow, Prague

Here is the GPS log of our Eurotrip. It's not 100% complete, but you won't notice that. The data file of Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was corrupted for unknown reasons, but I added that part manually in GE.

>> Google Earth file <<

Rainbow Boys are back

The Rainbow Boys are back!

(after a vacation that we failed to mention)