STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

Dirigible Drones Will Watch the World From 13 Miles Up

With UAVs crowding navigable airspace and plans underway to put giant mega-satellites into orbit, it was just a matter of time before a drone-satellite hybrid was developed to fit between the two spaces.

StratoBus, a new project out of France, is conceptualized to do just that. Designed to be about the length of a football field and 25 yards in diameter, the blimp-shaped vehicle’s shell will be made of carbon fiber.

Without a launcher, StratoBus floats to the lower stratosphere at an altitude of about 13 miles where developers say it will be in a perfect position to carry out a range of functions, including surveillance, border security monitoring, communications reinforcement and facilitating navigation — all from a stationary position with the help of two self-adjusting electric motors. The StratoBus will be able to endure missions of up to a year with a total lifetime of five years.

The ultra-lightweight design allows for a plug-and-play payload on the nacelle that can accommodate up to 450 pounds. And because the drone-tellite stays closer to earth, it will be able to take higher resolution images and maintain a stronger communications system. It might even be used to boost GSM network capacity during high traffic periods.

StratoBus will have a state-of-the-art solar power system with panels that rotate to maximize sun access coupled with a power amplification system to handle any surges in expended power.

The StratoBus project is led by Thales Alenia Space with Airbus Defence & Space, Zodiac Marine and CEA-Liten, who say they expect the first prototype within five years.

[MIKA27]

The Navy’s Plan to Beam Down Energy From Orbiting Solar Panels

For decades, the Pentagon has been the world’s largest oil consumer, and as global petroleum prices continue to rise, the military has been searching for feasible energy alternatives. Now they’re looking in space.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is building technology that will allow the military to capture solar power in orbit and project it back down to Earth. Not only would space solar potentially save the Pentagon buckets of cash, but it could simplify military deployments. Fuel tankers would no longer have to reach remote or volatile areas, and missions could run longer without having to return to base to refuel.

So far, NRL has built and tested two different prototypes of what they call a “sandwich” module, named for a design innovation that packs all the electrical components between two square panels. The top side is a photovoltaic panel that absorbs the Sun’s rays. An electronics system in the middle converts the energy to a radio frequency, and the bottom is an antenna that transfers the power toward a target on the ground.

Ultimately, the idea is to assemble many of these modules in space by robots — something the NRL’s Space Robotics Groups is already working on — to form a one kilometer, very powerful satellite.

A second design, a “step” module, modifies the sandwich design by opening it up, which allows it to receive more sunlight without overheating, thereby making it more efficient.

“Launching mass into space is very expensive,” said Paul Jaffe, a spacecraft engineer leading the Navy’s project, in a statement.

Left: Sandwich module. Right: Step module. Image: U.S. Navy

It’s expected that space solar will be able to produce more energy than ground-based collectors because it can soak up rays around the clock, and regardless of the weather below. Private industry is interested in similar technology. California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric has a contract to buy space solar power from Solaren by 2016. And the Shimizu Corporation of Japan has recently proposed to build a 11,000-mile solar strip across the Lunar equator to capture and transfer the sun’s energy.

Not everyone is so confident that such an ambitious project can be completed, but, as Jaffe put it, “Hard to tell if it’s nuts until you’ve actually tried.”

“People might not associate radio waves with carrying energy, because they think of them for communications, like radio, TV, or cell phones,” said Jaffe. “They don’t think about them as carrying usable amounts of power.”

[MIKA27]

James Rebhorn, Veteran Character Actor, Dies at 65

The actor has appeared in such movies as Scent of a Woman, Meet The Parents and Independence Day, and had recently played the role of Carrie Mathison's father in the Showtime TV series Homeland

James Rebhorn, a prolific character actor on film and television, passed away in his home Friday at the age of 65, his agent told The Hollywood Reporter.

Rebhorn most recently played CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes)’s father on Homeland. He also played the lawyer that put Jerry, George, Eliane and Kramer behind bars in the finale of Seinfeld in 1998 and the prosecution’s FBI expert in My Cousin Vinny in 1992.

His long resume includes roles in The Scent of a Woman, Independence Day, The Game, Meet the Parents, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, 30 Rock, Enlightened, The Good Wife, Law & Order and Boston Legal.

Rebhorn also took on many theater roles and was a central figure in the Roundabout Theatre Company. He recently starred as a father with Alzheimer’s in Too Much, Too Much, Too Many. He appeared in the original stage product I’m Not Rappaport in 1985 and acted in many revivals including Our Town and 12 Angry Men.

[MIKA27]

3 Dead In Washington State Mudslide

A demolished house sits in the mud on Highway 530, Sunday, March 23, 2014 the day after a giant landslide occurred near Oso, Wash.

Search and rescue teams in Washington state are looking for survivors after a destructive mudslide killed three people, left 18 others missing and knocked down six homes in in Snohomish County, forcing other residents to evacuate

Eighteen people were reportedly missing Sunday as search and rescue teams in Washington state searched for survivors of a devastating mudslide that killed three and leveled at least six homes.

Investigators in Snohomish County, Wash. said they could hear screams and cries for help from beneath the wreckage. “We have people who are yelling for help and we are out there,” said district fire chief Travis Hots. “This is a massive slide and we are in a very, very fluid and unstable situation,” he said. An estimated one dozen people were injured in Saturday’s mudslide, The Seattle Times reports. As many as eighteen people were reported to be missing Sunday afternoon.

“In three seconds everything got washed away,” said a witness who was driving on a highway when the mudslide occurred. “Darkness covering the whole roadway and one house right in the middle of the street.”

Area residents have been advised to evacuate the area, as debris from the slide has dammed up the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, threatening severe flooding if the water, rising roughly a foot every half-hour, bursts through the blockage.

[MIKA27]

A Look At The Violent & Terrifying Gangs Of El Salvador

You may not have heard of them but Mara Salvatrucha (aka MS-13) are easily one of the largest and most fear criminal gangs in the world. Spread across continental US, El Salvador, Honduras & Guatemala their membership has swollen to well over 50,000 members.

They first rose to prominence in the US in the Los Angeles area and have since expanded right across the US. Today local police regularly deport immigrant Salvadoran gang members back to El Salvador - a case of shifting the problem from one area to another. It doesn't just stop with MS-13 either, their arch rivals 'Calle 18' are also embroiled in drug trafficking, violent crime and murders. Together both gangs constantly fight over turf and distribution areas.

As a result of mass deportation by US authorities, cities like San Salvador (the capital of El Salvador) are now home to some of the highest rates of violent crime and murder in the world. The net effect of placing some of the world's most brash and deadly individuals side by side and foolishly expecting them to play happy families.

Here's several confronting images of gang members in penitentiaries, much like their Russian counterparts their tattoos signify their alliance to particular groups, factions and cliques within the criminal community - a brotherhood of those for whom the law does not apply.

[MIKA27]

Turkey downs Syria military jet 'in airspace violation'

Turkish forces have shot down a Syrian military jet they say was violating their airspace despite warnings.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned such action by Syria merited a "heavy response".

But Syria accused Turkey of "blatant aggression", saying the plane had been over Syrian territory at the time.

The incident reportedly occurred in an area where Syrian rebels and government forces have been fighting for control of a border crossing.

Turkey and Syria - once allies - share more than 500 miles (800km) of border.

Turkey has broadly sided with the rebels in Syria's war since October 2011.

Turkish forces launched artillery strikes on Syrian targets in late 2012 after the Syrians shot down a Turkish jet.

However, the BBC's James Reynolds in Istanbul says neither side is interested in a direct, sustained conflict.

'Ignored warnings'

Speaking at a rally of supporters, Mr Erdogan congratulated the air force on its actions on Sunday.

"A Syrian plane violated our airspace. Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard," he said.

A Syrian military source, quoted by state television, said Turkish air defences had shot down a Syrian jet as it attacked rebels on Syrian territory - an act of "blatant aggression".

Continue reading the main story

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At this point one of two Turkish F-16s... fired a missile at the Syrian jet in accordance with the rules of engagement”

Turkish military statement

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - a UK-based activist group - said initial reports from the area suggested the plane came down on the Syrian side of the border.

"Turkish air defences targeted a Syrian fighter-bomber as it struck areas of the northern province of Latakia. The plane caught fire and crashed in Syrian territory," the Observatory said.

According to one report, the plane's pilot was able to eject.

In a media statement on the incident, the Turkish General Staff said two Syrian military jets were involved, and that they had been "warned four times that they were approaching Turkish airspace".

One of the Syrian MiGs turned back, it said.

"But the second Syrian jet entered Turkish airspace in the Camli Hill Border Outpost area in Yayladag, Hatay at 1313 (local time) in spite of the warnings. It then turned westwards and continued flying in our airspace for a distance of 1.5km," the statement said.

"At this point one of two Turkish F-16s flying Combat Air Patrol in the region fired a missile at the Syrian jet in accordance with the rules of engagement at 1314. Hit, the Syrian jet fell in the vicinity of Kesab on Syrian soil 1,200m south of the border."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated his country's air force

In September last year, Turkey said it had shot down a Syrian helicopter close to its border. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the aircraft was engaged by fighter jets after violating Turkish air space.

A Turkish fighter jet was shot down by Syria over the Mediterranean in June 2012, after Syrian forces said it had entered its airspace.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Syria for Turkey to escape the three-year uprising against President Assad.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began.

According to UN figures, 6.5 million Syrians have been displaced by the civil war, and 2.5 million are registered as refugees. Lebanon has taken the highest number of refugees, followed by Jordan and Turkey.

[MIKA27]

What medieval Europe did with its teenagers

Today, there's often a perception that Asian children are given a hard time by their parents. But a few hundred years ago northern Europe took a particularly harsh line, sending children away to live and work in someone else's home. Not surprisingly, the children didn't always like it.

Around the year 1500, an assistant to the Venetian ambassador to England was struck by the strange attitude to parenting that he had encountered on his travels.

He wrote to his masters in Venice that the English kept their children at home "till the age of seven or nine at the utmost" but then "put them out, both males and females, to hard service in the houses of other people, binding them generally for another seven or nine years". The unfortunate children were sent away regardless of their class, "for everyone, however rich he may be, sends away his children into the houses of others, whilst he, in return, receives those of strangers into his own".

It was for the children's own good, he was told - but he suspected the English preferred having other people's children in the household because they could feed them less and work them harder.

His remarks shine a light on a system of child-rearing that operated across northern Europe in the medieval and early modern period. Many parents of all classes sent their children away from home to work as servants or apprentices - only a small minority went into the church or to university. They were not quite so young as the Venetian author suggests, though. According to Barbara Hanawalt at Ohio State University, the aristocracy did occasionally dispatch their offspring at the age of seven, but most parents waved goodbye to them at about 14.

Model letters and diaries in medieval schoolbooks indicate that leaving home was traumatic. "For all that was to me a pleasure when I was a child, from three years old to 10… while I was under my father and mother's keeping, be turned now to torments and pain," complains one boy in a letter given to pupils to translate into Latin. Illiterate servants had no means of communicating with their parents, and the difficulties of travel meant that even if children were only sent 20 miles (32 km) away they could feel completely isolated.

So why did this seemingly cruel system evolve? For the poor, there was an obvious financial incentive to rid the household of a mouth to feed. But parents did believe they were helping their children by sending them away, and the better off would save up to buy an apprenticeship. These typically lasted seven years, but they could go on for a decade. The longer the term, the cheaper it was - a sign that the Venetian visitor was correct to conclude that adolescents were a useful source of cheap labour for their masters. In 1350, the Black Death had reduced Europe's population by roughly half, so hired labour was expensive. The drop in the population, on the other hand, meant that food was cheap - so live-in labour made sense.

"There was a sense that your parents can teach you certain things, but you can learn other things and different things and more things if you get experience of being trained by someone else," says Jeremy Goldberg from the University of York.

Perhaps it was also a way for parents to get rid of unruly teenagers. According to social historian Shulamith Shahar, it was thought easier for strangers to raise children - a belief that had some currency even in parts of Italy. The 14th Century Florentine merchant Paolo of Certaldo advised: "If you have a son who does nothing good… deliver him at once into the hands of a merchant who will send him to another country. Or send him yourself to one of your close friends... Nothing else can be done. While he remains with you, he will not mend his ways."

Many adolescents were contractually obliged to behave. In 1396, a contract between a young apprentice named Thomas and a Northampton brazier called John Hyndlee was witnessed by the mayor. Hyndlee took on the formal role of guardian and promised to give Thomas food, teach him his craft and not punish him too severely for mistakes. For his part, Thomas promised not to leave without permission, steal, gamble, visit prostitutes or marry. If he broke the contract, the term of his apprenticeship would be doubled to 14 years.

A decade of celibacy was too much for many young men, and apprentices got a reputation for frequenting taverns and indulging in licentious behaviour. Perkyn, the protagonist of Chaucer's Cook's Tale, is an apprentice who is cast out after stealing from his master - he moves in with his friend and a prostitute. In 1517, the Mercers' guild complained that many of their apprentices "have greatly mysordered theymself", spending their masters' money on "harlotes… dyce, cardes and other unthrifty games".

In parts of Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia, a level of sexual contact between men and women in their late teens and early twenties was sanctioned. Although these traditions - known as "bundling" and "night courting" - were only described in the 19th Century, historians believe they date back to the Middle Ages. "The girl stays at home and a male of her age comes and meets her," says Colin Heywood from the University of Nottingham. "He's allowed to stay the night with her. He can even get into bed with her. But neither of them are allowed to take their clothes off - they're not allowed to do much beyond a bit of petting." Variants on the tradition required men to sleep on top of the bed coverings or the other side of a wooden board that was placed down the centre of the bed to separate the youngsters. It was not expected that this would necessarily lead to betrothal or marriage.

To some extent, young people policed their own sexuality. "If a girl gets a reputation of being rather too easy, then she will find something unpleasant left outside her house so that the whole village knows that she has a bad reputation," says Heywood. Young people also expressed their opinion of the moral conduct of elders, in traditions known as charivari or "rough music". If they disapproved of a marriage - perhaps because the husband beat his wife or was hen-pecked, or there was a big disparity in ages - the couple would be publicly shamed. A gang would parade around carrying effigies of their victims, banging pots and pans, blowing trumpets and possibly pulling the fur of cats to make them shriek (the German word is Katzenmusik).

Hogarth's engraving "Hudibras Encounters the Skimmington" - an illustration of rough music

In France, Germany and Switzerland young people banded together in abbayes de jeunesse - "abbeys of misrule" - electing a "King of Youth" each year. "They came to the fore at a time like carnival, when the whole world was turned upside down," says Heywood. Unsurprisingly, things sometimes got out of hand. Philippe Aries describes how in Avignon the young people literally held the town to ransom on carnival day, since they "had the privilege of thrashing Jews and whores unless a ransom was paid".

In London, the different guilds divided into tribes and engaged in violent disputes. In 1339, fishmongers were involved in a series of major street battles with goldsmiths. But ironically, the apprentices with the worst reputation for violence belonged to the legal profession. These boys of the Bench had independent means and did not live under the watch of their masters. In the 15th and 16th Centuries, apprentice riots in London became more common, with the mob targeting foreigners including the Flemish and Lombards. On May Day in 1517, the call to riot was shouted out - "Prentices and clubs!" - and a night of looting and violence followed that shocked Tudor England.

By this time, the city was swelling with apprentices, and the adult population was finding them more difficult to control, says Barbara Hanawalt. As early death from infectious disease became rarer the apprentices faced a long wait to take over from their masters. "You've got quite a number of young men who are in apprenticeships who have got no hope of getting a workshop and a business of their own," says Jeremy Goldberg. "You've got numbers of somewhat disillusioned and disenfranchised young men, who may be predisposed to challenging authority, because they have nothing invested in it."

How different were the young men and women of the Middle Ages from today's adolescents? It's hard to judge from the available information, says Goldberg.

But many parents of 21st Century teenagers will nod their heads in recognition at St Bede's Eighth Century youths, who were "lean (even though they eat heartily), swift-footed, bold, irritable and active". They might also shed a tear over a rare collection of letters from the 16th Century, written by members of the Behaim family of Nuremberg and documented by Stephen Ozment. Michael Behaim was apprenticed to a merchant in Milan at the age of 12. In the 1520s, he wrote to his mother complaining that he wasn't being taught anything about trade or markets but was being made to sweep the floor. Perhaps more troubling for his parents, he also wrote about his fears of catching the plague.

Another Behaim boy towards the end of the 16th Century wrote to his parents from school. Fourteen-year-old Friedrich moaned about the food, asked for goods to be sent to keep up appearances with his peers, and wondered who would do his laundry. His mother sent three shirts in a sack, with the warning that "they may still be a bit damp so you should hang them over a window for a while". Full of good advice, like mothers today, she added: "Use the sack for your dirty washing."

Master and apprentice

• Apprentices were sometimes abused by their masters
• Among cases recorded by guilds in France was a boy who was beaten with a set of keys by a silversmith until he had head injuries, and a girl beaten so severely that she died
• It is likely that girl apprentices were sometimes raped or prostituted, says Barbara Hanawalt
• But the fact that masters were tried shows that parents followed up on mistreatment, and didn't completely abandon their children
• Bequests from masters to their apprentices show that the relationship was often close

[MIKA27]

BMW R90S | BY SEBASTIEN BEAUPERE

This spectacular BMW R90S is one of the nicest custom Beemers we´ve ever come across, it was built by Sébastien Beaupère and started out as an old R90S from the early 70´s, but sits in an even "more vintage" R50 frame. It features some great details that add to the bike´s immense character, avon Mk2 Tires, a W&W Springer fork, vertical shocks, lowered side-mounted headlight, and a large Heinrich tank giving it a beastly look. The pity is that we don´t have much more information about this bike, so enjoy the cool pictures.

[MIKA27]

PORNBURGER: ONE AMAZING BURGER PER WEEK

WARNING: Do not read further if you are about go on your lunch break at work; your Lean Cuisine-having, Hot Pocket-reheating, Ramen noodle-scrounging lunch break. The images and descriptions of the following magnificent hamburgers could do irreparable harm to your taste buds.

PornBurger is a new website detailing one man’s journey into hamburger nirvana. Each week this guy creates one amazing burger, then takes a jaw-dropping photo of it, listing each succulent ingredient that went into the stack. And let’s ake The Stack, for example. All that went into that one was a sesame twist roll, fig catsup (you know it’s gotta be good if you spell it with a C), fried chicken hearts and shallots, tomato, duck confit patty, watercress, and chicken liver and pork pate. Have it your way indeed.

[MIKA27]

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Site Presents Renewed Threat

If you believe Hollywood, or its contemporary bodies around the world, radiation poisoning holds the potential to create anything from giant city-destroying lizards to a new race of humans, replete with exotic mutations making them capable of miraculous feats in defence of justice.

As you may have guessed, however, reality is seldom that poetic.

The nuclear threat has long been in the forefront of our minds. Since that first fateful detonation on the heavy weapons proving grounds of New Mexico’s shadowy military installations in 1945, which eventually culminated in the horrifically destructive nuclear attacks on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II, the full extent of the danger posed by nuclear weapons has been notoriously well known to virtually everyone on the planet. The fear inspired by the danger has taken many forms over the decades since, and as Oscar Wilde opined “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.”

Because of what Wilde called Life’s self-conscious need to find expression, our silver screens and televisions have long been showing us images of what happens when nuclear energy is unleashed in unsafe ways. And today we are perhaps more aware of the dangers than any other generation, but that doesn’t mean our understanding is complete.

Generally speaking, the public remains ignorant of just what radiation does to living cells. We think we know, but that knowledge is infected by popular culture and is coloured by our familiarity with monsters.

It would be difficult to find someone who isn’t presently aware of the danger flowing across the Pacific Ocean toward the continental US West Coast, from the crippled Japanese nuclear power plant at what is now officially called the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster site. We are witnessing the worst nuclear disaster in our history, and though there is plenty of blame to be handed out for the failings in how it’s been dealt with since, Mother Nature is largely to blame for causing it in the first place. Of course, with such a disaster comes much conspiracy theorising and fear mongering, and few of the “facts” you’ll read about in this case are truly factual.

Surprisingly, the general public has learned little from our previous experience in this regard. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster, much of the details of which admittedly remain shrouded in secrecy, has offered us a unique view into the real effects of unrestrained exposure to nuclear radiation on the environment. And thus far, in the intervening 31 years, no giant indestructible monsters have emerged from the tundra of eastern Ukraine.

Scientists have recently found, however, that things in the exclusion zones aren’t as peaceful as they appear from afar. In fact, from a certain perspective, the hardest hit areas surrounding Chernobyl are a ticking time bomb, capable of renewing the danger it once presented. And the fuse on that bomb originates from the most unlikely of sources: decomposers.

From a study recently published in the journal Oecologia, it turns out that several scientists have found, surprisingly, that leaf litter on the forest floor in the exclusion zones isn’t decaying. Or, more accurately, that it isn’t decaying properly.

Through an ingeniously simple experiment, scientists from the University of South Carolina, Columbia found that the decomposition of leaves from areas with different levels of radiation exposure decomposed at strikingly different rates. They first became aware that there might be a problem when they noticed, through observational studies of the area since 1991, an unusual accumulation of leaf litter on the forest floor. The leaves that carpet the arboreal exclusion zones seem to form a blanket two to three times thicker than that of non-radiated forests. At first glance this seems to be because the leaves simply weren’t decaying, as would be natural anywhere else. Of course, when you consider why that might be, you must first understand the process of biological decay.

When a biological entity dies, whether that be a tree, an animal or a human being, there is an army of microscopic creatures who immediately go to work breaking down the structure of that entity. These microbes, small insects and bacteria consume various elements of the fallen entity, and release other elements back into the environment to be used by other living entities for sustenance. The great circle of life, as it were.

It’s long been known that wildlife in the exclusion zones has suffered in the years since the disaster; animals are smaller, with smaller brains, and they often sport physical deformities. The trees too, have suffered. The Red Forest – so named because its pine trees have died and turned red, but have yet to decay – offers many examples of trees and other plants that grow at a severely stunted rate. This suffering isn’t limited to creatures we can see though.

Fukushima Daiichi

It turns out that those ever-important insects, microbes and bacteria are being affected as well, and that has a profound effect on the natural recycling process normally present in biology. The same mechanism that has affected other wildlife, has also affected the prevalence and efficiency of the creatures that are normally responsible for consuming dead biological material and recommitting it to the earth.

This has a dangerous effect on the overall ecosystem. It reduces the amount of basic nutrients in the soil, so that living plants struggle to survive, and it shields the soil and undergrowth from much needed sunlight. Ultimately this process, altered as it is, may result in unmeasured devastation to the biosphere in the area of Chernobyl. But, surprisingly, this isn’t the most immediate danger.

Biologist Timothy Mousseau, the lead author of the Oecologia paper, warns that the entire area of the Chernobyl disaster zone is at risk of wildfire. Obviously, an increase in dry leaf litter throughout the forests provides much fuel for a potential fire, but the major concern is that such a fire could release the dangerous nuclear isotopes currently trapped inside the trees and other plants, ejecting it back into the atmosphere and re-infecting the exclusion zones, and even perhaps increasing the affected area by a significant amount.

With all of this in mind, the Fukushima disaster comes into focus. Obviously there is little risk of wildfire in the Pacific Ocean, but those tiny creatures that are normally responsible for recycling biological material are everywhere. They do their work in the ocean just as much as the forest, but what doesn’t decay in the forest just lays on the ground, what doesn’t decay in the ocean can end up almost anywhere…bringing with it the poison of radiation.

The potential for these mechanisms to disseminate the dangerous nuclear isotopes around the world is frightening, to say the least, but letting fear cripple us serves no one. We must now attempt to understand the reach of these disasters, and we must find ways to mitigate the potential harm, not only to us, but to all life on the planet.

[MIKA27]

Man assaulted wife and locked her in shed for singing 'Ding dong, the witch is dead' when his mother died

A man assaulted his wife and locked her in their garden shed after she wouldn't stop singing “ding dong, the witch is dead” following the death of his mother, a court heard.

Andrew Salmon, from Truro, Cornwall admitted assaulting Beverley Salmon at their home in February.

The incident began when Mrs Salmon returned home to find her belongings packed in bags and the house locked with the curtains drawn, Prosecutor Gail Hawkley said.

She said he told her: “It is my house now. You are not getting in,” West Briton reports. He then locked her in the garden shed.

After Mrs Salmon escaped from the shed through a window and entered the house, Salmon punched her, attempted to drag her out by her legs and pinned her down on a bed.

Questioned later, Salmon explained his actions by saying that his wife never liked his mother and was very unsympathetic when she died.

He told magistrates she kept saying “ding dong, the witch is dead”.

“I was provoked but I am sorry for what I have done to my wife and regret everything I did.” he said. “I was pushed towards it although I should not have done it.”

[MIKA27]

Sydney's Rampaging Water Buffaloes Came From A Samsung Commercial

If you checked out Twitter this morning, you would have quickly noticed that news of Craig Thompson’s sentencing was interrupted by something equally bullish: a pair of water buffaloes running down Newtown’s main street.

According to News.com.au‘s Matt Young, the buffaloes were at a film shoot for a Samsung commercial destined for Korean television. There’s no more info available on that just yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised; Samsung Korea has a history of slightly terrible TV spots for its technology products.

[MIKA27]

They're Finally Building The World's New Tallest Tower

For three years, the fate of Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower has hung in the balance. Originally conceived in the heady days of the 2000s, the project has gone through multiple false starts since 2008. Now reduced to a mere kilometer, the tower has finally been given a start-date for construction.

Workers at the tower’s site, in Jeddah, started driving huge foundation piles 100 metres into the sand last year. But it was unclear if the building itself would ever emerge — or if, like Chicago’s Spire, it would remain a gaping hole in the middle of the city. Here’s what work at the site looked like in 2012:

According to BD Online, the $US1.2 billion project is officially back on. Investors have set a starting date — April 27th — and have chosen a construction manager: the UK companies EC Harris and Mace, which will jointly run the project. Mace is the same company that managed construction of Renzo Piano’s Shard, in London.

But there are plenty of unanswered questions about Kingdom. Amazingly, no one is quite sure how living at almost 1KM (914 metres) will affect humans. It’s also unclear how elevators inside the building will work, since the current weight of elevator cable makes it impossible to support above roughly 607 metres.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Adrian Gill — one half of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, who designed the tower — had the following to say about the unknowns:

There may be a limit to the rapid change in height the inner ear can stand. At extreme heights, an elevator might need to be designed to go slower than one might want, or to rest at a middle floor. But that’s not something condo buyers are likely to favour.

Asked if he’s ever worried about the discovery of an unforeseen challenge or phenomenon only after a tower has topped out, Gill smiles, pauses, and says simply: “Yeah.”

But all of those uncertainties are exactly why supertall construction is so interesting: We can do as much research and testing as we want. But ultimately, we won’t know until we try.

[MIKA27]

New X-Men Trailer Shows The Awesome Sentinels From The Future (Spoilers)

I read Days of Future Past – the X-Men two-book-saga by writer Chris Claremont, penciler John Byrne and inker Terry Austin — back when it first came out in the 1980s. Based on the new trailer, it seems that is has some key moments from it

At least, that looks awfully similar to her death by sharp object in the original comicbook:

Perhaps that’s why there were rumours that Halle Berry was off the movie. It seems to be in one scene and then she gets killed.

The Sentinels — the robots created by the United States government to control the mutants — from the future also seem quite different from the Sentinels from 1970s, which we knew already. That seems logical. They look like shape-shifting Terminators.

[MIKA27]

Flight MH370 'crashed in south Indian Ocean' - Malaysia PM

Malaysia's prime minister has announced that missing flight MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

Najib Razak said this was the conclusion of fresh analysis of satellite data tracking the flight.

Malaysia Airlines had told the families of the 239 people on board, he said.

The BBC has seen a text message sent to families by the airline saying it had to be assumed "beyond reasonable doubt" that the plane was lost and there were no survivors.

There were 227 passengers on flight MH370, many of them Chinese.

Relatives of those on board who watched the announcement at a Beijing hotel wept with grief, and some were taken away on stretchers by medical teams.

Passengers' relatives in China took in the news with a mixture of deep anguish and some anger

China has demanded that the Malaysian authorities make available the evidence on which they based their announcement about the jet's fate.

And some relatives of Chinese passengers expressed scepticism about their conclusion, as the plane has not been found yet.

Flight MH370 disappeared after taking off on 8 March from Kuala Lumpur.

A big international search operation has been taking place in the southern Indian Ocean, along the southern arc or corridor of the plane's possible route, more than 1,500 miles (2,500km) off the south-west coast of Australia.

However, the search had to be suspended on Tuesday due to bad weather, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said.

In the past day, both Australian and Chinese air force crews have reported spotting debris.

The unidentified objects have been seen in separate parts of the vast search area, in some of the world's most treacherous and remote waters.

Heartbreaking

The announcement by Prime Minister Najib Razak came at a late-night news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

It was based on new analysis by British satellite firm Inmarsat, which provided satellite data, and the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The firms "have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth," Mr Najib said.

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

Mr Najib appealed to the media to respect the privacy of the families of the passengers and crew, saying the wait for information had been heartbreaking and this latest news harder still.

Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft shows a smoke marker where an object was spotted

Malaysia Airlines later said it informed the majority of the families in advance of the prime minister's statement in person and by telephone, and that text messages "were used only as an additional means of communicating with the families".

The text messages read: "Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived... we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean."

Selamat Omar, the father of a 29-year-old aviation engineer who was on the flight, said some family members of other passengers broke down in tears at the news.

"We accept the news of the tragedy. It is fate," Selamat told the Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur.

Fresh analysis methods

Inmarsat had already revealed that it did indeed receive signals - automated "pings" - from the plane over its satellite network after the aircraft ceased radio and radar contact.

Sources told the BBC that flight MH370 continued to ping for at least five hours after the aircraft left Malaysian airspace - which indicated the plane was intact and powered.

And initial analysis showed the location of the final "ping" was probably along one of two vast arcs running north and south.

On Monday, the Malaysian prime minister said Inmarsat had been able to shed further light on the plane's flight path by performing further calculations on the MH370 data "using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort".

According to Inmarsat, this involved a totally new way of modelling, which was why it took time.

The company told the BBC the new calculation involved crunching far more data and that engineers spent all weekend looking back at previous Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flights.

They compared the satellite data from those flights with flight MH370 and were able to work out that it went south.

As far as the engineers could tell, the plane was flying at a cruising height above 30,000ft, but its final position could not be pinpointed more clearly, says BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott.

Inmarsat gave the AAIB the new data on Sunday, it said, which had to be checked before it could be made public.

[MIKA27]

Cambridge dig unearths history from Bronze Age to World War II

An archaeological dig in Cambridge has revealed the site's history from the Bronze Age to its role in World War II.

Excavation of the site in the north-west of the city began in October, ahead of a large-scale University of Cambridge development.

Roman roads and World War II practice trenches were amongst the discoveries.

Christopher Evans of Cambridge Archaeological Unit said: "Something that is going to be vibrant in the future was also vibrant in the past."

Archaeologists believe the site was first colonised for settlement in the Bronze Age and subsequently saw an Iron Age settlement.

'Surprise find'

Mr Evans said the dig was the one of the largest excavations to have taken place in Cambridgeshire and had unearthed a "thriving" Roman settlement, from around 60-350AD.

"The site is 1,200m long, it's covering 14 hectares," Mr Evans said.

"We're investigating this great gravel ridge and finding dense Roman settlement almost continuously along the length of it."

Four Roman cemeteries and 25 human skeletons, some with their skulls missing, have been discovered along with thousands of other remains.

Archaeologists said it was a surprise to find the zigzag ditches thought to be part of Cambridge's defence preparations for the war.

Mr Evans said: "It all testifies that things change and that archaeology often erodes long-held landscape stereotypes.

"It's part of what makes fieldwork so exciting."

[MIKA27]

Brazil World Cup city 'may drop out'

The mayor of Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, says his city may drop out of June's football World Cup if key legislation is not approved this week.

Jose Fortunati told a local Radio Gaucha that "there was no plan B" to find much-needed extra funding.

He says a bill creating tax breaks for companies investing in temporary structures for the tournament must be voted on Tuesday.

The Brazil World Cup starts on 12 June but some cities are behind schedule.

Porto Alegre's Beira Rio stadium is nearly ready, but it still needs temporary structures to house the media, sponsors and other requirements by the world football governing body, Fifa.

The outside of the stadium, due to host five matches, including fixtures with France, Holland and Argentina, is still unfinished.

'No Plan B or C'

But in an interview with local Radio Gaucha, Mr Fortunati said he was more worried about the temporary structures.

"If the project is not voted, we won't have the World Cup in Porto Alegre. There's no Plan B, nor C nor Z," he warned.

The legislation that allows tax exemptions to firms that invest in the structures was poised to be voted by the Rio Grande do Sul state legislative assembly on Tuesday.

The authorities are not allowed to use public money in structures that will not be used after the World Cup.

Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke said on Friday that delays were most worrying in Sao Paulo's Arena Corinthians – set to host the opening match – and in Porto Alegre's Beira Rio, just under three months before the tournament.

[MIKA27]

Why black boxes can't always provide the answers

The mystery of flight MH370 is unlikely to be solved until the flight recorder - known as a black box - is found. It has two components - a cockpit voice recorder and a data recorder. But these devices have their limitations.

The voice recorder only captures the final two hours

Listening to the last moments of Air France flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic in 2009, gives a chilling insight into the confusion that had overcome the pilots. Such a record of what went on in the cockpit would be a priceless tool for investigators trying to work out whether the Malaysia Airlines plane was the victim of foul play or a mechanical fault. But it's not that simple even if the black box is found. The cockpit voice recorder continually records over itself as the flight goes on. US firm Honeywell Aerospace says the black box on the missing airliner - which it provided - only retains two hours of recording. That's the length of time that regulations demand. The principle is in place because it is normally the last section of a flight that determines the cause of the crash. But in the case of the Malaysia Airlines 777 it might well be the case that the key events happened long before the actual crash. On the other hand, Steve Buzdygan, a former BA 777 pilot, says the data recorder would provide a wealth of useful information. "You can almost reconstruct the flight path from it."

The battery life is short

The black box sends out a ping - after activation by contact with water - that can be picked up by a microphone and a "signal analyser". Both the voice recorder and the data recorder each have their own pinger. But there's a problem - the battery of the pinger on MH370 will only last for 30 days, says Steve Brecken, media director at Honeywell. Some pingers last for 90 days. The variation stems from the fact the rules changed after Air France flight 447. It took nearly two years to find its black box and new guidelines were issued that the ping should last for 90 days to give search teams longer to find it. Some planes have since been updated, but apparently not the MH370. Even after the batteries for the pinger run out, the recorded data remains intact.

It is a small object to find

The black box is bolted into the tail of the aircraft to avoid damage in a head-on crash. It is small - about the size of a shoe box, says Dr Guy Gratton of Brunel University's Flight Safety Lab. Contrary to the name, it is bright orange. But it's not easy to see it in the middle of the ocean. The search will aim to try to locate the wreckage before moving in to pinpoint the black box by picking up the ping. If the pinger has expired then other techniques - such as magnetic detection - are going to be necessary.

It doesn't float

The box is made out of aluminium and designed to withstand massive impact, fierce fire or high pressure. That means it's heavy - about 10kg for what is a small box - and will sink quickly. The Indian Ocean has very deep sections. The search area ranges between 1,150m (3,770ft) and 7,000m (23,000ft), media reports suggest. So investigators will be have to consider the prospect of it being out of reach of many sonar devices. "You have to ask if there's terrain in the way. The seabed could be as mountainous as the Alps," says David Barry, an expert on flight data monitoring at Cranfield University.

The pinger's range is only a few miles

Honeywell, who made MH370's pinger, say the signal can typically only be picked up a mile away. But if it is deep on the ocean floor navies have hydrophone technology that has a better chance of locating it than conventional detectors. The Air France black box was not found until after its ping had expired. It was eventually located by slow moving unmanned underwater vehicles. A modern submarine - such as one of the Royal Navy's hunter-killer models - could potentially at least hear a ping from many miles away, Gratton says. The US, China and Australia all have similar submarines, he says. "By now there will be a submarine down there. I'm certain the Chinese will have put something out there." The US has deployed a ship that will tow a special black box locator through the water. According to the Associated Press, "the Towed Pinger Locator, which is pulled behind a vessel at slow speeds, has highly sensitive listening capability so that if the wreck site is located, it can hear the black box pinger down to a depth of about 20,000ft (6,100m)". However, there is a further complication, says Barry. The black box may be giving off pings from the ocean floor. But if those pings hit a layer of warmer or colder water above, the signal might be refracted or reflected.

[MIKA27]

SIZE MATTERS 2: SEMI TRUCK GYMKHANA

Founder of DC Shoes and professional rally car driver Ken Block helped put Gymkhana style driving on the map. Inspired by Block’s precision maneuvering, stunt driver Mike Ryan has unveiled ‘Size Matter 2,’ his second Semi Truck Gymkahana video.

Basically imagine all of that awesomeness displayed in Block’s exhilarating videos, but swap out Block’s rally car for a performance-tuned Freightliner. The truck is a custom 2,500 horsepower Peterbilt semi that has been outfitted with a massive spoiler, and is ready for action. The beastly truck weaves in and out of shipping containers as Ryan shows off his finesse driving skills behind the wheel. The acting can get pretty bad at times, but don’t mute the sound. You’ll thank me afterwards.

[MIKA27]

ICON D90 LAND ROVER

Alongside his talented team at Icon 4×4, Jonathan Ward takes already beautiful off road vehicles, and makes them even more badass. For their latest project, the Los Angeles based shop has taken on this Land Rover Defender, crowned the Icon D90.

Staying in line with their traditional design aesthetics, the 2-door off road machine keeps things simple, while still standing out with that black metallic paint job and matching Hutchinson wheels. As with all of the Icon trucks, this thing was built to tackle any terrain. The vehicle’s powerplant has been upgraded with a 430-horsepower GM E-ROD LS3 V8 engine to help it power through pretty much anything with brute force. For suspension, Icon opted for a Dan 44 front axle, Dana 60 rear axle and twisted UK suspension with Bilstein shocks. Other upgrades include a custom built roll cage, front and rear bumpers with built-in LED lights, Alpine audio stereo system, and a whole lot more. Watch the video below.

[MIKA27]

MOON SHADOW VILLA | KOH SAMUI THAILAND

Moon Shadow is a spectacular villa for rent in the beautiful island of Koh Samui, Thailand. The private luxury property is nestled on a cliff top and provides amazing indoor/outdoor tropical living, it features 4 bedrooms spread across 3 pavilions onlooking the stunning ocean view. One of the main highlights of the villa is swimming pool that extends to the ocean and into the horizon. The villa is supported by two live-in staff and a villa manager. Daily from $1,090 to $1,790.

[MIKA27]

HOBO KNIFE | BY BEST MADE COMPANY

The Hobo Knife by Best Made Company is a prerequisite for any true outdoorsman.

The Fork/Knife/Spoon Combo Tool features a "slot and tab" mechanism, this allows to easily disassemble it into separate eating utensils, and quickly re-assemble it into an effective locking blade pocket knife. The perfect utensil for on-the-go or outdoor dining. A black nylon carry case is included

[MIKA27]

Haunting Photos From The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Catastrophe

Twenty-Five years ago the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled its guts across Alaska’s shoreline. It was a massive ecological disaster of great importance for many reasons, but mostly because it’s seared in our memories by horrifying photos. Here’s a collection of the striking images that informed a generation of dialog about environmentalism.

It was a tragedy, to be sure.

A local fisherman inspects a dead California grey whale on the northern shore of Latoucha Island, Alaska, Sunday afternoon on April 9, 1989.

Steve Provant, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s on-scene clean-up co-ordinator, examines oily rocks on Green Island, June 25, 1989 in Prince William Sound

An oil soaked bird is examined on an island in Prince William Sound.

Crude oil from the tanker Exxon Valdez, top, swirls on the surface of Alaska’s Prince William Sound near Naked Island Saturday, April 9, 1989, 16 days after the tanker ran aground.

The Exxon Baton Rouge, smaller ship, attempts to off load crude oil from the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 26, 1989

Oil clean-up workers prepare to vacuum up crude oil on the shoreline of Block Island, in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on April 17, 1989.

Crews use high pressured hoses to blast the rocks on this beach front on Naked Island, Alaska, April 21, 1989.

On April 2, 1989 workers hopelessly try to remove globs of oil from Baked Island in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Troy Adamson, left, and Nicolette Heaphy clean a cormorant that had been covered in oil at the bird cleanng center in Valdez, Alaska, April 4, 1989.

[MIKA27]

Two Friends Hiked For 10 Months And Captured This Breathtaking Footage Of Yosemite

Colin Delehanty and Sheldon Neill are adventurers.

Over the course of 10 months, the friends backpacked 200 miles through Yosemite National Park, capturing a combined 45 days of unbelievably beautiful footage.

Their video is called Project Yosemite.

It will give viewers the experience of seeing Yosemite Park through the eyes of Delehanty and Neill. The pair hopes it will inspire others to travel to the park and explore it themselves.

They said parts of the park felt like “another planet.”

The two hiked with 70lbs of camera equipment.

And experienced various seasons.

This is what winter looks like at Yosemite National Park:

And the sunrises and sunsets look beautiful:

You can read all about Delehanty and Neill’s excursion here. They even give you a list of locations featured in the video, as well as details about all of the photography gear they used to capture the footage.

The entire video (below) is incredible. Make sure you watch it in full-screen mode.

[MIKA27]

Train Derails At Chicago Airport, Makes It Halfway Up The Stairs

Yesterday evening, a Blue Line train at Chicago’s O’Hare airport jumped the rails. And kept going.

There were 32 reported injuries — everyone’s currently listed in “good” or “fair” condition, according to theChicago Tribune – in the wake of the derailment, the cause of which is still not known. The effect, though, was quite a spectacle. The train made it almost to the top of the stair/escalator well before it finally stopped.

Here’s another shot from the side:

The two looming questions in the wake of the crash, as you might expect, are how did this happen and how do we clean it up? They’re both trickier than you might expect; while the train was moving faster than normal upon approach, so far the investigation hasn’t coughed up any direct cause.

As for getting the train off the steps, one can imagine that there’s no clear protocol in place for this situation. Outside of a half dozen action movies, it’s an unprecedented occurance. And that it happened at O’Hare — the second-busiest airport in the country — complicates things further. The Tribune reports that the best option might be to cut the train up into pieces and remove it a bit at time, a process that will likely take up to 24 hours.

In the meantime, let’s just be glad that everyone was (relatively) ok, and be thankful that we’re all to lazy to take the stairs.