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

[MIKA27]

Cataclysm of the Ancients: The Day That Shook The Earth

Scholars and thinkers have long pondered over the riddles of supposed lost cities, and chiefly among them, the possibility that an advanced civilization the likes of the fabled Atlantis had once existed somewhere in the ancient world.

The distance modern man is held from ultimate realization of what the world that once existed was truly capable of, that is, among the minds and ingenuities of the ancient dwellers of this planet, is troublesome indeed. Part of the problem is that in these ancient prehistoric societies, the use of language to record their histories either did not exist, or in the event that they did, certain ancient languages may remain undeciphered. Then there are the cataclysms of the ancient world; the apocalyptic destroyers of civilizations that wiped clean the remnants of parts of this world that will never be recovered.

In more recent times, there have been similar natural phenomenon that have presented earth changing events, or those that were at least dangerously close to it. In 1908, what is believed to have been an asteroid exploded before colliding with the Earth, creating massive destruction over modern day Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The blast, known today as the Tunguska event, was said to have produced an eerie glow in the sky that could be seen as far away as Europe. A little further back in 1883, the volcanic island of Krakatoa between Java and Sumatra erupted in an explosion that could be heard as far away as Japan and Australia. The volcanic force of the eruption thrust stone and debris as high as seventeen miles into the air, and the skies within 100 miles of the Sunda Strait was darkened as though day had turned to night for a period afterward.

Neither of these incidents quite compare with one natural disaster that transpired in the ancient world, to which no other modern natural cataclysm would compare. The volcanic island of Santorin, known in ancient times as Thera, had been one among the handful of islands settled by Cretan colonists. It was located some seventy miles north of Crete, and though riddled by earthquakes, there had not been any direct indication that the volcano of Santorin was active until early in the fifteenth century, when a volcanic eruption consumed most of the island’s Cretan colonies.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the colonists had advance warning of this early disaster, likely as a result of one of the greater earthquakes that may have coincided with it. Thus, it appears the majority of the colonists had managed to escape. Furthermore, despite the numerous earthquakes and volcanic eruption that consumed their first established settlements there, the colonists–some of them, at least–appear to have returned, as evidence of new settlements above the volcanic debris were unearthed during excavations there. However, the greatest disaster was still yet to come, in a third and final act that geological evidence suggests would have literally shaken the ancient Earth.

When the largest eruption on Santorin occurred, the resulting blast was of epic proportions–estimated to have been far greater than the Krakatoa blast of 1883. Settlements on Crete’s northern coast, some seventy miles away, were destroyed by the blast.

The inferno was of such magnitude that, like Krakatoa, the core of the blast collapsed inward on itself some time afterward, producing a gulf into which the sea poured, upsetting the surrounding ocean and producing tidal waves as much as 150 feet high that further pounded Crete’s northern coast. The impressive destruction leveled a large swathe of the Cretan colonies, which archaeologists believe had been in political and cultural decline already for some time, even before the hell that spewed forth from Santorin island.

The volcanic crater between Santorin and Therasia Islands as seen today. The volcanic core protrudes near the center of the gulf between them.

In fact, radiocarbon dating from the period seems to show that there were indeed massive changes occurring on this planet that nearly coincided with the eruption at Santorin. Around the time that RC dating methods indicate that the blast took place, some variety of climactic event had occurred in the Northern Hemisphere that appeared to be linked with famine in parts of Asia, as well as dendrochronological (tree ring) data evidenced from parts of Europe, which indicate a massive climactic event that occurred in around 1628 BC.

Could this be the source of the decline that had begun prior to the destruction that followed the blast at Santorin Island? Despite the changes occurring there in the 1620s BC, technological developments that include the earliest use of running water piped into homes anywhere in Europe were discovered amidst the Cretan colonies here, including hot water that was likely heated by geothermal energies related to the volcano that would eventually consume the island’s inhabitants.

In relative terms, these kinds of advancements seen in the Cretan colonies helped them rank among some of the greatest in the ancient world. It’s easy to see why some scholars have put forth the notion that the Atlantean legends themselves might have stemmed from the advancement, and subsequent destruction, of the Cretan colonies at Santorin.

[MIKA27]

50TH ANNIVERSARY SHELBY COBRA 427

Carrol Shelby created one of the most iconic vehicles of all time with the big block Shelby Cobra 427. This year, the classic roadster turns 50 years old, and that means automotive enthusiasts will get a chance to own a piece of history with the release of the 50th Anniversary Shelby Cobra 427.

Each Cobra is built to order, and is delivered to authorized dealers as a rolling chassis, letting customers select what type of drivetrain they’d like. Option range from a 400-horsepower engine all the way up to the legendary 427 big block, a powerplant that pumps out 700 ponies. The 2-door will also be available in your choice of either an aluminum or fiberglass body, with a total of only 50 units being produced. If you’re looking to park this collectible in your garage this winter, expect to spend upwards of $250,000 for the whole kit and kaboodle. A sound investment, we’d bet this beauty will start to appreciate in value before you ever get your hands on it.

[MIKA27]

The Forgotten Plan To Save Great Art From World War 3

From a secret treasure trove below the memorial to Oliver Wendell Holmes in Washington DC to a retrofitted quarry in Wales, Europe — world governments have gone to great lengths to protect precious objects from ruin. A new trove of declassified documents shine light on a new, little-known project to do just that during the Cold War,

Paranoia and fear wracked the Western world during the Cold War, and we got a new glimpse at just how seriously the UK government took the Soviet threat during the 1980s this week, when the National Archives declassified Cold War documents that detail the plan to protect the country’s masterpieces if nuclear war broke out.

It wasn’t the first time the idea had been floated. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the British government created something called Operation Methodical to hide its greatest treasures at Manod Quarry in Wales, where art had been stored in World War II:

Art being stored at Manod quarry during WWII.

Here’s how The Guardian explained what would happen should the bomb drop:

There would be just six hours to save the nation’s art treasures. The order was to be given at midday, the troops and museum staff would be deployed and then the lorries would begin arriving. Hours later, in darkness so as not to provoke panic, the Titians and the Turners and the Tintorettos would be on their way to Welsh quarries. When the ballistic missiles incinerated British cities, they at least would survive – though there may have been no one left to view them.

Obviously, that never happened. But by the early 1980s, the possibility of nuclear war was back — and this time, it was the museums who were asking for help. The idea was to store the works in two specially-outfitted rooms in formerly top secret government facility beneath North Wales, at Rhydymwyn, where mustard gas shells had once been stored.

So what paintings made the cut? During the Cuban Missile Crisis, planning documents cited byHyperallergic included mention of the amazing 14th century painting, the Wilton Diptych:

But the list also included modern works, lime Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpiece Sunflowers, painted in 1888 and stored at the National Gallery:

As well as a 1916 Water-Lilies, by Monet, also at the National Gallery:

According to Bloomberg, it was an utterly disorganized and panicked project, and it ultimately never happened. But it’s still a glimpse into the seriousness with which Western governments took the possibility of nuclear war, and it shows just how completely unprepared anyone was to make moral decisions about what to save — more specifically, what to save instead of human lives.

Meanwhile, in America…

The UK wasn’t alone in worrying. During World War II, the American government sent groups of historians and curators to Europe to salvage and protect the remains of great works of art (George Clooney even made a movie of it).

Amazingly, there was even a secret plan to store America’s own cultural artifacts during World War II.

A researcher at the Smithsonian recently unearthed incredible evidence of a project to build a secret and gigantic “treasure strove” to store art and other treasures in DC — beneath a memorial to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes that was being built.

Congress never approved the project (at as much as $US5 million in 1941, it was probably too expensive), but it’s worth noting that the government did move many artifacts out of D.C. after the bombing at Pearl Harbour. Better safe than sorry, as Brian Daniels explains in his post:

The Library of Congress sent the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, a Gutenberg Bible, and, at the request of the British, one of the surviving copies of the Magna Carta to Fort Knox on December 26, 1941. A few days later, on January 1, 1942, the National Gallery of Art moved seventy-nine masterpieces to Biltmore House in North Carolina. The Smithsonian took some time to find a secure site, but finally found a remote hideaway in Shenandoah National Park, and began moving treasured objects like the Star Spangled Banner in late 1942.

Contemporary governments are planning for the next great conflict too: Just a few years ago, a so-called “doomsday vault” filled with hundreds of thousands of seeds was installed in the remote Arctic island of Svalbard, should a global catastrophe ever befall the world’s agricultural production. The great unknown, as with any of these projects, is whether they would do the survivors much good.

These are just a couple of examples of projects that were never built. But odds are good that there were versions of these plans that actually made it through to completion. Let’s hope we never have to use them.

[MIKA27]

Secret Nazi Weapons Facility Discovered Near Concentration Camp

Austrian filmmaker Andreas Sulzer claims to have found Hitler’s ‘largest secret weapons research facility following information contained in US intelligence reports describing a massive underground tunnel system excavated in granite near the Mathausen-Gusen concentration camp.

Sulzer has been trying to uncover this Nazi secret weapons nest for years. Using data gathered from countless documents found in German, Russian, and American archives — from aerial photographs to interrogation records — he believes that there’s no doubt that this underground complex exists. He also claims that he has evidence of the secret facility’s purpose, which he found in the letters of an Austrian physicist who wrote about how they were trying to “smash atoms” in secret bunkers near St. Georgen an der Gusen, the little Austrian town by the Mathausen-Gusen camp.

Physical evidence

The entrance to the tunnels leading to the facility were destroyed by the Allies right after World War II. Now, Sulzer and his team have been excavating in the area and claim to have found definitive physical evidence of the secret installations.

According to Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, the archeological works have been halted after Sulzer and his crew removed a six-foot-deep clay layer that covered a massive granite entrance with concrete steps. Sulzer has also uncovered a huge octagonal concrete slab, which he had previously identified in reconnaissance photographs of the area taken by the Allies. Aerial photos from May 8, 1945, no longer show the concrete shape but the patch of farm land that his team has now removed.

Talking to Austrian newspaper Der Standard, Sulzer says that analysis of the terrain indicates that the concrete slab is covering a large cavity. He thinks that this cover was used to cover a silo for testing of V-2 rockets, much like the covers used in US and Soviet missile silos.

The theory of the launch silo makes sense, as the facility may be connected with tunnels to another known underground site near this one, the B8 Bergkristall — a 50,000-square-meter (540,000-square-feet) factory built and manned by prisoners of the Gusen II camp in 1944. This installation was used by the Germans to make the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter (they were able to produce 1,250 planes per month) as well as V-2 rockets. Having a launch test site near B8 Bergkristall is logical.

Sulzer believes that the Nazis were using the secret underground site near B8 Bergkristall to research bacteriological, chemical, and radioactive warheads to equip V-2 rockets.

Tunnel in the B8 Bergkristall facility

Aside from these constructions, Sulzer has found several Nazi objects on the site, including this Waffen SS helmet

It seems that there may be something hiding behind these buried structures, but we will have to wait to see if it’s really the largest secret weapons research center of the Third Reich. For now, the Austrian authorities have halted Sulzer’s works and put the site under their protection, claiming that he doesn’t have the permits to conduct this dig.

[MIKA27]

Doctors Used To Harvest Penicillin From Urine

Despite all the wonderful advancements in medical science, humanity does forget about a clever technique from time to time. Case in point: we used to recycle non-processed penicillin from patient’s urine and now we don’t anymore.

The story, as recently retold by Discover Magazine, is a classic case of wartime frugality. After the “magic bullet” effects of penicillin became well-known in the US in 1942, during WWII, demand for the drug became widespread. However, owing to the pesky need to build bombs and planes and the like, not enough was being manufactured to give every patient the full course of treatment.

But, as doctors soon discovered, between 40 and 99 per cent of penicillin injected into patients isn’t processed and comes out in their urine. You can see where this is going: the resource-strapped doctors took to harvesting unused penicillin from patients’ pee and re-injecting it.

Of course, as war ended and we got better at making (and injecting) penicillin, doctors simply manufactured enough, and stopped with the whole Bear Grylls impression. But as Smithsonian points out, taking up the practice again might not only be more efficient, but more friendly to the ecosystem, as fewer chemicals end up in rivers. For the time being, though, drinking your own piss whilst on antibiotics is still not advised

[MIKA27]

Archaeologists Discover Mythical Tomb Of The God Of The Dead In Egypt

A reproduction of the mythical Tomb of Osiris as described by Egyptian lore has been discovered in the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, on the West Bank at Thebes, Egypt. The complex includes a shaft that connects to multiple chambers, including one with demons holding knives.

The tomb — which was built following the descriptions of the Tomb of Osiris, like the Osireion in Abydos, one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt — is centred around a statue of the god of the afterlife, Osiris. The emerald skinned deity is sitting in a central vaulted chapel facing a staircase with a 29.5-foot (9-meter) shaft in it. The shaft (in the centre in the diagram below) connects to another room with a second shaft that goes down for 6m into two rooms.

Drawing of the tomb’s architecture made by Raffaella Carrera, of the Min Project.

The funerary room with the reliefs of demons holding knives is located west of the central chapel (on the left in the picture above.) It’s connected to a 7m shaft right in front to another empty room. At the bottom of the same shaft there are two rooms full of debris.

Talking to the Spanish news agency EFE, the leader of the Spanish-Italian team that has uncovered the tomb, Dr. María Milagros Álvarez Sosa, said these demons are there to protect the body of the deceased. According to Alvarez Sosa, it’s a tomb of “great importance”:

It’s a unique tomb in the Necropolis of Thebes because it embodies all the features of the mythological Tomb of Osiris.

The main chamber. You can see the statue of Osiris at the back, with the stairs and central shaft going down.

The entrance of the main structure of the tomb.

The tomb was initially catalogued by Philippe Virey in 1887. Later in the 20th century there were some attempts to draw a plan of the main structure. Tomb Kampp -327- however (marked in red in the plan below) was never described and published. Álvarez told EFE that her team will start revealing the chambers during the next archaeological campaign, in the spring of 2015.

Included for reference, from left to right: Osiris, Anubis — protector of graves — and Horus — god of the sun, war and protection.

[MIKA27]

A Russian Company Wants To Build A Base On The Moon

A private Russian company has announced that it is capable of constructing a new exploration base on the moon, which will cost in the region of $US9.3 billion.

Lin Industrial has designed the new lunar base, which would be built close to Malapert Mountain near the moon’s south pole, so that it can be constructed in two stages. In the first instance, the base would house just two crew, but it would then be followed by an extension to increase that number to four.

Current plans suggest that a total of 37 rocket launches would be required to construct the base, including 13 heavy carrier launches. It’s said that initial shipping and construction would take five years, and the base would be complete within ten.

It’s unclear whether the plan has secure funding, or what the schedule for the project might be. But given other moon-based projects are also in the offing, this could signify a renewed interest in exploring our nearest stellar neighbour. [Sputnik]

[MIKA27]

Italy: Rome police 'call in sick' on New Year's Eve

Party time: About 600,000 people saw in the New Year on the streets of Rome, but there weren't many police around

More than three-quarters of the local police officers due to work on New Year's Eve in Rome called in sick, it's been reported.

Of about 1,000 police officers who had been available to work, 83.5% were absent on the night, La Repubblica website reports. An estimated 600,000 people took to the streets of the Italian capital to welcome in the New Year, and the mayor's office says in the end everything went off without a hitch. But Italian officials have slammed the absence figures, with cabinet minister Marianna Madia tweeting that disciplinary action could be taken against those involved. Rome's police commander was equally damning, describing the absences as "absolutely unjustified". "I can only condemn the attitude of those who have tried to sabotage the New Year festivities," says Cdr Raffaele Clemente, adding that the action had "put at risk people's safety but also the good name of the entire local police force and the city of Rome."

The police have been at loggerheads with the city government for months over new rules on working practices and pay, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano. Italian media are reporting that they're now preparing to strike, with Francesco Croce of Italy's UIL union saying there will be a "crescendo of protests" in the capital. Rome also saw trouble on the metro on New Year's Eve, where delays were put down to there only being seven drivers available, when 24 were needed to run the line.

[MIKA27]

Russia: Fashion label uses Putin's face

A fashion label is hoping to appeal to fans of Vladimir Putin by selling rings and clothing featuring the Russian president's face, it's been reported.

The Moscow-based brand is called Putinversteher - a German word meaning a Putin sympathiser - and its first product is a silver ring topped with the president's head, the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports. Designer Gleb Krainik says he wants the label to become popular outside Russia, and that a German name was chosen in order to "engage people in a dialogue". "It let's them see a new perspective, and a certain ideology," he says. Mr Krainik has a history of pro-Kremlin activities, having previously worked for government-backed youth organisations, according to the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung. He sees the fashion range as part of a worldwide "information war" in which Russia and especially Putin are often depicted in a bad light, it says. "The aim is to make it easier for the world to understand Russia," he tells the paper.

One hundred of the silver rings were made initially, all of which have been sold. One of them now adorns the hand of Sergei Maksimov, who tells Deutsche Welle that Mr Putin is his role model, and he wears the ring day and night. "I'd love to be just like Vladimir Putin," he says. "I admire him as a person, he's very manly and strong."

[MIKA27]

Neill Blomkamp's Alien That Never Was Is Terrifying

The District 9 director’s concept art for Alien captures the right spirit, but would he make the right film?

The story of Alien is one of diminishing returns. Effectively, it all went downhill from Alien 3, and has never really returned there, and I’m aware that’s an opinion that some would hold was true all the way back to Aliens.

Last night, District 9 and Elysium director Blomkamp fired off a round of concept art on his Instagram account. The first image was of a pissed off Xenomorph Queen and had this caption: "Was working on this. Don't think I am anymore. Love it though. #alien #xenomorph." Then he continued to upload a whole lotta beautiful Alien-inspired work onto his account, commenting, "Woulda rocked. Was a mental stroll into the world Ridley Scott created." The idea looks like it took place inside Weyland-Yutani headquarters, which was currently housing the derelict spaceship, and somehow a mangled Hicks reappears (which is a great idea). Ripley can also be seen donning the Space Jockey helmet, and (of course) there's a screaming Queen Xenomorph. It looks great.

The art seems more like Blomkamp's personal pitch for an Alien film, and not something a studio pulled from him. Blomkamp even told one Instagram commenter, "Fox never said no." What could that mean? Did Blomkamp ever actually pitch this to Fox?

An unverified Blomkamp Twitter account fleshed out the backstory a little stating that "they [presumably Fox] didn't really even know I was working on it.

So perhaps this was just a fun thing that Blomkamp had been tinkering with for awhile. Honestly, this could all just be really fantastic fan art. That being said, I can completely imagine Fox ignoring this pitch in favor of fanning Ridley Scott's current detour for the Alien franchise into Prometheus world. Because, well, they kind of made that bed and now they have to lay in it.

But how wondrous would it be if a movie that was actually embedded into actual world of this franchise was made? Please make this movie!

[Hunter1974]

THE BULL BALLS BEER:

It's the beer that prompts the question − has craft brewing gone too far?

Yes, a brewery in Colorado will have a beer made with bull testicles on tap this month.

Wynkoop Brewing Company's Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout began as an April Fool's joke, but attracted so much interest from ale afficianado's that a real product was created.

The beer contains 11.5 kilograms of bull testicles that have been sliced and roasted before being added to the brewery's traditional recipe.

Wynkoop hopes people will "go nuts for it".

MIKA: What cigar would you pair this one with....?

The Beer With balls! LMAO

[MIKA27]

The Beer With balls! LMAO

WOW, that was one of my original posts!!

I'm still waiting for someone to come forward and advise if they have tried this.

[cooper669]

I pretty much only have 2 rules:

1. No fruit on my pizza(pineapple)

2. No balls in my beer

[Hunter1974]

WOW, that was one of my original posts!!

I'm still waiting for someone to come forward and advise if they have tried this.

If I did i wouldnt tell! lol

[MIKA27]

Garmin Upgrades From Activity Trackers to a Full-On Smartwatch

Garmin has been doing wearables since wearables were just called “watches.” But nowadays, we demand more from our wrist-worn computers than just telling the time, downloading golf courses, or even just having built-in GPS.

So building on its general purpose activity trackers, the Vivofit and Vivosmart, the company is adding a smartwatch to its lineup called the Vivoactive. Vivoactive is designed for fitness-minded people who also want glance-able smartphone notifications on their wrist and an always-on watch face. It’s GPS enabled and can track activities like cycling, running, swimming, or golf, but not with as much fine-tuned data tracking as something like the Forerunner 920XT. You can, however, download third party apps, watch faces, and widgets through Garmin’s Connect IQ platform, like a smart calendar app from Tempo.

The form factor is pleasantly thin compared to other chunkier smartwatches, and you can dress it up or down with different watchbands. It has a full color touchscreen display that lets you check your notifications, the calendar, the weather, and to perform activity tracking. In GPS mode, it gets 10 hours of battery life; in watch mode, up to three weeks. The Vivoactive goes on sale in the first quarter of this year for $250, or $300 with an included heart rate monitor.

For those who like their activities off the beaten path, Garmin is also updating its rugged Fenix multisport GPS watch. The new Fenix 3 tracks activities like alpine skiing, climbing, hiking, and trail running, and is water resistant up to 100 meters. It also has internal and external temperature sensors, which are especially useful for mountain climbers keeping tabs on safe ice conditions, and GLONASS satellite positioning, so you don’t get lost backpacking in the wilderness. Like the Vivoactive, you can customize it with third party apps, and get your smartphone notifications onboard.

It comes in gray or silver for $500 in Q1, $550 if you want a heart rate strap bundled in too, or you can upgrade to a scratch-resistant Sapphire model for $600.

[MIKA27]

Nazi Super Cows Become Killer Cattle

Recent stories about the builders of Stonehenge have made mention of the fact that bones found at the site are from aurochs, a breed of giant cows that roamed England and the rest of Europe until they were hunted to extinction, with the last one dying in Poland in 1627. Scientists in Nazi Germany attempted to bring the aurochs back and a farmer in England with a herd of them claims some that he owns have become killers.

While they’re the ancestors of today’s relatively passive domestic cattle, the aurochs were big (averaging a ton with some weighing up to 3,300 pounds), wild and fierce, making them appealing to Adolf Hitler as symbols of Aryan power. He ordered geneticist brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck to breed them back into existence. The Hecks selected breeds they believed to be direct descendents of the aurochs – including Hungarian Greys, Highlands, Corsicans and Spanish fighting bulls – and cross-bred them until they created a strain that matched the aurochs in looks, including the long and dangerous horns, but were slightly smaller in size.

Julius Caesar described aurochs as being “a little below the elephant in size.”

These so-called Heck cattle were controversial symbols of Nazi genetic experimentation and nearly met the same demise as their alleged ancestral aurochs at the end of World War II, but a few were saved and there are now about 2,000 head in Europe. Six of them belong to Derek Gow of Devon, who imported 13 in 2009 and eventually had 20 but recently culled most of his herd because some became what he described as “killers.”

The ones we had to get rid of would just attack you any chance they could. They would try to kill anyone … They are by far and away the most aggressive animals I have ever worked with. Some were perfectly calm and quiet and they are the ones we have kept. The others you could not go near … To get them into the trailer to get them off the farm we used a young and very athletic young man to stand on the ramp and they charged at him before he quickly jumped out the way.

The killer Heck cows were sent to a butcher and Gow claims the rest are docile and harmless. Where have we heard that about Nazis before?

[MIKA27]

U.S. Drone Fleet at ‘Breaking Point,’ Air Force Says

Too many missions and too few pilots are threatening the ‘readiness and combat capability’ of America’s unmanned Air Force, according to an internal memo.

The U.S. Air Force’s fleet of drones is being strained to the “breaking point,” according to senior military officials and an internal service memo acquired by The Daily Beast. And it’s happening right when the unmanned aircraft are most needed to fight ISIS.

The Air Force has enough MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones. It just doesn’t have the manpower to operate those machines. The Air Force’s situation is so dire that Air Combat Command (ACC), which trains and equips the service’s combat forces, is balking at filling the Pentagon’s ever increasing demands for more drone flights.

“ACC believes we are about to see a perfect storm of increased COCOM [Combatant Commander] demand, accession reductions, and outflow increases that will damage the readiness and combat capability of the MQ-1/9 enterprise for years to come,” reads an internal Air Force memo from ACC commander Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, addressed to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh. “I am extremely concerned.”

“ACC will continue to non-concur to increased tasking beyond our FY15 [fiscal year 2015] force offering and respectfully requests your support in ensuring the combat viability of the MQ-1/9 platform,” Carlisle added.

In other words, the Air Force is saying that its drone force has been stretched to its limits. “It’s at the breaking point, and has been for a long time,” a senior service official told The Daily Beast. “What’s different now is that the band-aid fixes are no longer working.”

In the internal memo, Carlisle noted that the Air Force’s current manning problem is so acute that the service will have to beg the Pentagon to reconsider its demand for 65 drone combat air patrols, or CAPs, as early as April 2015. (Each CAP, also known as an “orbit,” consists on four aircraft.)

But senior military leaders in the Pentagon have been pushing back hard against any reduction in the number of drone orbits, particularly as demand has surged in recent months over Iraq and Syria because of the war against ISIS. In fact, the Pentagon is so fervent in its demand for more Predator and Reaper patrols that the top military brass made an end run to bypass regular channels to increase the number of drone orbits, the ACC alleges.

“The reduced offering of 62 CAPs (plus a 60-day Global Response Force) has been submitted to the Joint Staff; however, the Joint Staff has indicated their desire to circumvent normal processes while proposing their own offering of 65 MQ-1/9 CAPs,” Carlisle wrote. “This simply is not an option for ACC to source indeterminately.”

Carlisle writes that the Air Force would want a crew ratio of 10 to one for each drone orbit during normal everyday operations. During an emergency that ratio could be allowed to drop to 8.5 people per orbit. However, the Air Force is so strapped for people that the ratio has dropped below even that reduced level.

“ACC squadrons are currently executing steady-state, day-to-day operations (65 CAPs) at less than an 8:1 crew-to-CAP ratio. This directly violates our red line for RPA [remotely pilot aircraft] manning and combat operations,” Carlisle wrote. “The ever-present demand has resulted in increased launch and recovery taskings and increased overhead for LNO [liaison officer] support.”

The Air Force has been forced to raid its schools for drone operators to man the operational squadrons that are flying combat missions over places like Iraq and Syria. As a result, training squadrons—called Formal Training Units (FTU)—are being staffed with less than half the people they need. Even the Air Force’s elite Weapons School—the service’s much more extensive and in-depth version of the Navy’s famous Top Gun school—course for drone pilots was suspended in an effort to train new rookie operators.

Overworked drone crews have had their leaves canceled and suffered damage to their careers because they could not attend required professional military education courses.

The result is that drone operators are leaving the Air Force in droves. “Pilot production has been decimated to match the steady demand placed upon the RPA community by keeping ‘all hands’ in the fight,” Carlisle wrote. “Long-term effects of this continued OPSTEMPO are manifested in declining retention among MQ-1/9 pilots, FTU manning at less than 50%, and enterprise-wide pilot manning hovering at about 84%.”

The Air Force has about seven pilots for every eight drone pilot slots, in other words.

But it takes more than just pilots to operate the drone fleet. In addition to the pilots who “fly” the MQ-1s and MQ-9s, there are sensor operators who work the cameras and other intelligence-gathering hardware onboard the unmanned aircraft. Further, there are maintenance crews who have to fix those drones. Perhaps most crucially, drones require hundreds of intelligence analysts who have to comb through thousands of hours of video surveillance footage to understand what the flight crews are watching.

“Some have looked at this as a problem with just RPA pilots and the number of them required for these CAPs, but that ignores the tail required for supporting RPA operations,” a senior Air Force official said. “This tail requires hundreds of man-hours to support every hour of flight in forward operations, maintenance, and most starkly in the processing, exploitation, and dissemination of the intelligence that RPAs create.”

The problem for Carlisle and the Air Force is that even as the demand increases on the drone fleet, fewer new troops enter the ranks while more and more veteran operators vote with their feet.

MIKA: I loved playing HAWX on XBOX, I'd love to be a drone Pilot!!

[MIKA27]

LOGITECH UE MEGABOOM BLUETOOTH SPEAKER

The UE Boom has long been hailed as the best portable Bluetooth speaker on the market, but times are changing. Ultimate Ears (subsidiary of Logitech) went back to the drawing board, and came up with a bigger, badder version of the beloved Bluetooth speaker in the UE Megaboom.

UE’s latest offering looks like a super-sized version of the original Boom, and that’s because it is. It looks nearly identical to the original speaker, but has seen in an increase in both size and performance. The rugged Bluetooth speaker features a 20-hour rechargeable battery that charges using a standard USB cable, is completely waterproof (one meter of water for up to 30 minutes), and features the same 360-degree sound output the Boom was known for. Users can listen to the speaker on its own, or paired with another Megaboom/Boom through the companion app on both iOS and Android powered devices. It may be larger than the Boom, but at 1.9 pounds, the UE Megaboom speaker is still quite portable. Expect to spend $300 for this bad boy.[Purchase]

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JACK WIRELESS GUITAR CABLE

Guitar players, you’re about to know Jack, and your jam sessions may never be the same. The Jack: Wireless Guitar Cable streams your strums via Wi-Fi, so every chord you connect on is captured in 24-bit, uncompressed studio quality audio to your device. No cables to deal with, no finicky hardware to fuss with, and the rechargeable battery means no hunting for outlets.

All you do is plug Jack into your guitar, amp or pedal and that’s it, you’re ready to rock. Once Jack is connected to your PC, tablet or phone, you can then access a host of editing and recording software programs and smooth out that rough patch or two. And it should be noted that Jack isn’t just for guitars, as it’s compatible with all 1/4 inch sockets. Watch the video below. [Purchase]

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THE SNOW CRAWLER PROTECTS YOU FROM THE ELEMENTS

Just because we enjoy creating some tracks in the snow doesn’t mean we enjoy getting battered by the elements. Whereas traditional snowmobiles and sleds leave the rider exposed to the wind and sleet, the Snow Crawler lets the person piloting it cruise around untouched by Mother Nature. The all-terrain concept vehicle has an enclosed space for one person to drive it around. The electric drive ride was designed to make easy work of snowy slopes and slick turns. Designed by Michal Bonikowski, the Snow Crawler looks like the winter toy from the future, and we hope we can toss one in our garage one day.

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LACIE MIRROR HARD DRIVE

Using a laptop as your main computer commonly brings with it a crucial drawback: the need to haul an external drive around with it. Make sure it looks as good as possible with the Lacie Mirror Hard Drive. Designed by Parisian talent Pauline Deltour, this 1TB drive is encased in mirrored Gorilla Glass 3, and includes a handsome Makassar ebony wood stand and soft carrying case. And since it's powered over the USB 3.0 connection, you'll get fast data access without the need to bring along yet another power brick.

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Great Blue Hole off Belize yields new clues to fall of Mayan civilisation

Research supports theory that drought and climate conditions reduced Mayans from a regional power to survivors abandoning cities to virtual extinction

A massive underwater sinkhole surrounded by reefs, caves and sharks has provided archaeologists with clues in the mystery of the fall of the Mayan civilization, according to new research.

Scientists from Rice University and Louisiana State University found evidence in Belize’s Great Blue Hole, a 400ft-deep cave in a barrier reef, that supports the theory that drought and climate conditions pushed the Mayans from a regional power to a smattering of rival survivors and finally a virtually lost civilization.

The researchers took sediment samples from both the ancient sinkhole and the central Belize lagoon corresponding to the era of the Mayan decline, between 800 and1000 AD. In those samples they tested the ratio of aluminum and titanium – a sign of heavy rainfall from tropical cyclones pounding the element out of the rock and into the sea. Their study on the lagoon, which has yet to be published, complements one published last year in Scientific Reports on the Hole, and found relatively little titanium, meaning there had been fewer tropical cyclones and longer droughts than normal during those two centuries.

Evidence of droughts as a factor in Mayan civilization’s long decline has been growing for years, including stalagmite evidence found in 2012, but the Great Blue Hole is better aligned with the path of storm systems passing over the ancient Mayan capital city of Tikal. The Yucatan peninsula lacks natural water resources, so the Mayans relied on rainfall that accumulated in limestone sinkholes – natural sinkholes called cenotes (sometimes also used for religious rituals) and manmade cisterns called chultunes. Several prolonged periods of drought, like those the evidence suggests, could have quickly drained the Mayans’ stores of potable water.

Famine, unrest and war are natural consequences of a water crisis – the Mayans farmed on difficult soil and lived in a fractious, combative culture. By 900 AD any Mayan cities had been abandoned; a second period of droughts may have tipped the scales for other cities, as dirty water spread disease, dry weather killed crops and rival groups fought and fled in search of resources.

Scientists have been puzzled for decades by the question of why the Mayans abandoned their cities and apparently forsook a civilization that gave them a script, elaborate art and architecture, sport, agriculture, trade and a three-tiered concept of time. Scientists have suggested war, climate, disease and politics as possible causes. Supporters of the drought hypothesis sometimes argue that it can assimilate many factors into a larger theory of systemic collapse.

Mayan ruins at Tulum in Quintana Roo, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

The major city of Chichen Itza, along the coast of the peninsula, thrived for about a century after 1000AD, almost certainly taking in Mayans who arrived from the arid south to build a revised iteration of Mayan culture in the north. Then, the Blue Hole research shows, a second period of droughts drained the peninsula, coinciding with the estimated time that Chichen Itza also quickly declined. Mayans did however continue to live there, albeit in smaller numbers, surviving the fall of their civilization, the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors and the changes of the centuries until the present day.

Climate change and drought have been cited as likely causes in the decline of other civilizations. Yale archaeologist Harvey Weiss and University of Massachusetts climatologist Raymond Bradley argue that massive droughts changed history in the Middle East, devastating the Akkadian empire and Egypt’s Old Kingdom around 2200 BC; that sometime after 500 AD drought and floods forced Peru’s Moche civilization north; and that almost a thousand years later similar problems caused the Anazasi to abandon their cities in the North American south-west.

[MIKA27]

Watch Kevin Spacey Perform 'Piano Man' With Billy Joel

Billy Joel was honored with the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in a star-studded celebration that aired Friday night on PBS, and among the tribute's many highlights was host Kevin Spacey accompanying Joel on "Piano Man," with the House of Cards actor showing off his impressive harmonica skills. Spacey also handled the song's opening verses during the all-star finale.

Joel himself performed four songs at his tribute show, which took place November 19th at Washington D.C.'s DAR Hall. Joel's short set featured hits "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Down on Broadway)," "Vienna," "You May Be Right" and "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)."

Other artists on hand to honor Joel were John Mellencamp, who performed an acoustic rendition of "Allentown," Josh Groban ("She's Always a Women"), LeAnn Rimes, Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines, Boyz II Men ("The Longest Time"), Gavin DeGraw, the Twyla Tharp dancers (some numbers from the Movin' Out Broadway show) and Tony Bennett, who delivered a resounding version of "New York State of Mind."

"The great composer, George Gershwin, has been a personal inspiration to me throughout my career," Joel previously said in a statement. "And the Library’s decision to include me among those songwriters who have been past recipients is a milestone for me." Past recipients of the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize include inaugural awardee Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon and the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

MIKA: A true Legend, Billy Joel - A treasure to music IMO

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Jeff Wadlow completes Masters Of The Universe script

Work seems to be moving forward on the Masters Of The Universe remake, with Jeff Wadlow having completed work on a first draft of the script.

An image of the script itself was tweeted by Columbia Pictures Senior Vice President DeVon Franklin, stoking much online excitement that a new version of the classic fantasy will soon be on the way.

It is widely expected that Wadlow will go on to direct the film, should the studio give his script the green light, although nothing has been officially confirmed on that front as yet.

Wadlow is also sitting on a completed script for an X-Force movie, although whether or not Fox is planning to move forwards with that arm of its X-Men franchise remains to be seen.

In any case, it certainly seems as though Columbia is serious about Masters Of The Universe, whoever ends up filling the director’s chair. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that the power of Greyskull will push it over the line…

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Sylvester Stallone is making Rambo 5

Sylvester Stallone has been discussing a number of forthcoming projects on his slate, and has revealed that he will be making a fifth Rambo film.

Stallone confirmed via Twitter that his next project would be Rocky spin-off, Creed, which will follow the grandson of Apollo Creed, an aspiring boxer being mentored by none other than Rocky Balboa.

Stallone then announced that Creed would be followed by Last Blood: Rambo, the fifth film in the popular franchise that kicked off with First Blood back in 1982.

Stallone didn’t disclose any further details about the project, so we don’t know whether he will be directing and starring, or indeed where the plot will take our musclebound hero this time.

Given how the rest of the franchise has played out, we’d imagine killing people will remain a central theme. The last film included 247 on-screen fatalities. Something to aim for there…