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

[MIKA27]

This Jet Engine Is Actually A Grill That Automatically Rotates Your Food

It only makes sense that a barbecue that looks like a jet engine fallen off a plane is called the Jet Grill, but — and some of you might be disappointed in this — it doesn’t cook your meats via some high-powered afterburner. The design and functionality is still clever, though, as it harnesses rising heat to keep your food constantly turning and grilling evenly without the need for a powered motor.

Instead of placing your burning briquettes on the bottom like with most grills and barbecues, the $US240 Jet Grill has a pair of removable side panels where the heat is generated. Your food is held in place in the middle on a spit that slowly rotates as rising heat turns a turbine blade on top. It ensures your food is cooked evenly, and because the heat comes from the sides, there’s no risk of flare-ups or fire as dripping fat doesn’t fall onto open flames. Best of all, there’s no grill to scrape and scrub down after a weekend of carnivoring. [Jet Grill ]

[MIKA27]

The Design Thinking Behind London’s New $4B Subway Trains

Descend underground into London’s subway system, and “Mind the Gap” is everywhere. It’s spelled out in tiles on the edge of the platform, it’s announced through the loudspeakers, and it’s probably splashed across a tourist’s t-shirt. But sometime around 2020, the actual gap—the dangerous space between the train and the platform that prompted the transit system in 1969 to start warning passengers—will begin to disappear.

Getting rid of the gap is one of several efficiencies that design firm PriestmanGoode will introduce in its redesign of the London Underground trains. Announced this week, the estimated $4 billion trains (part of a bigger $25 billion (£16 billion) upgrade) will replace trains on the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo, and Waterloo & City lines, and are aimed at accommodating London’s booming commuter population for the next several decades. “London may well go up again twice in size, so you have to think about how these trains will evolve,” says Paul Priestman, director at PriestmanGoode. “We can’t change tunnels and platforms and stations, so how can we let people get on and off the trains more quickly?”

The $4 billion subway cars will replace trains on the Piccadilly, Central, Waterloo, and City and Bakerville lines, and are aimed at accommodating London’s booming commuter population for the next several decades.

Clever Details

To delete the gap, PriestmanGoode drafted up trains that have shorter carriages and more of them. This gives each train extra sets of joints, so it can pivot and nestle itself closer to the platform. That leads to swifter train exits for passengers. Each train will also sport larger doors (and more of them as well) to help relieve the bottleneck of commuters getting on and off at every station. The effect is similar to the shiny AirTran system used at airports.

This wouldn’t have been possible when the original cars were built: newer access to stronger, lightweight materials like aluminum and finishes used on aircrafts means that the bigger doors won’t cause subway cars to grow weak and buckle. In an attempt to cut down on delays, they’re also proposing to amp up the communications system with flashing lights that warn commuters when doors open and close. Hopefully, the idea goes, this will stop desperate passengers from shoving doors back open.

Inside, poles tilt outwards to create more breathing room around passengers' faces and upper bodies.

Given all the exterior glitz, much remains the same inside the new tube cars. “Familiar is good, it’s moving forward and is still recognizable,” Priestman says. Besides the fact that the London Underground required the same number of seats, Priestman wanted to preserve a detail that’s unique to the Tube: “It’s interesting that it’s possible to have fabric, and they last,” he says of the upholstered seats, which would never fly in a city like New York. “It says a lot about the character of the design. It’s not like a jail, people have respect for it, the lighting is right. Even in Hong Kong you have steel seats on the metros.”

To keep to the thesis—make the trains as efficient as possible—PriestmanGoode adjusted the floor-to-ceiling handrails so they tilt slightly outward, away from people’s heads and upper bodies, freeing up valuable (and literal) breathing room. An even bigger change is how the cars connect: instead of disjointed carriages, these will be “through-cars” that allow for commuters to safely and easily disperse themselves, even after the train takes off.

All told, the London Underground estimates that PriestmanGoode’s trains will allow for anywhere between 25 and 60 percent more passengers, depending on the line. “We need every square inch for the passengers,” Priestman says. With these changes, “it’s almost like getting grit out of the system.”

[MIKA27]

Two Incredible Views of Super Typhoon Vongfang From Space

This beautiful image of Super Typhoon Vongfang over the Philippine Sea was taken by NASA’s Aqua satellite at 12:25 a.m. ET this morning. Below, another incredible view of the massive storm was taken by NASA astronaut Reid Weissman from the International Space Station around 7 a.m. ET this morning.

Vongfang (which is also being spelled Vongfong or Vongfon) is the most powerful tropical cyclone the planet has experienced this year. At its fiercest, the storm had sustained winds reaching 180 miles per hour on Tuesday. Vongfang has weakened during the past few days with sustained winds dropping to around 150 miles per hour this morning, and will likely have calmed further before it is expected to make Landfall in Japan on Monday night. It will still be a powerful storm, however, and Okinawa Island could take a direct hit.

Weissman tweeted the image with this comment: “I’ve seen many from here, but none like this.”

[MIKA27]

The Phallic French EV That Was Once the World’s Fastest Car

"La Jamais Contente" looked like a torpedo on wheels. This is a replica made by a team of students at the Université de Technologie et du Lycée Technologique de Compiegne.

Around the turn of the last century, people the world over were building their own version of the horseless carriage, and Karl Benz’s internal combustion engine wasn’t the only approach to propulsion. Steam and electricity also were used to make bizarre but excellent machines, like this phallic record-setter.

La Jamais Contente—French for “never satisfied”—was once the fastest car in the world, and the first to break the 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) barrier. It was built and driven by one of the most hot-headed men in motorsports history. That’s saying a lot considering his competition.

As the 1800s drew to a close, the internal combustion engine was barely developed, and hardly a lock to become the dominant form of propulsion. EVs offered a dignified silence, they didn’t require a hand crank to start, and their limited range wasn’t much of an issue in the days before highways (and there was no network of gas stations, anyway). More importantly for Camille Jenatzy, they were the fastest things on the road.

Jenatzy, a Belgian engineer, entered the electric car industry in the late 1890s, financed by his family’s rubber business. He built the car he brought to his first race, a hill climb in November, 1898. He set the day’s record of 17 mph. (In an era without radar guns, speed was determined using distance markers, pocket watches, and basic math.)

Rolling on pneumatic tires made by Michelin, this EV was at one point the world’s fastest car.

Three weeks later, Frenchman Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat doubled that, setting an official land-speed record of 39.2 mph in his EV, built by competing auto maker Jeantaud of France. Jenatzy saw an opportunity to make news and draw the attention of potential customers, so he challenged the Count, beginning one of the motoring world’s first rivalries. The two men raced repeatedly, with each race resulting in a new land speed record. Chasseloup-Laubat hit 43.7 mph on January 17, 1899. Jenatzy hit 49.9 mph later that month. In March, Chasseloup-Laubat topped him again, hitting 57.6 mph.

The electric car was made to break speed records, not for comfort or production.

Determined to take back the title, Jenatzy spent two months building a new car, the first specifically built from scratch to set a record. The result was La Jamais Contente, a phallic machine driven by a pair of 25-kilowatt electric motors and two 100-volt, 124-amp batteries. The car made about 68 horsepower and its torpedo-like aluminum alloy body was thought to be aerodynamically efficient. Riding on a wooden undercarriage, it traded in the typical solid rubber tires for a pneumatic set, provided by Edouard and Andre Michelin. The car was a success: On April 29, 1899, Jenatzy broke 100 kilometers per hour, achieving 105.9 kph (65.8 mph).

Jenatzy continued his racing career, earning the nickname “the Red Devil.” In a 1913 article announcing his death, the The New York Times wrote, he “was regarded as the most daring of all racing motorists, his driving being characterized by demoniacal fury and stark determination.” He also once, mid-race, “jumped from his car and struck an inoffensive onlooker whose demeanor displeased him.”

Eventually, Jenatzy quit racing and went into his family’s rubber business. He died on a hunting trip, after his friend Alfred Madoux shot him in the thigh. Sources offer two (not mutually exclusive) accounts of what happened. According to Hemmings, Jenatzy thought it would be funny to hide in some bushes and grunt like a wild boar, but was so convincing, he fooled Madoux into firing. But Drive contends that since Madoux was married to Jenatzy’s mistress, maybe it was no accident, and the boar prank served as a handy excuse for murder.

The car was made of aluminum alloy, to save weight, and it sat on a wooden undercarriage.

After Jenatzy’s death, the internal combustion engine began to overtake battery power as the popular choice. By the 1920s, discovery of oil sources made gasoline more available, expanding highway infrastructures meant drivers could travel more than a few miles per day, and the invention of the electric starter in 1912 eliminated the need for the hand crank. When Henry Ford started the assembly lines, the internal combustion engine took over. Then, as now, gasoline let you go faster and farther.

In 1994, a team of students at the Université de Technologie et du Lycée Technologique de Compiegne built a working replica of La Jamais Contente. The original is displayed at France’s Musée National de la Voiture et du Tourisme (National Car and Tourism Museum).

[MIKA27]

How Clowns Became Terrifying

"You know, Dave," Chicago children's entertainer Pogo reportedly said over dinner with two cops who'd been tailing him, "clowns can get away with murder." Pogo would know, because outside of his clown identity he was John Wayne Gacy, the notorious 1970s serial killer and maybe one of the worst things to happen to clowns since the 1892 opera Pagliacci.

Clowns, it's fair to say, are not currently having the best time of it, PR-wise. The fourth season of American Horror Story, which debuted Wednesday, features Twisty the Clown as the primary antagonist: a terrifying perversion of the profession with a mask of grinning, oversized teeth and distorted black lips. In the opening episode, Twisty bounds up to a young couple in broad daylight, knocks them both out with juggling clubs, stabs the young man over and over again, kidnaps the woman and locks her up with a young boy in a decrepit old school bus, and forces them both to watch him craft balloon animals (there being clearly no limits to his malevolence).

In addition to this new incarnation of the monstrous, murdering clown trope, rogue scary clowns have been spotted recently stalking the streets of Wasco, California. In July, a "creepy" clown wearing a red wig and clutching a handful of pink balloons was sighted walking through Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. The professional clown industry, for once, isn't smiling. Membership of the World Clown Association, a U.S.-based trade group for performers, has fallen from 3,500 to 2,500 over the last 10 years. In the UK, a similar group, Clown International, has lost almost 90 percent of its members from its peak in the 1980s. Earlier this year, Butlin's holiday camp, in the popular destination of Bognor Regis, withdrew its annual offer to sponsor the group's annual gathering thanks to a decline in overall clown approval ratings.

How, exactly, did clowns go from lovable children's entertainers to the bewigged, bone-chilling incarnation of evil? The answer is complicated, and spans a period of almost 200 years, even if the current trend of coulrophobia seems to have peaked with the ascent of online media.

Traditionally clowns are anarchic figures who defy the boundaries of normal social conduct, even before Heath Ledger's Joker just wanted to watch the world burn. In Edgar Allan Poe's 1849 story Hop-Frog, a physically deformed court jester who's consistently the butt of practical jokes encourages the king and his court of noblemen to dress as orangutans covered in tar, at which point he sets them all on fire. The unpredictable nature of a clown's behavior, and his or her tendency to transgress acceptable standards of behavior (by, for example, throwing pies in each others' faces, or squirting water on an innocent bystander with a trick buttonhole flower), probably makes us wary of what other lines they might cross.

The makeup, too, is a factor. Traditional clown face paint—a white base, with exaggerated red lips and cheeks—was pioneered by Joseph Grimaldi, a popular entertainer in the early 19th century, and can be manipulated to create a face that is either grinning in an absurd rictus or tragicomically sad. "At its roots, clownaphobia springs from the duplicity implied by the frozen grins and false gaiety of clowns," writes cultural critic Mark Dery in his 1999 book The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: America on the Brink. "The clown persona protests too much; its transparent artificiality constantly directs our attention to what's behind the mask." The frozen smile of a clown makes his or her true expression impossible to read—yet another factor that leads us to ponder whether or not they can be trusted.

Despite all this, clowns were typically viewed in a positive light for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, even though Leoncavallo's aforementioned 1892 opera, Pagliacci, told the story of a clown who murders his unfaithful wife and her lover with a knife. (Se il viso è pallido, è di vergogna, the clown sings, or, If my face is white, it is for shame.) The turning point, culture-wise, appears to have been the arrest of Gacy, dubbed "the Killer Clown" by the media, whose grisly string of sexual assaults and murders contrasted so vividly with his alternate clown persona. As Pogo, Gacy performed at parades, parties, and charitable events, even meeting First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 1978 thanks to his role as director of Chicago's Polish Constitution Day Parade. While on death row, he painted a number of portraits of clowns, many depicting himself as Pogo, claiming that he wanted to use the paintings "to bring joy into people's lives."

The national shockwave following the exposure of one of the most prolific serial killers in American history may have forever traumatized the country as far as clowns were concerned. In 1980, Gacy was sentenced to death. Two years later, Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg released Poltergeist, a movie in which evil forces terrorize a household, in part by bringing young Robbie's Clown Doll to life and having it pull him under his bed and attempt to throttle him to death. In 1986, Stephen King published IT, a horror novel about the murderous Pennywise the Clown, who stalks children, terrifying them and occasionally ripping off their limbs. In 2009, King talked about the idea for Pennywise with Conan O'Brien. "As a kid, going to the circus, it'd be like 12 full-grown people piling out of a little car, their faces were dead-white, their mouths were red, as though they were full of blood," he said. "They were all screaming, their eyes were huge: What's not to like?"

Pennywise, as played so memorably by Tim Curry in the 1990 television movie of IT, emerged shortly after Jack Nicholson's Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 movie, Batman. The Joker, at least in comic books, has always seemed to occupy an odd space between jester, clown, and harlequin, but Nicholson's depiction felt deliberately clown-like, both in his pockets full of tricks (the flower filled with acid instead of water), and the way he used poison gas to give his victims pallid white skin and distorted scarlet smirks. Ledger's Joker, coming almost two decades later in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, was more explicitly wearing surreal makeup to enhance his scarred Chelsea grin: less Bozo, and more Insane Clown Posse.

Can clowns be saved? At this point, given their popularity as fright masks, the rise of coulrophobia, and the decline of the wholesome, apple-pie birthday party, it’s hard to see a future for clown acts outside of the circus (which itself is suffering thanks to the impossible dominance of the global juggernaut that is Cirque du Soleil). There is some hope: Even though studies in the past have typically shown that children fear clowns, research conducted at Tel Aviv University this year found that children undergoing allergy testing were less anxious when a clown was present in the room. Maybe the future for clowns is less about Ronald McDonald (nothing’s scarier than diabetes, after all) and more about distracting nervous patients from the giant needles injecting allergens into their skin.

[MIKA27]

MH17 crash: Dutch minister says passenger 'wore oxygen mask'

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has said that one of the 298 people killed in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine was found wearing an oxygen mask.

He indicated that not everybody on board had died instantly when the plane was hit by a missile.

An initial report said flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being pierced by objects at high velocity.

Mr Timmermans has now said he regrets the remark and upsetting families.

"The last thing I want is to add to their suffering in any way," he said in a government statement (in Dutch) released hours after he made the comment on the Pauw talk show on Dutch TV. "I shouldn't have said it."

'Australian victim'

The Dutch public prosecutor has confirmed that an oxygen mask was found, although a spokesman said it was around the passenger's neck rather than their mouth. It had been secured with elastic and has been tested for DNA and fingerprints.

The plane had been flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on 17 July when it went down over rebel-held territory. Pro-Russian separatist leaders deny shooting it down with a missile.

Although 196 of the passengers were Dutch, the passenger with the oxygen mask was not, the prosecutor said on Thursday. Dutch media said the victim in question was an Australian and the family had been informed about the development.

The plane came down near Grabove but some parts were found 8km (5 miles) from the main debris site

None of the other victims was wearing an oxygen mask, the public prosecutor added. The mask was from a Boeing 777 plane, but it was unknown how and when it had been put on.

Mr Timmermans is seen as one of the big hitters in the Dutch government.

He is due to leave his post shortly as foreign minister to take up a post as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's right-hand man.

He mentioned the oxygen mask during an interview with Jeroen Pauw, in which he was taken to task for an emotive speech he gave to the UN four days after flight MH17 was downed on 17 July.

Investigators said puncture holes showed small objects had entered the plane from above the cockpit floor

Final moments

In his address to the Security Council, Mr Timmermans imagined the horror felt by the passengers "when they knew the plane was going down" and wondered whether they had looked each other in the eyes "one final time, in an unarticulated goodbye".

When asked on Wednesday night if he had created an image that had not really taken place, Mr Timmermans said: "Oh yes? Can you be so sure about that?"

He acknowledged that those on board would not have seen the missile hit the plane.

"But do you know that someone was found with an oxygen mask on their mouth - and so they had the time to put it on?" Mr Timmermans said.

He went on to say that nothing could be ruled out about the 298 victims' final moments.

The official inquiry into the MH17 disaster had not made any mention of an oxygen mask being found on one of the victims.

But several experts concluded that the plane would have disintegrated too quickly for the passengers to have known anything about it.

Four days after the disaster, Mr Timmermans gave an emotive address to the UN Security Council

Last month the remains of three Malaysians were taken home

Victims' families, angry that they had not been told about the oxygen mask before, were told by prosecutors that an inquiry was still being carried out and no conclusions had been drawn.

Mr Timmermans, who was due to give a statement to parliament on the matter, said in his statement that the disaster was close to his heart. "I sympathise enormously with the relatives," he said.

Although investigators were unable to visit the crash site because of fighting in the area, their initial report pieced together photographic evidence of the wreckage as well as cockpit and air traffic control data.

They said it pointed to "an in-flight break up" and added there was "no evidence of technical or human error".

The plane was hit while flying at 33,000ft (10,000m) and debris was found over a wide area of eastern Ukrainian territory held by pro-Russian rebels.

Parts of the plane were found 8km (5 miles) from the main debris site

[MIKA27]

Shipwreck is Too Recent to be Santa Maria

Christopher Columbus may have been disappointed he didn’t return from his famous voyage with all three of his ships, but probably not as much as the guy who thought he found the wreckage of the one he left behind. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released its investigative report on remains of a ship found off the coast of Haiti and determined that it’s not the Santa Maria.

Marine archaeologist Barry Clifford announced in May 2014 that he found what he thought was the wreckage of the Santa Maria off the coast of Haiti in 15 feet of water near the city of Cap-Haitein, the general area where Columbus recorded that the ship hit a reef and sank.

Wreckage Barry Clifford believed to be from the Santa Maria

UNESCO sent a team to examine it and, in their report released this week, had a lot of bad news for Clifford.

Although the site is located in the general area where one would expect to find the Santa Maria based on contemporary accounts of Columbus’s first voyage, it is further away from shore than one should expect. Furthermore, and even more conclusively, the fasteners found on the site indicate a technique of ship construction that dates the ship to the late 17th or 18th century rather than the 15th or 16th century.

Also, what appears to be a protective copper sheathing found in the wreckage dates the ship as late 18th century vintage. In addition, the researchers say the coastline of Haiti has changed since 1492 due to rivers dumping sand and sediment and the Santa Maria’s remains are most likely on land by now.

Clifford is sticking by his claim, saying the researchers didn’t consult with him before launching their investigation. Perhaps the Spanish team was prejudiced because Clifford is an American.

Whatever the case, the mystery of the location of the Santa Maria continues.

[MIKA27]

What It’s Like to Be Snatched by the Delta Force (F**k Yeah!)

Swarmed, Tasered, and trundled into a vehicle blindfolded—and that was just the beginning for alleged al Qaeda member Abu Anas al-Liby. Now he’s complaining about his treatment.

Poor little jihadi!

Just listen to the accused al Qaeda operative Abu Anas al-Liby recount how he was treated by men who suddenly swarmed him outside his home in Tripoli as he returned from morning prayers last October.

“I was Tasered in both my legs and hands,” he says at the start of a tale told in an affidavit unsealed this week in a motion to suppress incriminating statements about his alleged complicity in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

He rightly assumes that his captors were members of the U.S. Army Delta Force. He recalls that one of them spoke to him in English with an American accent:

“We know you can understand us, just keep quiet.”

He was then trundled into what he says was either a minivan or an SUV.

“ had ear muffs placed over my ears, my eyes were blindfolded, and I was placed in handcuffs,” he reports.

One of the men sat on him and stayed there as the vehicle sped to a building of some kind.

“While in the building, I was kept on a hard floor in handcuffs and in leg irons,” he says. “Neither the ear muffs nor the blindfold were ever removed from me. I was not offered any food, only water to drink. The people who kidnapped me never identified themselves, never told me how long I would be held, or where I was going to be transported.”

This from a guy who when he fled arrest in England left behind a computer containing “The Al Qaeda Manual.” The manual extols “the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing and destruction,” and says a jihadi’s duties include kidnapping and murdering “enemy personnel as well as foreign tourists.”

And he seems to have made some suppositions not only about who grabbed him but also where they might be transporting him.

“I was convinced that I would end up in one of the CIA’s black site torture prisons in Pakistan or the Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan,” he says. “I felt I never would see my family ever again. I lived in morbid fear or my imminent death where its only precursor would be torture.”

So much for hungering for martyrdom and all those virgins waiting in paradise.

“Sometime in the evening, I was brought, still blindfolded, with ear muffs, and handcuffs, to a small boat, which I believe was a Zodiac-type vessel,” he continues in his account. “The Zodiac transported me to another vessel. During the entire ride I felt sick and nauseous as the Zodiac seemed to bounce uncontrollably.”

Seasick! A rough ride!

“I feared that I was going to be tossed overboard.”

But there was no overboarding, not even waterboarding as he passed from the Zodiac to what he would later learn was the U.S.S. San Antonio. The ship embarked on a week-long voyage to America.

“I was subjected to daily interrogation by agents of the CIA…I know this because the interrogator identified himself as an agent of the CIA…I was told, ‘This is the easiest step,’ and the next step would be harder and then another step after that would be even harder.”

Insinuation!

“I took this to mean that the physical psychological torture would only increase if I failed to cooperate with my questioners. These threats continued the entire time I was on board the ship.”

Intimidation!

“I was never told what would happen to me after this interrogation was finished. At no time was I ever told that I would be turned over to a civilian criminal court for prosecution in the Embassy Bombings case.”

Never told he might actually be treated like a criminal!

“As with my initial abduction, I was certain that, if lucky, I would end up at Guantanamo Bay, but more likely at a CIA torture prison.”

Meanwhile, question after question!

“While I was interrogated for hours on end, I cannot say precisely how long each session was as I did not have a watch.”

No watch!

“Furthermore, I was kept in complete isolation and had no idea when was day and when was night. I was completely disoriented and confused.”

And that’s not all!

“When interrogated, I was in a small room that had a video camera set-up, no furniture at all, and was always interrogated forced to sit or lie on the floor.”

No chair!

“The room where I was kept, while not being interrogated, also had no furniture whatsoever. There was no bed, no chair, no sink, no toilet, no window—nothing at all to alleviate the pain and confusion I had.”

Not even a mattress!

“They gave me a blanket to sleep on, and a blanket as a pillow and a blanket to cover me. That was all. I was cold all the time.”

B-r-r-r!

“The light was kept on all of the time, every day, for 24 hours with no let up. This made it all but impossible to sleep and rest.”

No shut-eye!

“I was forced to take my meals in this room.”

Not even a dining nook!

“There was a solid door so I could not see or hear any other people.”

No company!

“Whenever I had to use the toilet I had to knock on the door and ask permission.”

Not even an en suite cell!

“What the room did have was a camera so I was under surveillance.”

Not even privacy!

“I did not have any books, including a Quran. I did not know which direction was east, nor the times of day, so I could not pray as I should have.”

There he may have a legitimate complaint, though the al Qaeda manual makes no mention of providing captives with a Bible.

“Whenever I left the room I had ear muffs, handcuffs and a blindfold placed upon me.”

But there were no beatings, no waterboarding, no rough stuff at all.

“My interrogators never informed me that I had the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, or any human rights one would expect from America.”

Not granted the rights and freedoms of the Great Satan!

Or at least until he arrived at America’s shore.

“After how many days I did not know I was transported again and eventually placed on a plane. There were six persons on the plane, including FBI agents and an interpreter.”

The agents say in a document attached to the affidavit that they explained to al-Liby he was going to face criminal charges in a civilian court in New York and that whatever he told the CIA interrogators would not be used in the case. The agents also say they gave him the standard Miranda warnings, which al-Liby implicitly acknowledges in the affidavit by reporting they presented him with a standard form in Arabic waiving his right to remain silent. Al-Liby informed the agents that he had been so outraged by his treatment that he had gone on hunger strike.

“Although I told the FBI that had gone on hunger strike and had not eaten for at least three days, and had not slept for two days, I was handed a ‘waiver form’ and told to sign it. After repeated verbal pressure to sign it, I did so,” he reports in his affidavit.

What he does not say is that the agents offered him an opportunity to rest and get a checkup from the medical personnel aboard the plane. The agent says they asked him an hour later if he felt up to speaking to them, and he allowed that he still felt tired but would be able to answer questions.

By al-Liby’s account, “Being confused and disoriented, with no understanding where I was, or what would happen to me, I gave the statement the FBI has. I felt the only way to be treated fairly and humanely was if I did what I was told—after all, I had been subject to interrogation for more than a week and I felt there was little, if any, difference between the actions of the FBI and those of the CIA. After more than a week of interrogation by the CIA, any sense of asserting my own rights, or having the ability to independently determine if I wished to voluntarily speak, was long since gone.”

The agents report that when they sought to question him further the following day, al-Liby announced that he wanted to speak to an attorney.

“At that point, all questioning immediately ceased,” the agents say.

On Wednesday, Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan considered a pre-trial defense motion to suppress the statements that al-Liby had already made to the FBI. The judge seemed less than moved by al-Liby’s affidavit, a translation from Arabic into English that happened to have been certified as accurate on September 11, 2014.

“He would have preferred to have been given a bed rather than a blanket on the floor,” the judge said.

This sworn document dated on the 13th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center could be taken as proof that although the mass murder of thousands of innocents in downtown Manhattan so enraged us that we for a time betrayed our own principles, we are now back from the torture and the secret prisons.

We are again ourselves.

“He does not claim that anyone laid a hand on him from the time he got on the San Antonio until you appeared in this courtroom,” the judge remarked to al-Liby’s attorney.

The judge nonetheless agreed to hold a hearing on whether to admit the statements. It is slated for October 15.

What is already clear is that al-Liby’s voyage did not compromise his ability to bullshit.

“After America had acted so forthrightly in helping to overthrow Col. Qaddafi, I expected much more from this country. I now know better,” he says at the end of the affidavit.

Poor little jihadi!

[MIKA27]

EXTREME HAMMOCK ADVENTURE IN MONTE PIANA

The worst time of the day for a thrill-seeker? Overnights. The true adventurist utterly despises having to lay dormant eight hours a night as his body recovers. That’s what makes the International Highline Meeting in Monte Piana such a draw for those that like to live dangerously. Why not sleep suspended hundreds of feet in the air between the northern Italian Alps? This way you’re risking your life while you’re getting your rest too.

Each year the Highline Meeting brings together slackliners (similar to tightrope walkers) and people who obviously aren’t afraid of heights for a few days of hanging around and high-fiving/clawing hawks as they fly by. About 18 highlines are set up, ranging from 18 feet high to more than 300 feet off the ground. $40 gets you a spot at one of the most dangerous napping places in the world—admittedly with a damn fine view.

[MIKA27]

TAKTIK 360 & AQUATIK WATERPROOF IPHONE 6 CASES

LUNATIK is a name that we’ve come to know quite well. Over the past few generations of iPhones, the brand has built some of the best protective cases on the market, and they show no signs of slowing down with the TAKTIK 360 and AQUATIK for the iPhone 6.

There’s no denying that Apple’s latest iPhone is absolutely beautiful, and you want to keep it that way. Sure you do your best to prevent your phone from free falling onto a solid concrete floor or bending in your pocket, but statistics show that 85% of smartphone users worry about breaking their screen, and with an average repair cost of $129, why wouldn’t you be worried? LUNATIK’s new offerings are one of the best ways we’ve found to protect your latest smartphone investment.

Waterproof cases ensure that you’re never without your phone. Whether you’re surfing, diving, or just hanging out at the beach – a waterproof case keeps you connected 24-7. The problem has always been that these cases tend to be a bit bulky. Let’s face it, they’re usually really bulky.

The AQUATIK aims to be the first completely waterproof, minimalist iPhone 6 case on the market, and it looks stunning. The case covers up all of your ports, and is not only waterproof, but also offers up drop, shock and impact protection.

Now if you’re looking for a truly indestructible case, real “oh, sh*t-proof” protection, then look no further than the TAKTIK 360. Sure, it’s a little bulky, but with a compression closure system, single latch closure, and Corning Gorilla Glass lenses, you never have to worry about your phone’s well being during life’s unexpected adventures. Check out the video below to see these cases in action. [Purchase]

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5 BEARD OILS TO TRY NOW

If we believe Homer, the war-bound Odysseus told his wife Penelope to remarry should he not return when their newborn son Telemachus became an adult — that is, when he could at least grow a beard (there were no iPhones in ancient Greece). Since then, growing one has become a rite of passage, the final symbol of one’s arrival into manhood. Graceful attempts today, however, are far and few between.

Beard hair belongs to a category of hair type called “androgenic”, meaning it is related to the production of specific hormones in the body like testosterone. This type of hair grows more coarse and has a tendency to become wiry and prickly (you know that itch) when let loose. Like the hair on our heads, this facial hair is best tamed through routine maintenance — in this case, shaping and conditioning, done through the frequent application of beard oil. Apart from simply turning one’s beard into a temptress of olfaction, oil helps soften the hair by hydrating the skin underneath, which is often neglected after the hair reaches a certain length. Beard oil also functions somewhat like a light pomade and gives malleable shape by relaxing the natural kinks.

It should be noted that most beard oils sold in barber shops and apothecaries function more or less the same, with little variation in their effectiveness. If you’re using one, you’re probably doing a good job. The real difference in beard oils rests on the distinctive quality of smell. We’ve chosen our favorites to help you master a well-groomed beard. Do your face a favor and choose one below.

Beard Oil Primer

Beard oil is blended from two categories of oils. Base oils — e.g. argan, jojoba, grapeseed, hempseed, rosehip — absorb easily into the skin without clogging pores and can also be used alone in a pinch; find them in the cosmetics section of most health food stores. These base oils do most of the heavy lifting in terms of conditioning and act as a carrier for what are known as essential oils, which determine the scent and differ widely on personal preference. Popular choices include sandalwood, clove, and lavender, among others.

How To Apply

The frequency in application depends a lot on the shape and thickness of the beard, as well as the relative humidity level in the air. For thicker beards, or those in drier climates, consider hydrating every day. Others prefer every other day or once a week. Just do whatever feels natural and produces the best results for your own beard.

The best time to oil up is right after a hot shower when the pores are clean, open, and most receptive to the oil (just be sure to towel dry first so the oil can catch onto the hair and skin). To apply, rub two to three drops in your hands and work the oil through the entire beard, making sure to get down near the skin. Finish with a quality brush, like the Horn Beard Brush from Murdock London.

PROSPECTOR CO. BURROUGHS

Base: jojoba, grape seed, argan, kukui nut, glycerin

Essential: cedarwood, juniper, sandalwood, pine, frankincense, myrrh

Smells Like: The local woodworking shop.

Buy Now For $28

MCMC FOR FELLOW BARBER DUDE NO. 1

Base: jojoba, hempseed

Essential: cedarwood, coriander, pink peppercorns, sandalwood, rose, vetiver

Smells Like: The oriental spice market.

Buy Now For $65

PORTLAND GENERAL STORE TOBACCO

Base: jojoba, hempseed, merula

Essential: bergamont, lavendar, neroli (unlisted but best guess)

Smells Like: Grandpa’s home office.

Buy Now For $70

BEARDBRAND SPICED CITRUS

Base: jojoba, grape seed, almond, castor

Essential: vanilla, clove, grapefruit

Smells Like: Mom’s kitchen after spring cleaning.

Buy Now For $25

THE BEARDED CHAP ORIGINAL

Base: jojoba, grape seed, hempseed, almond, rosehip

Essential: sandalwood, fir

Smells Like: A walk down a well-worn coastal forest path.

Buy Now For $40

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THE HTC RE CAMERA CHALLENGES THE GOPRO

Even though it looks like a periscope for a toy sub, the new RE camera from HTC is actually an action camera with its sights set on the GoPro. HTC clearly designed it to be as straightforward and simple to use so it would appeal to the widest audience. It can be operated with one hand and just one button. Simply pick it up to turn it on and it will be ready to shoot and take advantage of the wide angle f/2.8 lens. It also happens to be waterproof with the ability to record video up to 1 meter deep. The little camera has a 16MP CMOS sensor, WiFi and Bluetooth built in, and you can expand memory with a microSD card. Whether it can compete with GoPro and their new line remains to be seen, but it does have some nice little features.

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BOWMORE DEVIL'S CASKS WHISKEY

One of the most sought after whiskies of 2013 is back for another brief appearance.Bowmore Devil's Casks Whiskey caught the attention of many with its first batch and the second is just as special. It's again been matured in first fill sherry casks, giving it a unique, rich flavor. The first recorded distillery on Islay is said to only be providing 90 cases of batch 2, so keep your eyes peeled.

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Explore The Largest Steam Pipe System In The World, Hidden Beneath NYC

In its latest adventure, the New York Times’ Living City series explores the city’s enormous underground steam distribution system. Unlike anywhere in the world, New York hides away the largest steam system that powers all types of humidification sources, preserving museum art to even dishwashers in every restaurant kitchen. A total of 2000 buildings are powered by this service.

The Times video give a full survey of what makes steam so unique to NYC, as well as how it originates. The city’s system is larger than the next nine largest in the world, all put together. In order to establish an infrastructure like that, steam piping had to be laid down simultaneously with electricity. Even more intricacies are found throughout the rest the system — it’s a great watch if you have seven minutes to spare. Via [New York Times]

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The Abandoned Communist Nuclear Reactor That Could Have Killed The US

It all started back in 1976, when comrades in communism, Cuba and the Soviet Union, agreed to build two nuclear reactors near Juragua, Cuba. And if it had ever been finished, just one of these 440-megawatt reactors could have satisfied over 15 per cent of Cuba’s energy needs. As The New York Times explained when construction officially ceased, this wasn’t your everyday reactor:

The V.V.E.R. design, which was the most advanced at the time, was the first to be exported by Moscow for use in a tropical climate. It differs from the Chernobyl-style design in that the radioactive core and fuel elements are contained within a pressurised steel vessel.

Construction didn’t start until 1983, which gave Cuba 10 years to build their potential-livelihood, all thanks to the the steady flow of Soviet funds. Of course, when the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the essential funds ceased, over 300 former Soviet technicians returned to the motherland, and all construction came to a standstill — despite the fact that 40 per cent of the heavy machinery had already been installed.

Still, it wasn’t over quite yet. The whole project spent nearly a decade in limbo, until finally, in 2000, Fidel Castro told Vladamir Putin that he was done with the two countries’ former joint-dream. Now, the power plant at Juragua was officially little more than a testament to what could have been — which is a very good thing. Because as it turns out, “what could have been” basically entailed wildly dangerous conditions and potentially a whole mess of destruction.

According to a 2000 report from Manuel Cereijo at the College of Engineering at Florida International University:

The possibility of an accident occurring at Juragua, upon its operation, according to experts, is 15 times greater than the probabilities in a United States plant. According to air weather patterns around Cienfuegos, it would take only 24 hours for radioactive materials to reach Florida.

It wouldn’t just be Cuba and the US facing a fallout threat, though. All of Central America and the Caribbean could have been directly at risk of radiation in the (relatively likely) event of an accident. And even if everything had gone according to plan, Cuba still would have been faced with the problem of dealing with the inevitable nuclear waste — because as it stands, the itty bitty island of Cuba would have had no suitable place to dispose of it. In which case, off to the ocean it’d go.

During constructions, Cuba’s “solution” was to dump the waste in a sea-level patch of ocean near the plant itself. And as Cereijo’s report explains, “this would contaminate flora, fauna and the Cuban population.” So, less than ideal.

What’s more, just because the design itself may have been advanced for its day doesn’t mean the Soviets would have necessarily been able to implement it properly or, more importantly, safely. Pretty much every protection and diagnostics system in place was behind Western standards:

The reactors have poor leak-tightness of confinement. There is also an unknown quality of plant equipment and construction, due to lack of documentation on design, manufacturing and construction, and reported instances of poor quality materials being re-worked at plant sites. There are also major variations in operating and emergency procedures, operator training, and operational safety among plants using VVER-440.

In addition to being poorly built, even if there was a problem on the horizon, workers would have absolutely no idea until it was too late; Cuba had no preventative method of monitoring radioactivity levels. So if/when disaster did strike, South Florida would have less than a day before toxic materials reached its shore. And everyone within an 18-mile radius of the accident would effectively find themselves in a so-called “dead zone” — an area in which nothing could possibly survive.

Even the project’s own engineers had grave concerns about what it was they were being asked to build. In 1994, an engineer-turned-Soviet-defector essentially called the reactor a tragedy waiting to happen.According to a 1994 paper published in The Nonproliferation Review, a journal covering weapons and their environmental effects:

Defector Vladimir Cervera, a senior engineer responsible for overseeing quality control at the reactor, stated that x-ray analysis showed that the welding pipes for the cooling system were weakened by air pockets, bad soldering, and heat damage. Of the pipes that were originally approved, 15 per cent were later found to be flawed.

Another defector, Jose Oro, a senior nuclear engineer at the site, stated that the support structure of the plant contains numerous faulty seals and structural defects, and that the steam supply system has been left outdoors and uncovered since December 1990. This would have exposed the equipment to highly corrosive tropical salt air, risking critical damage.

If the Cold War hadn’t ended when it did, these frightening possibilities may very well have become a nightmarish reality.

Thankfully, though, these photos and some abandoned, absurdly faulty machinery are all that remains of Cuba’s attempt at nuclear power. And at least for now, that’s not likely to change.

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Watch drone flyers compete in a Star Wars–style race in a French forest

Please ensure you hit the subtitles button on bottom right of Youtube bar

Drones are popping up everywhere from movie sets to sports games — now a club in France is holding competitions that invoke the pod races of Phantom Menace, and wants other to follow.

Dozens of drone owners conducted a three lap circuit through trees last month in what organizers, who compared the event to the pod race in Star Wars Episode I, hope will spawn similar contests around the world.

Herve Pellarin, president of the Airgonay drone club in the French Alps, posted a video to YouTube that shows dozens of lightweight drones taking off and zipping around a forest at speeds of up to 40 miles an hour, while dodging trees and other drones.

The video, which you can see for yourself, shows the drones taking off and racing around the course, as well as the various competitors who steer the devices by means of on-drone cameras and “First Person View” goggles.

According to Pellarin, the race produced a few broken propellers but no major damage to the drones, which are even lighter than popular consumer model like the 2.2 pound Phantom 2. He predicts that drones in future race will come with small chips capable of simulating laser blasts.

It’s not quite Star Wars, but the test race in the Alps shows yet another use for consumer drones, which are already being used for everything from news gathering to movie making to search and rescue operations.

Pellarin, who is a virtual reality developer, says he hopes the YouTube video will inspire people in countries around the world to organize similar competitions, and that top competitors will come to square off in a global tournament one year from now.

As for safety and legal issues, which are bogging down drone development in the United States, Pellarin notes that people have nothing to fear since the course is clearly marked, and that the drones pose no danger to other aircraft since they are flying in the forest. He also credited the town of Argonay, France, for granting the drone racers a permit to use public land for their activities.

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Daredevils Climb A Skyscraper In Hong Kong To Hijack A Billboard

Hong Kong is one of those crazy future cities in the world where buildings kiss the sky and people are stacked on top of people and streets hide alleys which hide labyrinths which hide awesome. It’s great. It’s also great for climbing to the top of a skyscraper to hijack a billboard. These guys proved that.

This adventure-filled video (it’s a fun watch, trust me) shows them navigating the streets, exploring the city and climbing to the very top of the building right in the middle of Hong Kong (I’m not going to lie, my knees went weak a couple of times). Once they gain control of the billboard, they beam videos of themselves and ask ‘What’s Up Hong Kong?’.

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The Sistine Chapel Will Soon Be Lit Up With 7,000 Bright LEDs

Though talented with a brush, the Renaissance masters didn’t know much about art preservation. So over the years their paintings faded with exposure to sunlight. Even Michelangelo’s masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was subjected to sun damage until the Vatican sealed off its windows in the 1980s. But soon visitors will be able to experience it again in all its glory thanks to a custom-designed LED lighting system.

After the Vatican covered the windows in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s masterpiece was left in the dark. But instead of turning away the millions of visitors hoping to gaze upon the work every year, the Vatican installed a low-energy halogen lighting system that protected the painting’s pigments — at the cost of obscuring its finer details and vibrant colours. It was less than ideal, but it protected the masterpiece from further damage.

However, to ensure that art enthusiasts making the pilgrimage to the Vatican to enjoy Michelangelo’s fresco don’t have to squint and strain their eyes to see it, the Sistine Chapel will soon be firing up its new LED lighting system that was custom-designed by Osram to put the masterpiece in the best light possible.

Some 7,000 LEDs are specially calibrated with a sophisticated colour correction algorithm to illuminate the ceiling so that the fresco’s colours look as close to how Michelangelo intended them to appear, since art historians now believe he mixed and chose his colours using daylight which tends to run a bit cooler than candles or halogen bulbs.

Fittingly set to be powered up this fall to help commemorate the 450th anniversary of Michelangelo’s passing, another advantage to the LEDs are that they run cool and completely lack light from the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums, which can damage artwork. As a result the new lighting system can actually be installed inside the room, and was engineered to be slender enough to hide behind a narrow ledge running around the interior of the Sistine Chapel so as not to distract visitors from the real star of the show.

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Beautiful Long Exposure Photo Of The Lunar Eclipse Rising Over China

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is featuring this long exposure photo of the lunar eclipse rising over the city of Chongqing, China, captured by photographer Zhou Yannan on 8 October. The zooming tail effect as the Moon went out of the eclipse is fantastic.

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Watch This BASE Jumper Parachute Into A Rooftop Pool

I can’t really think of a classier way to enter a party than to BASE jump off the 365m Kuala Lumpur tower, and then land in a rooftop swimming pool — assuming, of course, that he’s got a Bond-approved tux under his skydiving outfit.

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I Wish I Could Live 200 More Years To See A Scene Like This

I like Johnson Ting’s vision of Neo Japan 2202, wherever his Neo Japan is located to have two moons (or maybe one is no moon but some space station, I don’t know.) Every time I see illustrations like this I long for immortality. Or at least a couple hundred years in good health so I can see some stuff like this.

This is not Neo Japan, but I’m a sucker for flying aircraft carriers.

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First Look At The New Guardians Of The Galaxy Animated TV Series

This is great news, just announced this Friday at New York Comic Con: Marvel is releasing a Guardians of the Galaxy animated TV series coming in 2015 on Disney XD! Check out the first sequences of how it is going to look

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The US Army's Next-Gen Combat Vehicles Are Half-Sized Warthogs

Until our soldiers ride into battle atop mechanical war wolves, they will just have to settle for packing an entire nine-man squad into the nearly unstoppable DAGOR from Polaris.

Developed by the ATV maker in conjunction with Roush Industries as part of the US military’s new Ultra Light Combat Vehicle program, the DAGOR is about the size of a four-door Jeep Wrangler but so, so much more badass. It seats nine — four in the front seats, four on the rear benches, and a roof gunner suspended from the rollbar in a sling seat — or can carry up to 1474kg of gear over as many as 800km of terrain rugged enough to make a mountain goat blush. Not bad for a truck that itself weighs just 2000kg, though the Fox off-road suspension certainly helps.

In fact, most everything about the DAGOR comes from off the shelf components, including its unnamed diesel/JP8 engine, its driveline, and controls. This has allowed Polaris to develop the DAGOR platform from drawing board to production in less than 2 years while costing less than $US150,000 per unit. That’s a steal by military procurement standards. Heck, even its name is borrowed. DAGOR doesn’t actually stand for anything; it’s not like it’s an acronym, though it does translate as Sindarin for “Battle” (as in Dagor Dagorath, the “Battle of Battles”), so that’s handy.

And since the DAGOR is specced as an Ultra Light Combat Vehicle, it can easily fit aboard a variety of military transport aircraft without heavy modifications. You can stuff one into the belly of a CH-53 Sea Stallion, you can pack a pair into a CH-47 Chinook, or even sling one from the underside of a UH-60 Black Hawk.

“DAGOR is larger than our previous offerings like the MRZR and MV850, and represents a step up in size for Polaris and in payload for our customers.” Jed Leonard, manager of Advanced Mobility Platforms and Polaris Defence, said in a press statement. “DAGOR highlights Polaris Defence’s ability to fill an urgent need, with an affordable purpose-built MILCOTS solution that can be maintained anywhere with a COTS [commercial off the shelf] supply chain.”

The DAGOR will make its official public debut at the 2014 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting, in DC next week. However, according to a report by the WSJ, the vehicle is not only already in production but has also been approved for export to an unidentified military force somewhere along the Pacific Rim (most likely South Korea).

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Why The US Navy Is So Concerned About These Russian Missiles

Some folks question why the US Navy would need such exotic weapons as the Phalanx and SeaRAM systems, or even electromagnetic rail guns. These Russian-made, radar-guided anti-ship missiles are two such reasons.

The P-270 Moskit and P-800 Oniks have caused so much consternation that the Navy has begun developing a helicopter-based electronic warfare system — the Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare (AOEW) — to defend against the threat. Both are ramjet-propelled cruise missiles, both carry 250kg to 322kg of high explosive in their warheads, and neither is one you want to see streaking towards your ship.

The P-270 Moskit was developed by the Raduga Design Bureau and first debuted in the 1970s as a sea-launched anti-ship weapon, although extensive upgrades in the subsequent decades have seen it adapted for ground, air, and even underwater launches. It measures just over 9m long and is tipped with 317kg of either high-explosive or nuclear material (equivalent to 120 kt of TNT). Its quartet of ramjet engines only provide a range of 120km though the missile can hit mach 3 during its high-altitude flight.

The P-800 Oniks is very much like the Moskit that it replaced, albeit slightly smaller, but no less terrifying. The Oniks, designed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya, entered service in the 1980s and remains so with the Russian military today. Though the Oniks is about 60cm shorter than its predecessor, only carries a 250kg warhead, and tops out at just mach 2.6, it flies twice as far and incorporates a number of technological advancements that were not available for the Moskit.

These improvements include an inertial, active-passive radar seeker head (the Moskit was strictly an active seeker) which makes the missile essentially autonomous once it’s launched; an over-the-horizon firing range (up to 300km) with the ability to skim along less than 9m above the ocean’s surface; and potentially even onboard EW countermeasures (nobody’s quite sure as it is still an active military system — state secrets and all that).

And these aren’t even the most advanced anti-ship missiles Russia makes. Just last week the nation’s military announced that it had completed testing of a new, potentially hypersonic cruise missile to surpass both the Mosfit and Oniks.

“It could be a fundamentally new missile, possibly hypersonic,” Dmitry Kornev, the chief editor of the MilitaryRussia.ru told RBTH.

“One should not forget that NPO Mashinostroyenia has been actively working in this area, and it was not too long that ago mockups of the joint Russian-Indian hypersonic rocketBrahMos-II appeared at exhibitions.”

Fact is, the international community knows virtually nothing about the new missile system and that’s the most terrifying aspect of all.

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Inside The Cockpit Of DARPA's Awesome Missile-Dodging Buggy

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne would feel at home inside DARPA’s GXV-T missile-dodging superbuggy. This video shows how the Pentagon’s research arm wants the cockpit to be: Closed, with high-definition touch screens providing wide-angle visibility and displaying combat information in augmented reality. It’s really impressive.