Stunning Post-Apocalyptic Images Of Cities Around The Globe

At World's End: Artists Reveal Stunning Post-Apocalyptic Images Of Cities Around The Globe -- Daily Mail

From New York City to Beijing, a team of artists are shedding light on what the world would be like at the end of humanity.

In Silent World, artists Lucie and Simon have taken the world's most familiar and populous cities and removed all but one or two people to create the illusion of a lonely world.

In the thought-provoking work, places like the normally bustling Times Square and Tiananmen Square appear absent of their crowds.

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My Comment: It does look very creepy.

Death Of A Data Haven

Sealand in all its rusty splendor

Death Of A Data Haven: Cypherpunks, WikiLeaks, And The World's Smallest Nation -- Ars Technica

A few weeks ago, Fox News breathlessly reported that the embattled WikiLeaks operation was looking to start a new life under on the sea. WikiLeaks, the article speculated, might try to escape its legal troubles by putting its servers on Sealand, a World War II anti-aircraft platform seven miles off the English coast in the North Sea, a place that calls itself an independent nation. It sounds perfect for WikiLeaks: a friendly, legally unassailable host with an anything-goes attitude.

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My Comment: Too bad that it did not take off the ground.

Why 'Warp Drive' May Not Be Feasible

The findings of a new study spell bad news for anybody at the warp drive destination. Credit: iStockPhoto

Warp Drive Could Be A Doomsday Weapon -- Cosmos

SYDNEY: The search for the holy grail of intergalactic travel has encountered a slight hitch, say Australian scientists.

Recent research predicts that upon reaching its destination, the theoretical Alcubierre warp drive – a speculative idea proposed by Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994 by which a spacecraft could be accelerated to speeds greater than the speed of light - would unleash a high energy cocktail of particles and radiation, blasting anyone in its path “into oblivion”.

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My Comment: No warp drive .... say it ain't so.

How Not To Fly

Birdman Releases Footage Of His 120mph Crash Into South Africa's Table Mountain -- The Telegraph

Jeb Corliss, a daredevil who nearly died after crashing into Table Mountain in South Africa, has posted footage only of the accident.

Corliss broke both his legs when he hit a outcrop of rocks while hurtling down the mountain in Cape Town at a speed of 120mph.

Corliss, 35, was being filmed by US network HBO and was performing his second jump from the Cape Town landmark when the accident happened at 10am on Jan 16.

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My Comment: Awesome video .... but ouch ....

Stunning Footage From Space

Why Are Women's "Boobs" Getting Bigger?

Mystery Behind Mega Boobs Revealed! -- Times of India

Scientists in the UK are trying to figure out why women's breasts are getting bigger.

While some boffins blame expanding waistlines for the increase in bust sizes, others say pollution from pesticides is causing the 'outburst'.

But others feel there's an as yet uncovered real reason as to why boobs are growing, reports The Daily Star.

A scientific source said: "It's the big question and it's got a lot of people baffled."

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My Comment: Are the scientists male? .... Just curious.

FYI: Why Are Escalators So Dangerous?

Crikey! Hazardous Crocs Getty Images/Washington Post

From Popular Science:

The escalator was patented in 1892, and the design hasn’t changed much since then. The landing platforms make entry and exit dicey endeavors—particularly when the moving stairs disappear beneath them, and all manner of clothing and body parts can get stuck. In recent years, escalators have torn the big toe from a Croc-wearing child in Singapore, bucked dozens of riders in Washington, D.C., and strangled a tipsy sushi chef when the hood of his sweatshirt got caught in the gap between the stairs and the landing platform.

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Beware Of The Coming Zombie Apocalypse

Will Budget Cuts Leave Us Unprepared For Zombie Apocalypse? -- ABC News

If zombies ever start taking over the planet, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says we'd better be prepared for it.

If the undead really start roaming the earth looking for fresh brains to eat, we can't rely on our ability to shoot 'em dead the way people do in video games or in horror flicks. Instead, the agency says, we need to treat it like any other disaster.

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More News On The Upcoming Zombie Apocalypse

US officials prepare for 'zombie apocalypse' -- The Guardian
CDC prepares for Zombie Apocalypse: tips on how to survive -- Washington Post
Ready for a zombie apocalypse? CDC has advice -- CNN
CDC Advises on Zombie Apocalypse … and Other Emergencies -- Wall Street Journal
CDC Zombie Apocalypse: What we're watching now -- CBS News
Ready for a zombie invasion? Center for Disease Control has tips on popular new blog post -- New York Daily News
Zombies Upstage a Routine Public Health Bulletin -- New York Times
Preparing for a zombie apocalypse? The CDC weighs in -- L.A. Times
CDC: Here’s what to do in case of zombie apocalypse -- Chicago Sun Times
CDC helps Americans prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse -- USA Today
US offers coping tips on 'zombie apocalypse' -- AFP
CDC reveals safety plan for Zombie Apocalypse -- The Register
CDC "Zombie Apocalypse" disaster campaign crashes website -- Reuters
CDC Launches Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide: Supplementary Tech Tips -- ZDNet
CDC to America: How to Prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse -- Time

Two Suns Setting?

Two Suns Setting? Scientists Offer Explanations of Chinese Video -- ABC News

Pictures of Double Sun Go Viral in Web; Astronomers Suspect Optical Illusion or Hoax.

Early in the original "Star Wars" movie, there is a scene in which the restless young Luke Skywalker looks out at the two suns setting on his home planet of Tatooine.

It was a charming, exotic touch, and it was done simply. Two images of the earth's sun were superimposed next to each other.

Now, video of what looks like two suns setting has been broadcast by Chinese television -- and it's quickly spread all over the Web.

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My Comment: It is still a cool video to watch.

Swimming With Polar Bears

Within touching distance: Children swim incredibly close to two enormous polar bears at a rescue centre with a difference in Ontario, Canada

Polar Scare! Children Swim Inches From Monster Bears (Which Would Be A Worry If You Don't Notice The Glass Barrier) -- The Daily Mail

It's a heart-in-the-mouth moment that would have most parents running for help.

The massive carnivores loom menacingly over their bite-size pool companions in these remarkable pictures.

But there's more to the scenario than meets the eye, in fact the children are separated from certain death by 10-inch thick plexiglas.

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My Comment: I can only imagine what the polar bears are thinking.

Is the apparent randomness of the scratch ticket just a facade, a mathematical lie?
Photo: John Midgley

Cracking The Scratch Lottery Code -- Wired Science

Mohan Srivastava, a geological statistician living in Toronto, was working in his office in June 2003, waiting for some files to download onto his computer, when he discovered a couple of old lottery tickets buried under some paper on his desk. The tickets were cheap scratchers—a gag gift from his squash partner—and Srivastava found himself wondering if any of them were winners. He fished a coin out of a drawer and began scratching off the latex coating. “The first was a loser, and I felt pretty smug,” Srivastava says. “I thought, ‘This is exactly why I never play these dumb games.’”

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In First Test Of Interstellar GPS, Team Uses Distant Pulsars To Determine Position In Space

Pulsar Positioning It beats rolling down the window and asking for directions. NASA

From Popular Science:

Global Positioning Systems work famously here on the home planet because we control all of the moving parts; put some satellites in the sky, equip a device with the proper hardware to communicate with them, and you can locate yourself just about anywhere. But how would we locate ourselves in deep space? For that kind of spatial location, a team of Italian researchers have devised a way to calculate one’s position in space using pulsars as interstellar navigation beacons.

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Daylight Saving Time 2010: Why And When It Ends

Turning back the clock in Frieburg, Germany, late last month.
Photograph by Patrick Seeger/dpa/Corbis

From National Geographic:

Why fall back? Should daylight savings be stopped? Get the facts—and a bit more.

With daylight saving time (also called daylight savings) coming to a close, clock confusion is once again ticking away: When exactly does daylight saving time end? Why do we fall back? Does it really save energy? Is it bad for your health? Get expert answers below.

When Does Daylight Savings End in 2010?

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It's The End Of The World: 8 Potential Armageddons

From FOX News:

Oil plumes threaten to choke the oceans and methane gas explosions shoot sky high -- and those are hardly the biggest threats facing the Earth. From cosmic rays to asteroid impacts to the threat of general destruction, our planet may be less safe than you think.

Here are the top eight risks to life as we know it, detailed by scientists and science fiction writers -- and whether it's even possible to save ourselves.

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12 Events That Will Change Everything, Made Interactive

From Scientific American:

In addition to reacting to news as it breaks, we work to anticipate what will happen. Here we contemplate 12 possibilities and rate their likelihood of happening by 2050

The best science transforms our conception of the universe and our place in it and helps us to understand and cope with changes beyond our control. Relativity, natural selection, germ theory, heliocentrism and other explanations of natural phenomena have remade our intellectual and cultural landscapes. The same holds true for inventions as diverse as the Internet, formal logic, agriculture and the wheel.

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My Comment: The web interactive page for each of the 12 events is here.

A Miracle! Science Claims It Has Figured Out How Sea Was Parted For Israelites

Charlton Heston as Moses in Cecil B DeMille's film The Ten Commandments (1956). Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Paramount

From The Guardian:

Researchers reconstruct wind and wave combinations that could have produced dry path across sea described in Exodus.

It was a miracle of the ages, the parting of the Red Sea for the Israelites. Now modern science is claiming a feat that if true is almost as miraculous – figuring out how Moses may have done it and where.

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7 Lesser Known Wonders Of The World

Photo: Jean-Marie Hullot

From Environmental Graffiti:

We all know that there are sights on earth regarded as the Wonders of the World – whether ancient or modern – sights such as the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, or the Grand Canyon in Colorado with its awesome grandeur. These are not, however, necessarily the sights you have to see, because the word 'wonder' can apply to so many other locations around the globe. Here are a selection of stunning places to see, if you ever get the chance.

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30 Ways The World Could End

From Discover Magazine:

Crank up the gloom and doom: Global apocalypse could be just around the corner, and you might never see it coming—unless you read this article.

Fashions come and go in all human endeavors—even eschatology, the study of the end of the world.

Back in the 1980s, our planet seemed sure to perish in a nuclear barrage, and songs about atomic apocalypse were at the top of the charts: Cue Prince’s “1999” (“Everybody’s got a bomb/We could all die any day”). By the 1990s, death by asteroid impact was all the rage. After 9/11 and the 2001 anthrax attacks, worries turned to a bioweapon unleashed by a terror group. The latest obsession is plague, delivered in the metaphorical form of vampires and zombies—especially zombies, since vampires have developed an unseemly fondness for chaste romance.

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Skydiving From The Edge Of Space: Can A Human Break The Sound Barrier?

Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner in his high-altitude suit after a test jump in California. Photograph: Robert Yager

From The Guardian:

A person freefalling from 120,000 feet would theoretically reach a supersonic speed of over 700mph. Two daredevils of the skies are racing to break the sound barrier – and face unknown hazards in their attempt.

We know this. At around 120,000 feet, on the fringes of space, the air is so thin that a falling human body would travel fast enough to exceed the speed of sound. A skydiver, properly equipped with pressurised suit and a supply of oxygen to protect against the hostile elements, could feasibly jump from that height and, about 30 seconds later, punch through the sound barrier – becoming the first person ever to go "supersonic" without the aid of an aircraft or space shuttle.

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Optical Speedbumps Create Illusion of Little Girl Darting Out In Front Of You

Slow Down As the driver approaches, this 2-D optical illusion painted on the pavement comes into focus, appearing in 3-D and reminding drivers to slow down.

From Popular Science:

Civil authorities around the world have tried all kinds of tricks to get drivers to slow down: speed bumps, rumble strips, flashing lights, the decoy police cruiser, and of course the good old-fashioned speed trap. The British Columbia Automobile Association Traffic Safety Foundation is taking a different tack: scaring the living hell out of drivers. In an effort to brusquely remind drivers of the consequences of wanton acceleration, they’re painting an elongated image of a child chasing a ball into the street in 2-D on the pavement in such a way that it appears three-dimensional.

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