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

[MIKA27]

The Size Of This Stunning Explosion At An Air Show Defies Belief

Yesterday, photographer Mike Miley took his Canon 7D to the Oshkosh Air Show in Wisconsin, and holy crap did he get some good shots. Chief among them is a jaw-dropping shot of two planes dancing around an explosion of Michael Bay-proportions. Holy crap.

I can’t even imagine what the performance must’ve been like in real life, but Miley’s photos help you get pretty close to the action. Some of the highlights from his (altogether excellent) Flickr photostream take you from classic World War II planes to the crazy helicopters that fly upside down. He even captured planes doing some light-drawing in the dark skies above the airfield.

Mike Miley is a systems engineer and former Apple employee who takes incredible photographs in his free time. You can keep up with him on Facebook and see more of his photos on Flickr.

[MIKA27]

Muhammad Ali gloves worn at Frazier clash sold for $400,000

The boxing gloves worn by Muhammad Ali during his 1971 fight with Joe Frazier have been sold at auction for $388,375.

An anonymous bidder bought the gloves at an auction in Cleveland, US.

The bout, dubbed the "Fight of the Century", saw Frazier beat Ali by a unanimous decision to become the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion.

Ali later beat Frazier in 1974 and 1975, cementing his reputation as the greatest boxer of all time.

The fight was laden with political as well as sporting significance, as Ali had been stripped of his title for refusing to enlist in the US Army during the Vietnam War.

A previous pair of gloves worn by Ali in his first World Championship fight were sold for $836,500 by the same auction house.

Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier competing at the World Heavyweight Championship in 1971

[MIKA27]

Lake Pops Up in Tunisia – How Deep ARE Those Siberian Craters?

First we have reindeer herders almost falling into mysterious craters that suddenly appear in Siberia. At about the same time, shepherds in southern Tunisia find a lake suddenly appearing in the middle of a desert. Was Jules Verne right about tunnels through the center of the earth?

Probably not, but I never pass up an opportunity to mention the great Jules Verne.

It’s summer in Tunisia so the appearance of any water is a welcome sight, even H2O that pops up overnight like a liquid crop circle.

Soon after it was found about three weeks ago, swimmers dove into what at the time was crystal clear water. The lake was nicknamed Lac de Gafsa or Gafsa Beach because it’s 25km from the Tunisian city of Gafsa.

Lac de Gafsa is estimated to be 50 feet deep with a surface area of about 2.5 acres. Unfortunately, the turquoise blue water quickly turned algae green. Local health officials issued warnings that it could be contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals or possibly even radioactive. That hasn’t stopped hot Tunisians looking for a cool dip.

So, what exactly is Lac de Gafsa? According to journalist Lakhdar Souid:

Some say that it is a miracle, while others are calling it a curse.

Geologists say it’s probably from a tremor that fractured a layer of rock holding an underground reservoir, allowing water to flow through the crack and fill the canyon where Gafsa Beach is now located. Gafsa is the center of Tunisia’s phosphorous mining industry so if there’s anything in the water, it’s phosphorous. Souid says that makes it a bad place to swim:

This region is overflowing with large deposits of phosphate, which can leave behind radioactive residue so there is a real risk that the water is contaminated and carcinogenic. There’s no security of any kind.

While the lake doesn’t appear to be connected to those craters in Siberia, it does have its own Facebook page.

[MIKA27]

SUREFIRE LUMINOX WRISTLIGHT

It might able to tell time, but if you're wearing the SureFire Luminox WristLight simply as a watch, you're missing the point.

Developed in collaboration with active law enforcement, this wrist-mounted lighting solution features a high-performance, 200-lumen LED that can be activated with a press of either of two ergonomic switches and works as both a tactical lamp and a handgun light, as well as a Mil-spec anodized aerospace aluminum body and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a built-in LED fuel gauge, so you're never caught out in the field without a light.

[NJP]

NASA: New 'Impossible' Engine Works, Could Change Space Travel Forever

Until yesterday, every physicist was laughing at this engine and its inventor, Roger Shawyer. It’s called the EmDrive and everyone said it was impossible because it goes against classical mechanics. But the fact is that the quantum vacuum plasma thruster works and scientists can’t explain why.

Shawyer’s engine is extremely light and simple. It provides a thrust by “bouncing microwaves around in a closed container.” The microwaves are generated using electricity that can be provided by solar energy. No propellant is necessary, which means that this thrusters can work forever unless a hardware failure occurs. If real, this would be a major breakthrough in space propulsion technology.

Obviously, the entire thing sounded preposterous to everyone. In theory, this thing shouldn’t work at all. So people laughed and laughed and ignored him. Everyone except a team of Chinese scientists. They built one in 2009 and it worked: They were able to produce 720 millinewton, which is reportedly enough to build a satellite thruster. And still, nobody else believed it.

Now, American scientist Guido Fetta and a team at NASA Eagleworks — the advanced propulsion skunkworks led by Dr Harold “Sonny” White at the Johnson Space Center — have published a new paper that demonstrates that a similar engine working on the same principles does indeed produce thrust. Their model, however, produces much less thrust — just 30 to 50 micronewtons. But it works, which is amazing on its own. They haven’t explained why their engine works, but it does work:

Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma.

The entire idea that we have found something that seems to go against the the principle of conservation of momentum just seems crazy to me. But the fact that it has worked for two independent parties can’t be denied. That’s the laboratory speaking. Then again, perhaps both labs made a mistake. I’m sure this will be tested by the Russians and the Europeans too, but at least I’m glad we are working on it.

But the fact that we may be witnessing something completely new, something that may push us forward into sci-fi territory once again, is very exciting.

How good are the Nah Sayers don't believe until they can do it themselves. Maybe the USA should look into the piles of material they took from Nikola Tesla place after he died. He was working on things that even the third eye couldn't make sense off. This might improve their design. More interesting would be the very old books he had with him. His father a man of the cloth had the most amazing library some of the books are now in Rome as forbidden fruit other in the US that travelled with Nicola and others lost in the conflict that destroyed his church and home. The literature included some books deemed pagan and demonic for the inclusion of ancient understanding of earthly energy, forces and time. The church's need to protect the eyes and the minds of the normal man might have missed Nikola.

[MIKA27]

Z.A.P.S. SURVIVAL GRENADE

No, it's not a real grenade — instead, the Marine-designed, USA-made Z.A.P.S. Survival Grenade is a compact, waterproofed kit designed to keep you alive in any situation.

Inside the 45-feet of paracord, you'll find a steel shackle, a load bearing spring clip, a compass, a wire saw, three wire snares, a fire starter, three pieces of tinder, 30 feet of fishing line, three fish hooks, six sinkers, two barrel swivels, a knife blade, a sheet of aluminum foil, a gallon Ziploc bag, three stormproof matches with striker, a large needle, 20 feet of black thread, six water purification tablets, a whistle, duct tape, and a laminated users guide. Extensive, to say the least.

[MIKA27]

OSIRIS-REX Probe Will Intercept a Potentially Dangerous Asteroid in 2018

Asteroid 101955 Bennu (aka 1999 RQ36) may only have an estimated 1 in 1800 chance of colliding with Earth in 2180, but that isn’t its only claim to fame. Bennu is, as the mission page explains…

…a time capsule from 4.5 billion years ago. A pristine, carbonaceous asteroid containing the original material from the solar nebula, from which our Solar System formed.

So it makes sense we might want to study this asteroid in more detail, which is exactly what the joint U.S.-Canadian New Frontiers Program’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) aims to do. The probe will launch in 2016, intercept Bennu in 2018, collect at least 2.1 ounces of material, and bring it home by 2023.

In the course of all of this, it will use a variety of instruments to examine Bennu’s composition and trajectory—telling us how likely it really is to hit Earth in 2180, what asteroids with a similar pedigree might be made of, and even how we might go about intercepting one of them to prevent collision.

And while this sounds very wishy-washy and theoretical, remember that we’re literally talking about intercepting a potentially dangerous near-earth asteroid. That might really come in handy one day.

[MIKA27]

The Mysterious Lost Expedition for the City Z

Human beings have always been drawn to the prospect of mysterious, unexplored places. The thought that there is a place beyond our knowledge and understanding out there in some remote corner of the world enthralls us. Likewise, we have always been enamored with the idea of lost jungle cities and mythical lost civilizations. That some place could exist frozen in time and far from the modern world, waiting to be found in some ancient, forgotten corner has been a siren’s call for explorers throughout the ages.

The world it seems likes to keep its mysteries close. Some of these explorers have ventured forth into the dark jungles of the world seeking such places and failed to find what they were looking for. Yet others have gone forth into the unknown and never returned, leaving us to eternally wonder if they ever found what they were seeking. Once such expedition was led by British explorer Percy Fawcett, who went in search of a mythical city within the unexplored jungles of the Amazon and dropped off the face of the earth, igniting an unsolved mystery that has endured for the better part of a century.

Percy Fawcett was one of the great explorers of the 20th century, a true, real-life Indiana Jones figure who spent much of his life mapping and charting unexplored parts of South America. Indeed, it has been said that Fawcett served as an inspiration in the creation of the character of Indiana Jones. Fawcett’s road to adventure started in the Royal Artillery, where he served in Ceylon. Fawcett found the military life to be far from satisfying. He yearned for adventure and exploring undiscovered lands. The many blank areas on maps of the time beckoned to him. Fawcett had always had a deep fascination with surveying, and so he pursued studies in this area by joining the Royal Geological Society in 1901, where he learned surveying, navigation, and mapmaking. He would later go on to join the British Secret service in North Africa in the hopes of furthering his surveying skills, though most of his duties required him to aid in spying on the sultan of Morocco.

Percy Fawcett. Indiana had a better hat, but Percy had a better mustache

In 1906, the president of the Royal Geological Society approached Fawcett with the prospect of mapping large portions of South America in the area of Bolivia and Brazil. At the time, much of this region was what was called “rubber country” due to its vast, untapped reserves of rubber trees, a highly valued resource at the time. The problem was that despite all of this economic potential there were few delineated borders within South America and much of it was uncharted, with no reliable maps. The lack of clearly defined borders had caused tension between South American countries vying for resources, and so the Royal Geological Society had been commissioned as a neutral third party to go in, map the area, and draw up borders. The Society had chosen Fawcett as the man they wanted to take over this challenging and dangerous undertaking.

Despite the innumerable dangers inherit to such a project, such as disease, dangerous animals, and unfriendly natives, for Fawcett it was a dream come true. He accepted the offer and later that same year, in June of 1906, embarked on what would be his first expedition into the Amazon. He was accompanied by his second in command, Arthur Chivers, 20 native porters, and numerous pack animals. These first steps into his exploration of South America would turn out to be less than smooth. At the time, the jungles of South America were considered to be untamed lands, long dismissed by Westerners as dark, savage, uninhabitable badlands. It was to be far from an easy undertaking.

On that first expedition, the geography of the region itself made things difficult from the start. The expedition and its pack mules carrying all of their supplies had trouble ascending the craggy, narrow, and precipitous path up the mountains that led to the area they were meant to map at 17,000 feet. On top of the supreme effort needed to make the perilous climb- the expedition was only covering a couple of miles every four hours- they had to contend with the thin air of those altitudes, which made the trek more strenuous and threatened to cause their pack animals to collapse with exhaustion.

Fawcett on an expedition.

Once reaching their destination, it eventually took 18 months of toiling in harsh conditions and insect infested jungles to map out their section of the border and finish the job, during which Fawcett quickly gained a reputation as being a tough-as-nails, nigh indestructible explorer who never wavered in his resolve and seemed to be impervious to jungle parasites and diseases. He also was known for his peaceful approach towards native tribes, always shunning the use of firearms even when the natives were less than welcoming. As difficult as that first expedition had been, Fawcett would nevertheless ultimately spend 3 years with the Boundary Commission exploring and charting the region, losing quite a few men and coming close to death himself on several occasions.

All of these expeditions held tales of adventure and mystery and were fraught with peril. There were fights and disagreements within the groups, and on several occasions expeditions were attacked by native tribes, who were wary of outsiders. Natives once fired volleys of arrows at the explorers as they boated down the Heath River, and another time one boat pilot was found by Fawcett with reportedly 43 arrows sticking into him after going off into the jungle to inspect a road. Nevertheless, Fawcett continued to refuse to resort to violence against these tribes.

In addition to dealing with infighting and savage natives, the expeditions encountered various other dangers lurking within the uncharted jungles. A whole deadly menagerie of poisonous snakes and spiders, vampire bats, giant anacondas, electric eels, ferocious piranhas, jungle cats, and other dangerous animals all conspired to make the expedition members miserable. One expedition member lost several fingers to piranhas, and on another occasion, an enormous anaconda was shot and killed which was estimated by Fawcett to have been over 60 feet long. Fawcett also described horrifying bugs such as large ticks that attached like leeches, red, hairy chiggers that consumed human tissue, cyanide-squirting millipedes, and so-called “sauba ants” that could reduce clothing and bedding to threads in a single night.

I’ve had it with these monkeyfighting snakes on this Monday to Friday expedition!

The ever present specter of disease and parasites also hung heavily over the expeditions. The thick clouds of mosquitoes in the region carried a myriad of diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and elephantiasis. There were also parasitic worms that caused blindness, and flies that used stingers to deposit larvae into the skin that would then proceed to burrow through flesh. On one expedition in 1911, Fawcett was accompanied by the famed polar explorer James Murray and another explorer by the name of Henry Costin. Murray’s knee became infested with maggots, which convinced Fawcett to drop him from the expedition at a remote outpost settlement, and Costin was infected by a flesh eating parasitic worm that ate away most of his face and caused him to lose his sanity. Fawcett, as usual, remained unscathed.

Even the landscape itself did not seem to want Fawcett’s expeditions to survive. One expedition lost most of its supplies when some of their rafts were thrown by rapids off of a waterfall to be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. On another trip, while trying to determine the source of the Rio Verde, the expedition faced starvation when they had to abandon most of their food supplies due to unnavigable rapids. They left most of their supplies and continued along the river on foot. The journey took longer than anticipated, and the crew spent 10 days living off little more than some bird eggs and rotten honey before they found the river source. They then made their way across the perilous and alien terrain of the Ricardo Franco Hills, which Fawcett noted as being flat topped and with vegetation on the top that was cut off from the jungle below. It was these mysterious flat-topped hills with their isolated forests in the clouds that would later inspire Fawcett’s friend, Arthur Conan Doyle, to write his famous book “The Lost World.” The expedition was finally able to kill a deer to survive, and after 20 days without food were able to make it across the landscape to complete the job. Five of the original nine members of the expedition had died of starvation.

Even in the face of such hardships, Fawcett loved what he did and was very good at it. Over the years, he charted vast swaths of unexplored territory and consistently produced detailed maps of areas no outsider had ever returned from alive. He became highly renowned for his abilities, garnering a reputation as an expert of South America.

In addition to charting the geography of South America and making geological finds, Fawcett also made several unique zoological discoveries. During his travels, he claimed to have catalogued new species of mysterious creatures not known to science, such as dogs he described as having double noses, and a giant, poisonous spider he called the “Apazauca spider.” Fawcett also reported twice seeing an unidentified creature the size of a hound said to have both canine and feline traits in Bolivia. The creature has come to be known as the Bolivian Mitla, as well as Fawcett’s Cat-Dog, and is only known from Fawcett’s own accounts.

It was during the later years of his various expeditions that Fawcett began to become obsessed with the idea of lost civilizations within the Amazon. He had always harbored a strange fascination with such things, and had reportedly spent some of his time in Ceylon looking for lost treasure in the jungles there after coming into possession of an old treasure map. In 1920, Fawcett came across 18th century documents in the National Library of Rio De Janeiro from a Portuguese explorer who had claimed to have found a walled city reminiscent of those of ancient Greece surrounded by high mountains deep within the Brazilian rainforest somewhere in the Mato Grosso region. The documents captured Fawcett’s imagination, and he became convinced that this lost city, which he called simply “Z,” was out there waiting to be found.

Although he first took the city to be that of some lost European settlers, Fawcett eventually worked the documents into an elaborate theory he had concocted concerning the lost continent of Atlantis, the survivors of which he surmised had made it to South America to construct a new civilization within the jungles of Brazil. This theory was further strengthened when Fawcett received a jungle relic in the form of a 10 inch black basalt figurine from Sir H. Rider Haggard. Fawcett, who had spent many years studying and dabbling in the occult, had the figure examined by a psychometrist, a person who is said to be able to invoke the origin of objects just by holding them. The psychometrist informed Fawcett that the basalt idol had come from Atlantis. The idol and the existence of Z seemed to validate Fawcett’s theory, and so he thought he would be able to prove his ideas as true if he could only locate the city.

Fawcett’s conviction that Z existed was fueled by the discovery of other lost cities within the jungles of South America in prior years. In 1911, the America explorer Hiram Bingham had discovered the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu, hidden away in Peru’s Andes Mountains, a groundbreaking find that had made him famous. During his travels, Fawcett had also heard rumors of a secret city buried in the jungles of Chile that was said to have streets paved in silver and roofs made of gold. Of Z itself, Fawcett had a very specific idea of what the city would be like. In a letter to his son Brian, Fawcett described the lost city of Z:

I expect the ruins to be monolithic in character, more ancient than the oldest Egyptian discoveries. Judging by inscriptions found in many parts of Brazil, the inhabitants used an alphabetical writing allied to many ancient European and Asian scripts. There are rumors, too, of a strange source of light in the buildings, a phenomenon that filled with terror the Indians who claimed to have seen it.

The central place I call “Z” — our main objective — is in a valley surmounted by lofty mountains. The valley is about ten miles wide, and the city is on an eminence in the middle of it, approached by a barrelled roadway of stone. The houses are low and windowless, and there is a pyramidal temple. The inhabitants of the place are fairly numerous, they keep domestic animals, and they have well-developed mines in the surrounding hills. Not far away is a second town, but the people living in it are of an inferior order to those of “Z.” Farther to the south is another large city, half buried and completely destroyed.

In 1921, Fawcett set out to find Z but this first expedition would turn out to be disastrous. Not long after departing, the men became demoralized by the constant hardships, dangerous animals, and diseases that were rampant in the jungles. The expedition quickly derailed, and Fawcett was left to try again. Undeterred, the ever tenacious explorer departed once again in search of his fabled city, this time completely by himself. Unafraid and undaunted by the perils of the jungle, Fawcett departed alone later that same year from Bahia in Brazil. He traveling for three months in this manner before returning in failure once again. The idea of the lost city of Z consumed Fawcett. Author David Grann, who wrote the book Exploration Fawcett: Journey to the Lost City of Z, ominously describes the explorer’s obsession thus:

“There was, by the end, a maniacal quality to him. And I think with obsession, there are kind of two qualities about it: there is the fruits of obsession, which can lead to wonderful discoveries – Fawcett made many interesting discoveries – but there could also be a lethal quality to obsession, and in this case, there really was.”

The years passed, but Fawcett’s overwhelming obsession did not fade. In April, 1925, he would try again to find Z, this time better equipped and prepared. Joining him this time were his good friend Raleigh Rimell, his eldest son, Jack Fawcett, two Brazilian laborers, eight mules, two horses, and a few dogs. It was a much smaller expedition than previous excursions, as Fawcett reasoned that fewer people would be less likely to be perceived as a threat and attacked by unfriendly native tribes. Fawcett never doubted for a minute that the mysterious city they sought was out there. He wrote:

“Whether we get through and emerge again or leave our bones to rot in there, one thing’s certain, the answer to the enigma of ancient South America and perhaps of the prehistoric world – may be found when those old cities are located and opened up to scientific research. That the cities exist, I know.

The expedition was very well-equipped and well-financed by various scientific societies and newspapers. They were also well prepared, with their journey meticulously plotted and planned out. With such resources, preparation, supplies, and under the leadership of such an accomplished and experienced explorer, it seemed that nothing could possibly go wrong. The expedition embarked on April 20, 1925, from the town of Cuiabá. As they started their trek into the Amazon, Fawcett uttered the simple and somewhat haunting words:

“The forest in these solitudes is always full of voices, the soft whisperings of those who came before….”

On May 29th, 1925, Fawcett and company had reached the edge of unexplored territory, staring into jungles that no outsider had ever seen before. He explained in a letter that they were crossing the Upper Xingu, a southeastern tributary of the Amazon River and had sent their Brazilian travel companions back, wishing to continue on alone. At this point, Fawcett still seemed very confident in his ultimate success. At a place called Dead Horse Camp, so named because he had had to shoot a horse there on a previous expedition, Fawcett proclaimed “We hope to get through this region in a few days…. You need have no fear of any failure.” With those positive words, the expedition pressed on into uncharted jungle. It was to be the last anyone would ever hear from them.

Fawcett and company, ready to embark on their doomed expedition.

The expedition had previously stated that they had planned to be gone for around a year, so when two years passed without any word from them, people began to worry. Fawcett’s expedition to find the City of Z had been much publicized, so there were millions of supporters back home who collectively scratched their heads at the prospect of such an esteemed and seasoned explorer disappearing without a trace. At first, people assumed that the explorer must have been killed by aggressive native tribes or wild animals, or perhaps had succumbed to disease, but nobody knew for sure. People wanted answers, but this was hindered by Fawcett’s own insistence that no one ever come looking for him if he should disappear.

Not long after the expeditions disappearance, a tantalizing piece of evidence surfaced in 1927, when a nameplate belonging to Fawcett was found in the possession of an indigenous tribe, but this would later prove to be a memento from an expedition the explorer had taken 5 years prior. Fawcett’s son, Brian, made two separate trips to the region to try and figure out what was going on. During one of his trips, a rather compelling story was relayed to him by a French traveler in Lima, Peru. The traveler told Brian that he had come across an old man who had seemed sick and confused wandering along a jungle road in Minas Gerais, a Brazilian state near Mato Grosso. When asked his name, the old man allegedly had answered that he was Fawcett. The Frenchman had never heard of the explorer and so had thought nothing of the encounter until talking to Brian.

It was not long before Fawcett’s specific instructions to not look for him were ignored and expeditions were mounted to try and find out what had happened to him. Such efforts were encouraged by additional reports trickling out of the region of sightings of a very much alive Fawcett in the jungle and rumors that he had been captured by natives or even that he had somehow gotten amnesia and was now living as the chief of an Amazonian tribe. There was even a report of a dog emerging from the jungle that was thought to be one of the animals from Fawcett’s expedition. Numerous expeditions seeking answers would be mounted within the ensuing decades, many of which were just as mysterious as Fawcett’s own, and even those that would suffer the same fate.

One of the first proper expeditions to try and locate Fawcett was undertaken by the American explorer George Dyott in 1928. Dyott was accompanied by a film crew and gave regular progress reports throughout his investigation. Although the expedition was unable to locate Fawcett, they did manage to find a trunk that was thought to have belonged to the explorer. Dyott also claimed to have been told that the Aloique Indians had killed off the expedition not long after they’d pushed into the unexplored forest, a claim that was met with a high degree of skepticism due to the secondhand nature of the information. A chieftain of a local tribe had also reported to have seen an older white man traveling through the jungle accompanied by two younger men, although it was unknown what had become of them. Dyott’s expedition was finally forced to abandon their search after being driven off by hostile natives in the area and suffering the ravages of the harsh conditions.

In 1932, a Swiss trapper named Stefan Rattin claimed to have found an old Englishman living out in the jungle of the Mato Grosso region, where he was reportedly being held captive by Indians. The description certainly seemed to fit Fawcett, and Rattin himself later went back with two others to try and rescue him. They too would vanish into the jungle without a trace.

In 1933, a rather bizarre and ultimately doomed expedition was mounted by a famous B-movie star of the era by the name of Albert de Winton. De Winton was most well-known for roles in low budget jungle adventure films, and his search for the missing explorer seemed like a publicity stunt more than anything else. The actor approached the search for Fawcett with gusto and all of the tact only an attention-starved actor can muster, reportedly gaudily dressing up in a stereotypical Hollywood jungle explorer costume as if the expedition was but another role. Several months after heading into the jungle, a message arrived from de Winton delivered by an Indian runner that included the frightening and cryptic message: “I’m being held captive by a tribe. Please rescue me. Please save me.” The actor was never seen again, his fate uncertain, swallowed up by the jungle just as Fawcett had been.

In 1951, a Brazilian environmentalist named Orlando Villas Boas claimed to have come across the actual bones of Fawcett, and later stated that analysis had confirmed this. Fawcett’s surviving family members refused to accept this and were suspicious that the bones seemed too small and lacked Fawcett’s dentures. Indeed, further analysis established that the bones were not those of Fawcett, but rather the remains of a tall Indian tribesman. Villas Boas also made the claim that he had discovered the shocking revelation that the Kalopalo Indians had killed Fawcett, but in 1998 the English explorer Benedict Allen spoke with the tribe and they denied ever having any part in the disappearance of the Fawcett expedition.

In 1996, the rich banker James Lynch and his son tried their hand at an expedition in search of Fawcett which would turn out to be a harrowing ordeal. The party made their way to Fawcett’s last known position, a place called Kuikuro village in the Xingu. There they were captured by a tribe known as the Kalapalos, who were known for their harsh punishments for trespassing into their territory. Lynch and company were held captive and the tribe threatened to execute them by piranha or jungle bees until the terrified banker offered up over 30,000 dollars in supplies and equipment in exchange for their release. Lynch came up with the theory that Fawcett had falsified his last known coordinates in order to throw off those who would follow, and that previous expeditions to determine his fate had been looking in the wrong place. Lynch would go on to claim in exasperation:

“I don’t think anyone will ever solve the mystery of Fawcett’s disappearance. It’s impossible.”

In total, 13 expeditions would be launched in an effort to find answers to Fawcett’s fate, and over 100 people would lose their lives or join the doomed explorer to vanish into the jungle never to be heard from again. These expeditions were unable to find what they were seeking, but occasionally would turn up the odd trinket that would draw them deeper into the mystery and add just enough incentive for more people to try: a nameplate, a compass, a ring inscribed with the Fawcett family motto, a trunk, all ultimately leading to nothing. In addition to these relics, there were rumors of light skinned, blue eyed Indians in the forest that were said to be descendants of the lost expedition members. In 1943, a man by the name of Edmar Morel brought forward a white skinned Indian boy named Dulipé, who he claimed was the son of Jack Fawcett. In the end, it turned out the boy was just an albino and had no relation to Fawcett.

Steeped in such intrigue and mystery, the lost Fawcett expedition has attracted much speculation and numerous theories over the years, running the gamut from the somewhat plausible to the full on bizarre. Perhaps most believable is the idea that the expedition succumbed to disease, wild animals, starvation, or some other peril of the jungle. It is unclear how such a well equipped expedition led by an explorer who had survived countless other perils could meet this fate, but it seems possible. The author David Grann himself stated after extensive research on the Fawcett expedition that this was what most likely had happened in the end. Still others maintain that the explorers ended up living with one of the many uncontacted tribes of the region, choosing to live in peace far from civilization. This has become a popular theory with many permutations.

In 2004, the writer and television director Misha Williams visited the area of Fawcett’s expedition and obtained permission to search through previously off limits documents and correspondence. After analyzing these documents and speaking at length with Fawcett’s surviving family members, Williams came to the conclusion that Fawcett had never planned to return, and had intended to form a new society out in the jungle based on the tenets of a belief system known as theosophy. According to Williams, Fawcett intentionally disappeared to start his cult like commune, and went through great lengths to make sure no one would ever find him. He claims that others were planning to secretly join Fawcett at a later time and that the explorer was rather enamored with the idea of going to live in the jungle, once writing:

‘The English go native very easily. There is no disgrace in it. On the contrary, in my opinion it shows a creditable regard for the real things in life.’

Other versions of the “going native” theory exist as well. The Italian scientist Michele Trucchi, who had conducted his own expedition to the area, claimed that Fawcett and Rimmel had died early on and that only Jack Fawcett had survived. Trucchi said that the eldest son of Fawcett had contracted leprosy and decided to stay behind with Indians to live out the rest of his days away from civilization. A Brazilian ethnologist by the name of Willy Aureli had his own version of the theory, stating that Fawcett himself was the only survivor, and that he had eventually become the chief of a tribe of cannibals.

A more bizarre and outlandish theory that briefly gained some traction with more fringe elements is the idea that Fawcett found the opening to a vast, magical subterranean city in the Roncador Mountains and descended into its depths where he continues to live to this day. Several mysterious letters over the years were purported to support this theory. One letter was received by Fawcett’s youngest son Brian in 1952. The letter was allegedly from a German settler living in Brazil and it was written:

“Your father and brother were advanced souls who were actually worshipped by the Indians and were alive in the subterranean cities of Matalir and Araracauga in the Rocandor section of Mato Grosso… from these secret places issued Flying Saucers to make global reconnaissance flights.”

Another letter was allegedly received in 1956 by Dr. Henrique de Souza, president of the Sociedade de Teosofica Brasileira. The letter in this case was similar, stating that Fawcett was still alive and living underground in ” a subterranean city in the Serra do Roncador in Mato Grosso.”

The theory that Fawcett was living in some mysterious underground city became so popular that in the 1960s, a man named Udo Lucknor formed a cult around it called the Magical Nucleus. Calling himself “The High Priest of the Roncador,” Lucknor claimed that Fawcett’s City of Z was a spiritual realm that the explorer had gained access to through his indomitable will. The cult sought to locate the portal to this magical world and join Fawcett there. The cult disbanded in 1982, when their doomsday prediction of the world’s end failed to pan out.

One other theory is that Fawcett actually found what he was looking for. In this scenario, Fawcett found his beloved City of Z, and it was so grand and magnificent that he chose to spend the remainder of his days there in its grandeur, forever hidden from the outside world. It is an alluring idea to think that after so much toil and hardship the intrepid explorer had finally found his own Shangri La standing in the jungle just as striking and majestic as he had always imagined it would be.

What happened to Fawcett and his expedition? What secrets are the trees privy to that have managed to evade us? After all of these years, nobody knows. The disappearance of the Fawcett expedition remains one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century, and has led to one of the longest ongoing manhunts ever. One wonder what events unfolded there in the thick Amazonian jungles all those years ago. Did Fawcett find what he was looking for? Perhaps we will never know. For now there are only echoes of the past pervading the trees. Perhaps Fawcett was right when he said those profound and somewhat hauntingly prophetic words “The forest in these solitudes is always full of voices, the soft whisperings of those who came before….” One could perhaps add “and after” to that.

[MIKA27]

Things Are Bad When A Climate Scientist Publicly States 'We're F**ked'

It’s one thing to note the unusually hot weather we’ve been having and then slather on some suncream. But when a climate expert unceremoniously concedes that the planet is “f**ked”, it’s probably time to get seriously worried.

Scientists at the Stockholm University recently discovered that vast methane plumes were escaping the Arctic Ocean seafloor. And that’s got noted climatologist Dr. Jason Box very worried.

“If even a small fraction of Arctic sea floor carbon is released to the atmosphere, we’re f’d,” he tweeted. “Methane is more than 20 times more potent than CO2 [carbon dioxide] in trapping infrared as part of the natural greenhouse effect,” he later told Vice.

“Methane getting to the surface — that’s potent stuff.”

“We’re on a trajectory to an unmanageable heating scenario, and we need to get off it. We’re f**ked at a certain point, right? It just becomes unmanageable. The climate dragon is being poked, and eventually the dragon becomes pissed off enough to trash the place.”

While Box concedes that dramatic effects may not be felt in our lifetime, unless a concerted international effort is made to contain the growing issue, sales of bottles of Ambre Solaire will be going through the roof by the time our grandkids are adults.

[MIKA27]

Abandoned Soviet Forced Labour Camp Oddly Turns Into Fun Beach

This is Rummu, an abandoned soviet prison and forced labour open mine located in Estonia. Underground waters flooded the quarry and the place oddly went from being a horrible punishment facility to become one of the most fun beaches I’ve ever seen.

The clearness of the water and the sunk buildings make Rummu an scuba diving spot.

[MIKA27]

BBC Undertaking Sweeping Investigation Into 'Top Gear' Because Jeremy Clarkson: Report

Top Gear and its host, Jeremy Clarkson, are no strangers to controversy with gaffes involving racism, sexism and other negative -isms making their way into the public eye over the years. The British Broadcasting Corporation which produces and televises Top Gear has now had enough of the shenanigans, and is reportedly undertaking a massive review into the culture behind the scenes on the show, with a primary focus on the antics of Clarkson.

The Guardian reports that Jeremy Clarkson’s recent racial slurs in the Top Gear: Burma Special and an outtake in which he used the N-word in a popular children’s nursery rhyme have forced the hand of the BBC to undertake a sweeping investigation into both Clarkson and the show’s long-time producer, Andy Wilman.

The show’s two other presenters, James May and Richard Hammond were reportedly interviewed about the behaviour as part of the investigation, and staff behind the scenes were also quizzed.

The BBC is reportedly concerned that it has lost control of Top Gear, and wants to remind staff of the policies of the public broadcaster. The investigation is reportedly seeking to determine whether or not the Top Gear office has a culture of secrecy, and if staff are afraid to speak up when they see something going awry.

After repeated racial slurs seeped out into the public eye, Clarkson is reportedly on his last warning with the BBC, despite the fact that he posted an apology video following his N-word gaffe, posted above.

[MIKA27]

This Heads-Up Display Puts The App Info You Need On Your Windshield

Using your smartphone or tablet while driving is not only illegal in most sane states, it’s also just a dangerously stupid thing to do behind the wheel. But since access to your device can make your travels easier, the dashboard-mounted Navdy provides a heads-up display that shares info from your devices, and lets you interact with them through voice and gesture commands.

Using a compact projector and a 5.1-inch transparent display that sits on the dashboard in front of a driver, the Navdy shares specific information from your favourite apps on your iOS or Android smartphone, instead of just mirroring the device’s own display and UI. By only sharing selective details, the information that’s displayed on the Navdy is less distracting, but still lets the driver keep in touch.

In the event of an incoming call or text message, the driver can use voice commands or simple hand gestures to ignore it or respond. And in lieu of a keyboard, emails and other text-based messages can be composed through dictation. Exactly how much functionality you want while driving, or what messages you want delivered while in the car, can be configured with the Navdy’s accompanying app. So if Twitter and Facebook aren’t your biggest priority while driving, you can simply opt to leave out those updates.

The Navdy’s creators are hoping to raise $US60,000 through a private fundraising campaign to put the device into production, which means you can pre-order one now at a discounted price of $US300, with delivery sometime in early 2015 if everything goes well. As with all crowdfunded projects, that’s a big if.

The Navdy isn’t the first device that attempts to keep a driver’s eyes on the road by projecting their various digital distractions on the windshield in front of them, but it would be the first to work with pretty much any vehicle and iPhones and Android handsets alike. And the fact that it goes the extra mile to allow you to respond to messages and answer calls without taking your eyes off the road should definitely help improve driver safety. The use of gestures might take a little practice for some drivers, but most people on the road are already highly skilled at using hand gestures while driving.

[MIKA27]

The World's First Commercial Space Launchpad Is To Be In South Texas

Elon Musk has announced that Space X is to build the world’s first commercial space launchpad — and it will be near Brownsville in south Texas, reportedly America’s most impoverished region.

The state is pushing over $US15 million into the facility, which is hoped to create 300 jobs and inject $US85 million in capital investment into the local economy. The cash injection comes from numerous sources, including $US2.3 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund and $US5 million from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.

Governor Rick Perry explained that “Texas has been on the forefront of our nation’s space exploration efforts for decades, so it is fitting that SpaceX has chosen our state as they expand the frontiers of commercial space flight.” The plan is contingent upon final approval of local agreements and receipt of additional required permits, but, otherwise, an economy in need looks like it’s about to get a hi-tech shot in the arm.

[MIKA27]

This Floating Glass Hotel Will Let You See Northern Lights In Luxury

If you dream of watching the Northern Lights in decadent style, then you should wait until 2017 — when this wonderful, floating, snowflake-shaped hotel will be ready in the icy reaches of northern Norway.

The creation of Dutch Docklands, which specialises in the construction of floating structures, the 86-bedroom Krystall hotel is planned to float in the fjords near Tromso. It will be built in sections and then towed into position and tethered with cables. While it will move up to six to ten feet from its theoretical position, guests should, apparently, be unable to notice its movements.

The glass-roofed hotel will provide a space from which to view the Aurora Borealis in luxury. Mercifully, though, the hotel is said to not just be “self-sustainable” but also to have a minimal impact on its environment. All of which sounds expensive. But while it certainly doesn’t come cheap, the structure has been budgeted as “almost the same as a land-based hotel of this type, but with an additional 15 per cent increase to cover the cost of the floating foundation.”

The build is expected to start in mid-2015, and should be completed 18 months later by the end of 2017. Now what a Christmas present a trip there would make.

MIKA: So long as it's not developed by Melbourne Docklands....

[MIKA27]

The Strange, Sad Story Of The US Army's New Billion-Dollar Camo Pattern

After nearly a decade, multiple false-starts, and many billions of dollars, the US Army has finally chosen a new camouflage for its troops. Except it’s not exactly new. It was originally developed back in 2002. And it looks a whole lot like one of the patterns that the US Army was in talks to adopt from an independent company.

What happened? Like the patterns at the root of the issue, it’s complicated.

To understand the odd and twisting plot arc of the $US5 Billion Snafu camouflage debacle, you have to look back a full decade. It all started back in 2004, when the US Army adopted a new-fangled camo called the Universal Camouflage Pattern, a digital pattern that made quite a splash with its distinctive pixelated look.

Unfortunately, it was also terrible. Really, really terrible. Just totally ineffective and, it turned out, completely untested. In fact, a fatal design flaw is what did it in, as Gizmodo reported this spring. Because the scale of the patterns in the camo were badly chosen, it triggered an optical effect called “isoluminance”, a phenomenon in which the eye interprets many patterns and colours as a single mass. In other words, it was actively making soldiers less safe.

The US Army needed a fast fix. Eventually, it adopted a stop-gap pattern for troops in Afghanistan, licensing a pattern called MultiCam from Brooklyn-based security company Crye Precision. It also launched something called The Camouflage Improvement Effort in 2010, a competition to find and test the next US Army camo pattern from a group of four final security design teams. The entrants included Crye Precision, the supplier already making camo for troops in Afghanistan.

Troops wearing MultiCam on a mission.

The US Army has spent more than four years on the Camouflage Improvement Effort. The four finalists were announced in 2012. But by 2014 the US Army was still delaying the winner’s announcement. In January, a US Army spokesperson told Gizmodo that “the Army is weighing numerous options and are factoring in recent legislative restrictions,” referring to legislation that would block it from adopting specific patterns for each arm of the military. Rumors ran rampant that MultiCam, or a similar variant, was the pick, since its pattern was already in use.

But as spring lapsed into summer, that announcement never came. Instead, this week the US Army released a statement saying it would be adopting a pattern none of its finalists had designed for the Camouflage Improvement Effort. In fact, it would adopt a pattern it designed itself at Natick Research Center, the US Army’s Massachusetts lab responsible for designing survival systems for soldiers.

In a terse statement on July 31, the US Army said the pattern would be called Operational Camouflage Pattern. It wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of 2004. And vitally, it would be as fiscally responsible as possible. That’s because this “new” pattern is actually an updated version of a camo developed by Crye under contract for the US Army in 2002, according to Military.com’s Matthew Cox.

What the statement didn’t mention was anything about why the US Army had abandoned its massive, multi-year Camouflage Improvement Effort, or why talks with Crye about its newer pattern, MultiCam, had broken down. Or more importantly why, in the words of Military.com, the new pattern “mirrored MultiCam.” Here’s a comparison, with MultiCam on the left and the new pattern on the right:

We reached out Crye Precision for a statement, but unsurprisingly didn’t receive a response from the tight-lipped company. Yet we can surmise a pretty good amount about what happened from an extremely rare public statement made by the founder of Crye in March, which slipped under the radar of the non-military media.

According to Crye, the US Army had actually chosen Crye’s MultiCam to adopt, but it refused to accept proposals for a fee to licence their pattern. It seems the US Army couldn’t afford to use a pattern developed over several years by an independent company, even if testing proved it the most effective pattern available.

That may have been thanks to the new 2014 Defence Authorization Act, which requires the Armed Forces to choose a single pattern to work across all of the services. Congress, imploring that a pattern already in the military’s library be used, effectively stopped the Camouflage Improvement Effort in its tracks.

To make matters worse, the amount it would have cost to adopt MultiCam is surprisingly small. According to Crye, the final proposal would have increased the cost of army uniforms by just 1 per cent of the current price. “The Army rejected all of Crye’s proposals and did not present any counter proposals,” Crye wrote, “effectively saying that a proven increase in Soldier survivability was not worth a price difference of less than 1%.”

Instead, the US Army chose a slightly altered pattern developed by Crye that it had owned since 2002, two years before its camo debacle even began. In other words, the past 12 years, billions of dollars, and incredible resource investment could have been easily avoided.

The government is cutting defence spending drastically, and the US Army is bearing the brunt of the cuts. It even plans to dye some equipment and vests printed with the useless digital camo pattern that began this debacle brown so they can still be used. But it’s hard not to wonder if the US Army’s abrupt adoption its own version of an older camo pattern — rather than MultiCam, which was created to improve upon that very pattern — isn’t just a repeat of the disastrous 2004 decision that set the events of the last decade into motion.

Hopefully it’s not. Hopefully, the new pattern is just as effective, even if it means Crye was thrown under the bus. Because in the end, whether or not it’s a rip off or a waste of money, the lives of hundreds of thousands of people depend on it.

UPDATE: An unnamed US Army official had the following to add to the story, adding that it “missed some points about the camo effort:”

The biggest one is the claim (oft-repeated) that it was a $5 billion waste. That’s not true because people conflate the purchase of uniforms and equipment with the camouflage effort. They are different. For instance, the vast majority of that amount refers to the purchase of uniforms which were used, worn out and discarded during the time period which is referred to. So that was not “wasted” money. People got their use out of that gear. There WAS money spent on development of camouflage, and that, of course, is a sunk cost. But that is a matter of several million dollars, not $100 million, and certainly not $5 billion.

This is not a defense of UCP, which, although it performs pretty well under night conditions, will not be missed by the most Soldiers.

[MIKA27]

The Power Went Out At This Antarctic Research Station While It Was -55C

It’s been a very, very cold winter in Antarctica, with scientists reporting record lows all over the continent. Which makes the fact that researchers living on the Brunt Ice Shelf lost power for 19 hours even scarier. Today, the British Antarctic Survey announced it’s halting all science until the situation gets resolved.

There are 13 people living aboard the Halley Research Station, now in its sixth iteration (buildings don’t last long on Antarctica). For nearly a full day on July 30, they were trapped in the station with no power and no heat — a fact that the British Antarctic Survey only revealed today, after the power was restored. A Survey spokesperson told Mashable that while the entire team is safe and power has been returned, it was “very tense period for everyone”. Now, the Survey has stopped all research until the situation is under control.

To make matters worse, Anthony Lister, an electrical and renewable energy engineer, reported that the base also recorded its coldest ever temperatures, at -55.4C, during the 19 hours the power and heat were down:

In a brief report posted on the British Antarctic Survey’s website, the council announced it was stopping all research except anything vital for weather forecasting — and it’s not sure when operation will return to normal:

It is now clear that because of the nature of the incident, and the prolonged loss of power, the station cannot now return to normal operation in the short or medium term. Everyone at Halley and Cambridge is doing everything that can be done to ensure that the incident remains under control.

So, what caused the outage? Right now, the survey simply calls it a “a major technical issue”, but adds that more information will be released in time.

It’s worth mentioning that the research station itself has been hailed as a technological marvel, winning several major design awards over the past few months. Its unique structure allows it to be towed via bulldozer — the entire modular station sits on metal, ski-like appendages, designed to lift it out of harm’s way if need be.

Hopefully, the problem isn’t anything structural, and hopefully the team will find a permanent fix soon.

[MIKA27]

Edward Snowden Granted Three Years Of Residency In Russia

Edward Snowden has been avoiding US authorities for some time. But his lawyer has now confirmed that Russia has granted him a three-year residence permit so he can remain there for the foreseeable future.

He received temporary asylum in the country last year, but Russia Today reports that Snowden is now official for the next 36 months. That means that he’ll be able to travel around the country freely, and even travel abroad for up to three months at a time. This isn’t the same as citizenship, but he’ll also be able apply for that once he’s lived in the country for five years. He might just pull this off, you know.

[MIKA27]

This Giant Searchlight Once Scanned Los Angeles From The Mountains Above

As twilight faded over Pasadena on September 9, 1894, an artificial sun flickered to life for the first time. High above town in the San Gabriel Mountains stood a wonder of the new electric age: a 60-inch General Electric searchlight, by many accounts the largest in the world. This massive projector first dazzled audiences at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Now it would perform its nightly spectacle in the mountains above Los Angeles.

Up above, on the summit of Thaddeus Lowe‘s Echo Mountain resort, tourists wrapped themselves in blankets and huddled around the searchlight as its operator fired it to life. When running at 200 amperes — a current generated by a Pelton water wheel in a nearby canyon — the carbon arc lamp burned with the intensity of 90,000 to 100,000 candles. A massive reflecting lens mirror, built in France, magnified that blaze to 375 million candlepower.

This dazzling beam blanched the flatlands below. It wandered the streets of Pasadena. It streamed through the windows of San Gabriel farmhouses with the ardor of day. Lowe’s publicist claimed you could read a newspaper under its light from 56km away. It was definitely visible 97km away on Catalina Island, a hot white dot hovering just above the horizon.

Some watched the show with amusement. Children lit signal fires or flashed red lights to attract the operator’s attention. The mischievous ones bounced the sunbeam back with hand-held mirrors. Others reacted with alarm. Horses startled. Roosters crowed. Lovers cursed.

In an 1895 dispatch, author Grace Ellery Channing recalled the scene atop Echo Mountain:

Now its tunnel of light went sweeping across the plain below, resting here and there where a red light signaled for a visit. Down below that beam had almost dazed us with its brightness; here we could stare into the very eye of the monster without blinking, for the rays do not focus so near.

Away, back and forth, went the finger, now stretching out into a full hand of light, now narrowing to so fine a line that it could be but barely perceived…But the prettiest thing of all was to watch the stream of bats and insects across the golden beam. As these entered it they, too, became golden, so that there as a continual flight of golden wings and shapes darting from the dark into the dark, with a golden moment’s apotheosis between.

The searchlight was just one of the modern marvels collected by Lowe, a pioneering aeronaut who had commanded the Union Army’s Balloon Corps during the Civil War. At Echo Mountain, his “White City”, Lowe placed an observatory with a 16-inch refracting telescope and hired a renowned astronomer to manage it. He is best remembered for his Mount Lowe Railway, the world’s first-all electric mountain railroad, which climbed 914m into the San Gabriels over white-knuckle cliffs and a soaring, 396m funicular. But nothing signalled the dawn of a new electric age in the Southland like Lowe’s searchlight, its sun-shaft overthrowing the dark of night.

[MIKA27]

The Beautiful Junkyard Where Bolivia’s Trains Were Left to Rot

Booming global demand for smartphones, tables, laptops, and electric cars has led to increased interest in Bolivia, home to the world’s largest deposit of the lithium needed for the batteries that power those devices.

It’s not the first time natural resources have attracted foreign interest to Bolivia, which celebrates 189 years of independence from Spain this week. Near the end of the 19th century, British engineers came to the country with the Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Company, which was building a railroad to carry minerals from the Bolivian capital of La Paz to Chilean ports on the Pacific Coast. In the 1940s, the mining industry declined, leading to the creation of the Cementerio de Trenes, or train graveyard.

Just outside the city of Uyuni, in southwestern Bolivia, dozens of abandoned steam trains are scattered around as if a giant child dropped them there. The “cemetery” marked only by a small sign that explains very little, has become a minor attraction for tourists visiting the nearby Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat. The trains have been buffeted by wind for decades, just a few miles an enormous natural stockpile of salt, and it’s obvious. They’re rusted out, long ago stripped for useful parts. Covered in graffiti—some of it pretty good—they’re strangely beautiful relics of an industry left behind.

A booming mining industry attracted the British, who built a railway though here in the late 19th century.

In the 1940s, the industry declined.

Covered in graffiti, the trains take on a strange beauty.

The site has become a minor attraction.

Tourists in the region stop here before visiting the nearby salt flat.

The trains now double as an industrial playground.

Now, the country has attracted foreign attention again, thanks to its enormous deposits of lithium, used to make batteries for smartphones and electric cars.

[MIKA27]

Impressive Graphic Novel Depicts The History Of BACARDÍ Rum

Now it's fair to say, before we came across this impressive graphic novel, all we knew about BACARDÍ was that it was a wildly popular rum. But behind the brand itself, lies a fascinating story of passion, exile, rebellion and ultimately triumph.

The stories go as far back as 1862 to the city of Santiago de Cuba, where founder Don Facundo Bacardí Massó revolutionised the spirits industry when he created a light-bodied rum.

But it certainly wasn't smooth sailing for Don Facundo or the Bacardí family, as they faced all manner of challenges in trying to establish the brand.

From earthquakes that shook their city to the foundations, uncontrollable fires that ripped through their distillery, battling the era of prohibition and even exile from Cuba. A history, as rich and complex as the rum itself some would say.

At the very centre of it all was Emilio Bacardí – son of founder Don Facundo Bacardí Massó, who is famous for his passion and tireless work ethic that saw him push for Cuban independence.

At the time, his views proved immensely unpopular with the established elite, so much so that he was imprisoned and exiled for his beliefs. But he persevered, never wavering in his views until he became the first freely-elected Mayor of Santiago de Cuba.

To celebrate their vivid and rich history, BACARDÍ has collaborated with two of the most iconic names in the world of graphic novels – writer Warren Ellis and artist Michael Allred – to create The Spirit of BACARDÍ, a graphic novel that tells the stories behind the iconic brand and its origins in Cuba.

I loved the idea of adding BACARDÍ rum to the ink to make it a real part of the graphic novel’s DNA. It’s something I have never done before and makes the artwork unique.

We've very excited to say that we've been able to get hold of an exclusive chapter of the novel for you to read here:

In order to find out what happens next to Emilio Bacardí, simply head hereto read the next chapter in his incredible story.

[MIKA27]

Japan's Insane 'Robot Restaurant' Will Overload Your Brain

There are few places more dazzling in the Robot Restaurant located in Shinjuku, Japan. We use the term 'restaurant' very loosely because it's more like a variety show, that you just happen to be dining at.

A visual feast for the senses, where the every which way you look is a kaleidoscope of colourful lights and relentless noise, where drummers are armed with glow sticks, cyber strippers fling themselves around neon poles and life-sizes robots go head-to-head in boxing matches.

But the fun doesn't end there, we haven't even mentioned the flying Terrordactyls, giant sharks, bigger Anacondas and the dance off between robots starring a bevy of scantily clad women, naturally.

So if you're in Japan and literally want to have your brain overloaded to the point where it's nearly melting, make sure you head to the Robot Restaurant, it's an experience you won't forget anytime soon.

[MIKA27]

When murderers were hanged quickly

Fifty years ago the last murderers were hanged in the UK. It brought to an end an era of extraordinarily swift capital punishment.

At 08:00 on Thursday 13 August 1964, two keys turned in the locks of two prison cell doors - one in Manchester, the other in Liverpool. Moments later, two men were dead, hanged for the crime of capital murder.

Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen, two petty criminals who killed a man in a bungled burglary, were the last two people to be executed for murder in the UK.

Justice came swiftly. The trial of 24-year-old Evans and Allen, who was 21, began on 23 June at Manchester Assizes. On 7 July the men were found guilty and sentenced under the 1957 Homicide Act to suffer death "in the manner prescribed by law".

Their appeal was heard just two weeks later - and dismissed the next day. A final appeal for clemency was rejected by the Home Secretary on 11 August. Less than five weeks elapsed between conviction and execution.

The speed of the process, even with two lives at stake, was not unusual. A delay covering three Sundays between sentencing and execution was all the law stipulated.

"The three Sundays rule dated back to the Victorian era," explains Steve Fielding, a criminologist and author of more than 20 books on executions.

"It was felt to allow enough time for any new evidence to come to light, the convict to make his peace with his or her God and also to not prolong the inevitable wait to die."

An appeal might hold things up for slightly longer - but not by much.

"In 1908 the appeal system was introduced, but the vast majority of appeals were rejected. It normally shifted the execution date back by approximately two weeks." says Fielding.

The contrast with the speed of judicial execution today is marked. Only two major industrialised democracies - the US and Japan - still use the death penalty. In both countries the process is notorious for its slowness.

One convicted murderer in Japan, Iwao Hakamada, spent more than 45 years in solitary confinement awaiting death. Japan's policy of not telling the condemned when they would be hanged until the day itself meant he had no way of knowing which day might be his last. But none was. Hakamada was freed on appeal in March this year. His case was extreme, but the average wait on death row in Japan is still seven years. In the US the average is longer still, at around 13 years.

Hideko Hakamada holds a photograph of her brother Iwao as a young man

Another contrast is the speed of the process itself. In the UK, an executioner and his assistant were expected to carry out their grisly duties in moments.

"On the stroke of 8am they would enter the condemned cell, strap the prisoner's arms behind his back and lead him to the gallows. The whole procedure often took less than 10 seconds from the hangmen entering the cell to the prisoner dropping to his death," says Fielding.

Compare that with the recent execution in the US of Joseph Wood. An investigation is under way into why it took Wood nearly two hours to die by lethal injection.

The last hangings in the UK appeared to have drawn little national attention.

Sentencing merited only two paragraphs in the Times the following day - on page 15. Rejection of the appeal got the same amount.

"I think the Daily Mirror's coverage of the executions read something like 'Preston Dairymen hanged yesterday...' - two or three lines only, buried away on inner pages," says Fielding.

The victim, John Alan West, a 53-year-old van driver, had been found stabbed and bludgeoned over the head at his home in Seaton in Cumberland. The two murderers blamed one another in an attempt to escape the gallows.

The notoriety of being the last two murderers to hang came only later. In October 1964 Harold Wilson ended 13 years of Conservative rule. Within weeks the Labour backbencher Sydney Silverman had introduced a bill to end capital punishment. By 1965, hanging for murder had been consigned to history.

Crowds outside Holloway Prison for the last women to be executed in the UK - Ruth Ellis, in 1955

But even before its abolition, the death penalty was being steadily undermined. The number of executions had declined since the introduction of the Homicide Act - which made the death penalty mandatory for only certain types of murder, at least in part to try to prevent perceived miscarriages of justice.

Only three murderers were hanged in 1963. Evans and Allen were the only ones to die in 1964. Around half of those sentenced to death after 1957 were reprieved and the act was criticised for a lack of clarity - why spare one murderer but execute another? Abolition did not come as a surprise. But the debate about hanging did not end with its abolition. Silverman's bill merely suspended the death penalty for five years. MPs were expected to vote again on hanging.

And so they did, making it permanent in 1969. But that did not end the debate. In every parliament, there was a vote.

It was always a "free vote", meaning MPs were not expected to vote along party lines. That convention was maintained, with each attempt to reintroduce hanging defeated, until the election of Tony Blair's Labour government in 1997.

Within a year parliament had voted in favour of a new Human Rights Act. A backbench amendment signed-up the UK to Protocol Six of the European Convention of Human Rights. Protocol Six outlaws the death penalty in all cases apart from war and imminent threat of war.

In January 1999 the then Home Secretary Jack Straw signed it. The debate on the death penalty was over.

Global death penalty figures, 2013

• At least 778 people executed worldwide - not including those put to death in China
• Almost 80% of all known executions were recorded in just three countries: Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia
• Four countries resumed executions: Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria and Vietnam
• Over the past 20 years, the total number of countries carrying out executions dropped from 37 in 1994 to 22 in 2013

At least it seemed that way.

But David Cameron went into the 2010 election with a manifesto commitment to repeal the 1998 Human Rights Act. A lack of an overall majority prevented him from doing so. But Home Secretary Theresa May reiterated the promise to scrap the act at the party conference last year.

So could MPs in the next Parliament vote again on whether to restore the death penalty?

Barrister Julian Knowles QC, of Matrix Chambers, says that's not going to happen - regardless of whether the Human Rights Act is repealed. "The Human Rights Act doesn't stop Parliament from reintroducing the death penalty. Parliament is supreme and can do anything it wants to do. The main reason it will never do so is that there just isn't the appetite for it anymore."

A group in Phoenix, US protests against the death penalty

The international consequences would be severe, explains Knowles. "The UK would be expelled from the Council of Europe, if it didn't leave, and it would have to leave the EU as well, because it's a condition of membership for both organisations that member states don't have the death penalty."

None of the Commons votes before 1998 came close to a majority in favour of restoration - and the majority against increased through the 1980s.

There's also evidence to suggest that public support for hanging is no longer as clear cut as it once was.

A survey conducted by YouGov last year found a majority of those questioned only favoured the death penalty for one type of murder - that of a child for "a sexual or sadistic motive" - and then only with 56% in favour. An e-petition to the government, organised by the political blogger Paul Staines to try to force a debate on hanging, received only 26,351 backers. Petitions need 100,000 to be considered for debate in the House of Commons.

There is evidence both that support for hanging and interest in it as an issue have declined over time, says Anthony Wells, associate director of the political team at YouGov. "In the past it was the example of public and political opinion being out of step. Twenty or thirty years ago it was indisputable that a majority of people supported the death penalty.

"These days you can't really say that a majority of people are still in favour. People have grown up in a country where it's something that is not done. It isn't part of a political debate so doesn't come up as an issue."

Fifty years after the last hangings in the UK, no murderer is likely to ever follow Evans and Allen to the gallows.

[MIKA27]

THE PARKING PROBLEM SOLVED

My friends over at The Old Motor know a thing or two about digging up a fascinating old car, and this clip is a great example. It shows an early attempt at solving the parking problem, and to be honest I’m surprised some variant of it didn’t catch on.

The film was made in France in 1927 and shows a Citroen with its steering modified so that it can turn around in a circle, with the rear wheels acting as the pivot point.

[MIKA27]

Is This a Bear, a Costumed Human or Something Else?

http://youtu.be/WbpurDo7BnY

A video of what appears to be a black bear walking upright through a New Jersey neighborhood has residents wondering if it’s a talented bear, a human in a bear costume or something else. Take a look and see for yourself.

The video was taken at 5:45am on August 4 by Ian Bohman of Oak Ridge, New Jersey. He used his cell phone to record the bear walking across the street, rummaging in a trash can and stolling to the woods with a very humanlike gait.

The Jefferson Township police department got a copy of the video along with numerous calls and said it’s an injured bear. A person in the department who apparently knows something about bears said this:

We all know there is an injured bear in town. Hurt bears often walk on their hind legs to compensate for their wounded paws, legs, whatever.

Whatever? That bear isn’t walking like he hurt his whatever.

Speaking of strange animal videos, the surveillance camera video of the mysterious big cat sighting in Norwalk, California, has been “enhanced” but experts and non-experts alike say they still can’t figure out what it is and it still hasn’t been spotted again.

As long as we’re asking the question: “What is this?”

It’s a zonkey, the offspring of a female zebra and male donkey born last week at a zoo in Crimea. Zoo officials are somewhat embarrassed by this since legitimate zoos don’t breed hybrids, but the lonely zebra had been placed in a area with other hooved animals and one thing led to another.

Walking bears, enhanced alien big cats, zonkeys … what next?

[MIKA27]

After 245 Million Years, The Cobra Loses Its Head

It was a sad day in the Moab area of Utah last week when word came from the Bureau of Land Management Moab field office that the iconic tower rock formation known as ‘The Cobra’ had lost its head. Was it weather that caused the Cobra to crumble or could it have been stress caused by the numerous climbers scaling its heights?

The Cobra is part of the Fisher Towers formation about 20 miles northeast of Moab. These tall spires known as “hoodoos” are estimated to have been formed 245 million years ago and the Cobra was one of the more famous ones because of its snakelike shape. It has been a common April Fool joke to spread the story that the Cobra had toppled. Sadly, it’s no longer a joke.

The Cobra rock formation after losing its head.

The Cobra has been a popular rock for climbers since the 1990s because of its shape, accessibility and low 50-foot height. Did climbing contribute to its demise? Lisa Hathaway, who has climbed it several times, said this in the Salt Lake Tribune:

It had a very loose cap. It was almost more miraculous that it lasted as long as it did.

In February of 2002, George Bell wrote this prediction about the Cobra on the climbing website MountainProject.com:

This sick tower gets my vote as ‘most likely to fall down in the next 10 years.’ What is holding it up?

Most climbers blame recent storms with high winds, rain and lightning for the Cobra’s collapse. Lisa Bryant, assistant field manager at the Bureau of Land Management Moab field office, added one more possibility.

Erosion happens. It’s sad when something like this happens, but we’re very grateful that no one was hurt.

Erosion DOES happen, but so does unnecessary wear and tear caused by humans. Are we reaching the point where we can’t have any nice things?