How little did we know in 1957. Or maybe we did, and then this is just stupid. On July 19, 1957, five Air Force officers and one photographer stood together on a patch of ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. They'd marked the spot 'Ground Zero. Population 5' on a hand-lettered sign hammered...
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The Internet Map
The Internet Map, created by Russian Internet expert Ruslan Enikeev, is a map of the 350,000 largest sites on the web. The data comes from the web-tracking firm Alexa. Each of the 350,000 sites are represented as bubbles (bigger or smaller based on traffic)...
Olwimpics, The Olympics Blocker
The Olympic Games are here, and with all large events, our favorite internet hangouts are filled with mentions of this event. I like the Olympics, but not everyone does. If you're tired of Olympic news, download the Olwimpics browser extension for Chrome,...
The Incredible Mountain City Of La Paz, Bolivia
image creditLa Paz, whose full name is Nuestra Señora de La Paz, is the administrative capital of Bolivia and the second largest city in the country after after Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Bolivia has two capitals - while the official capital of Bolivia...
Burp
A brusque farmer is driving the truck with his big fat pig in the back. Passing the dark and foggy road he's suddenly attacked by a huge UFO. The farmer and the pig have no sense why they are being attacked. What is the truth of this chase? How are the farmer and the pig going to get out of this danger?Vimeo...
Running Toward A Better You
It's no wonder why running is becoming increasingly popular. All you need is a pair of running shoes and some motivation to help you improve your overall health and mood.(thanks Muhamm...
Downingstreet 10 Now In Google Street View
Following in the footsteps of The White House, Google announced that the iconic residence of the UK Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Downing Street, London, can now be seen in Street View. Google Maps users can take a virtual stroll along...
10 Of The Most Beloved Dogs In Literature
image creditYou've all heard of Lassie. Or Toto from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Buck from Call of the Wild may ring a bell. Here's a list of a few of the most beloved dogs in literatu...
Monday, July 30, 2012
Je M'appelle Nathan
My name's Nathan is an animated short by Benoit Berthe. A little boy troubled by a paper bird.Vimeo link(thanks Beno...
The 21 Countries With One Olympic Medal
image creditWhen did Afghanistan win an Olympic medal? What medal was that, in what year, who won it and in what discipline? The answer: Rohullah Nikpai won a bronze medal in Taekwondo in 2008 in China. Twenty-one countries have won just one Olympic...
Sliding With Sharks
image creditThis is possibly not for the faint hearted. The swimming pool of the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas has a water slide. So what, you might ask, before you realize that the slide runs directly through the hotel's giant tank aquarium, which...
10 Incredible Sea Forts
image creditSea forts were strategic bases usually built on small islands or shallows that lies at a significant distance from the shore. A sea fort was exactly as the name indicates - a giant fort with stone walls and housing cannons to fend off intruders....
Martian Dune Buggy
NASA engineers take the Curiosity test rover to California's Mojave desert to learn how to drive on Martian sand dunes.YouTube link(thanks Co...
Mars One Plans One-Way Trip To The Red Planet For 2023
There's an old joke about sending someone you hate on a one-way trip to Mars. Now, a Dutch entrepreneur has formed a company around this concept - and it's no joke. Bas Lansdorp, the 35-year-old founder of Mars One, says his company is serious about...
4 Animals That Ran for Mayor (And Won!)
Has the presidential race soured you on politics as usual? Next time you're in the voting booth, consider casting your ballot for a nontraditional candidate. Like Stubbs, a cat who was elected mayor of the town of Talkeetna, Alaska in 1997, as a write-in...
The Cascading Fountain Of Nampo's Lotte
The fact that some of Busan's best sightseeing can be done inside of shopping centers says something profound about Korean culture. Nampo's giant seaside Lotte Department Store offers enough to entertain a tourist for hours, including a wonderful rooftop...
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Mother Nature's Olympians Crowned
image creditThe Olympics is a time to celebrate the world's fastest and strongest humans, but you can rely on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to put the best of human performance in perspective. They've just come out with their...
The Kennecott Mines: Abandoned Alaskan Boomtown
image creditIn 1900 two prospectors were traveling through Alaska. Their horses were hungry and so when they spied a distant green hillside they thought their luck was in. They were not wrong. They had stumbled upon a massive deposit of copper ore, exposed...
Handwrite, A New Way To Search On Google
Handwrite is an easy new way to search Google from your smartphone or tablet. To enable Handwrite, visit Google on your smartphone or tablet, click 'Settings,' found at the bottom of the page, and then enable Handwrite. This feature is currently available in 27 languages.YouTube link(thanks Co...
60 Insane Cloud Formations From Around The World
image creditCloud varieties go way beyond the cumulus, stratus, and cirrus we learn about in elementary school. Check out these wild natural phenome...
Where Do Airplane Safety Signs Come From?
image creditSo many visual elements go into creating the sterile and unpleasant design of airplanes. But none is more important than those neutral-looking safety graphics that feature people who look like upside-down exclamation points.These little guys...
Land Speed Record Vehicles
image creditA thrilling story of the land speed record and the fastest men on Earth. A look at just a few of the amazing vehicles that have broken or attempted to break land speed records, since the very first record was established over a century ago,...
Saturday, July 28, 2012
The Bicycle Rearview Camera
This is the camera system that mounts to a bicycle for providing a clear view of the road behind. The camera mounts to a bicycle's seat post, provides a rear-facing 75º field of view ideal for seeing approaching vehicles or other cyclists.A circular...
New Maya Temple Found
Some 1,600 years ago, the Temple of the Night Sun was a blood-red beacon visible for miles and adorned with giant masks of the Maya sun god as a shark, blood drinker, and jaguar. Long since lost to the Guatemalan jungle, the temple is finally showing...
The Hottest Thing At The Olympics?
image creditYesterday the final relay runner delivered the flame of Olympia to the Olympic Stadium in London, inaugurating the 2012 Summer Games Opening Ceremony. The 8,000-plus golden metal torches used during the relay - each has 8,000 holes, representing...
A Day At A Bespoke Shoemakers
At John Lobb, one of Britain's last remaining bespoke shoemakers, little has changed since 1849. Perri Lewis unlocks the door to a lost world of craftsmanship.YouTube link(thanks Co...
Would You Clean These Windows?
image creditIt does have to be said, on occasion, that some things really should be left to the professionals. One such thing is cleaning windows: not necessarily the everyday ground floor type, of course, but rather those that are at a dizzying height....
Famous Great Travelers
image creditTourism has been around since antiquity but travel is timeless. The earliest guidebook, The Description of Greece, was written by Greek geographer Pausanias around A.D. 160.A handful of history's boldest travelers staged epic journeys that...
Friday, July 27, 2012
28 Freaky Ghost Towns You Can Visit
image creditThough the 'ghost town' is often associated with the American West, there are abandoned places all over the world. Some towns grow quickly from the ground up, surging in population. People arrive to work in the mines or factories and build...
6 Incredible Safe Rooms
Safe rooms have been growing in popularity ever since the film Panic Room demonstrated how dramatic and exciting having one in your home could be. Or it could also be down to the fact that they're an effective home security measure, providing home owners with a fortified location to retreat to in the...
The Hardy Tree: An Early Work Of A Great Novelist
image creditIn the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church in London, hundreds of old gravestones circle an ash tree. Of course, these were not how they were originally laid out. So, how did they get to this, their final resting place, as it were? And who...
Bear Rescue Mission
Some baby bears got stuck in a dumpster over night. Mama bear sat by the dumpster all night listening to her cubs cry. Rescue came in the morning. This happened in Ruidoso, New Mexico, USA.YouTube link(via Neatora...
Riding Along With The Mars Rover Drivers
image creditThere is a team of engineers and scientists who have spent nearly a decade working with NASA's intrepid Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, maneuvering them across windblown Martian terrain and into groundbreaking new discoveries....
Life Under The Microscope
image creditIn its ninth year now, the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition has once more brought together some of the most extraordinary microscope images of life science subjects from around the world. Seeing these tiny, nearly hidden objects...
Friday Cartoon By Mark Anderson
Shopping Cartoon by AndertoonsMark Anderson is a professional cartoonist from the Chicago area. His cartoons have been published in Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Woman's World and the Saturday Evening Post, to mention just a few....
The 12 Most Unique Playgrounds In The World
image creditAll of us have enjoyed the freedom and wonder that make playgrounds magical. But it goes without saying that some playgrounds are far more spectacular and imaginative than others. Here are a few of the coolest playgrounds you're ever likely...
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Cloudy
The idea of clouds singing and performing their duties in a joyful manner show us that everything in our world has a role and a purpose. Sing, dance and relax as you follow a sweet cast of clouds and raindrops through an entrancing adventure you'll wish to take over and over again.Vimeo link(via Everlasting...
Dynapac Red Carpet
The Dynapac Red Carpet is an environmentally conscious solution for road maintenance in future megacities, where street traffic is predicted to become increasingly dense and unstoppable. This futuristic road-recycling paver allows inner city traffic...
Early Olympics
image creditThe first time London hosted the Olympics, it was as a backup - the Games, originally scheduled to take place in Rome, were relocated to London after Mount Vesuvius erupted. The year was 1908, a bygone era of international competition when...
Tough Cookies: The Treats That Fueled A Century Of Girl Scouts
image creditGirl Scout cookies are cookies sold by Girl Scouts of the USA as one of its major fundraisers for local Scout units. Members of the GSUSA have been selling cookies since 1917 to raise funds. Girls who participate can earn prizes for their...
Research For Making Engine Sounds Pleasant
Sound Design Lab LLC and the Takeshi Toi Laboratory at Chuo University in Japan are advancing with a project to make engine sounds more comfortable. Until now, engine sound was perceived as noise, but this research team has discovered that engine sound actually resembles the tonal characteristics of...
Animal Mowers
Lawn maintenance can quickly become a major drag. Allowing animals to maintain the lawn makes a lot of sense. Instead of spending money on gas that pollutes the air and pesticides that poison the ground, homeowners can keep the grass trimmed while also...
10 Most Notorious Wikipedia Editing Scandals
Wikipedia is a fantastic resource, relied upon by students and researchers across the world for an endless stream of facts and information on everything from banana slugs to complex philosophical concepts.Yet as much as we appreciate the existence of this free, online encyclopaedia, errors - and even...
Angkor What? Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Cambodia's Most Iconic Temple
image creditAngkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. The temple was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. As the best-preserved...
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
E.T. The Walrus Practices His Vocalizations
A 30-year-old 3,500 pound walrus named E.T. growls and whistles during a feeding at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, WA, USA.YouTube link(thanks Co...
The Hello Kitty Dolls Of Your Dreams
image creditOne of the ways Hello Kitty stays relevant is to turn itself into a feline billboard to promote other things. Recently, that's meant the birth of an array of interesting Kitty-chan collaborations.Artist Joseph Senior goes one step further....
Super-Resolution From A Single Image
Is it possible to reconstruct a high-resolution picture from a pixelated source image? Yes, it is with a technique called super-resolution. 'Super-Resolution From a Single Image' is a research paper by computer scientists from the Weizmann Institute...
The Quiet Place
Welcome to the quiet place. In the quiet place, there are no capsletters that are all BIG AND YELL AT YOU. Also, there are no Facebook notifications, or Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, email, Messenger, etc, etc. Have you ever noticed how many things require...
The Future Forms Of Life
Theo Jansen is a Dutch artist who builds walking kinetic sculptures that he calls a new form of life. This is a story based on Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures. If we work really hard on our dreams sooner or later we will reach our goals. But what if one day our dreams go too far.Vimeo l...
Rare Pixar Computer Selling On eBay for $25,000
There are less than 2 days left to drop $25,000 on a rare Pixar Image Computer, which cropped up on eBay this weekend. The 'museum-quality historical artifact,' which was originally developed in the 1980s by Lucasfilm's computer division, carries a hefty...
Dawn Of The Flick: The Doctors, Physicists, And Mathematicians Who Made The Movies
image creditEarly optical toys from the 19th century are expressions of our almost primal urge to animate the inanimate. Or so believes Richard Balzer, one of the foremost collectors of optical toys, magic lanterns, camera obscuras, and other objects...
Lobstermen Finding More Odd Colors In The Catch
image creditIn recent years, accounts of bright blue, orange, yellow, calico, white and even split lobsters - one color on one side, another on the other - have jumped. It's now common to hear several stories a month of a lobsterman bringing one of the...
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
10 Species Named After Famous People
image creditWithin the space of a few days, a bloodsucking crustacean parasite has been named after reggae legend Bob Marley, and a genus of tropical fish has been given the name of British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. What is going on here?The...
Amelia Earhart's Birthday Celebrated In Google Doodle
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart would be 115 years old today, and to mark the occasion, Google has created a doodle that shows Amelia climbing onto an aircraft. Amelia Mary Earhart (1897 - disappeared 1937) was an American aviation pioneer and author....
London Double-Decker Bus Doing Push Ups
David Cerny, a Czech artist has re-modelled a traditional London double-decker bus into a mechanical sculpture of an athlete doing push-ups to celebrate the Olympic Games opening in the British capital on Friday. The bus is installed outside the Czech Olympic House in London's Islington neighbourhood.Cerny...
21 Spectacular Lesser-Known Waterfalls
image creditPhotos of 21 spectacular waterfalls, many of them in locations that are hard to get to and/or aren't well kno...
A Design History Of The Olympic Gold Medal
In light of the impending 2012 London Olympics, it seemed highly appropriate to dig into the history of the games since the ancient times. A substantial part of this history has been the prizes, which weren't always gold, silver, and bronze medals. Distinctions...
Year Of The Robot
Year Of The Robot is a daily transmission of interesting robots found on the internet. Posts include sci-fi robots, toy robots, anime robots, and even lego robots.(via swissmi...
9 Intriguing Excerpts From Old FBI Files
Under J. Edgar Hoover, everybody who was anybody had an FBI file. When Einstein was asked to join the Manhattan project in 1939, the FBI concluded that, In view of his radical background, this office would not recommend the employment of Dr. Einstein on matters of a secret nature without a very careful...
Monday, July 23, 2012
Fire Time
A short film exploring the art of Fire Breathing. A journey at 2,000 frames per second that provides a rare glimpse into a world outside the human perception of time. Shot in Vancouver by local film maker Chris Bolton.Vimeo link(thanks Co...
Staying Dry In The Rain: Should You Run Or Walk?
image creditWhich will keep you drier, running through the rain or walking? Alessandro De Angelis, a physicist at the University of Udine, Italy, calculated some years ago that 'a sprinter racing along at 22.4 miles an hour does get less wet, but only...
Extreme Daguerrotype Hair Styles 1850s - 1870s
image creditFrom the George Eastman House Collection. Some examples from a collection of 3,500 daguerreotypes, a photographic process where the image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper pla...
8 Amazing Drowned Buildings
image creditBuildings of different purposes, rising out of lakes and rivers, submerged in gallons of water - the places where people once lived and worked, are homes to weeds and fishes now.These buildings were flooded and drowned by men's own doing,...
Building The Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. This is some great footage from the 1930s of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in every phase of construction. Stock shots of the completed bridge, explanative...
What You Need To Know About Derechos
image creditA derecho is a widespread, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms. Generally, derechos are convection-induced, forming in an area of wind divergence in the upper levels of the troposphere,...
The Full Names Of 26 One-Name Celebrities
Did you know that Bono's real name is Paul Hewson? Or that Charo's real name is Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza? That Enya's name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin?A rose by any other name probably wouldn't smell as sweet, at least not in the cases of some of these one-named celebrities. From A-Z, here...
What Space Smells Like
image creditWhen astronauts return from space walks and remove their helmets, they are welcomed back with a peculiar smell. An odor that is distinct and weird: something astronauts have described as 'seared steak,' 'hot metal,' and 'welding fumes.'Space,...
Sunday, July 22, 2012
View From The ISS At Night
Every frame in this video is a photograph taken from the International Space Station.Vimeo l...
The Mysterious Engravings Of Ireland's 5,000-Year-Old Megalithic Tomb
image creditLoughcrew, near Oldcastle, County Meath, is a site of considerable historical importance in Ireland. It is the site of megalithic burial grounds dating back to approximately 3,500 and 3,300 BC. For thousands of years they have stood, high...
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