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

[MIKA27]

You Can Probably Skip Amazon’s New TV Pilots—Except for One

Today Amazon is releasing its first wave of pilots for 2015. It’s an interesting assortment of projects from people as prominent as Ridley Scott and Shieldproducer Shawn Ryan. However, this time around “interesting” doesn’t necessarily translate into “good”—in fact, there’s only really one pilot that’s must-see viewing:The Man in the High Castle.

As with Amazon’s previous endeavors into original content, this latest batch of pilots is being delivered via Amazon Instant Video en masse so that people can tell the company which show ought to get a full season. And while the new crop boasts a Civil War drama from Carlton Cuse (Point of Honor) and comedies starringBreaking Bad and 30 Rock alums (Cocked and Salem Rogers, respectively), The Man in the High Castle is the one most poised to be this year’s (now Golden Globe-winning) Transparent.

The Man in the High Castle, adapted from the Philip K. **** novel of same name and executive produced by Scott, goes back to 1962 to see what America would look like had the Allies lost World War II. In this alternate universe the United States has been split three ways: the Nazi-controlled east coast, renamed the Greater Reich, the Japanese “Pacific States” on the west coast, and the “neutral zone” in the center of the country.

Written by X-Files veteran Frank Spotnitz and directed by Heroes’ David Semel,The Man in the High Castle manages to evoke a suitably unsettling tone while also introducing a large cast of characters in a way that, while not perfect, makes it easy to follow their storylines and make the last-minute cliffhanger have suitable weight. (Don’t worry, that’s not spoiling anything.) It’s so good you might even forgive Scott for Exodus: Gods and Kings.

The show succeeds not only through the strength of its high concept, but also through its execution of it. It’s the kind of show that’s just familiar enough—World War II-themed dramas are hardly rare—that it’s easy to get into, but also a unique enough so as not to feel trite or old hat. Even if you have seen nearly every “America in the 1960s” show out there, along with every take on WWII, The Man in the High Castle is a compelling enough—and character-rich enough—alternate version of that time to make you want to see where this thing is going.

There are problems—there’s some dodgy CGI in the opening sequence that pulls you into the uncanny valley just as the show is trying to introduce Nazi New York for the first time—but there’s also an integrity and understated quality that reads like confidence, like this show knows what it is. It’s an assured stride compared to Amazon’s other pilots, which feel desperate for love or attention at times.

Moreover, of those seven new shows The Man in the High Castle is the one most easily imaginable as an actual series, the only one where you want the next episode immediately after finishing the pilot. To put a finer point on it, it’s the only one you’re instantly ready to binge-watch. When you’re talking about shows designed for Amazon’s platform, that feels like an important distinction to make. If Amazon wants to find something to stand alongside Transparent, or to possibly be itsHouse of Cards, this is the show to push forward.

[MIKA27]

Belgium: We Foiled Terrorist Attack

At least two people were killed Thursday in Verviers, Belgium, when police raided an apartment used by suspected Islamist radicals. Two unidentified people were killed, a third injured, and several others arrested. No police or members of the public were harmed. One injured gunman is reportedly a Chechen who is “active on the terrorist scene,” according to police sources cited on Belgian radio. Separately, a Belgian arms dealer suspected of supplying the weapons used in a French supermarket siege was detained, but police have made no connections to last week’s deadly attacks in Paris that left 17 dead.

Eric Van der Sypt, a spokesman for the office of the Belgian federal prosecutor, confirmed two people had been killed and one person was in custody. “The suspects immediately and for several minutes opened fire with military weaponry and handguns on the special units of the federal police before they were neutralized,” he said. “These were extremely well-armed men.”

Also Thursday, witnesses told RTBF a man shouting “religious slogans” in Arabic and French, armed with a handgun, entered the metro station Ribaucourt in Molenbeek. The suspect is believed to be at large. No one was reportedly injured.

The counterterrorism operation began two weeks ago, when police tapped the suspects' homes and cars, according to RTBF. Authorities concluded that a major attack was on the horizon, and the target was believed to be police buildings, officials said.

[MIKA27]

Feature your face in a forensics-inspired game

If you've ever wanted to feature your face in a game -- and a vintage style crime game at that -- now might just be your chance. Collaborating with the Wellcome Trust, 4PM Games is set to launch detective mystery game Criminel, and the Trust is offering one winner the opportunity to feature inside the game as a 3D computer-generated character and witness.

This science-inspired game linked to a new exhibition entitled "Forensics: the Anatomy of Crime", set to open at the Wellcome Trust in February. Set in twentieth century Paris, players must don a vintage detective's outlook and rely on early forensic techniques to solve a series of murder mysteries.

On its Tumblr page, 4PM Games state that it's splitting the game into a "real" world state, where they'll be investigating murders; and a "dream" state, where the player and main character will be connecting up the clues behind the murders.

In keeping with the spirit of the exhibition, for Criminel, the developers used photogrammetry, which is the science of making measurements from photography. The developers take a series of photographs around an individual's face, and use them to measure and fabricate a 3D computer generated head.

"Games are able to bring a whole new perspective to the subject," says Iain Dodgeon, Creative Partnerships Manager at the Wellcome Trust. "The Wellcome Collection forensics exhibition brilliantly explores the gruesome history of a discipline we are most familiar with through television."

"Playing Criminel lets you experience a key part of the it's evolution first hand," he continues.

Commenting that they're adding something different to app store, founder of 4PM Bojan Brbora said: "we'd like to think we're going where other developers fear to tread with this title."

In recent years, games have been increasingly incorporated into museum spaces as interactive tools, which encourage public engagement and interest.

"Sometimes not as many people can get to a site specific exhibit, but they can be involved in a game," says Wellcome Trust spokeswoman, Emily Philippou, to WIRED.co.uk. "This game isn't supposed to be a didactic teaching tool -- it's another way of playing and exploring [ideas]."

[MIKA27]

Hey Americans, You Can Vacation in Cuba Now

WASHINGTON (AP) — Swiftly expanding trade ties with Cuba, the Obama administration opened the door to easier travel and a wide range of new export opportunities with the communist island starting Friday, punching the biggest hole to date in America’s half-century-old embargo.

Less than a month after the Cold War foes agreed to end their enmity, the Commerce and Treasury departments unveiled new rules Thursday permitting U.S. citizens to visit Cuba without special permits.

Most U.S. travelers still will be required to go on supervised group trips, but now virtually any U.S. company or organization can offer such trips without the paperwork and inspections that discouraged past expansion of travel to Cuba. Some tour operators, already seeing unprecedented interest in legal travel to Cuba, expect some tourists to simply ignore the restrictions.

American companies also now will be permitted to export telephones, computers and Internet technology, and to send supplies to private Cuban firms. However, Cuban authorities have said nothing about the restrictions they might impose on U.S. products entering a country that has long frustrated foreign investors with red tape and tapped-out infrastructure.

The changes are the latest step in President Barack Obama’s plan to rebuild relations with Cuba after a history marred by suspicion, espionage and conflict. The new regulations come three days after U.S. officials confirmed the release of 53 political prisoners Cuba had promised to free.

The U.S. is now “one step closer to replacing out-of-date policies,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Thursday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the new rules “immediately enable the American people to provide more resources to empower the Cuban population to become less dependent upon the state-driven economy.”

They also allow U.S. citizens to start bringing home small amounts of Cuban cigars, long adored by aficionados but banned under U.S. law. The limit is $100 for alcohol and tobacco products and $400 in total goods.

Only Congress can fully end the 54-year embargo. Obama announced last month he would soften the restrictions, arguing that “these 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked.” The new spirit of cooperation emerged after 18 months of secret talks that culminated in the exchange of imprisoned spies and the release of Alan Gross, a U.S. government contractor who had been imprisoned in Cuba for five years.

The few U.S. companies facilitating travel to Cuba say inquiries have exploded since December and American visits are expected to surge this year from about 90,000 annually. “We’re hiring more people. We’ve secured more hotel rooms and assets in Cuba to provide additional travel,” said Tom Popper, president of New York-based insightCuba.

Hotels in Havana and elsewhere generally fall short of international standards, and those with better food and service are almost always fully booked during the winter high season. So the tourism surge could be challenging.

“American tourists are really demanding,” said Maikel Gonzalez, a 34-year-old hotel receptionist in Havana.

“How do I explain to one that the taxi didn’t come because it doesn’t have tires or that there’s no water in the rooms?”

Cubans also can legally rent out their homes or apartments, which could mean money outside of state control going to private citizens — something American officials say they want.

Most of the other possible changes now depend on Cuban President Raul Castro’s government.

U.S. officials say American companies will have to weigh for themselves the risks of their exports colliding with Cuban bans.

Profitability is another issue. Foreign companies operating in Cuba currently deal almost entirely with state-owned firms that are notoriously slow, inefficient and short on cash.

Also casting a shadow on potential deals is the possibility of litigation by Cuban-Americans and U.S. firms whose property was confiscated in Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Some may sue companies entering into business with the Cuban government. In Washington, Congress may also seek to erect barriers to new investment.

The sudden rapprochement between Cold War foes has divided U.S. lawmakers. Republican Marco Rubio of Florida and Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey, both Cuban-Americans, have been particularly opposed.

But some business groups have welcomed the opportunity to open a new export market in a country 90 miles from Florida. Thomas Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday it was better for the U.S. to sell computers, smartphones and cars to Cuba than to cede such business to countries like Russia and China.

Cuba is already awash in American products brought in people’s luggage, including iPhones and flat-screen TVs. The main barriers to Internet access are high prices and restrictions imposed by a government desperate for hard currency and worried about allowing citizens unrestricted communications. It’s unclear if Cuba’s government has grown more comfortable providing such access.

Cuban officials are keen on greater travel by American tourists and the hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans who currently visit the island each year under a general license.

American officials stress that a general travel prohibition for Americans remains in force. Travelers must certify compliance with U.S. laws with airlines in advance, officials say, and investigators can demand to see records and documents up to five years after a trip is made. Infractions can incur penalties.

But the 12 categories of people now allowed to visit to Cuba are broad. Months after the musicians Jay-Z and Beyonce went to Havana, a Treasury Department auditor declared their trip legal under rules allowing educational travel. They visited an art school and a local theater group.

And cracking down on violators under the new arrangement may prove difficult.

“It’s basically unenforceable,” said John McAuliff, executive director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, a nongovernmental organization that organizes trips to Cuba.

[MIKA27]

The Incredible Story of the Most Badass Female Pirate to Ever Sail the Seas

When people talk about the most successful pirate that ever lived, it better be about one particular badass that commanded a fleet of as many as 80,000 sailors aboard 1,500 ships during the early 1800s.

This pirate’s name was Chang Shih, who didn’t exactly look the part by our Disneyfied standards for one fairly obvious reason: she was a lady.

Plucked from a brothel in Canton by invading pirates, she was married off to a notorious pirate name Zheng Yi in 1801. But she didn’t resign to the idle life of a house ship wife, opting instead to help her husband be even better at piracy than he already was.

Together, they patched together a coalition of competing pirates groups into the the Red Flag Fleet, which became an incontestable naval force in the South China Sea at its height. When Zheng Yi died in 1807, there was no other choice but for Chang Shih to take the reins.

As head of the Red Flag Fleet, she imposed a strict code of conduct and ensured those who broke the rules received a punishment befitting her brutal reign over the region’s seas. Shih was notorious for pillaging seaside villages, but maintained strict protection over villagers who supported her cause, beheading her own pirates if they defied this rule.

Her side hustle was a lucrative string of brothels, and all women, prostitute or not, were protected from rape by her sword during her reign. If a pirate took a wife, had to stay faithful. Cheating, raping and even consensual sex with captive women was punishable by death.

But Apart from plundering the Guandong coast, she established elaborate spy networks and even allied with farmers to keep her fleet fed, employing her late husband’s right-hand man (and new lover) Chang Po Tsai.

Needless to say, apart from the nickname “The Terror of the South China Sea,” she earned the unwanted attention of the Qing dynasty’s navy. But even they buckled after three years of chasing her, and gave her amnesty in 1810 — letting the saltiest pirate to ever roam the seas retire like a boss.

[MIKA27]

POPSLATE CASE

Your iPhone is great communications tool — but it's mostly only useful if the screen is on, meaning that you're drawing battery power like crazy even if all you're doing is checking and re-checking a list.

The PopSlate Case aims to fix this by adding a four-inch ePaper display to the back of your phone. Syncing with a companion app over Bluetooth, its monochrome screen uses little to no battery power, making it ideal for displaying maps, to-do lists, speaking notes, recipes, electronic boarding passes, and other items that don't need interaction to be useful, saving you valuable battery life while making your phone that much more useful.

[MIKA27]

FLASK: A BAR HIDDEN WITHIN A COKE VENDING MACHINE

Speakeasies were borne from necessity, but grew to become a culture.

Long after Prohibition was abolished, the allure of classic speakeasies remained. And now, architect Alberto Caiola is taking that allure to the next level.

It starts with The Press – a seemingly normal, albeit beautifully designed sandwich shop. Alberto’s design is meant to evoke a subtle sense of curiosity, with concrete flooring, neon lighting strips, and minimalist furnishings providing a strong sense of visual intrigue. In keeping with his vision of “contradictory, anachronistic aesthetics,” Alberto situated a vintage Coca-Cola vending machine near the back. But the machine serves another purpose – hidden inside is a gateway to something completely different.

Walk through the tunnel inside the machine and you’ll find yourself in Flask, a contemporary speakeasy that plays Hyde to The Press’ Jekyll. Flask is everything The Press is not, it features dark, mysterious lighting, muted color tones, sophisticated displays of liquor, and furniture that harkens back to the original era of speakeasies. Coupled with elements like a dramatic drop ceiling, and spotlit displays of giant prohibition style liquor bottles, Alberto gives Flask a unique mix of contemporary and vintage aesthetics.

There’s also a unique wall installation featuring flasks hidden behind a shroud which cleverly alludes to the hidden nature of the speakeasy itself. Even amongst Shanghai’s already burgeoning speakeasy culture, Alberto’s masterful design helps Flask and The Press stand out, providing bar-goers with a genuinely unexpected experience.

[MIKA27]

MERCEDES-BENZ MOCKS FASHION ADS IN 'FISTFUL OF WOLVES"

For the latest webisode of Fashion Creatives from Mercedes-Benz, “A Fistful of Wolves” stars the stylish buyer Justin O’Shea in a parody that mocks that various melodramatic, anticlimactic clichés that are typically found in fashion advertisements. Directed by Danny Sangra and co-starring O’Shea’s significant other and style editor of Harper’s Bazaar Germany Veronika Heilbrunner, the short film follows O’Shea after he wakes up on the “fashionable side of the bed,” thus turning into a walking, talking, self-indulging fashion ad.

Developed to support the upcoming Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin, additional episodes of Fashion Creatives can be seen here.

[MIKA27]

Victoria Police Apprehend Man Riding 49cc Esky Without A License

We all have different ways of getting around. Bicycles, cars, trucks and eskies. So when… wait a minute, did you say “eskies”? Yes, motorised chilly bins are more popular than you might think. Earlier this month, an Adelaide man was caught on a powered cooler and last night, a guy from Rosebud West in Victoria caught the eye of police on his blue-and-white pride and joy.

While the displacement of South Australia’s effort wasn’t revealed, Victoria Police were happy to report that the 29-year-old apprehended on Point Nepean Road yesterday was cruising around on a 49cc esky.

Unsurprisingly, the makeshift vehicle was impounded and the rider fined $1476 for his troubles. On top of this he was given not one, but two infringements notices as he lacked a license to “drive an esky or any other vehicle”.

Is there such a thing as an esky driver’s license? I must get one of those.

[MIKA27]

Rifle from 1882 found leaning on tree in Nevada park

Archaeologists have found a 132-year-old rifle propped against a tree in Nevada's Great Basin National Park.

It is unclear exactly how long the Winchester rifle had been left there, but it was long enough to leave the stock cracked and buried in dirt.

"It really is a mystery," said Nichole Andler, a spokeswoman for the park.

The Winchester rifle was common at the turn of the 20th century in the US West during a time when the now parklands were used for mining and ranching.

More than 700,000 rifles were made by the firm between 1873 and 1916.

Records for the gun show it was manufactured and shipped in 1882, but park experts have not yet been able to track its use since then.

"It probably has a very good and interesting story," Ms Andler told the Washington Post.

"But it probably is a story that could have happened to almost anyone living this sort of extraordinary existence out here in the Great Basin Desert".

The park is located in the eastern part of Nevada, and and is known for its caves and 5,000-year-old pine trees.

Ms Andler said the gun might have been overlooked in the past because the grey stock of the wood blended in with the tree.

The gun will be preserved in its current state and put on display at the park.

[MIKA27]

Seahawks Are Going To The Superbowl

The Seattle Seahawks mounted an improbable comeback against the Greenbay Packers on Sunday to score a spot in the Superbowl after a 28-22 overtime win.

It was a dramatic turn-around for the defending Superbowl champs, who faced a 12-point deficit at the 11-minute mark in the 4th quarter. But the 'Hawks rallied, scoring 15 points in the last four minutes. However, the Packers weren't done yet. With 1:25 left in the game, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers led his team to a 48-yard field goal, tying the game. But in the end, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw a game-winning touchdown to receiver Jermaine Kearse, making Seattle the first team since the 2003-2004 New England Patriots to go to the Superbowl in two consecutive years.

[MIKA27]

It’ll Only Take You Three Hours to Admit to a Crime You Didn’t Do

False confessions have been plaguing the integrity of the justice system throughout history. Some of the more high profile cases, like the Central Park Five, a group of boys who were recently awarded $41 million because of their wrongful imprisonment based on their false confession in the Central Park Jogger case, stick in the collective consciousness of our nation for years.

How could anyone admit to something as gruesome as brutally raping a jogger in Central Park when they had absolutely nothing to do with it? Of course, coercion, fear, and intimidation are always pointed to as factors. But, have you ever wondered if you could withstand a barrage of accusations and stick to the truth if you were totally innocent?

Science says you probably can’t. New research actually shows that over the course of three hours, adults can be convinced that they committed a crime in their teenage years, even if the claim is entirely fictitious.

Julia Shaw, from the University of Bedfordshire in the U.K. discovered that, depending on how an individual is questioned, they are capable of constructing detailed stories in their minds that convince themselves they have committed a crime.

With the help of Stephen Porter from the University of British Columbia, Shaw gathered 60 university students with absolutely clean records. The primary caregivers of these students then filled out detailed questionnaires and retold specific events about the lives of the students when they were between the ages of 11-14.

The researchers then conducted three 40-minute interviews with the students, spread out over the course of three weeks. Using the details from the primary caregivers, the researchers then told the students about two events that happened in their teenage years. One story was true, based directly on a story told by the primary caregiver, and one was false, completely invented by the researchers.

The false stories were full of half-truths, with details that included names of friends or locations. Half of the students were told false stories about crimes they had committed, such as assault or a theft. The other half of the students were told stories about traumatic incidents that happened, such as a dog attack or losing a great deal of money.

When students couldn’t explain the details surrounding the false events, researchers gave them “memory exercises” and encouraged them to keep trying. Subsequent interviews again focused on trying to help students remember these false events.

By the end, students had concocted very detailed “memories” of events that didn’t actually take place. Shaw says, “In these sessions we had some participants recalling incredibly vivid details and re-enacting crimes they never committed.”

Shaw told the Association for Psychological Science that, “Our findings show that false memories of committing crime with police contact can be surprisingly easy to generate, and can have all the same kinds of complex details as real memories.”

By exposing the damage that can be done to a testimony when “bad” interviewing techniques are used, the researchers hope they can help make the justice system a little more just.

[MIKA27]

Mystery Cosmic Radio Burst Caught In Real-Time By Australian Scientists For The First Time Ever

A huge, short burst of radio waves tearing through space has been caught in real time for the first time ever — and it could help scientists work out where these mysterious comic bursts come from. Until now, we only knew of these bursts from historical data.

A team of scientists from Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, has identified the first ever fast radio burst, sometimes known as a blitzar, as it happened. These bursts last around one millisecond and give off as much energy as the sun does in a million years.

Mysterious origins

This blitzar’s origin is a mystery, but whatever caused it “must be huge, cataclysmic and up to 5.5 billion light years away,” according to researcher Emily Petroff when she spoke to New Scientist. It could be a flare from a giant magnetized neutron star, the collapse of an oversized neutron star, or something else altogether.

While nine blitzars have been spotted since they were first discovered in 2007, they were all identified in existing data — either weeks or years old. This new observation is the first time one has been caught in the act. The recordings were made at the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia. When the observation was made, other telescopes all over the world focussed in on the spot where the blitzar was first seen — near the constellation Aquarius. None of observed any afterglow.

The data we do have, though, reveals that the radiation produced by the blitzar is circularly, not linearly, polaris — which means the waves vibrate in two planes as opposed to one. Which is great! Though nobody knows what on Earth it might mean just yet. Best keep looking for some more, then.

[MIKA27]

The First Watch With A Built-In Speedometer Is Absurdly Wonderful

As smartwatches gain more and more functionality, they’re also gaining popularity. So it’s more important than ever for makers of traditional mechanical watches to pack as many novel features into their creations as they can, like Breva, which has actually found a way to squeeze a pop-up speedometer into its new Génie 03. Say what?

Figuring out how fast you’re moving is easy for some smartwatches; they just need to lock onto a GPS signal while you’re en route. But it’s not quite as easy when the watch is only full of gears and springs. To pull this off the pop-up mechanism on the Génie 03 — which raises about a centimetre above the watch’s face when engaged — actually functions like a miniature anemometer to use the speed of the wind to determine the wearer’s speed.

Just below the dial displaying the speed in kilometres per hour is a spinning set of Robinson cups that are used to determine how fast the wearer is actually moving. So if you wanted to figure out how fast the car you were in was going, you’d need to stick your hand and wrist out the window to catch the air. Presumably that makes this most appealing to those whose convertibles have broken speedometers.

To ensure the watch’s delicate mechanisms aren’t destroyed when speeds approach 200km/h, the Robinson cups actually stop spinning at 50km/h, at which point a spring mechanism is engaged that continues to measure speed based on the strength of the wind alone.

When it comes to price, Breva’s Génie 03 is still an obscenely expensive option for amateur watch enthusiasts. But at just shy of $US60,000 it’s actually considerably cheaper than the $US132,000 Génie 02 and the $US150,000 Génie 01. So while smartwatches are still not the most stylish thing to strap to your wrist, it seems they might be encouraging the makers of fancy mechanical watches to be a little more competitive with their prices — but there’s still a long way to go.

[MIKA27]

The Insane 5,600-Mile Race Through South America’s Roughest Terrain

On January 4, 567 motorcycles cars, trucks, and quads set off from Buenos Aires, Argentina for a 5,600-mile race through some of the world’s roughest terrain. Over the past two weeks, they’ve driven over sand dunes and mountains, through deserts and salt flats.

It’s the 2015 Dakar: An annual off-road endurance race that tests the driving, navigating, repair skills, and pure grit of those willing to enter. This year, that group totaled 168 motorcyclists, 131 quad riders, 144 cars (each with two drivers), and 124 trucks (each with three aboard). The race was originally held between Paris and Dakar, Senegal, but fears of terrorist attacks pushed the organizers to relocate to South America in 2009. This year’s itinerary send the racers from Buenos Aires, west across Argentina, north over the Andes and up the Chilean coast, and southeast back to where they started.

On Saturday, the race was finished, but not everyone made it to the finish. In fact, not everyone made it out alive: Polish motorcyclist Michael Hernik died during the third stage of the race. His was the fifth death since the rally moved to South America in 2009, and the 24th since the first race, in 1979.

Here are some of the best photos of this year’s incredible race.

The competitors go through deserts and over sand dunes. Here, Stephane Peterhansel and Jean Paul Cottret get some air

Even the trucks, which carry teams of three, don't stay on the ground.

It takes a lot of mechanical skill to make vehicles that can withstand this kind of beating, and keep them running.

During the second stage of the race, Red Bull's Peterhansel drives from Villa Carlos Paz to San Juan, Argentina.

For South Africa's Riaan Van Niekerk, it's all about finishing the race. "I'd like to improve my result from last year," he says. "I've sharpened up my navigation."

Riders get to choose their route for each stage, so they need sharp navigating skills.

Spain's Joan "Nani" Roma won the rally on a motorcycle in 2004 and in a car last year.

It's not all sand and dirt: One leg of the race takes the racers over Bolivia's Uyuni salt flats.

There are water obstacles, too

Not surprisingly, racers have to be ready to stop for on the spot repairs.

The race is intense, but also affords the chance to take in some of South America's most gorgeous scenery.

Dutch racers Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar are teamed up in a MINI All4 for this year's rally.

Although things likely get boring during long stretches over sand dunes.

After two weeks of racing, the competitors who didn't dropped out pulled into Buenos Aires on Saturday.

[MIKA27]

There could be two more planets in the Solar System

At least two as-yet undiscovered Earth-size planets may be lurking in the frozen outer reaches of the Solar System. The claims come after analysis of a belt of space rocks known as "extreme trans-Neptunion objects" revealed invisible forces were altering their orbits.

The mysterious worlds would lie more than 200 astronomical units (one unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun) from Earth, so distant that it could be impossible to see them using current technology. If confirmed, the findings would be "truly revolutionary" for astronomy, scientists working on the research claimed.

Researchers studied 13 distant space rocks, such as dwarf planet Sedna, which move around the Sun at great distances and on elliptical paths. Rather than behave as expected the orbits of these bodies has been described as "unexpected".

"We consider that the most probable explanation is that other unknown planets exist beyond Neptune and Pluto," explained lead author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos from Complutense University of Madrid.

The exact number of undiscovered planets is uncertain, but calculations suggest that there are at least two and probably more. The new planets would orbit beyond Neptune, with their gravitational pull on smaller objects suggesting they could be bigger than Earth.

This isn't the first time scientists have speculated on the existence undiscovered distant planets. Last year a dwarf planet called 2012 VP113 was found in the Oort cloud, a distant body of ice and dust far beyond Pluto. At the time it was speculated that its orbit was influenced by a dark and icy planet, up to tens times larger than Earth.

Claims of additional, large planets orbiting beyond Neptune also go against computer models that claim this is impossible. However recent discoveries of distant planet-forming disks of dust orbiting at more than 100 astronomical units from the star HL Tauri suggest that planets can form at great distances from a star.

Results based on more data will be published in the coming months.

[MIKA27]

GURKHA (NOT THE CIGAR) RPV TACTICAL ARMORED VEHICLE

The Gurkha RPV Tactical Armored Vehicle is the perfect way to get to the store for milk and bread—when your road is littered with laser beam-shooting cyborgs, rabid rhinos, and falling asteroids.

Yeah, this armor-plated powerhouse is ready to get rocked and still leave you unscathed inside. With a massive curb weight of 19,500 pounds, the RPV needs something beefy to power it, and the 6.7 liter V8 Powerstroke turbo diesel engine (300 horsepower and 660 pound-feet of torque) fits the bill nicely. It features a 6-speed automatic transmission, 4×4, 4-wheel vented disc ABS, 40 gallon fuel tank, and seating for five. No word on the gas mileage here, but if you’re driving this thing looking for fuel economy, your skull might need armor plating too. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

Newly Discovered Pictures Show The Everyday Life Of A WWII Soldier

The Rescued Film Project is an online gallery showing pictures found in lost film rolls from countries all over the world. They recently discovered a batch of 31 undeveloped rolls taken by a World War II American soldier, 70 years ago. Here are some of his best.

[MIKA27]

Did Iran Murder Argentina’s Crusading Prosecutor Alberto Nisman?

An Argentine prosecutor died from a single gunshot wound to the head Sunday, hours before giving evidence about Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center.

PARIS — Since 2005 Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman has been crusading for his vision of justice in the horrific 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds more. He claimed that Iran was behind it and, more recently, that the Argentine government was trying to block his efforts to prove that.

On Sunday night, Nisman was found dead in his apartment, only hours before he was set to testify before an Argentine parliamentary commission about his allegations.

The circumstances revealed thus far by the police suggest a suicide. The history of Iran’s operations overseas inevitably suggest otherwise. And there are disturbing echoes of the world 20 or 30 years ago when Tehran, often in league with its clients in Hezbollah, waged a global war on the enemies of the Islamic Republic, deploying hit teams second only to the Israelis in their skill at assassination.

First, let’s look at the official communiqué about Nisman’s death issued by Argentina’s Ministry of National Security on Monday morning, with the facts of the case as the ministry says they are known:

Nisman’s lifeless body was discovered Sunday night in his apartment on the 13th floor of Le Parc Tower, which is part of a modern high-rise complex in the Puerto Madero neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

Ten members of the Argentine Federal Police force had been assigned to him as bodyguards, but it seems they were not deployed when he was at home. According to the communiqué, members of the team alerted Nisman’s secretary on Sunday afternoon that he was not responding to repeated phone calls. When they learned that he was not answering the doorbell of his house either and that the Sunday newspaper was still on the step, they decided to notify his relatives.

The bodyguards then collected Nisman’s mother at her home and took him to Le Parc. When they tried to enter, they found the door locked with the key on the inside. They called the building’s maintenance staff who then called a locksmith. Nisman’s mother entered the apartment with one of the bodyguards, and they found Nisman in the bathroom, where his body was blocking the door when they tried to open it. They immediately called police crime scene investigators who entered the bathroom, apparently making as much effort as possible not to disturb the evidence.

Nisman was on the floor with a .22 caliber pistol and one empty shell casing nearby.

The official communiqué does not say explicitly that he died from a bullet wound to the head, but that has been widely reported in Buenos Aires, as has the detail that the documents for his testimony before parliament were arrayed on his desk.

How a murderer might have staged this apparent suicide will doubtless be the subject of speculation and conspiracy theories for years to come, as, indeed, is the case with the investigation into the AMIA bombing itself. That never resulted in a single conviction and was called a “national disgrace” by the late President Néstor Kirchner in 2005. The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, was among those who signed a petition ten years ago calling for justice, but to no avail.

Nisman’s eventual focus on direct Iranian involvement, accusing Tehran of planning and financing the attack and Hezbollah operatives of carrying it out, was not universally supported, even by U.S. investigators who followed the case. “The guilt field was painted with a bit too broad a brush,” former FBI agent James Bernazzani told The New York Times in 2009. Bernazzani had led U.S. investigations of Hezbollah throughout the 1990s and said that while he was “convinced” of the group’s involvement, “we surfaced no information indicating Iranian compliance.”

In the world of intelligence, however, as distinct from the world of criminal justice, there has been little question that Iran was behind the AMIA bombing in 1994 and the earlier car-bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 that killed 29 people.

At the time, the Israelis were attacking Hezbollah leaders and Iranian clients in Lebanon, Hezbollah and Iran struck back wherever they thought they could. “It’s an ongoing game, playing by the rules of the Bible,” a senior official in Israeli intelligence told me at height of the carnage, meaning the rule of eye for an eye, “and at a certain point there is a balance of terror where everyone knows what’s expected.”

The Iranians also targeted with a vengeance any opposition figures they thought might be dangerous. In 1991, after a failed attempt years before, they managed to talk their way into the home of Shahpour Bakhtiar, the Shah of Iran’s last prime minister. He thought they were friends. They were searched by police at the door. They killed him with a knife from his own kitchen. The younger brother of then-President Hashemi Rafsanjani was named as a suspect in the case.

Between 1987 and 1993, according a French government memo published in a very detailed study called Le Hezbollah Global, between 1987 and 1993 some 18 opponents of the Tehran regime were murdered in Europe, and the CIA estimated that between 1989 and 1996 the Hezbollah network carried out 200 serious attacks costing hundreds of lives.

By the late 1990s, the Iranian government apparently decided to slow these operations after several of them started to bring down too much heat. The Germans conducted a relentless investigation of the murder of Kurdish leaders in Berlin in 1992, tracing them back to the then-head of Iranian intelligence, Ali Fallahian. The AMIA bombing in 1994 caused international outrage. And the bombing of the Khobar Towers apartments in Saudi Arabia in 1995, which killed 19 Americans, was eventually traced to another group of Iranian acolytes.

Finally, Imad Mugniyeh, seen as the key Hezbollah operative in many of the group’s terrorist attacks, dating back to the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, was blown up with a well-placed car bomb in Damascus in 2008. The Israelis generally are credited with that hit.

But by then, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon had fought a successful war of attrition that led to Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory in 2000 after decades of occupation. Building on that victory, Hezbollah became, and remains, the most powerful political party in the country.

Since then it has focused its actions on a sustained but relatively controlled standoff with Israel, apart from a brutal war in 2006 when it fought the vaunted Israeli army to a standstill. And in the last two years it has deployed in Syria to fight against the Sunni-led rebellion there, including the forces of al Qaeda and ISIS, that threaten the Assad regime.

Iran, for its part, has been trying to show itself a reasonable member of the community of nations by negotiating with the Americans and Europeans about the future of its nuclear program.

Yet there have been signs within the last few days that the game as old as the Bible continues, and may once again grow very dangerous. Last week, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah boasted that his organization now has weapons that can strike anywhere in Israel. “We have made all necessary preparations for a future war,” he said.

Then on Sunday, Israeli forces killed Jihad Mugniyeh, son of the late mastermind, and several other Hezbollah officers who were operating in the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights. The Israeli press reported they had been planning attacks on Israeli targets.

Was Alberto Nisman somehow caught up in this long war of assassinations? Or did he decide for reasons we probably cannot know to end his own life?

The investigation will continue, unless somebody stops it.

[MIKA27]

Mad Race Driver Drifting Near A Cliff On A Mountain Pass

Witness professional driver Fredric Aasbø drifting on a Norwegian mountain pass on his 800hp 2JZ Speedhunters Toyota 86-X.

[MIKA27]

Japanese Craftsman Creates Perfect Sci-Fi Ship Replicas Using Just Paper

This is one of the most amazing craftsmen I have ever seen. He doesn’t only make the exterior of his sci-fi ships using just paper but also the guts! The level of detail is amazing — some look like perfect resin models but it’s only paper. Behold the X-Wing, TIE Interceptor, Viper Mk2, 2001′s Orion and many more!

X-Wing from Star Wars

Viper Mk2 from Battlestar Galactica

Tie Interceptor from Star Wars

Aries from 2001

Orion from 2001

Star Wars’ AT-ST

Space Station V from 2001

Endurance from Interstellar

Apollo 13′s Aquarius Lunar Module

Not sci-fi but incredible detail:

[MIKA27]

How NASA Plans To Explore Mars With Microsoft's Holographic Goggles

During Microsoft’s demo of its fascinating holographic headset HoloLens today, the company barely mentioned the coolest way it’s already using it: to develop software with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will let scientists explore and work on the Red Planet remotely.

Halfway through Microsoft’s promotional video for HoloLens, the company showed a clip of a scientist wearing the headset as he points out an area of interest on the surface of Mars. HoloLens, the video explained, will be used by NASA scientists to work “on” Mars by July of this year. Intrigued by the brief mention, we reached out to NASA for more information, and in a new statement and video it explains a bit more about the project.

Over the past year, JPL and Microsoft have been building a software called OnSight that’s designed to let scientists carry out their work as though they were standing on the distant planet they’re studying. Using HoloLens, of course.

Imagine being able to put on a headset and walk around another planet. Or control a rover as if you were sitting in it. Or look out over the yawning rim of a martian canyon. That’s exactly what OnSight does, using data and images taken from Mars itself.

According to JPL, it’s the next best thing to actually being there — recreating the experience that earthbound geologists benefit from using augmented reality. That includes not only inspecting the landscape, but communicating with other scientists from around the world through this virtual meeting place — not to mention making notes and creating points of interest that other teams can explore and comment upon as they go.

“By building tools that make us feel more connected to those robots and the environments they’re exploring, we can change our experience of exploration in a very fundamental and exciting way,” says Jeff Norris, the project manager of OnSight, in a video published on YouTube today. “Not because it’s a gimmick and not because it’s fun, but because it will help them to reach scientific insight more quickly and more confidently than peering at images on the screen, like they do today.”

They will also be able to actually program Curiosity from within the HoloLens environment, JPL explains in a statement:

They then can stroll around the rocky surface or crouch down to examine rocky outcrops from different angles. The tool provides access to scientists and engineers looking to interact with Mars in a more natural, human way.

The OnSight tool also will be useful for planning rover operations. For example, scientists can program activities for many of the rover’s science instruments by looking at a target and using gestures to select menu commands.

There’s been plenty of clamouring about sending human scientists to Mars over the past few years. HoloLens doesn’t completely obliterate the reasons we’d need to visit ourselves, but it definitely expands on the ways we can do it. As rovers get more complex and sensitive, it might be possible to explore using these virtual reality-augmented proxies — much more durable envoys in our ever-expanding reach into space.

[MIKA27]

An 86-Year-Old Woman Has Been Living On Cruise Ships For A Decade

Meet Mama Lee. Mama Lee is 86 years old, enjoys ballroom dancing, and has been a full-time resident of a cruise ship for the past 10 years. It costs her about $US164,000 a year, but it really sounds like she’s loving her permanent holiday.

Mama Lee’s real name is Lee Wachtstetter. She’s the widow of a banker and real estate appraiser who also loved cruising. After he died, she took his and her daughter’s advice to cruise until she couldn’t cruise any more. Mama Lee sold her five-bedroom house in Florida and moved onto a Holland America ship for three years before moving to the Crystal Serenity luxury liner, one of the top-ranked ships in the world. She’s been on board for seven years now — save the rare trip to shore, of course.

So that’s a lot of cruising. Mama Lee recently told the Asbury Park Press that she and her husband went on 89 cruises during the course of their 50-year marriage and that she’s been on almost a hundred since, visiting over 100 countries around the world. “The day before my husband died of cancer in 1997, he told me, ‘Don’t stop cruising.’ So here I am today living a stress-free, fairy-tale life,” Mama Lee told the paper. “I enjoy dancing, and this was the best of the remaining ships that still use dance hosts,” she said of the Crystal Serenity.

Feel free to envy Mama Lee and her very expensive floating retirement home. But don’t forget: not all ships are created equal. It sounds like Mama Lee is enjoying the most old fashioned type of cruising. There’s dinner at tables with assigned seating. There are ballroom dancing classes. There’s a deck for sunning and a pool or two. It sounds so quaint when you compare it to the latest cruise ship technology. Some hyper-modern vessels feature attractions as far out and insane as a crane-mounted gondola on deck, a rock-climbing wall, a robotic bartender, and even bumper cars.

Factually speaking, more amenities don’t necessarily mean a better cruising experience. If a veteran cruiser like Mama Lee is happy spending her entire life on a small ship without a robotic bartender, maybe you should be too.

[MIKA27]

This Is How A Plane Will Navigate Earth Using Solar Power Alone

Last year, the team behind Solar Impulse 2 revealed the design of a plane that it hopes will be able to traverse the world without refuelling. Now, it’s revealed the route it will take when it takes off — which will hopefully be in March.

The world tour will see the craft take off from Abu Dhabi, then stop in spots across Asia, America, southern Europe and northern Africa. Why so many breaks? Well, despite the fact that the 2200kg, 72m wingspan craft doesn’t need to refuel, its crew does.

The 17,000 solar panels on the aeroplane charge a 940kg lithium battery, allowing it to cruise at 142km/h. But to keep the weight down, the crew needs to set down on terra firma every few days to pick up supplies and drop off waste. With the 88mph cruising speed and all those stops, the team hopes to make it back to Abu Dhabi in early August — a full five months after it first takes off.

Indeed, you should spare a thought for the crew aboard Solar Impulse 2: they will be flying for days at a time in an unheated, unpressurised cockpit. Rather them than us.

[MIKA27]

US Police Have Used A Secret Radar That 'Sees' Through Walls For Two Years

A new device that can “see” through walls using radio waves started stirring up privacy concerns in a federal appeals court just last month. And it’s about damn time; according to a recent report from USA Today, over 50 law enforcement agencies have secretly been using the new radars for the past two years.

The Range-R motion detector, which is being employed by the FBI and US Marshals Service among other outlets, allows police to essentially see through a home’s walls before a raid and from up to 15m away. So if anyone inside is moving or even so much as breathing, law enforcement will know about it before busting in.

By holding the sensor against the outside of your home, cops can transmit radar pulses through the wall, allowing them to reflect off any object they may come into contact with. As the scanner analyses these returned signals, it then detects whether any were bouncing off a moving object in particular, classifying it as either a “mover” (more active) or a “breather” (less active).

And apparently, they’re doing all this without ever obtaining a warrant.

All of which seems to go explicitly against a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, in which similarly warrantless, radar-facilitated searches were deemed unconstitutional. As Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union, explained to USA Today:

The idea that the government can send signals through the wall of your house to figure out what’s inside is problematic. Technologies that allow the police to look inside of a home are among the intrusive tools that police have.

According to the manufacturer’s website, “the RANGE-R is sufficient to detect people breathing, making it difficult for individuals to hide.” And while the finely tuned detector can’t work through metal, it can“penetrate most common building wall, ceiling or floor types including poured concrete, concrete block, brick, wood, stucco glass, adobe, dirt, etc.”

While knowing whether or not anyone is waiting behind closed doors could be life-saving in the event of a raid, the fact that law enforcement has kept their use of the device secret for so long is particularly troubling. Now that we know these radars are in use, it’s hard not to wonder what other sorts of secret surveillance maybe waiting down the line.