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

[MIKA27]

An Up-Close Tour Of The C-17 Globemaster, The Giant That Flies

With sinuous lines, flawless grey skin and four powerful turbofan engines straight out of a contemporary sci-fi movie, the iconic C-17 Globemaster has a surprisingly spacious exterior, with a 77,500kg maximum payload. Inside, it’s a total mess of cables, wires, pipes and hundreds of gadgets that the average admirer can hardly see through.

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is the second largest military transport aircraft made in the United States, after the mighty Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Thanks to the Strategic Airlift Capability Heavy Airlift Wing (SAC HAW) at the Pápa Air Base, Hungary, I had the chance to examine the fifth largest military cargo aircraft of the world very closely, during the open day held on this Saturday.

The following photo essay shows you all the delightful details that many people might not realise even exist in these aeroplanes. Some serious aircraft porn follows, so please fasten your seat belts.

Here’s a bit more about HAW, which is an independent partnership between 12 countries and is based in Hungary. The coalition owns and operates several C-17 Globemasters:

The HAW is the operational arm of the multinational Strategic Airlift Capability program (SAC), and operates three Boeing C-17 Globemaster III long-range cargo jets providing strategic military airlift capability to the 12 member nations of SAC (Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States and NATO Partnership for Peace nations Finland and Sweden).

The HAW flew its first missions in the July 2009 and ever since its C-17 fleet has achieved over 13.000 flying hours on over 940 missions, delivered over 89 million pounds (over 40.000 tons) of cargo and carried over 52.000 passengers. The HAW can respond to a wide selection of airlift needs. It can provide airlift capability to support EU, NATO or UN operations or national military, peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations wherever and whenever needed by the 12 nations.

HAW missions can contain multiple tasks such as air refueling, single ship airdrop, assault landings and all-weather operations day or night into low to medium threat environments using Night Vision Goggles. In 2014, the Strategic Airlift Capability Heavy Airlift Wing celebrates its fifth year of flight operations. During its five years of operations HAW has supported a variety of military and peacekeeping operations including International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan (2009-), NATO operations in Libya (2011) and UN approved training and peacekeeping operations in Mali (2013-) and in the Republic of Central Africa (2014-). The most significant humanitarian operations supported include earthquake relief in Haiti (2010) and flood relief in Pakistan (2010).

[Maplepie]

Ah! And the Canucks! With their comically named 'snowglobemaster'

Sent from my Q10 using Tapatalk

[MIKA27]

All US And UK F-35s Are Being Grounded (Again) Because Of Engine Fires

Military officials from both the US and UK have been forced to ground each and every F-35 in their fleets so that their engines can be inspected — following another fire last week. By our count, this will be the eighth time the entire fleet has had to be been grounded — although it’s hard to keep accurate tallies given it happens practically all the time.

Last time, it was the result of a F-35B Joint Strike Fighter catching fire. This time, reports Reuters, an Air Force F-35A caught fire at a Florida air base. “The engine ripped through the top of the plane,” one source told the news agency leaving behind “about six feet (180cm) of debris”.

It’s somewhat of political humiliation, given that the $US398.6 billion F-35B Joint Strike Fighter is about to make its international debut at two air shows in Britain in the coming weeks. The grounding will stymie a July 4 naming ceremony of Britain’s newest aircraft carrier, but it’s hoped that jets will be checked and ready for their debut appearances at shows on July 11 and July 14. The inspections should take about 90 minutes apiece, according to the Reuters sources, and US and UK military officials are working together to get the checks performed as quickly as possible.

[MIKA27]

How Fast Do You Have To Run If You Want To Walk On Water?

It’s possible to walk on water. I mean, you can skip a stone across water too, right? It’s just not exactly humanly possible. Water can theoretically support the weight of a human only if they have beyond enormous feet or if they can run stupid fast. How fast?

Well, much faster than the fastest man on Earth. Science Channel says that Usain Bolt’s speed tops out at about 10.4 metres per second. To run on water, you’d have to zip three times as fast. So around 30 metres a second.

So you’re telling me there’s a chance? That footage has got to be fake?

[MIKA27]

Dive Into The World's Biggest Cave

Our species owes a lot to caves. The natural rock formations have been homes, religious sites, art galleries, and graveyards for humanity’s earliest ancestors. The July issue of National Geographic magazine delves into some of the planet’s most expansive cave systems, located in the wilds of China.

Below follows an excerpt from the story, but check out the magazine’s awesome interactive here too.

Climber Emily Harrington takes the hard way up southern China’s Moon Hill, an arch from the remains of a collapsed cave. Sightseers have an easier option: a paved walkway to a viewpoint beneath the arch, then a dirt path to the top.

Crouched on the floor in the mud in one of the biggest cave chambers in China, one of the biggest in the world, we can hear nothing but our breathing and the drip, drip of distant water. We can see nothing but a void. Then we turn to the screen of a laptop connected to a laser scanner, and the Hong Meigui Chamber reveals itself. We float up to its roof, which forms a cathedral arch 290 metres above the cracked mud where we are crouched to avoid the scanner’s beam. We hover over a lake. We touch down on a beach on the far side.

“It’s like Google Earth,” I say.

“It’s like The Matrix,” says Daniela Pani, the Sardinian geoscientist operating the laptop.

The photographer’s lights illuminate the green-hued Getu The river in the Miao Room — considered the world’s second largest cave chamber by area.

The digital version of the cave is more real than real life. Real caves are dark. Extremely dark. In a big chamber, even with modern LED headlamps many times brighter than the old carbide ones, you can see 45 metres ahead or above, and not much more. Mist or emptiness overwhelms even the brightest beam. It’s natural to want to see more.

The Stone Forest is a labyrinthine world of eroded and dissolved limestone near the southern Chinese city of Kunming. Early visitors gave the formations names like “rhinoceros admiring the moon” and “stone singing praises of plums.”

Wanting to see more is what drew Andy Eavis to southern China more than 30 years ago. Here in the still cloistered country was the planet’s greatest concentration of the otherworldly topography known as karst: sinkholes, stone towers, forested spires, and disappearing rivers that form over centuries as rainwater dissolves a soluble bedrock, usually limestone. And hidden inside and underneath this green mountainscape — the same iconic scenery found in traditional Chinese paintings — was the planet’s greatest concentration of undocumented caves.

Uphill from the giant Miao Room, 21 families from the Miao minority live under the roof of a cave. They first came, elders say, because of the reliable spring. The cave now contains a basketball court and, until recently, had a school

Check out the rest of the story in National Geographic‘s July 2014 issue.

Members of a British-led expedition pause at a subterranean lake on the way to Titan Chamber in southern Guizhou Province, where it rains more than 50 inches a year. The lake appears and disappears as the rains come and go. © Carsten Peter/National Geographic

[MIKA27]

Bio-Bots Powered By Real Muscle Can Walk On Command

University of Illinois engineers just showed off a new kind of robot that’s half animal, half machine. More specifically, it’s a tiny “bio-bot” that’s powered by actual muscle but supported by 3D-printed hydro-gels. And the best part is that it can be controlled by pulses of electricity.

While it sounds wildly futuristic, the design of these little, half-centimetre-long bio-bots is actually inspired by how muscles and tendons connect to bone in nature. You might guess that scientists are stretching to see how they can apply modern mechanical knowledge to biological tissue, but it’s actually the other way around. “Biology is tremendously powerful,” said Rashid Bashir, head of bioengineering at Illinois, in a release. “And if we can somehow learn to harness its advantages for useful applications, it could bring about a lot of great things.”

In the near term, the team at Illinois hopes their bio-bots will work like autonomous sensors that can live within the body and provide targeted drug delivery when they sense a specific toxin. They’re moving in the right direction, too. This new design improves upon an earlier one that used the spontaneous beating of heart cells to propel the bio-bots forward. However, they had no control over those bio-bots since they would just beat continuously. The ability to control the muscle in the new design is a powerful one. It’s like the difference between a wind up toy and a remote controlled car.

Things get really exciting when you start thinking bigger. Imagine what the marriage of biological tissue and synthetic material could mean for the future of prosthetics, for instance. Think bigger. Think Robocop.

Last year, we spoke to futurist Tim Maly about when we might see a full-fledged cyborg. He basically said the complete marriage of man and machine could be achieved through the success of bioengineering. “It probably won’t be a mechanical body,” Maly told Gizmodo. “It will probably be some biogrown body. And it won’t be recognisably to us as Robocop, because it will already be part of a long line of small improvements.” The breakthrough in Illinois, it seems, is one stop in that long line of small improvements.

[MIKA27]

This Is The Coolest Demonstration Of Self-Driving Cars I've Ever Seen

If Volvo had to appeal to Van Damme’s epic split to sell more trucks, Hyundai just released this insane self-driving demonstration to try to sell their vehicles: A group of stuntmen jump from the roof of moving cars leaving them on their own. It’s impressive to see the cars driving and braking without a driver.

[MIKA27]

Scientist Creates New Flu Virus That Can Kill All Of Humanity

Working at a lab with a relatively low level-two biosafety rating, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka has created a strain of flu that can completely escape the human immune system. The new genetically-engineered virus is based on H1N1, which killed around 500,000 people just five years ago.

Most people today have a level of immunity to the H1N1 flu, which is now regarded as a relatively low threat. Kawaoka genetically manipulated H1N1 so it can “escape” our neutralising antibodies. This would make the human immune system — and population — unable to resist an outbreak.

Kawaoka wanted to convert H1N1 to its pre-pandemic state to analyse the genetic changes involved. He told The Independent that he has now finished his study and will submit his findings to a scientific journal. He also told the newspaper that his experiment was to monitor changes to the H1N1 strain that would improve vaccines:

Through selection of immune escape viruses in the laboratory under appropriate containment conditions, we were able to identify the key regions [that] would enable 2009 H1N1 viruses to escape immunity.

Viruses in clinical isolates have been identified that have these same changes in the [viral protein]. This shows that escape viruses emerge in nature and laboratory studies like ours have relevance to what occurs in nature.

We are confident our study will contribute to the field, particularly given the number of mutant viruses we generated and the sophisticated analysis applied.

There are risks in all research. However, there are ways to mitigate the risks. As for all the research on influenza viruses in my laboratory, this work is performed by experienced researchers under appropriate containment and with full review and prior approval by the [biosafety committee]

The venue for the research was the Institute for Influenza Virus Research in Madison. The institute has a level three agriculture biosafety rating, one level beneath institutes that carry out Ebola research. However, Kawaoka’s work was carried out at a level two biosafety lab. The University claims there was no risk of escape from the lab. For reference, the recent Anthrax contamination scare at Atlanta’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention had a level-three biosafety rating.

[MIKA27]

Stuntmen In LED Suits Made This Impossible Parkour Run A Reality

The advent of CGI has allowed us to realise things on-screen we never thought would be possible — from living, breathing dinosaurs, to giant transforming robots. But it’s become so over-used that over-the-top practical effects now draw the biggest wows from audiences, like Lexus’ use of countless LED-suit clad stuntmen to create one unbelievable parkour run across Kuala Lumpur.

Created by ad agency CHI&Partners, the multiple suits worn by the stuntmen each contained 1680 LEDs arranged to imitate design cues on Lexus vehicles, including the cars’ headlights. And every suit was wirelessly connected to a special piece of software that would trigger them to strobe on cue in a preset pattern.

Thanks to a team of 40 engineers, the stuntmen, even those hanging precariously over the city, were never in any serious danger. But the resulting animation still provides a similar thrill to the endless parkour videos slowly filling up YouTube. And if behind-the-scenes looks don’t spoil the effect for you, Lexus has put together this video detailing how the ad was made.

[MIKA27]

Gorgeous Topographic Tables Look Like The Earth From Above

Don’t you wish your furniture looked more like the surface of the Earth? No? Well maybe you should, because holy crap — it is beautiful when done well. And designer Greg Klassen does it well.

This Washington-based furniture maker hand-picks timber from around the Pacific Northwest that he sculpts into intriguingly rough yet strikingly sophisticated pieces. Klassen’s latest fascination involves joining the rough sides of two wooden slabs with a piece of carefully cut, blue-tinged glass. The effect looks like a stream running through a canyon. That’s surely why he calls this line the River Collection.

With prices starting at $US3600, the tables are expensive but one of a kind. Klassen also offers custom designs as well as some pretty affordable cutting boards, some of which are made from the remnants of the River Collection pieces. That’s right. Even the scraps are beautiful.

[MIKA27]

The First Personal Maglev Transport System Is Being Built In Israel

SkyTran — a NASA Space Act company — is finally building a pilot of its computer-controlled, two-person, high-speed maglev transport system. Cars run six metres above the ground and can be ordered by a smartphone app.

While the initial trial in Israel will only involve a 450m closed campus loop, the plan is to build something much larger in the near future. My dream commute just got a step closer.

Maglev vehicles are levitated and both lift and thrust are produced by electromagnets.

Each skyTran car can carry two-people at over 60km/h and can be ordered by smartphone apps. The cost is anticipated to be less than a taxi-ride.

The skyTran trial is expected to be up and running by the end of 2015. If it is a success, a commercial roll-outin Tel-Aviv and other major global cities may follow.

[MIKA27]

This Is The Hack That Saved The Astronauts Of The Apollo XIII

This is the mother of all hacks, the genius device that saved the Apollo XIII crew from dying in their emergency return to Earth, as photographed during that trip using one of their Hasselblad cameras. Here are the actual step-by-step instructions that helped turn this mission into NASA’s most successful failure ever.

Why did they have to make this?

After Mission Control decided to cancel Apollo XIII’s moon landing following an explosion of an oxygen tank in the Service Module, the astronauts moved to the Lunar Module in order to save power that was going to be needed later for re-entry.

The only problem with this plan was that the Lunar Module was designed for only two people for a 36-hour period, not three astronauts for 96 hours. They quickly discovered that carbon dioxide was building up fast, putting their lives in extreme danger. They had to change the circular CO2 scrubbers in the Lunar Module for clean ones, but they only had spare square CO2 scrubbers from the Command Module.

In record time, the Crew Systems Division put together an improvised adaptor using all sort of weird and random parts, like a flight manual cover, suit parts, and socks. CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator) transmitted the instructions to the astronauts in order to assemble this “mailbox” rig — as they called it — working against the clock and trying to surive fight the effects of the poisonous gas which was quickly asphyxiating their brains.

INTRODUCTION

This procedure, which takes approximately one hour to complete, will allow the fitting of a square Odyssey Command Module (CM) scrubber filter through the Aquarius Lunar Module’s (LM) round mounted filtration hole and will modify the Environmental Systems scrubber unit. The material is for astronauts to use when CO2 scrubbers fail in the CM, all CM filters are used or in other situations where additional scrubbing of CO2 is required. Crew Systems Division assembled and tested this information.

REQUIRED EQUIPMENT and MATERIALS

All required equipment is contained onboard within the Apollo 13 CM and LM.

Cover to the Apollo 13 flight plan (to cover and protect the hose entry)

2 lithium-hydroxide canisters

Roll of grey duct tape

2 LCG bags

2 hoses from the red suits

2 socks

1 bungee cord (to secure the modified filtration device to the wall of the LM)

PROCEEDURE – 19 steps

#1) Place the LCG bag over the top of the square lithium-hydroxide canister. The bag must be pulled down to just over the triangular ventilator slots on the side.

NOTE: Be careful not to rip the bag because there are only three bags onboard.

#2) Tear the duct tape down the middle lengthwise to double the linear length.

#3) Seal the bag to the square canister by wrapping the duct tape around the canister where the bag opening is.

NOTE: The tape must seal the opening to prevent leakage of air flow.

#4) Poke or cut a hole in the middle of the top of the covering bag approximately the diameter of the hose from the red suit.

#5) Insert the hose into the hole. Secure the hose connection into the LCG bag with duct tape.

NOTE: The tape must seal the opening to prevent leakage of air flow.

#6) Cover the top of the LCG bag and hose attachment with the flight plan cover in an arch. The hose will stick out of one side of the arch.

#7) Attach the two sides of the cardboard flight plan cover that make contact with the square filter using a six inch long piece of duct tape over the top. This will prevent crushing the hose and air entry on the final mounting in step #19.

#8) Wrap the entire top sides of the filter cube with a three foot (about an arms length) piece of duct tape. Repeat wrapping on the bottom of the sides of the cube.

NOTE: The tape must seal the opening to prevent leakage of air flow.

#9) Secure the bag with strips of duct tape two per side running from one side, under the bottom and back up the other side. Repeat on the other side. The bottom of the cube will resemble a tic tac toe board when this step is completed.

#10) Stuff the sock into the ventration hole in the center of the square scrubber. This will prevent the air from bypassing the filter. Cover the hole with a couple of pieces of tape to keep it from falling out.

#11) Repeat steps #3 through #10 for the second canister. This will be the replacement when the first filter becomes saturated.

#12) Open the sensor relief valve. This will normalize the pressure and allow you to attach the hose to the intake valve.

#13) Attach the free end of the hose to the scrubber intake.

#14) Attach the end of the bungee cord to the hook above the lithium canister mounting location on the bulkhead.

#15) Secure the canister to the bulkhead by hooking the other end of the bungee cord below the mounting location.

#16) Attach the crossover hose to the secondary air cleaner.

#17) Close the sensor relief valve opened in step 12.

#18) Set the CO2 select to secondary using the LM air cleaner selection switch on panel eleven.

#19) Engage the air cleaning scrubber fan by flipping the ACSF switch located on panel eleven.

VERIFICATION

Check the CO2 levels on the partial pressure (marked PART PRES C02) meter on panel eleven. The level should begin to fall (safe level of partial pressure is below eight (8)). Further verification will be indicated through the amber CO2 warning light set to illuminate if the level is above ten (10).

Reminder: CO2 levels above 15 can be fatal and will cause brain asphyxia, impaired judgment and blackouts

TROUBLESHOOTING

If the canister seals are not correct in steps #3, #5 and #8, CO2 cleaning may not be adequate. You will recognise this if you hear a whooshing sound when the system starts. Re-tape the seal that is leaking.

If the LCG bags get ripped air flow may leak out and fail to clean the CO2. Use the spare bag if this happens.

That’s John L. Swigert working on the “mailbox” rig with Jim Lowell. It seems amazing to me that he looks so calm and cool when they were actually being poisoned by their own CO2 and without knowing if they were going to make it alive to Earth.

The actual scrubber in the upper hatch tunnel as shot from the Lunar Module.

The Apollo XIII movie did a great job at replicating all this:

Actual photo

Movie frame

Actual photo

Movie frame

Above: View of the service module after the separation of the command module. The destruction on the side of the module is obvious. It was a miracle that these guys survived the first explosion. After that, it was an outstanding combination of ingenuity, training, courage, and sheer luck that saved their lives on their trip back home.

Safe back on Earth: Fred W. Haise, James A. Lovell, and John L. “Jack” Swigert.

[MIKA27]

Man 'bends car door' of burning vehicle to save driver

A man saved a driver from a burning car by bending the door with his bare hands, say police, describing his feat of "superhuman strength".

Bob Renning, 52, pulled up on a freeway in Minnesota to help another vehicle that was filling with smoke.

He told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he was not sure how he bent the door open far enough to shatter the window glass.

Police officer Zachary Hill was first to the scene and full of praise for Mr Renning's "extraordinary" heroics.

"He did an extraordinary deed, bending a locked car door in half, of a burning car, to extricate a trapped person," said Hill.

Mr Renning, a member of the US National Guard, said he sprinted towards the vehicle as he saw flames and smoke "rolling around" the SUV. His girlfriend called 911.

After he realised the vehicle was locked and the windows would not work, Mr Renning gripped the top of the door frame with his fingers, braced his foot against the door and pulled, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The door Renning prised open bears the marks of his feat

The man in the vehicle, Michael Johannes, said he did not realise someone was trying to save him as he held his breath in the smoke-filled car.

He suffered minor smoke inhalation and light cuts from being pulled through the shattered window.

"Thirty seconds later and I would have been done," Mr Johannes said. "It was a good thing I didn't have my family in there."

[MIKA27]

RETRO SILKSCREEN RACING POSTERS

Silkscreening is an art-form that’s being rapidly rediscovered by a new generation of artists who find the process of digitally printing out their work to be a little too impersonal.

Silkscreening was first invented in China during the Song Dynasty over a thousand years ago, it was then adapted and evolved throughout other Asian countries before being imported into Europe in the 18th century. Before the invention of the computer and the digital printer, silkscreening was one of the most effective methods of printing a multiple coloured design onto paper, clothing, canvas or other surface.

The artwork you see here is done entirely by hand by the team at French workshop Rustle of Silk, they pride themselves on doing everything by hand and fortunately for us, they’re passionate about vintage motorsports posters.

If you’d like to see more from Rustle of Silk or find something suitable for the wall in the man cave, you can click here.

[MIKA27]

THE CLOUD THUNDERSTORM LIGHT SHOW AND BLUETOOTH SPEAKER

The summer thunderstorm can be a feast for the senses: the sizzle of the lightning flash… the booming crack of thunder… the fresh water raining down on your cute neighbor’s white blouse. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a thunderstorm (and your neighbor) on demand?

The Cloud is part art, part lamp, part Bluetooth speaker. Looking just like a real fluffy cut of cumulus, this interactive bit of eye candy uses motion sensors to detect a user’s presence and then creates a brilliant show of lightning and thunder via its built-in lamp and sound system. You can play music through the Cloud via your smart device, and sample modes like nightlight and music reactive. The cloud itself is made by “felting hypoallergenic fiberfill to a sponge casing that forms the frame of the cloud, holding the speakers and componentry within.” Oh, and it’s BYORain. Watch the video below to see this thing in action. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

2014 LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR LP988 EDIZIONE GT BY DMC

One would think a factory Lamborghini Aventador would be awesome enough, but one would definitely be wrong. There’s actually quite a few automobile enthusiasts that purchase these exotics just to customize them to their liking. After seeing DMC’s Lamborghini Aventador LP988 Edizione GT, we definitely understand why.

The German tuning house is known for taking supercars from Ferraris to Lambos, and transforming them into even more menacing road machines. And this one is no different. The exterior has been draped in carbon fiber, which includes that beautiful rear splitter. To ensure that this 2-door stayed true its LP988 moniker, DMC outfitted the engine with 12 individual throttle bodies, which (along with other modifications) helps this beast put down just shy of 1,000 horsepower – you guessed it, 988 ponies. The interior can be completely customized, but if you’re looking to add one of these to the collection, you better move fast. DMC plans on keeping the kit limited to only 10 examples, all carrying a price tag $288,000. And that’s in addition to the Aventador’s 7-figure price tag.

[MIKA27]

SOLID GRAY BACKPACK

Far from your average backpack, the Solid Gray Backpack looks like something right out of our favorite science fiction flick – and it’s more than just good looks too.

Sure the Ninja Turtle inspired design looks awesome, but Solid Gray’s choice to use a durable polypropylene plastic shell means all of your valuables inside stay protected. The EPDM foam lined interior features two clever compartments to store your personal belongings and gadgets, while a multi clip help keeps all of your papers and documents neat and tidy. Once everything is loaded up, snap the smart locks and off you go. The folding hardshell design may be unconventional to say the least, but the brand assures that this is one of the most comfortable options on the market. There are three different colors to choose from. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

NBK APARTMENT BY BERNARD KHOURY

Covering badass bachelor pads on a regular basis, it takes a lot for me to get excited when it comes to apartments. Well that’s exactly what architect Bernard Khoury was able to do with the amazing NBK Residence.

The famous Lebanese architect has designed a contender for the greatest bachelor pad of all time. Located in Beirut, this 3-level abode spans a massive 4,000 square foot, and includes 5 bedrooms along with 7 bathrooms. The dwelling is located on the ninth and final floor of the building, allowing amazing views from the rooftop swimming pool, and towering windows found all throughout. Our favorite part is the main level, where a floor to ceiling library is met with a steel grating bridge circling the entire living space.

[MIKA27]

FURY TRAILER

Quick, think of all the great tank scenes in movie history. Not much springing to the dome, is there? That means there’s a legitimate opening to fill for Fury, the upcoming World War II drama starring Brad Pitt.

The film’s newly released trailer features Pitt as a sergeant named Wardaddy who’s leading a measly five-man crew of Allies into German territory. A rookie solider (Logan Lerman) behind the wheel of the Sherman tank further intensifies the danger, as the climax looks to be a massively mismatched confrontation between the small band of brothers and a few hundred Nazis. Big explosions, gritty gut checks, and Shia LaBeouf with a mustache—you in? Written and directed by David Ayer (End of Watch), Fury gets its marching orders November 14.

[MIKA27]

SWICH WIRELESS CHARGER

If you've jumped aboard the wireless charging bandwagon, you probably know that most wireless charging stations are flat, squarish surfaces not conducive to actually using your phone.

The Swich Wireless Charger is different. Offering support for the Qi charging standard, it features a microsuction charging platform with a viewer-friendly angle that can rotate from vertical to horizontal, allowing you to switch the orientation on your phone. In addition, it boasts a ceramic base and platform, with a piece of American walnut cut to resemble the shape of a wave in the middle, making it something you'll be proud to have on your desk.

[MIKA27]

EDISON LED LIGHT BULBS

Add a touch of turn-of-the-century class to your space without needing turn-of-the-century technology with these Edison LED Light Bulbs. Thanks to warm color temps, each of the three bulbs — they're available in traditional round, teardrop, and G95 shapes — gives off all the atmosphere and ambiance of a real Edison-era bulb while using a smidgen of the power, making them a terrific blend of old and new.

[MIKA27]

Why Thousands Of Men Like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Are Getting Throat Cancer

Last night, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of banking giant JPMorgan , told employees that he is being treated for throat cancer. In a memo, he said that he would begin eight weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

He wrote:

The good news is that the prognosis from my doctors is excellent, the cancer was caught quickly, and my condition is curable. Following thorough tests that included a CAT scan, PET scan and a biopsy, the cancer is confined to the original site and the adjacent lymph nodes on the right side of my neck. Importantly, there is no evidence of cancer elsewhere in my body.

It’s impossible to speculate on Dimon’s cancer beyond what he put in his memo. I contacted JPMorgan and the company could not confirm any other details about his conditions. But it’s very possible that Dimon has been swept up, along with thousands of other men, by an increasingly common disease: throat cancer caused by infection with the human papilloma virus, or HPV.

“It wouldn’t be unusual,” says Eric Genden, chief of head and neck oncology at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “This is an epidemic.”

In 2008, the last year for which data are available, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention estimate that 2,370 women and 9,356 men developed HPV-caused head and neck cancer, about a third of the cases of head and neck cancer that year.

But Genden says that 70% to 90% of head and neck cancer cases worldwide are now caused by HPV; the American Cancer Society estimates that this year, there will be 42,440 cases of head and neck cancer in the U.S.

Traditionally, head and neck cancer patients were older men who smoke and drank heavily. The alcohol and tobacco damaged the cells in the throat, eventually leading to cancer.

HPV-caused cancer is different. The men (and it’s still mostly men) who get it are younger. In a series of cases at Mount Sinai, they were between 35 and 65.

Five years ago, I profiled Maura Gillison, the Ohio State University researcher who helped establish that this was a big problem. She told me how when enrolling a study several years ago, she’d recruited, in sequence, a malpractice lawyer, doctor, a scientist and a rear admiral. The first patient I spoke to about his HPV throat cancer was a consultant and economist who later died from his disease. Two years ago, I wrote about a 50-year-old biotech CEO who also had HPV throat cancer. Last year, the actor Michael Douglas said that his throat cancer was caused by HPV.

The point is that these are men much like Dimon: CEOs and consultants, men at the peak of their lives and professional power. And their numbers are increasing.

The chart above shows the total number of throat cancer cases, and also the amount caused by HPV and the amount that weren’t, among patients in Hawaii, Iowa, and Los Angeles. As you can see, in 2004 the HPV cancers began to outnumber the type caused by smoking and drinking.

How do you get HPV cancer? HPV is sexually transmitted. It’s mainly known as a cause of cervical cancer, which is what happens when it infects women. But men can get it by performing cunnilingus. It’s also possible, though less likely, that it can be transmitted by kissing. Eighty percent of sexually active people between the ages of 14 and 44 have had oral sex with an opposite sex partner. Researchers estimate that HPV throat cancer in men will be more common than cervical cancer in women in the U.S.

Most strains of HPV do not cause cancer, either in the throat or the cervix. And most HPV infections are cleared by the body. But in a minority of cases, perhaps 10%, they persist. If the strain is of the right variety – for instance, the HPV 16 strain of the virus – this infection can eventually lead to cancer. When it comes to throat cancer, this process takes decades.

The good news is that throat cancer caused by HPV is far less deadly than the old type that resulted from chronic tobacco use and drinking. Some researchers have cited data that it is 80% curable. In a series of 500 patients who were early in their disease conducting at Sinai, more than 90% were still cancer free five years after surgery. And in that study Sinai was deliberately using less invasive surgery and skipping chemotherapy and radiation in the interest of sparing men side effects.

One hope is that the vaccines developed to prevent HPV infection in women – Gardasil, from Merck , and Cervarix, from GlaxoSmithKline – could prevent HPV infection in the throat and, therefore, cancer later on. But there’s no way to prove this. Drug companies funded studies showing the vaccines prevented the formation of precancerous lesions in the cervix, but there’s no way to do something similar in the throat.

“I think the downside of having the HPV vaccine in young boys is so low and the potential upside is so high that I advocate it,” says Genden. “Do we have evidence that it prevents oropharangeal cancer in boys? No.”

As I said before, there’s no way to know right now whether Dimon’s illness is caused by HPV – although given what that would mean for his prognosis, I hope it is. But what we do know is that this virus is likely to give cancer to a lot of men who look a lot like him in the years to come.

[polarbear]

Why Thousands Of Men Like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Are Getting Throat Cancer

How do you get HPV cancer? HPV is sexually transmitted. It’s mainly known as a cause of cervical cancer, which is what happens when it infects women. But men can get it by performing cunnilingus.

...huh

The missus isn't going to be happy about this...

[MIKA27]

Rembrandt’s Secret: Science Solves a Self-Portrait Mystery

It has remained a mystery for years, and perhaps the most obscure among more than sixty self-portraits produced by the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt… or was it? Since its discovery, debate has raged over whether the painting, supposedly crafted by the artist in 1635, is indeed authentic.

Among the most vocal doubters had been Horst Gerson, an expert on Rembrandt’s work who denounced the painting years ago. An official study carried out in 1968 that determined the painting, compared with the large body of known Rembrandt self portraits, was unlikely to be an authentic self-rendering by the artist.

However, a new study utilizing technology which hadn’t been available at the time of the 1968 study, has left experts with a different opinion. Specifically, modern x-ray and infrared scanning techniques have revealed a number of key details that now support the painting’s authenticity.

“The x-ray technique allows you to look for density,” says Rupert Featherstone, Director of the Hamilton Kerr Institute. “X-rays pass right through. They can detect particularly lead pigments… so if there are changes on the surface, they may well show up. Infrared looks for carbon (and) it looks for other pigments. You use those two techniques together, you can sometimes deduce alterations that have occurred, or possibly elements or technique that aren’t always obvious to the eye on the surface.”

Based on this data, previous theories that the painting had been a rendering produced by one of Rembrandt’s students have now been rejected, and the work is accepted among the more than five dozen self portraits created during the artist’s lifetime.

Disputes over the creation of various works are common in the world of the arts. The Shakespearean play Titus Andronicus, held by many to be the playwright’s first attempt at writing tragedy, has been viewed with suspicion by its critics for differing so greatly from Shakespeare’s other known writings. A number of commentators say the discrepancy is best explained through the play’s possible authorship by Shakespeare contemporary George Peele some time in the early 1590s.

[MIKA27]

...huh

The missus isn't going to be happy about this...

The next time any woman complains about Cigar smoking, show her this article!!