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

[MIKA27]

The World Is Running Out Of Gold

How much gold would you have if you stole every bit that’s ever been mined? Not much — you’d be able to make a cube of solid gold with 18m sides. There just isn’t that much gold in the world, and it’s getting harder and harder to find it. In fact, our love of gadgets may be part of the problem.

In a report from the Wall Street Journal this morning, we learn that we’re only two decades away from exhausting the world’s gold supply if mining continues apace. How could we be running out of gold? It’s simple. As gold boomed in the ’90s and ’00s, the easy-to-access deposits were sapped of their supplies. Now, the gold being discovered is way deeper into the Earth, which means that discovering it takes a lot more work before it can be extracted.

Now, new gold discoveries are incredibly rare. In fact, in 2012, there were none at all:

In 1995, 22 gold deposits with at least two million ounces of gold each were discovered, according to SNL Metals Economics Group.

In 2010 there were six such discoveries, and in 2011 there was one. In 2012: nothing.

Unless gold companies want to dig deeper — often in arctic areas that are notoriously difficult to mine — it’s becoming difficult to discover the low-hanging (or high-hanging, in this case) fruit. In one instance quoted in the story, miners had to blast away 100 tonnes of rock to find just an ounce of the good stuff. It’s contributing to illegal mining practices too.

An aerial photo shows tailings in La Pampa district produced by informal mining in Peru’s Madre de Dios region in Peru

Sure, a gold cube with 18m sides sounds massive. But think about chiseling that block into all the gold bars, coins, electronic components, and even jewellery that exists in the world. It’s actually extremely small — there’s only .005 parts per million in the Earth’s crust, compared to 50 parts per million of copper. In fact, some gold experts say we have even less: in 2013, Warren Buffet estimated that the cube would only have sides of 6m in length.

Here’s where things get really strange. As the BBC points out, all of the gold mined since the beginning of time has, in essence, been recycled: A piece of gold mined by the Romans may have been melted down into a gold bar in the 1800s, say, and may have eventually made its way into a consumer product like a gold watch.

But all those gadgets and computers and electronics that require minute amounts of gold to function? They’re changing that gold reuse pattern for the first time in history. Because so little gold is used in this tech, it doesn’t make sense to recycle it. So while gold, like air, has remained a static resource on Earth, that’s no longer true. Our gold resources will continue to deplete, one iPhone at a time.

[MIKA27]

NASA Is Getting Ready To Communicate With Aliens Using A New Strategy

“We can say little, if anything, about what these patterns [above] signify, why they were cut into rocks, or who created them. For all intents and purposes, they might have been made by aliens.” When a new NASA book on alien communications has a paragraph like that, you had better pay attention.

Of course, the scientists and scholars who contributed to Archaeology, Anthropology and Interstellar Communications — a new 300-page volume [PDF] edited by Douglas A. Vakoch — are not saying these carvings were definitely made by aliens. They’re saying that, since we don’t really know the origin and meaning of these markings — which were made thousands of years ago all across Europe, America and India — we can assume that they are made by aliens as a test to what we may encounter when we actually make contact with a civilisation from another planet.

It’s a serious book — deep and complex, but quite accessible. I have been going through it and it is truly fascinating stuff. And I’m not only talking about the gem at the top of this article:

Consider again, therefore, the desirability of establishing symbolic/linguistic communication with ETI [Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence]. It is helpful to review some parallels from human existence that pose problems for us today. One of these is “rock art,” which consists of patterns or shapes cut into rock many thousands of years ago. Such ancient stone carvings can be found in many countries [...]

We can say little, if anything, about what these patterns [above] signify, why they were cut into rocks, or who created them. For all intents and purposes, they might have been made by aliens.

A replica of an unusual cup-and-ring-marked stone from Dalgarven, North Ayrshire, Scotland.

The larger picture

That’s only a tiny part of a much larger logical chain that takes into consideration our knowledge on historical and prehistorical Earth, as well as our understanding of biology, evolution, and physics. For example, after going through a number of assumptions about the potential physical and biophysical differences in Chapter 15 — titled Constraints on Message Construction for Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence – Vakoch writes about the implications (emphasis mine):

Implications — I

If the reader accepts these assumptions, then our first constraint on possible messages is simple: don’t think of “sound worlds” or music or speech as the domains, vehicles, or contents of ETI messages. Regardless of semiotic concerns (see below), the accessibility of acoustic messaging must remain doubtful. Furthermore, there will be intended and unintended aspects of performance, which elaborate the difficulties of using sound. In my view avoidance of the sound world need not be controversial.

On the other hand, vision and the use of images would appear to be at least plausible. Although spectral details cannot be considered universal, the physical arrangement of objects on a habitable planet’s surface will be shaped in part by gravity (the notion of a horizon might well be universal) and thus multispectral images might plausibly be considered worthwhile for messages. More generally, the implications for considering SETI/CETI as some sort of anthropological challenge need teasing out.

Makes total sense to me.

I won’t quote more of the book here because that would be a worthless exercise, but so far — I’m still eagerly reading it — it’s a really great read.

It’s comforting that NASA is thinking about human-alien communication under a new focus, one that is not purely based on the physical sciences of planetary research or exobiology, but that ties it with our current experience in trying to decipher our own archeological and anthropological past. That, according to Vakoch, is the objective of this volume (emphasis mine):

The chapters in this volume combine incisive critique with hope that there is a response to the scepticism behind these critiques. Addressing a field that has been dominated by astronomers, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, the contributors to this collection raise questions that may have been overlooked by physical scientists about the ease of establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial intelligence.

These scholars are grappling with some of the enormous challenges that will face humanity if an information-rich signal emanating from another world is detected. By drawing on issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, we can be much better prepared for contact with an extraterrestrial civilisation, should that day ever come.

[MIKA27]

Here's The Official Logo For The New Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice

The new Batman v. Superman movie is called Dawn of Justice and here is the official logo. The title is obviously playing upon the announced Justice League movie follow-up, so we can assume that the initial brawl between the two characters will end (fairly) well.

Principal photography is already underway. It’s interesting to see where they are going to shoot:

Principal photography will take place on location at Michigan Motion Picture Studios and on location in and around Detroit, Michigan; Illinois; Africa; and the South Pacific.

The movie is set to open worldwide on 6 May 2016.

[MIKA27]

Thankfully, This Bear Mum Was Able To Save Her Cub From Death By Car

A bear saves her cub from a sure death under an automobile. It is cute — but also a depressing reminder on how humans keep screwing animals up, whether they are wild or domestic. Even when we’re trying to protect them by crewing national parks.

[MIKA27]

Self-Driving Cars Will Hit California's Roads In September

On 16 September 2014, the US state of California will take one step closer to the utopian (or dystopian) future, allowing self-driving cars on public roads. And new autonomous vehicle regulations should help prevent the murder-bot anarchy that opponents are worried about.

The rules approved by the California Department of Motor Vehicles came after a series of draft proposals and a period of public comment. Considering how futuristic autonomous cars sound, the rules are rather conservative. Manufacturers wishing to test autonomous vehicles must apply for a permit, provide a minimum of $US5 million in insurance, and have a human driver behind the wheel of any autonomous vehicle that hits the public roads.

And that driver isn’t just some bub off the footpath: anyone sliding behind the wheel of a self-driving car must carry an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Program Test Vehicle Operator Permit, obtained after an advanced defensive driver training program. And if an autonomous vehicle test driver has to disengage the self-driving system for any reason during a test drive, the DMV gets alerted.

That’s actually pretty reassuring. As we figure out how to incorporate self-driving cars of the future into today’s traffic, we’ll need both real-world testing and robust failsafes. California’s statewide laws will let both small and large companies in the autonomous car race get important real-world data behind their proposed systems. Heck, maybe a few efficiency-minded robodrivers will ever-so-slightly pare down Los Angeles’ legendary traffic jams.

[MIKA27]

On This Day In 1899, The First Speeding Arrest Happened -- At 19km/h

If you think traffic is slow today, consider that Jacob German was arrested on this day in 1899 for driving at the blistering speed of 19km/h. The speed limit he blasted past? 13km/h between streets, and 6km/h around corners.

He is unlucky enough to be remembered forever, as the New York Times recounted 115 years ago, as “the first man arrested for running an automobile too fast”.

What’s so fascinating about German’s arrest is how utterly strange it sounds today. His offending speed is what we’d consider an unbearably crawl. He was driving an electric car. And he was chased down for speeding by a policeman on bicycle.

In 1899, the streets did not belong to newfangled contraptions called cars. Instead, horses ambled along in front of carriages, people strolled and kids played in the streets. There was no such thing as jaywalking. We had no conception of streets as dedicated fast lanes for cars devoid of people and horses. That’s why the New York Times in 1899 could call 19km/h “breakneck speed” and “so reckless a rate”.

Jacob German, then 26 years-= old, had gotten a job as a cab driver with the Electric Vehicle Company, a taxi service started a few years earlier by a visionary tycoon William C. Whitney. At the time electric vehicles actually outnumbered gasoline ones on the road, and Whitney was going to ride the electric car wave of the future.

“The company was notified, and its members were astonished,” reported the Times after German’s unprecedented arrest. The Electric Vehicle Company, however, soon ran into much bigger problems, as Whitney dreamed too big and expanded too fast. By 1907, the company had gone bust, killing the electric car.

As for German, he was arrested after being tailed by a zealous patrolman on bicycle. John Schuessler of the Bicycle Squad, had already acquired a reputation of “one of the finest” according to the official organ of the League of American Wheelmen. Schuessler had wrestled many a frightened horse and taken down so many speeding cyclists as to warrant the nickname “The Scorcher’s Terror”. A cab driver going 19km/h?

MIKA: The way things are heading here in Melbourne and Victoria, I think our speed limits will get to a point where we will be fined for driving 19 Kph!

[MIKA27]

'Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass' Used To Be Literal

When someone is “blowing smoke up your ass” today, it is a figure of speech that means that one person is complimenting another, insincerely most of the time, in order to inflate the ego of the individual being flattered.

Back in the late 1700s, however, doctors literally blew smoke up people’s rectums. Believe it or not, it was a general mainstream medical procedure used to, among many other things, resuscitate people who were otherwise presumed dead. In fact, it was such a commonly used resuscitation method for drowning victims particularly, that the equipment used in this procedure was hung alongside certain major waterways, such as along the River Thames (equipment courtesy of the Royal Humane Society). People frequenting waterways were expected to know the location of this equipment similar to modern times concerning the location of defibrillators.

Smoke was blown up the rectum by inserting a tube. This tube was connected to a fumigator and a bellows which when compressed forced smoke into the rectum. Sometimes a more direct route to the lungs was taken by forcing the smoke into the nose and mouth, but most physicians felt the rectal method was more effective. The nicotine in the tobacco was thought to stimulate the heart to beat stronger and faster, thus encouraging respiration. The smoke was also thought to warm the victim and dry out the person’s insides, removing excessive moisture.

So how did this all get started? The Native Americans were known to have used tobacco in a variety of ways, including treating various medical ailments, and the European doctors soon picked up on this and began advocating it for treatments for everything from headaches to cancer.

In 1745, Richard Mead was among the first known Westerners to suggest that administering tobacco via an enema was an effective way to resuscitate drowning victims.

By 1774, Doctors William Hawes and Thom­as Cogan, who practiced medicine in London, formed The Institution for Affording Immediate Relief to Persons Apparently Dead From Drowning. This group later became the Royal Hu­mane Society. Back in the 18th century, the society promoted the resuscitation of drowning people by paying four guineas (about £450 today by purchasing power, or $US756) to anyone who was able to successfully revive a drowning victim.

Volunteers within the society soon began using the latest and greatest method of reviving such half-drowned individuals, via tobacco smoke enemas. Artificial respiration was used if the tobacco enema did not successfully revive them. In order that people could easily remember what to do in these cases, in 1774 Dr. Houlston published a helpful little rhyme:

Tobacco glyster (enema), breathe and bleed.

Keep warm and rub till you succeed.

And spare no pains for what you do;

May one day be repaid to you.

The practice of using tobacco smoke enemas on drowning victims quickly spread as a popular way to introduce tobacco into the body to treat an array of other medical conditions including: headaches, hernias, respiratory ailments and abdominal cramps, among many other things. Tobacco enemas were even used to treat typhoid fever and during cholera outbreaks when patients were in the final stages of the illnesses.

In their most rudimentary form, tobacco smoke enemas were not always administered with the aide of bellows. Originally, the smoke was blown up the victim’s rectum with whatever was handy, such as a smoking pipe. Of course, such close contact wasn’t ideal and if the rescuer accidentally inhaled instead of blew, let’s just say things that one should not aspirate could be inhaled. If the person jerked around, mouth contact was also a risk, even more risky considering the person being administered too was sometimes diseased.

In fact, one of the earliest documented references of using such a tobacco enema to resuscitate someone came from someone using a smoking pipe in 1746. In this case, the man’s wife had nearly drowned and was unconscious. It was suggested that an emergency tobacco enema might revive her, at which point the husband of the woman took a pipe filled with burning tobacco, shoved the stem into his wife’s rectum and then covered the other end of the pipe with his mouth and blew. As one would imagine, hot embers of tobacco being blown up her rectum had the intended effect and she was, indeed, revived.

This practice quickly spread, reaching its peak in the early 20th century before, in 1811, English scientist Ben Brodie via animal testing discovered that nicotine was toxic to the cardiac system. Over the next several decades, the popularity of literally “blowing smoke up someone’s arse” gradually became a thing of the past. Figuratively, though, this practice is still alive and well.

[MIKA27]

How Historians Recovered The Only Surviving Nazi 'Flying Pencil'

Many good sea tales begin with a fisherman snagging his net on an underwater object, and this tale is no different. In 2000 or 2001, fisherman snagged his net while fishing the waters of Goodwin Sands, fronting the White Cliffs of Dover near the town of Deal in Kent, England. Dover sits at the English Channel’s narrowest point, and faces Calais, France.

This area took the brunt of the fighting during the Battle of Britain (July 10 — September 6, 1940) and the ensuing Blitz on London and surrounding cities (September 7, 1940 — May 21, 1941). Kent was known as “Hell Fire Corner” for the amount of destruction that rained down on the area during the battles.

Rare colour image of a Do 17Z in flight. More than 1500 examples of the “Flying Pencil” were built, and more than 400 attacked England during the Battle of Britain and the subsequent Blitz on London. The Do-17Z-2 (fuselage code 5K+AR) was shot down on August 26, 1940, and ditched off the coast of Dover.

Estimates put the number of shipwrecks in this area of the English Channel at more than two thousand. To illustrate the point, the area was the site of two major naval battles during World War I: the First Battle of Dover Strait (October 26 — 27, 1916, when German forces were victorious over the British), and the Second Battle of Dover Strait (April 20 — 21, 1917, a British victory).

Because of the area’s huge number of sunken ships, most in the fishing community were not surprised when the nets were snagged and subsequently repaired, and the incident was soon forgotten. In 2004, sport scuba diver Bob Peacock learned of the wreck’s location, but it was another four years, until September 2008, before he made the journey to look for the snag. Lying almost four miles off the coast, the bottom topology is a chalk bed, between fifty and eighty feet deep covered by shifting sands. Underwater visibility in the area ranges from twenty five feet on the best day, to nearly zero when the tides are running.

Side-scan sonar image of the Do-17Z prior to recovery by the Royal Air Force Museum. The scan shows the Do-17 resting inverted on the bottom of the English Channel. The aircraft was ditched into the sea, and then turned upside down during its descent to the bottom of the channel. From this scan, it can easily be determined that the starboard horizontal tail and the bomb bay doors are missing. Port of London Authority

Instead of a shipwreck, Peacock found an aircraft partially buried in the sand. Peacock reported his find, and Wessex Archaeology of Salisbury, England, was given the task of surveying the crash site. In May and June 2009, Wessex Archaeology found a twin-engine aircraft lying inverted, nearly complete, fifty feet below the surface. Around the aircraft was a debris field, but a number of parts were missing, including the starboard horizontal and vertical tail, tail cone and tailwheel, flaps, engine cowlings, bomb bay doors, main landing gear doors, and the cockpit canopy.

From a small number of parts recovered from the wreck in 2009, researchers from the RAF Museum, Hendon, England, were able to determine that the wreck is that of a Dornier Do-17-Z2 — the only substantially complete example of its type known to exist. The Do 17Z was a light, fast bomber, referred to as the Fliegender Bleistif or “Flying Pencil.” There were more than 1,500 Do-17s built between 1934 and 1944, and more than 400 were used against the British during the Battle of Britain. The Germans lost more than 200 Do-17s to all causes during the Battle of Britain and subsequent Blitz.

On June 11, 2013, the Do-17Z was raised from the sea in an area known as Goodwin Sands, approximately four miles from the English coast.

RAF Museum researcher Andrew Simpson compiled the Do-17Z’s history, believing the aircraft to be Werke no. 1160 that was based with 7 Staffel, III/KG3 (7 Staffel or Squadron, 3rd Group, Kampfgeschwaderor Bomber Wing 3). At the beginning of the Battle of Britain, KG 3 had 108 bombers on strength, of which 88 were combat ready. The unit was based at St. Trond, Belgium, and on August 26, 1940, Werkeno. 1160, wearing the fuselage codes 5K+AR, was part of a squadron sent to bomb the RAF airfields at Debden and Hornchurch, more than sixty miles north and east of London. Flying above clouds, the Do-17 became separated from its squadron and turned south to get its bearings. The Do-17 was attacked by Boulton Paul Deants — low-wing, turret-equipped fighters — of No. 264 Squadron, based at RAF Hornchurch. Although accounts are conflicting, in the ensuing melee, seven Do-17s of the attack were shot down by the Deants.

It is assumed that Do-17 5K+AR made a run for the coast headed for Calais, France, because its crash location is some eighty miles south and east of the Germans’ intended target. A direct line back to St. Trond required a flight of more than two hundred miles, while Calais, or the narrow channel area between Dover and Calais, afforded a better chance of survival for a bomber trying to limp home, short of fuel. If the Do-17′s crew had to ditch, they stood a greater chance of being picked up by German crash boats patrolling in the vicinity.

Marine growth covers every square inch of the German bomber. In spite of how bad it looks in this view, the growth helped preserve many parts.

Hit by fire from the RAF Deants, 5K+AR ditched in the Channel, less than four miles off the English coast, not far enough across to hope for rescue by the Germans. Pilot Feldwebel Willi Effmert, and bombardier Unterozier Hermann Ritzel were both wounded in the air battle. After the aircraft ditched, they were rescued by the British and became prisoners-of-war in Canada. Wireless operator Uffz. Helmut Reinhardt and bombardier Gefreiter Heinz Huhn were killed. Their bodies subsequently washed ashore on opposite sides of the Channel with Reinhardt interred in Holland and Huhn buried in England. While the pilot and bombardier were being rescued, Do-17Z-2 5K+AR slid beneath the English Channel, landing inverted on the bottom.

Recovery Operation

In June 2010, another series of dives were made to access the condition of the wreck and to plan for the Do-17Z’s recovery. The plan involved lifting the entire wreck in one piece through a cage system. Having determined a positive potential for recovery, the project to recover the sole surviving Flying Pencil began to move forward.

“The discovery and recovery of the Dornier is of national and international importance. The aircraft is a unique and unprecedented survivor from the Battle of Britain and the Blitz,” said Air Vice- Marshal Peter Dye, director general of the RAF Museum.

The recovery operation received more than £345,000 ($538,000) from Britain’s National Heritage Memorial Fund and the project got underway. The RAF Museum served as manager of the recovery project with assistance from Seatech Commercial Diving Services, the Port of London Authority, and researchers from Imperial College, London, who are serving as conservation consultants. Additional funding was provided by WarGaming.net, 328 Support Services GmbH, the EADS aerospace consortium (of which Dornier is a legacy company), the Society of Friends of the RAF Museum, and the general public.

Manufacturer’s dataplate as found on the Do-17Z, seen shortly after recovery.

With everything in place, the RAF Museum and Seatech team began operations in May 2013. Poor weather in the Channel forced the team to abort recovery attempts and return to port four times. With so many aborts, the RAF Museum decided to abandon the cage recovery system in favour of attaching lifting rigs directly to the aircraft. Divers worked in teams, and were only able to stay down for forty minutes at a time rigging the new lift system. The new rigging would enable a seagoing crane to make one li of the bomber, from the bottom of the sea up and onto the deck of a barge.

On the eve of the li, June 2, 2013, RAF Museum Director Dye said, “We have adapted the lifting frame design to minimize the loads on the airframe during the lift while allowing the recovery to occur within the limited time remaining. The RAF Museum has worked extremely closely with Seatech throughout this process and both organisations remain determined to complete this challenging task and see the Dornier safely recovered as planned.” Unfortunately, the winds did not favour the recovery attempt on June 2, and the crew watched the weather, waiting for a new opportunity.

On June 10, the winds died down, the seas calmed, and the RAF Museum and Seatech team was able to make a successful lift. After a long day of dedicated work, the Do 17Z was brought up on deck at 6:30 p.m. local time. The main landing gear tires were still inflated and the propellers, recovered separately, were curved, showing that they were turning under power when the bomber ditched.

Once on deck, any hazardous materials were addressed and the Do-17′s MG 15 machine guns and magazines were secured for later inspection. When safely back on the dock, the magazines were x-rayed, only to be found empty — a vivid reminder of the back-and-forth air battle fought in the skies over Kent.

During the five-hour trip from the recovery site to the dock at Ramsgate Harbor, the RAF Museum team went to work removing the bomber’s wings and horizontal tail. After they had cleared seventy- three years of marine growth, the attach bolts were easily removed. The fuselage, wings, and tail were put into a frame for the loading and transport of the German bomber to the RAF Museum at Cosford for conservation. As the frame was being built around the bomber’s components, a gel was sprayed and brushed onto the aircraft to keep oxygen from continuing to corrode the metal.

The aircraft was driven more than two hundred miles on a flatbed trucks to the Michael Beetham Conservation Center at Cosford. Once at the museum, the aircraft components were unloaded and placed into two hydration tunnels, essentially large greenhouse-like structures, where they are repeatedly sprayed with citric acid as the first step in conserving the aircraft. In addition to inhibiting corrosion, the citric acid helps soften the layers of marine growth, enabling further corrosion-inhibiting efforts. As the marine growth becomes loose, conservation staff uses plastic scrapers to peel back the sea slime.

The fuselage was lifted from the sea in its inverted position, and was transported in the same orientation.

The conservation process is expected to take two years. To engage guests to the RAF Cosford Museum while the aircraft is conserved, a visitors’ center and an education center will enable the Dornier to be seen up close while in the hydration tunnels. An RAF Museum spokesman said that displays “at the Cosford and Hendon Sites will ‘taxi’ the aircraft virtually through the wall and at the Hendon site the aircraft will be raised through the ‘sea’ of carpet. The nose windows will light up to form a projection-mapped screen and tell the story from the gunner’s seat. During this phase virtual Dorniers will appear and hover ominously above their external shadows. Visitors will be able to view and explore these augmented-reality, life-size 3D models though a mobile application on their smart phones.”

The RAF Museum is no stranger to recovering and preserving aircraft, having most notably recovered a Halifax Mk II in 1973 from Lake Hoklingen in Norway and a Hurricane Mk I retrieved from the Thames estuary. It is conceivable that the Do-17, when ready for display, will sit facing the Thames estuary-recovered Hurricane in a Battle of Britain display.

Dornier Do-17Z fuselage being placed into the hydration tunnels at the Michael Beetham Conservation Center at the RAF Museum, Cosford. The aircraft is sprayed with a citric acid to inhibit corrosion. The preservation process is expected to take more than two years.

The Dornier Do-17Z “will provide an evocative and moving exhibit that will allow the museum to present the wider story of the Battle of Britain and highlight the sacrifices made by the young men of both air forces and from many nations. It is a project that has reconciliation and remembrance at its heart,” said RAF Museum Director General Dye.

[MIKA27]

Russian Dash Cam Video Shows Police Car Being Pushed Off The Road

Oh, Russia, you never cease to entertain us. Your dash cams are an endless source of joy, amazement and terror. Here’s the latest one: a car pushes a police car off the road, resulting in a chase that ends A-Team style.

[MIKA27]

Incredible Space Stone Seems Like It Has A Nebula Trapped Inside

This is just a stone. Not a photo of a stone with a Hubble Space Telescope image pasted over it. Not a hologram made inside some piece of glass. Not a portal to another dimension. Just a stone. It’s like some spacetime wizard captured a piece of the universe and trapped it inside.

The stone is an opal. A “very fine American contraluz opal found” in Opal Butte, Oregon, according to Bonhams, the auction house that sold it last May for around $20,000. Their description says that the 4.6cm x 4.4cm x 1cm gemstone is a “clear, transparent crystal body having a fine, firey play-of-colour that is gem quality. The piece has a botryoidal jasper formation which forms a unique inclusion.”

Personally, I find it more beautiful than any diamond or precious gem.

[MIKA27]

The Curious Story Of Why The Jedi Are Called Jedi

If you’re a cinema fan, you may know part of this story, but, if you aren’t, this video is a throughout summary of how American westerns influenced the samurais of Akira Kurosawa — and how the samurais of Akira Kurosawa influenced that galactic western known as Star Wars.

[MIKA27]

This Amazing Floating Underwater City May Become A Reality In China

A Chinese company wants to build this incredible 10 square kilometre floating underwater city using the same techniques they’re using for the construction of the 50km bridge that links Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. It’s incredible — the kind of stuff I dreamt about when I was a little kid.

The China Communications construction company commissioned AT Design Office to plan the ocean metropolis. They are now in talks with a large Chinese investor group to decide whether to pursue the project or not.

Of course, some of the parts in the renders would be so prohibitively expensive to make that I doubt that they would make it to the final project but, according to architect Slavomir Siska, the city is entirely doable using the same techniques they are using to build the bridge, which will be finished next year after construction began in 2009:

Part of that bridge is an underwater tunnel, which is joined by a 150-metre-long precast concrete box. The mega box is cast on a nearby island and floated to site before being connected. We were appointed to work with the engineer to come up with a masterplan for a 10-square-kilometre floating island that can be built with the same technology.

One of the coolest things about this project is that it has underwater and above water levels.

[MIKA27]

The Eerie, Crumbling Bunkers of the Nazis’ Atlantic Wall

As the war in Europe raged through the early 1940s, Germany built thousands of concrete bunkers to defend the continent’s western shore from an Allied sea attack. This Atlantic Wall stretched from Norway to the border of France and Spain, and what remains all these decades later is darkly beautiful.

Photographer Stephan Vanfleteren, 44, grew up near some of these structures as a child living in Belgium, but never thought much of them. They were just crumbling concrete relics of the past. That changed last year, however, when he returned to the Belgian coast to photograph bunkers for the Museum Atlantikwall at Raversyde–Belgium. Seeing them with fresh eyes, he was immediately taken by their graceful, elegant design. He produced a series of beautiful black and white photographs that soon will be released as a book.

Guernsey, Channel Islands

“Some of the buildings reminded me of the Guggenheim museum or the Fallingwater house by Frank Lloyd Wright,” says Vanfleteren, who still lives in Belgium. “These were buildings made for strategic defense but there was also real beauty and a connection with modern architecture.”

Vanfleteren was of course acutely aware of the history associated with the buildings, so he made sure to balance his approach. Although he found the buildings beautiful, he didn’t try to stylize or dramatize them by shooting with artificial lights or at night. Instead, his work is purely documentary, an attempt to let the structures speak for themselves. “The buildings are innocent,” he says, “but there’s still the association.”

Quiberville, France

While shooting, Vanfleteren says he thought a lot about the immensity of the project, which the Nazis built between 1942 and 1945. The Atlantic Wall was an enormous and a mindboggling undertaking: The Third Reich built thousands of bunkers along 1,670 miles of coastline, many of them in remote and rugged areas that required great feats of engineering and often left him wondering, “How did this get here?”

Even now, many bunkers remain difficult to reach, and Vanfleteren occasionally found himself in dangerous spots. While shooting on the Channel Islands, an enormous wave caught him off guard and swept thousands of dollars of his camera equipment into the sea. He escaped injury, but the experience put a scare in him. “As I saw my bag drifting away I thought, ‘That could be me,’” he says.

Hanstholm, Denmark

Many of the bunkers are located along beautiful settings on the Atlantic coast, so the landscape often is as important as the structure in the photograph. And after decades of neglect–little effort was made in the decades after the war to preserve the bunkers–many of them have slowly eroded away and are themselves becoming part of the landscape. When Vanfleteren talked to locals, many told him the eroding bunkers have become a symbol of environmental changes. Bunkers that used to sit well back from the ocean are now right at the waters edge, for example, and many locals consider this a barometer, a sign of global climate change and a rising sea.

Vigo, Denmark

Maps posted online reveal the location of many bunkers, and there are forums in which people describe them. Yet there were times when Vanfleteren would arrive at a spot expecting to find a bunker and instead see nothing. On some occasions, he’d call his wife and asked her to check Google Earth for directions. Other times, he’d simply wander about until he found what he’d come for. It was a lonely endeavor–a point conveyed in the photos–but a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Vanfleteren could only work on the project for a couple weeks at a time, but began to cherish his time alone with his camera.

“After a while it wasn’t a commission but instead a mission,” he says. “I became very addicted to the project.”

Muiden, Netherlands

Berck, France

Capbreton, France

Lokken, Denmark

Huequeville, France

[MIKA27]

B-52 Bomber Gets Its First New Communications System Since the 1960s

Boeing’s CONECT system, pictured here in the cockpit of the B1 bomber, brings color screens and new technology to the stalwart B-52.

The B-52 bomber, one of the great stalwarts of America’s military arsenal, is getting its first major communications system upgrade since the Kennedy administration.

Yes, the high-flying, long-distance bomber is finally ditching its old-school cathode ray tube, green-on-black screens for full-color LCDs, and it’s getting a suite of upgrades that will make it an even more formidable weapon in the skies.

The Boeing B-52 has been the United States’ preeminent strategic bomber since it entered service in 1955. The B-2 Spirit, introduced in 1997, may have stealth on its side, but it can’t match the B-52’s 8,800-mile range or 70,000-pound payload capacity. In the earliest years of the Cold War, there usually was at least one B-52 airborne at all times. Later, the plane flew missions over Vietnam and during the Gulf War. They bombed Yugoslavia in 1999 and, more recently, flew sorties over Afghanistan and Iraq. And as old as it is, the Air Force expects the venerable plane to remain in service for at least another 35 years.

So it’s time they got an upgrade. In April, the Air Force began the four-year process of fitting its fleet of 76 B-52s with Boeing’s new Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) system. For the first time, B-52 crews can easily retarget weapons and change mission parameters while airborne. They can see intelligence data overlaid on maps shown on high-def LCD screens. And the plane’s myriad communications, targeting and navigation systems can receive data electronically, rather than having it relayed by radio and entered by hand.

The previous communications system, which got a minor upgrade in the 1980s, worked well enough for past missions, but the evolving role of the B-52 on the world stage requires new capabilities. President Obama is shifting much of the military’s might away from the Middle East to the Pacific Rim. More missions flown over an enormous ocean places new importance on the B-52’s intercontinental capability.

“CONECT helps the B-52 remain a viable, flexible weapon system supporting the needs of COCOMs [combatant commands] and our nation as we react to a rapidly changing world,” said Michael Schenck, B-52 CONECT program manager for the Air Force.

The program started in 2005, and Boeing delivered a B-52 equipped with the system to the Air Force for testing purposes in 2009. Last month, the first CONECT-equipped B-52 entered service. The system will be installed as planes come in for regular maintenance at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, reducing the cost of the upgrade. It is expected to take four years to outfit all 76 airplanes. According to a March 2014 budget request, the Air Force plans to spend $14 million on the project this year, and a total of $40.6 million between 2014 and 2019.

Cathode ray tube displays like this will soon be a thing of the past as the Air Force installs LCD screens and other modern tech in eaco of its 76 B-52 bombers.

While the hardware that makes up CONECT isn’t revolutionary, it’s new for the B-52, said Jim Kroening, Boeing’s B-52 development programs manager. Kroening started working on the bomber in 1980 and spent 18 years working on the plane.

Among the new tech: B-52 crews get QWERTY keyboards or keypads with trackballs. A digital system will replace the analog interphone panels crewmembers once used to talk to each other. Crews have the option of carrying programming and recording data (like maps) on and off the plane via a removable solid state storage device—what the rest of us call a thumb drive.

The ability to receive digital data while in the air is especially important. Before the upgrade, changing the targeting coordinates for a bomb, for example, required having someone in air operations command convey the new information to the crew by radio. Someone on the plane then “fat fingers”–that is to say, types–the data into the targeting system, Koening said. CONECT allows digital transmission of data, machine to machine. That prevents errors and speeds up the process, especially for “smart weapons” that fly complicated routes after being launched.

CONECT makes it far easier to change objectives while airborne, a big advantage in an airplane that routinely spends 14 hours aloft. LCD screens make complicated information easier to understand. And the system runs Windows, which cuts down the learning curve and can allow crews to do things like use Microsoft Word to write reports during lulls in the flight.

Going forward, CONECT provides the foundation for all sorts of upgrades. It’s compatible with digital video formats. The Air Force is considering replacing the B-52’s mechanically scanned radar array with something more modern, which CONECT would support. The potential changes Boeing’s system offers the B-52 are endless, Koening said, limited only by imagination—and the military’s pocketbook.

[MIKA27]

Company Takes Pre-orders for Hoverbike – R2D2 Not Included

Sure, it looks like something that would have gotten Luke Skywalker laughed out of Jedi High, but the Aero-X hoverbike announced in 2007 by Aerofex is one step closer to reality. The company announced it expects to deliver the first models in 2017 and is accepting $5000 deposits for pre-orders.

According to the company, the Aero-X is built with a light-weight carbon fiber frame and fan blades powered by three 240-horsepower three-rotor rotary engines. It’s designed to carry two people, hover at up to 10 feet above the ground, attain speeds of up to 45 mile-per-hour and operate for up to 75 minutes before refueling.

Aerofex likens the Aero-X to riding a motorcycle, with simple controls that are intuitive and an intelligent vehicle that responds to the movements of the pilot for steering and control. “Pilot” is a misnomer since the craft does not require a pilot’s license or flight training.

The “tandem duct” design of two fans in a line is supposed to help give the Aero-X more altitude and lift power. The duct around the fan focuses the wind for additional lift and the fans use a proprietary design that’s said to be less complex that helicopter rotors while providing greater stability.

While it can hover at up to ten feet, the company believes riders will be more comfortable at five. At that height, the craft can operate off-road and over hills, but it’s not recommended for mountainous terrain.

The expected list price for the Aero-X pre-tax is $85,000. Standard equipment includes a tachometer with indicator lights and a USB port for your GPS or music player. Options include airbags and flotation pontoons for water riding.

Will the Aero-X hoverbike be worth the wait? The prototype was unveiled in 2007, the first demonstration was in 2012 and the current videos still look experimental. Will it be revolutionary everyday transportation, an expensive toy or a disappointment like the jetpack? Time will tell.

[MIKA27]

FLAK – WORLD WAR II TRAINING FILM

Flak – Evading Anti-Aircraft Fire is an official training film from the Second World War that taught pilots how to evade and otherwise deal with flak – from Europe to the Pacific and everywhere in between. Anti-aircraft weaponry has existed since very shortly after the first aircraft were militarised and WWII is widely considered the peak of ballistic anti-aircraft warfare – missiles became the defacto anti-aircraft weapon once the technology caught up in the 1950s.

This film was shown to all airmen before entering combat and contains plenty of information about avoiding flak that would have been highly classified between 1939 and 1945.

[MIKA27]

GOKEY MULTI-TOOL MOBILE CHARGER

Here we go again with another one of those ideas that’s so simple and yet so smart, it kinda, well… it kinda makes us angry that we didn’t think of it first.

GOkey makes a strong case for the MVP of your key ring – yes, even more valuable than your house key – due to its plethora of functions. First off, it’s a backup charger, which the developers say can charge your phone for up to two hours. Secondly, it’s a sync/charge cable, letting you charge your phone or GOkey itself via USB, or use it to transfer data. Next up is flash drive functionality, available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB versions. And lastly, GOkey is a Bluetooth locator, syncing up with your smartphone to let you know when either goes missing. Early birds can grab an 8GB one now for $49. How we didn’t come up with this idea during our 5th straight hour of NBA2K14, I have no idea. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

REFUGE GERVASUTTI ALPINE HUT BY LEAPFACTORY

Are you finding your weekend getaways at the Ramada Inn lacking just a little bit in the adrenalin department? My advice is either fill the hotel pool with barracudas and Jell-O, or spend a night at New Refuge Gervasutti. What’s that? Oh, just a tube that hangs precariously over the edge of a glacier in the Alps.

Italian architects LEAPfactory created this startling piece of shelter off-site and had it flown in via helicopter. The cantilever features a living room, kitchen and dining table, bunk beds, storage closets, integrated computer to keep mountaineers and climbers updated on the weather conditions, and a massive window to soak in the majestic views and sure, serve as another obvious way to observe the weather conditions.

[MIKA27]

BANG & OLUFSEN BEOLAB 20 WIRELESS SPEAKERS

There are a lot of quick and dirty wireless speaker solutions out there, but if you demand premium sound quality, you’ve had precious few choices in the wireless arena so far.

Bang & Olufsen’s newest floor speaker, the BeoLab 20, promises to raise the bar of wireless audio to new heights with its ‘Immaculate Wireless Sound’ technology built into the strikingly elegant design. Designers say the Acoustic Lens tweeter is the key to its brilliant sound, with its 180-degree horizontal dispersion spreading smooth high-frequency sound evenly throughout the room. The aluminum base is not only attractive and sturdy, but it also boosts bass performance. Around back there’s more style and function with the soft-black cooling grill dispersing the warmth, eliminating the chance of overheating. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

RVNDSGN WATCHES

rvnDSGN is a boutique watch brand created by award winning industrial designer Zach Raven. The minimalist timepieces are completely built in titanium using the latest in 3D printing technology, fusing together layer by layer with a laser until the final form is revealed. Designed in solid titanium each watch is completely handmade in the United States per order. The timepieces are powered by a Swiss made ETA jewel movement and sport handmade NATO-style rugged nubuck leather straps.

[MIKA27]

OYO BOURBON BARREL HONEY VANILLA VODKA

Middle West Spirits in Columbus, Ohio is known for their excellent vodkas and whiskeys, but rarely do the two spirits mingle with each other — until now.Bourbon Barrel Honey Vanilla Vodka is a unique creation distilled from red winter wheat and local wildflower honey with hints of fresh vanilla bean. The honey vanilla vodka then rests in OYO bourbon barrels for between 9 and 12 months. The result is a sweet, creamy liqueur that not only tastes good neat, but is a fantastic cocktail ingredient.

[MIKA27]

Here's Your First Look At Batman: Arkham Knight Gameplay

Why look, it’s gameplay footage of the next Batman game! Here’s the new-gen-only Batman: Arkham Knight.

You’ve got Batman swooping through Gotham, calling in the Batmobile, and even using his car to drive on the ceiling during a Riddler driving challenge.

And you’ve got the Arkham Knight himself, a mysterious new character, taking Batman down and seeming to shoot our hero.

Notably, the trailer ends with a “coming soon” rather than a promise for a 2014 release. The game is being made for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Expect plenty more about Arkham Knight at the big E3 show this June.

[MIKA27]

The Motion Capture In Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes Is Simply Stunning

http://youtu.be/8qYyEM224z8

I knew the apes in Dawn of the planet of the Apes are entirely made with CGI using the actors’ facial expressions and body motion. Still, watching this side-by-side comparison between the motion capture work and the final VFX is still pretty amazing.

The process was invented and perfected by Weta Workshop — Peter Jackson’s special effects company — for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Coincidentally, that’s Andy Serkis on the top image, the guy who played the tormented Tolkien character.

On the other hand actors had to train really hard to imitate the movements of real apes.

[MIKA27]

18 Amazing Places You Should Ride Your Bike Before You Die

One of the most rewarding way to explore a country is to get a bike and ride around for days — or even weeks — without hustle. By bike, you can explore stunning places that can’t be experience from the seat of a car or a bus. Here is a brief and totally incomplete selection of the most wondrous places where you can get by bike.

Riding is fun on this two-year-old bike path near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And the view is awesome.

Biking in the coastal towns of Croatia, for example in Dubrovnik, is a pleasant way to explore the Adriatic country.

Also coastal Croatia has beautiful bays and friendly hills.

Tourists with rented bicycles lie on the grass in front of the Reichstag, the seat of the German Bundestag. Berlin is a bike friendly city, worth wandering around on bicycle.

Rent a bike and take a ride in the Ayutthaya historical park when you visit Thailand.

One of the most overwhelmingly sacred places on Earth is Angkor, Cambodia. And you can spend days among the ruins of the ancient Khmer temples by riding a cheap rented bike.

Biking in Havana, Cuba — among those ancient American cars — is another a memorable experience.

Easter Island is small enough that you can bike around comfortably to meet — in person! — all the mysterious moai.

Stonehenge. Get a bike and visit Europe’s most famous prehistoric monument if you are in England.

You can admire this amazing view while riding down the 401 trail in Crested Butte, Colorado.

From the top of Mariette Peak in the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, is a wonderful sight.

You can easily visit the temples and pagodas of Bagan, Myanmar, by bike.

If you’re a dedicated mountain biker, the Incan ruins of Peru are waiting for you.

Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, located in Bolivia, is ideal for those cyclists among us who hate mountains… and clothes.

Bikers on the frozen Portage Lake, Alaska. Because biking on ice is fun, especially amidst such amazing wintertime scenery.

This seems like cyclist nirvana: pedalling slowly across the Atacama Plateau in Chile - I been there and it's stunning!

Visiting all the castles in the Loire Valley, in France, by bike is probably on the bucket list of many.

Bonus pic: Pedaling high above the gorgeous landscape? You can do this on the sky cycle roller coaster at Washuzan Highland Amusement Park in Kurashiki, Japan!

[MIKA27]

Samsung Takes On Sonos With New Wireless Multi-Room Speakers

Samsung is not nervous about dipping its toes into new waters. It pioneered the smart camera and the kid’s tablet; when it as a company sees an opportunity for a bit of market share, it takes it. This, I think, is the story behind Samsung’s new M5 and M7 Wi-Fi speakers, which you can install in seconds and control via your smartphone.

The M5 is the smaller of the two speakers (measuring 343 x 168 x 114mm and 2.3kg), while the step-up M7 is its bigger brother (measuring 402 x 194 x 137mm and 3.8kg). Both speakers are identical apart from the internal audio drivers, with the larger of the two adding a couple of dedicated tweeters for better high-frequency sound.

To use the new Samsung Sound speakers, you’ll either have to plug at least one into your home router, or buy the add-on $79 Samsung Sound Hub — a wireless bridge that connects the multi-room speaker’s Wi-Fi to your main home network. Both the M5 and M7 operate over a wireless mesh network, so you only need one in range of the Hub or your router; other speakers only need to be able to communicate with at least one other multi-room device to hook into the entire mesh.

If you’re not using Samsung’s app to control the music playing through one or more speakers simultaneously, you can use Bluetooth and NFC to take over any individual speaker and stream music to it directly from your phone. The speakers are even more versatile in that they can be hooked up to any 2014 Samsung Smart TV over Wi-Fi (or selected 2013 and 2014 models over Bluetooth) and function as front, rear or surround speakers, giving you a proper wireless audio system for your big screen.

Samsung’s most obvious competitor in this field is Sonos, the multi-room wireless audio pioneer and the one to beat. Sonos has had its PLAY (nee ZonePlayer) speakers for a decade, and it has a more extensive catalogue in the PLAY:1, PLAY:3, PLAY:5, SUB and SOUNDBAR. But Samsung has great wireless credentials, and a huge catalogue of smartphones and tablets and laptops and smart TVs that it can use to throw music and audio to its wireless speakers. It makes sense to get into the multi-room audio game; we’re keen to see how they perform.