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

[MIKA27]

Neil Blomkamp's Next Movie Is A Sequel To Alien

It’s happening. It’s finally happening. District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkamp has a new project, and that project is a sequel to sci-fi movie par excellence Alien.

We’ve known for a while that a secret Blomkamp movie based in the Alien world has been in the works, although not officially — it seems to have been more of a passion project for the director and a source of some (really cool) concept art rather than anything serious. But now, this:

At the moment, information is really limited — according to The Wrap, the movie is being backed by 20th Century Fox and directed by Prometheus’ Ridley Scott, who is also signed up for Prometheus 2. The newAlien flick will take place after the events of Prometheus 2. No news on whether original movie star Sigourney Weaver is on board too.

[MIKA27]

50 Shades Of Grey But With Steve Buscemi Cracking The Whip

Whether you've seen it or plan on avoiding it like the plague, there's no escaping the fact that everyone is talking about pseudo erotic-thriller Fifty Shades Of Grey right now.

But what if Mr. Grey was recast, not with the boyish good looks and six-pack of Jamie Dornan, but with the offbeat Steve Buscemi and his infamous stare?

Well wonder no more, as this hilarious recut trailer sees everyones favourite corrupt and powerful politician from Boardwalk Empire in a lusty tryst with the seemingly innocent Dakota Johnson.

It's every bit as awkward and as good as you'd imagine it to be.

[MIKA27]

D.C.'s Top Rabbi Is a Peeping Tom

At one of the most influential synagogues in Washington, D.C., a rabbi secretly taped dozens of women as they undressed before a ritual bath. Now, finally, he's on trial for it, and his victims are speaking.

Converting to Judaism is a long, difficult process but for hundreds of would-be converts Rabbi Bernard “Barry” Freundel helped ease the path. Freundel was a leading rabbi who presided over Kesher Israel, one of the most influential synagogues in Washington, D.C. with congregants like Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and former Senator Joe Lieberman. He helped draft conversion policies followed by rabbis across the United States. But Freundel wasn’t just ministering to many of those he converted. He was victimizing them too.

On Thursday, Freundel pled guilty to 52 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism in D.C. Superior Court for videotaping young women when they were about to complete the conversion process by immersing themselves in a Jewish ritual bath known as a mikvah. Court documents describe how Freundel victimized well over a hundred women by using different video cameras hidden in an adjacent bathroom to tape women from multiple angles as they showered and undressed before the ceremony. One camera had even been hidden inside a clock radio. Each individual count of voyeurism carries a possible sentence of up to a year in jail. As a result, the 63-year-old rabbi could face imprisonment for the rest of his life.

In a statement, Ronald Machen, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, indicated that he would push for a harsh sentence for the disgraced cleric.

“Bernard Freundel exploited his position of power to victimize dozens of women who entered a sacred, intimate space of religious ritual, he said. “We will be seeking a prison sentence that reflects the gravity of this disturbing assault on the privacy and dignity of so many victims.”

Yet the trauma still lingers on. One victim, Bethany Mandel told The Daily Beast that Freundel had a chokehold on the conversion process in the DC area and this voyeurism was a way for the Rabbi to extend his power. “People keep calling him a pervert and yes, he’s a pervert, but he’s also a power hungry sociopath” Mandel said. “It wasn’t about porn. It was about power, and this was additional power no one knew he had.”

As Mandel described the process, his standing in the community as head of the local rabbinical court or Beit Din was such that he decided when conversions would took place and how long the process would last.

“If he decided he didn’t like you, he could just not convert you” she said. And since Freundel had developed a national role in determining the conversion process for Orthodox Jews, he could make it difficult for potential converts if they moved elsewhere and sought to find a different rabbi to convert them.

Mandel was infuriated not just because of the assault on her privacy but because prosecutors did not consider her a victim. This was because her case and those of 63 others occurred outside of Washington D.C.’s two-year statute of limitations for voyeurism. Even though she only found out that she was a victim in January, it was too late.

Freundel’s crimes have a lingering impact on the synagogue, as well. The congregation is closely knit. Many members decide where to live based on whether they can walk to the modern Orthodox shul for Shabbat services.

In a statement from Kesher Israel’s board of directors, they tried to look for silver linings, all while acknowledging that the “scope and duration of these horrible crimes are still hard to completely comprehend.” The board went on:

“Despite this great betrayal by Rabbi Freundel and our communal pain, we have seen a community that has come together and whose members have leaned on one another for support. As we move forward, we will continue to grow stronger and are committed to ensuring that our community remains a warm, welcoming, and safe place to gather, worship, and learn.”

One congregant told The Daily Beast that the synagogue had made a strong effort to move forward. “They didn’t look for reasons to explain his actions” he said. Instead, the shul was open about the process and aggressive in suspending and then firing the rabbi.

But while “there was no covering it up or slow playing,” it still did great damage. After all, in the blink of an eye, Freundel went from being well-respected (albeit somewhat awkward) spiritual leader to a man who was preying on congregants while they were preparing for an important religious ceremony.

Freundel is due to be sentenced on May 15. But the damage he’s done to his victims, his congregants and the entire Orthodox Jewish movement is likely to linger for years.

MIKA: Ha! Looks like Seth Rogan!

[MIKA27]

Mummified Monk Found Inside Millennia-Old Buddha Statue

It’s not every day you stick an ancient Chinese artefact into a computerised tomography (CT) scanner and discover a dead person sitting inside. Yet, this is exactly what happened when a team at the Meander Medical Centre in the Netherlands recently peeked at the internals of a Buddha statue from the 11th/12th century, only to discover the space was occupied.

As Rob Stevens writes, the statue was shown at the Drents Museum in Assen in early 2014. At some point during its stay, the hospital had a chance to not only scan the statue, but perform an endoscopy to check out the mummy’s organs. Surprisingly, they didn’t find what they were expecting:

A gastrointestinal and liver doctor took samples of yet unidentified material and examined the thoracic and abdominal cavities. The hospital: “He made a spectacular discovery: at the place where once had been organs, he found, among all kinds of rotten material, paper scraps that were printed with ancient Chinese characters.”

It’s not explained what was written on the scraps, or what prompted the team to scan the statue in the first place. Stevens does note that DNA tests will be conducted on collected bone samples.

[MIKA27]

Most Americans Wouldn't Take A Trip To Space, Even If It Was Free

If you grew up during the space race of the 1960s, you probably thought that tourist flights into space would be common by now. Sadly, nobody is honeymooning on the moon just yet. But a new poll shows that most Americans actually have no desire to go to space — even if the trip was free.

Monmouth University in New Jersey has the new poll with the somewhat surprising results. When asked if they’d like to go to space with a private space company, a whopping 69 per cent of Americans said that they wouldn’t. Even if the company were offering the trips at absolutely no cost! Only 28 per cent said they’d take the free trip.

The poll might be surprising to weirdos (like myself) who think there would be nothing cooler than dipping our toes into the final frontier. But it’s actually fairly consistent with American sentiment in the 20th century. As the Monmouth poll notes, a Gallup poll from 1966 found that only 17 per cent of Americans wanted to be on the first flight to the moon.

Admittedly, being the first is certainly different than venturing out on proven technology. But that’s in many ways what we’re dealing with today. In fact, our modern lack of enthusiasm might have some direct links to last year’s disastrous test of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceshipTwo, which left one pilot dead and another severely injured.

Other takeaways from the poll? Just 51 per cent of Americans think that an increase in spending on our space program is a good investment. For what it’s worth, that’s higher than the 35-45 per cent who thought the Apollo space program was a good investment during the 1960s. That’s right, even during the height of the space race, most Americans thought the space program was a waste of money. So space nerds should be hesitant about romanticizing some golden age of public opinion when we all rallied behind astronauts and universally supported funding of the space program. That overwhelmingly positive sentiment never existed.

So what about the future? Roughly 44 per cent of Americans think that ordinary people will likely be travelling to space in the next 20-30 years. But most Americans are happy to let those space tourists be someone other than themselves.

[MIKA27]

The Double Cyclone Disaster That Smashed Into Australia Last Week

Here you can see a composite satellite photo of two cyclones hitting northern Australia within six hours of each other this week. In the upper left is Cyclone Lam, and in the lower right is Cyclone Marcia. It’s beautiful but also terrifying.

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory:

Northern Australia was battered by two potent tropical cyclones within six hours on the same day in February 2015. Cyclone Lam made landfall on the north-central coast near Milingimbi (about 400 kilometres east of Darwin) around 2am. Australian central time on February 19. Cyclone Marcia made landfall on the east coast of Queensland near Rockhampton and Yeppoon around 8am. local time on February 19.

At landfall, Lam had estimated wind speeds of approximately 165 kilometres per hour; Marcia came ashore with winds of 205 kilometres per hour. Marcia briefly reached category 5, only the sixth storm of that strength since records have been kept in Australia. According to meteorologist and blogger Jeff Masters, few major cyclones have made it so far south (around latitude 22°S) down the Australian coast.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this view of the two storms around midday on February 19, 2015. The image is a composite of satellite data from two Suomi NPP passes over the area.

As of February 20, no deaths had been reported from the storm, though damage assessments were still to be made in many of the remote towns. Water and power were lost in several areas hit by Lam. Power was knocked out by Marcia for at least 50,000 homes in Queensland.

[avaldes]

That picture of the statue getting a colonoscopy is frikken hilarious!!

[MIKA27]

That picture of the statue getting a colonoscopy is frikken hilarious!!

Which goes to show... IT'S NEVER TOO LATE for one!

[MIKA27]

RACE FOR SURVIVAL: THE 1984 PARIS-DAKAR RALLY

The 1984 Paris-Dakar was a seminal year for the annual race, Porsche made their first appearance with the 953/991 – a car that would be developed into the now legendary Porsche 959.

In 1984 the Stuttgart factory entered three cars with Rothmans livery, the team was headed by Formula 1 icon Jacky Ickx who can be seen at the beginning of this film discussing the race and its difficulties.

The film has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes and it’s an engaging look back at one of the most daring and difficult races in the world. Sadly Porsche no longer takes part in off-road events, but if you happen to own a late model 911 Turbo you could always jack the suspension up by a few inches and have a go yourself.

[MIKA27]

How a Mysterious Flower, Once Thought Extinct, Traveled the World

Seldom do those seeking mysteries look to the realm of floriculture for any evidence of the impossible. But even flowers and their fairness can manage to inspire wonder, particularly when their blooming faces become familiar to travelers in all parts of the world who recognize them, and wonder how they might have come to exist where they are found.

Few stories of flowers and their strange travels excite the mind of the curious quite like the Bardou Job, as it can be seen below in a rendering that first appeared in 1888 in the Journal of Roses:

The Bardou Job was first cultivated more than 128 years ago in France, and floral connoisseurs had long held it in high regard, with its particularly dark, wine-red petals. The Bardou, despite its allure, had actually once been though extinct in recent years, until its re-discovery under rather remarkable circumstances.

Of all places, the flower was discovered growing wild on Alcatraz Island, former site of the famous maximum security prison.

As it turns out, there had been a garden kept on the island at the home of James Johnston, the prison warden who, incidentally, had also maintained a particular penchant for roses amidst his broader floriculturist tendencies. The story is that prisoners who were known for good behavior were even allowed to tend his garden as a sort of escape (no pun intended here) from the intellectual and emotional lassitude of confinement.

When the prison was shut down, the rose garden, or what became left of it, grew wild; amazingly, the Bardou Job was found, years later, growing amidst the weeds behind the former home of the Warden.

The San Francisco Gate recounted the flower’s rediscovery by Gregg Lowery, a team member with the Rose Heritage Group, nearly three decades after the prison was shut down in 1963:

“There was a single flower, quite tiny, peeping up from an overgrowth of blackberries,” he said yesterday, still excited by the memory.

He took a cutting, grew the rose at Vintage Gardens, his Sebastopol nursery, and identified it as the scarce Bardou Job, among the rarest of about 100,000 known rose varieties.

But the Bardou’s journey had not ended; with time, news of the discovery amidst rose aficionados made its way to Cardiff, where an historical rose garden had been kept for generations at the site of Saint Fagan’s Castle. Interest in obtaining samples was spearheaded by the curator of the Museum of Welsh Life, which eventually led to clippings of the once-extinct rose back to the same English gardens where it had grown prior to the First World War.

Interestingly, this also led to stories appearing in the British tabloids which, in turn, led to further attention brought to how (and where) the long-lost rose variety had been recovered… and a few questions about the legality of the discovery. At the time of the initial rediscovery of Bardou Job roses at Alcatraz, no permit had been issued for the removal of anything from the property. In 2000, a spokeswoman for the site stated that queries into whether the plant still grew there turned up no results, and that if it still existed, authorities would still like for the rose to be brought back to the island.

Sending the rose back to Alcatraz might sound like imprisonment, of sorts. But much like clippings were sent from the original Alcatraz find off to the heritage gardens in Wales, it was equally easy for similar clippings to be sent back to Alcatraz, helping complete this strange little flower’s odd trip around the world, and back.

[MIKA27]

For Romans, Filming of New Bond Flick is No Holiday

A Spectre is haunting Rome, and its name is Bond. James Bond.

Romans are, by nature, among the least patient people on the planet. They are as charmingly aloof as they are easily unimpressed. So not even James Bond gets a pass in the eternal—and often infernal—city.

Last week the cast and crew for Spectre—rumored to be costing almost $300 million, making it the most expensive James Bond film yet—descended on Rome. Daniel Craig and Italian siren Monica Bellucci, who will be the oldest ever Bond girl at 50, made their way to city hall to meet Rome’s mayor Ignazio Marino, with whom they posed on his balcony overlooking the Roman forum before he apparently told them to have their way with the city.

The next day, traffic was snarled and snippy security guards who spoke mostly English tried to bat away curious onlookers and angry Italians as the crew filmed a funeral scene in the district of EUR, the most fascist of the city’s quarters. There, they transformed the Museum of Roman Civilization into a crypt.

Then, they had the audacity to close off some of the busiest arteries of the city to shoot a car chase along the lower banks of the Tiber River the following day. Angry Romans who had to divert their paths threatened to boycott the film. “The film should be called ‘disagio,’” Emanuele Costrini told The Daily Beast, referring to a favorite Italian word for discomfort or inconvenience. “You can create all these scenes in a studio. Why do you need to cripple a city like Rome for a film in this day and age?”

The worst of the ‘disagio’ of the five-week shoot is apparently yet to come. Over the weekend, a massive crane was being put in place along the banks of the Tiber River, apparently to fish out a car that will reportedly crash over the banks and plunge down into the river. Car chase scenes will also block off tourist sites like Piazza Navona and the Vatican and an overnight car chase is scheduled along the busy artery called Via Nomentana from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the coming weeks, which has prompted enterprising residents to rent out their apartments to paparazzi.

Rome city hall clerks, who have since been silenced, told Italian reporters in late December that the film producers applied for a license to shoot a helicopter scene from which Craig’s Bond will parachute down onto the magical Ponte Sisto in the historical center. There is no word whether that permission was granted. But the crew was denied permission to shoot a car chase around the cobbled streets of ancient Rome passing a monument to Four Fountains because multi-million dollar work to restore it had just been completed, and they didn’t want to risk damage. “We have not given permission for the sequence at the Four Fountains because the site is too delicate from an architectural point of view,” Federica Galloni, a cultural heritage officer, told Rome’s Il Messagero newspaper.

“We have asked the producers not to film there but instead to create the sequence with special effects in post-production. … We’re still waiting for the producers to tell us how they intend to resolve the problem.”

There were also reports from those close to the film crew that Rome is too dirty and polluted, and they had to hire a team to scrub up the city, including garbage removal and graffiti scrubbing. Prior to the filming, residents near the proposed film set sites complained that nothing had been done to prepare, and that it would surely be a poor reflection on Rome to be shown in its filthy state. The city has been brought to its knees in a corruption scandal that saw many city services compromised.

Bond girl Bellucci has done some local publicity for the film, telling a popular talk show, “Che Tempo Che Fa” that director Sam Mendes’ choice to cast her is revolutionary. “A Bond girl who is 50 is interesting,” she said. “It communicates a different and more respectful way of looking at women.”

Scenes from the film have been shot in Austria and London, and the crew is expected to travel to Morocco and Mexico. The film will be released in November.

MIKA: I don't care what anyone says, Monica Bellucci is gorgeous no matter what her age.

[MIKA27]

Is This Even Possible?

NBC affiliate WITN has published these two photos of a frozen sculpture created by the front of a Jeep, left standing on a curb near Vidant, a hospital in Greenville, North Carolina. Can this be really possible or is it an elaborated 3D render hoax?

According to WITN, they “received two different photos from viewers, one picture taken from the front and another looking the other direction.”

One of the photo-takers’ theory is that the Jeep owner left their vehicle running, warming up the engine. The imprint was then left after they backed out of the parking space. The ice was attached to the curb.

MIKA: Great advertising for JEEP

[MIKA27]

US security chief warns shoppers after terror threat

US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has urged people to be vigilant following a terror threat to Western shopping centres, including one of America's largest malls.

He said he took the threat by the Somali-based group al-Shabab seriously.

In a video, the group urged followers to carry out attacks on shopping centres in the US, Canada and the UK.

Al-Shabab was responsible for the 2013 attack on Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.

Mr Johnson told CNN that the threat was part of "a new phase" of terrorism in which attacks would increasingly come from "independent actors in their homelands".

"Anytime a terrorist organisation calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously," he said.

But Mr Johnson added that he was not advising people not to go to the malls named by the militants.

In the video, a man with a British-sounding accent and full face covering calls on supporters of al-Shabab to attack "American or Jewish-owned" Western shopping centres.

He specifically mentions Minnesota's Mall of America - the second-largest US shopping centre - and Canada's West Edmonton Mall, as well as London's Oxford Street and the UK capital's two Westfield shopping centres.

Co-ordinates for the various targets were listed on the screen as they were described.

The BBC's Naomi Grimley in Washington says it is possible that the video is part of a rivalry between al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, and Islamic State, which has dominated media coverage recently.

Al-Shabab killed 67 people in an attack on Kenya's Westgate shopping centre in 2013

UK police said they were aware of the video and assessing the contents.

Both Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall have issued statements saying they were implementing additional security measures.

Minnesota is home to a large Somali population and a Minnesota man was indicted last week on charges of conspiring to support Islamic State.

Police and security services in Canada, France and Denmark have been on high alert recently following attacks by so-called "home-grown" terrorists inspired by groups such as al-Shabab and Islamic State.

[MIKA27]

BEAM SMART PROJECTOR LED BULB

The next time you’ve got something in your phone that you need a group of people to see, instead of suffering panic sweats as each person passes your phone to another, whip out the Beam, a smart projector that fits in any light socket and turns any flat surface into a big screen.

It’s the brainchild of L.A.-based startup Beam Labs, serving as a network-connected, app-enabled pico projector that simply needs a light socket and your mobile device to work. Inside Beam is an Android-running CPU with a 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of built-in storage, two speakers, and an LED ring for typical light bulb use if you need that. It connects easily via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to smartphones, tablets, game controllers, and more. It can be controlled with Apple or Android devices, but its Android DNA lets it run any app available in the Google Play Store, which means streaming Netflix on the bathroom stall door can totally happen. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

GAME OF THRONES MONOPOLY

We were thinking about talking about how combinations of things we love often end up better than the sum of their parts (coffee stout, grilled cheese, bourbon bacon), but then we realized that if there’s anything that requires absolutely no explanation it’s Game of Thrones Monopoly. Monopoly has ruined friendships. Monopoly has started fights. Hell, one side of the family didn’t talk to us for months after we made the mistake of playing Monopoly after holiday dinner. It’s infuriating, satisfying, difficult, fun and those are just a few of the reasons it’s one of the best-selling, most-played board games of all time. Now, Monopoly is available with dragon egg, three-eyed raven, white walker, direwolf, crown and Iron Throne collectible tokens that you use to traverse familiar Game of Thrones locations like Castle Black, Winterfell and King’s Landing. There’s finally a good Game of Thrones way to pass the time between seasons and books.

[MIKA27]

LE CHATEAU DE VIGNY CASTLE

When something dates back to 1507, "vintage" doesn't quite cover it. The Le Chateau de Vigny Castle is a 37,000 square foot medieval masterpiece, set just 30 miles north of Paris. Spread across the 44 acres are two outbuildings, a chapel, and the main house, which was renovated in 1867, and boasts a neo-Gothic design, intricately carved beams on most ceilings, a bright purple iron door, and two bridges spanning the moat. [Purchase for 5.7 Million]

[MIKA27]

Crippled Fukushima Plant Just Leaked Radiation 70 Times What Is Normal

Fukushima is Japan’s radiation nightmare that just won’t go away. Ever since March 2011, the damaged plant has been riddled with leaks and cleanup setbacks. Now Tepco, the operator of the damaged facility, says they have recorded spikes between 50-70 times above average readings in the gutters that pour water into a nearby bay.

Tepco detected the readings at about 10am local time. The Japan Times has more of the finer details and eye-popping numbers behind this new leak:

The levels of beta ray-emitting substances, such as strontium-90, measured 5,050 to 7,230 becquerels per litre of water between 10:20 a.m. and 10:50 a.m. Tepco requires radioactivity levels of groundwater at the plant discharged into the sea to remain below 5 becquerels.

Officials say they have shut the gutter so contaminated water won’t leak into the Pacific Ocean as they continue monitoring the situation. Later in the day, the leak continued but fell dramatically to only 10 to 20 times regular readings. AFP reports that this new problem joins a litany of other leaks as Japan and Tepco continue to struggle with decommissioning the damaged plant.

Not all hope is lost. The International Atomic Energy Agency recently gave Tepco a thumbs up for its clean up efforts just four days ago, but clearly some vulnerabilities remain.

[MIKA27]

New Documents Show Leading Climate Change Denier Is Full Of S**t

New documents obtained by Greenpeace via freedom of information filings show that a leading climate change denier, Wei-Hock Soon, known as Willie, allegedly accepted $US1.2 million over the past 14 years from energy companies and additionally failed to report conflicts of interest in his own research.

Soon is a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (but not actually employed by Harvard at all) who has long claimed that variations in the sun’s energy is the primary reason behind global warming. Sadly, Soon’s close relationship with energy companies isn’t exactly new information. In 2011, Soon faced accusations regarding his funding but claimed the money didn’t impact his research saying he would have even accepted money from Greenpeace had they been offering, according to Reuters.

Now, more documents show that was supposedly a lie. At least 11 papers published since 2008 neglected to mention any ties to energy companies and violated the policies of the publishing journals. The New York Times says that Soon described the papers as “deliverables,” which he completed in exchange for money.

Willie Soon’s reputation as a “scientist” has been under fire for years, but who knows if this new info will finally be the suture that shuts the mouth of one of climate change’s biggest opponents. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center will be internally investigating the issue, which is good news. But this is really my favourite part of NYT’s wordy takedown:

Though he has little formal training in climatology, Dr. Soon has for years published papers trying to show that variations in the sun’s energy can explain most recent global warming. His thesis is that human activity has played a relatively small role in causing climate change.

Many experts in the field say that Dr. Soon uses out-of-date data, publishes spurious correlations between solar output and climate indicators, and does not take account of the evidence implicating emissions from human behaviour in climate change.

Gavin A. Schmidt, head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, a NASA division that studies climate change, said that the sun had probably accounted for no more than 10 per cent of recent global warming and that greenhouse gases produced by human activity explained most of it.

“The science that Willie Soon does is almost pointless,” Dr. Schmidt said.

Damn, Dr. Schmidt isn’t pulling any punches.

So maybe scientists aren’t easily fooled, but there’s a lot of dumb people out there and research like Soon’s creates the illusion of a scientific debate where there really isn’t one.

[MIKA27]

The Insanely Dangerous, Weirdly Meditative Sport of Freediving

Imagine holding your breath for three minutes. Now imagine doing it as you dive to depths of 200 feet or more.

This is routine for freedivers, who push their mind and body to extremes as they hold their breath for minutes at a time while descending far below the surface. It is an intense, isolating pursuit, but Logan Mock-Bunting masterfully captures the world’s best freedivers with photos that highlight the skill, the adventure and, yes, the insanity, of the sport.

Mock-Bunting traveled to the Bahamas in December for the Vertical Blue. The event draws the world’s best divers to the breathtaking Dean’s Blue Hole, which plunges some 663 feet. The competition was part of the “constant weight” discipline in which divers descend and rise under their own power, with weights. Some use fins, but many consider freediving without fins the purest form of diving.

Fish swim around divers as the athletes prepare for their official dives. Divers acclimate in the water, warming up with breathing exercises, stretches and practice descents before their one chance at an official dive a day.

At the moment, the record for constant weight dive with fins stands at nearly 420 feet for men and just past 331 feet for women. Mock-Bunting is himself an amateur freediver who can dive to more than 100 feet, but he limits himself to 60 feet when shooting. He shuns scuba gear, because freediving allows him to move more quickly.

“It’s sorta like trying to cover Lance Armstrong while on a bicycle,” Mock-Bunting said. “I can sorta hang for a while but they’re really in a different league.”

The sport is dangerous. Drowning is, of course, always a risk. But there are others. The ocean exerts tremendous pressure on the lungs as divers descend, and some experience “shallow-water blackout” and lose consciousness during the ascent. People do die freediving, but Mock-Bunting says every event he’s attended has been closely monitored by safety divers and doctors.

Mock-Bunting uses digital cameras and has two ways of keeping his gear safe. He uses an Ikelite Underwater Housing for a Canon EOS 5D Mark II because it can withstand the pressure of deep dives. He usually shoots with a 15mm fisheye or 24mm macro. If he needs flashes, he’ll use one or two Ikelite Substrobe DS160s. The rig can be bulky when it’s sealed in the housing, so if Mock-Bunting isn’t worried about the pressure, he’ll use an ewa-marine bag/housing instead. “The ewa-marine bag sorta reminds me of a heavy-duty Ziplock bag,” he said.

Samo Jeranko stands at the edge of Dean’s Blue Hole.

Alexey Molchanov stands on the edge of Dean's Blue Hole after his 311-foot constant weight no-fins dive. He was disqualified for a surface black-out.

Shooting underwater is a challenge, but Mock-Bunting enjoys it. He particularly likes the added dimension that water creates. The beautiful colors, in constantly changing shades of blue and green, provide a clean background, and the quality of light and depth of field shifts as you descend.

“It’s literally a different medium shooting underwater,” he said.

Some of Mock-Bunting’s most visually striking work captures divers in the midst of competition. But his most compelling images reveal the quiet, intimate moments before the dive. The sport is physically demanding, yes, but it also requires total concentration. “You have to put everything out of your mind and be really present to dive,” he said. “I really love the meditative quality.”

"Sandfalls" occur in Dean's Blue Hole as soft, fine beach sand drops off into the vertical cave/sinkhole.

Evgeny Sychev heads to the surface on his 331-foot constant weight fins dive. He made the dive but was disqualified due to improper surface protocol

Kate Middleton broke her own previous national record for New Zealand by completing a constant weight dive to 223 feet with a dive time of 2 minutes and 31 seconds.

Chris Crawshaw ascends to the surface, successfully completing his 223-foot constant weight no-fins dive.

William Trubridge ascends from a 383-foot dive to win the Vertical Blue 2014 competition at Dean's Blue Hole.

[MIKA27]

2016 LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER EVOQUE

The Range Rover Evoque has already proven itself to be a massive home run for Land Rover since it landed on the scene back in 2011. The brand plans on keeping things that way as it pulls the curtain back on the 2016 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque.

Thankfully the British auto maker has chosen to keep the aesthetics mostly untouched, improving things subtly with updates like a new bumper outfitted with a larger intakes on each corner, slimline LED fog lights, full LED adaptive headlamp technology, bonnet vents, new spoiler, sleek roof fins and 3 different wheel options. The fully capable off-road machine is still available in both coupe and 5-door format, with diesel and gas-powered versions. Buyers looking at the TD3 diesel-powered options can choose from a 148-horsepower setup or a 178-horsepower powerplant. Gas buyers will be treated with 240 ponies of terrain tackling power. More details will be unveiled when the vehicle is officially revealed at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show.

[MIKA27]

THE ULTIMATE CHICKEN ROASTER

The Ultimate Chicken Roaster by Williams-Sonoma promises to roast the world´s juiciest, most flavorful chicken! Roast chicken isn’t always so easy to make, this ingenious contraption makes the whole procedure a breeze, simply push the customizable cavity tongs into your chicken and let the stainless-steel roaster do the rest. The elevated position allows 360° heat circulation, so you´re guaranteed a perfectly cooked, succulent bird with crispy, golden skin.

[MIKA27]

BLUETOOTH BUTTON SERIES BY SATECHI

Satechi have presented the useful Bluetooth Button Series for iOS and Android smartphones, making your phone even more accessible with a single push of a button. The versatile button is available in three options: the "Home Button" - lets you access Siri or Google Voice Search, ask for directions, make calls, have text messages read aloud, check the weather, and more, the "Media Button" - lets you play/pause and forward/backtrack music and other media, and the "Shutter Button" - activates the camera shutter on your smartphone or tablet from up to 40 feet away. All this without reaching for your phone!

[NJP]

New Documents Show Leading Climate Change Denier Is Full Of S**t

New documents obtained by Greenpeace via freedom of information filings show that a leading climate change denier, Wei-Hock Soon, known as Willie, allegedly accepted $US1.2 million over the past 14 years from energy companies and additionally failed to report conflicts of interest in his own research.

Soon is a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (but not actually employed by Harvard at all) who has long claimed that variations in the sun’s energy is the primary reason behind global warming. Sadly, Soon’s close relationship with energy companies isn’t exactly new information. In 2011, Soon faced accusations regarding his funding but claimed the money didn’t impact his research saying he would have even accepted money from Greenpeace had they been offering, according to Reuters.

Now, more documents show that was supposedly a lie. At least 11 papers published since 2008 neglected to mention any ties to energy companies and violated the policies of the publishing journals. The New York Times says that Soon described the papers as “deliverables,” which he completed in exchange for money.

Willie Soon’s reputation as a “scientist” has been under fire for years, but who knows if this new info will finally be the suture that shuts the mouth of one of climate change’s biggest opponents. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center will be internally investigating the issue, which is good news. But this is really my favourite part of NYT’s wordy takedown:

Though he has little formal training in climatology, Dr. Soon has for years published papers trying to show that variations in the sun’s energy can explain most recent global warming. His thesis is that human activity has played a relatively small role in causing climate change.Many experts in the field say that Dr. Soon uses out-of-date data, publishes spurious correlations between solar output and climate indicators, and does not take account of the evidence implicating emissions from human behaviour in climate change.Gavin A. Schmidt, head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, a NASA division that studies climate change, said that the sun had probably accounted for no more than 10 per cent of recent global warming and that greenhouse gases produced by human activity explained most of it.

“The science that Willie Soon does is almost pointless,” Dr. Schmidt said.

Damn, Dr. Schmidt isn’t pulling any punches.

So maybe scientists aren’t easily fooled, but there’s a lot of dumb people out there and research like Soon’s creates the illusion of a scientific debate

.

Now that's rich Greenpeace using the money trail to discredit another's work. Even Patrick Moore limits his comments on Greenpeace. Until government bodies and funded scientists stop using words such as probably, likely and using computer generated models that included the last fifty years as the start over thousand of years I'm sitting on the hot brick fence in summer and a cold one in winter. Warmists don't have the long history on there side yet and the models of warming and water vapour models in relation to CO2 need a little "Piggy" Ray to chime in on a the action of CO2 in relation to abundance or dampening in predicted results.

[MIKA27]

Suunto Ambit2 (HR) Review: The Smartwatch For Badasses

The Suunto Ambit2 (HR) won’t read you your email and doesn’t know Will.i.am’s phone number. But, it will tell you your precise location anywhere on earth and powerfully monitors your physical exertion. How many beers did that climb burn?

What’s It Supposed To Do?

The Ambit2 is designed to be the only device you need for outdoor sports. It features built-in navigation, speed, heart rate, altitude, weather conditions, and features for running, biking, and swimming.

Thousands of Suunto Apps are available which can add new functionalities to the watch – anything from the amount of beers burned off to sleep monitors to alternate data displays while the watch is in-use.

When connected to a computer, the Ambit2 will automatically sync with Suunto’s Movescount platform, which is a community for tracking, planning, and sharing your achievements.

The watch is packed into a glass fibre reinforced casing and has a battery life of 24 hours with GPS, so it’s always adventure-ready.

How’s It Supposed To Do It?

The Ambit2′s combination of hardware features, namely GPS, altimeter, and heart rate monitor allow it to calculate a ton of metrics on the fly, giving users data about their distance, location, speed/pace, elevation, heart rate, calorie burn, and more — at a glance.

Its GPS gives the Ambit2 navigational functions, allowing users to navigate by waypoints or routes, create points of interest, save coordinates, and track back.

The Ambit2 has a FusedAltiTM altimeter, which uses a GPS corrected barometric reading to display a more accurate elevation. Users can choose to display display total ascent/descent, vertical speed, and an altitude graph.

Weather functions feature temperature, sunrise/sunset, a storm alarm, and even tide information.

A digital compass allows users to navigate in more traditional methods when paired with a map, while general functions such as time/dual time, date, and alarm make it incredibly versatile for everyday use.

The Ambit2 uses a proprietary, but well-designed USB cable to sync and charge.

Data is transferred and the watch is charged via an included USB cable. Once plugged in, information from the Ambit2 is automatically synced online with Movescount. There, users can view detailed breakdowns of their activities through the use of interactive charts, bar graphs, and maps.

How Does It Perform?

While the Ambit2 is designed to excel at tracking sports like running, cycling, and swimming, we were primarily interested in testing it in the outdoors. So, we put it to use while trekking and mountaineering in Nepal.

Hardware: Having previously worn only non-GPS watches, the Ambit2 felt huge and bulky (nearly 2″x2″; 0.71″ thick) on my not-so-large wrist. I quickly got used to the size, however; now it feels normal. That being said, its bulk often causes it to snag when taking a backpack on and off; I have to contort my elbow in a weird way to get my arm through the straps.

The construction materials are sturdy. After three months of rugged, continuous use, there are no signs of wear on the rubber strap; no scratches on the mineral crystal lens

The Ambit2′s battery life is great. Suunto claims 24 hours of GPS use on a single charge. In the real world, that translates to about 4-5 full (winter) days of trekking. When not in GPS mode, the watch is supposed to get 30 days of use on a single charge. In practice, it’s long enough that I can easily forget it’s a rechargeable watch. When the battery does get low, it recharges from USB pretty quickly.

Basic Functions: The basic functionalities of the watch have been incredibly useful while travelling abroad. Local time is displayed big and bold. Dual time allows me to keep PST on the forefront too, so I always know if my peers and colleagues are awake when I need to send emails, submit articles, etc. The alarm clock is loud enough to wake me, even after a short night’s rest; it features a snooze button too. The Ambit2 can show the day of the week in addition to the date. The “view” button can be assigned to a shortcut for quick access. The display can be inverted to offer greater visibility in varying conditions.

The Ambit2 displays graphical representations of your elevation profiles on-the-fly.

Activity Tracking: To begin tracking an activity, press the “start” button. Scroll through the list (activities can be added to or removed from the watch through Movescount) and choose the relevant one. Once you select the activity, the Ambit2 will automatically search for both the heart rate monitor and GPS. Once these are located, you’ll get a signal lock notification and can begin tracking your activity. Even if conditions prevent a GPS lock (for instance, due to heavy cloud cover) you can still start the timer on your activity; once a lock is established GPS tracking will automatically begin.

120 hour recovery time? How about 12? Hike. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

While tracking, a plethora of information is available on the fly. In trekking mode, the primary view will feature distance, with a small timer on top. The lower part of the display can be cycled through to show other information including pace, speed, elevation, and time. Hitting the “next” button will take you to the altimeter. The lower part of the display here can be cycled through to show total ascent, total descent, or climbing speed. The next display shows an elevation graph. The next: heartrate monitor. Here, you can view your heart beats per minute, calories burned, and Peak Training Effect (PTE.) The final display is the compass.

In climbing mode, most of the information is the same as in trekking mode, but priority is given to the altimeter functions.

All of this information is not only interesting, but it can be incredibly useful for adapting trip itineraries on the fly, and for planning acclimation if venturing into high-altitude country or climbing.

The FusedAltiTM seemed to be pretty accurate, but not perfect. The summit of Island Peak read as 20,220′, when in reality it’s actually 20,305′. While trekking, it was close enough to give you a general idea of where you were at though

The GPS seemed pretty accurate too, though tracking would sometimes be interrupted in areas with cloud cover; sometimes even when it was clear. On longer days, however, I would notice discrepancies in distance travelled between the Ambit2 and the InReach Explorer, which was simultaneously tracking my treks. The greatest of these I noticed when coming down from the Langtang Valley. The Ambit2 noted my final distance for the day at 16.26 miles, while the InReach Explorer read closer to 20 miles. Some of this distance discrepancy could be attributed to user error (the InReach is always running, while I’ll often pause the Ambit2 when I stop; sometimes don’t remember to turn it back on once I start moving again.)

The need to manually pause the watch when stopping leads me to another point: The Auto-Pause feature on the Ambit 2 just doesn’t work that well while trekking. I imagine that while running, it works great. There’s a big difference between hitting the pavement at a 6 minute/mile pace and waiting for a stoplight. However, when trekking, speed varies greatly depending on the presence of technical features on the trail. Auto-pause would often stop the watch when I was still moving. This was frustrating and threw me off my groove, so I disabled it.

Navigation: I’ve never found GPS navigators all that useful. Instead, I prefer to do things the old-fashioned way: using a detailed topographical map and navigating by natural features and a compass when necessary. Oftentimes, it seems that finding GPX tracks for a particular trek is futile. If you can find GPX tracks, chances are that the trail is heavily-trafficked enough that you won’t need a GPS anyway. As such, I didn’t find this functionality of the watch all that useful for preplanning. However, the ability to set Points of Interest (POIs) could be really useful for marking and navigating back to discoveries in the wilderness.

The compass however is a great feature and in my testing regions, it proved to be very accurate. Zero degrees perfectly centered me on the North Star, allowing me to set up the above shot

23:31 of “Maximal” effort exerted. 3:20 of “Hard;” 1:26 of “Very Hard.” I’d say that’s a good day.

The Ambit2′s hardware is robust, but that’s only half its story. The ability to add apps lends to some powerful adaptability. Additionally, Movescount is a feature-rich, yet easy-to-use platform for discovering more about your activities. There are tons of interactive graphs and charts that provide really detailed statistics from everything to recovery time to Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) Peak, to the highest point reach and distance traveled. All of that information is useful for tracking your fitness and it’s fun to look back on.

The routes from your activities are plotted on Google Maps and the tracks can be exported to a route planner for sharing or future use.

Adventure Ready?

The Suunto Ambit2 is a powerful, feature-rich computer-on-your-wrist. Though it’s bulky, it’s well-made. It has a ton of features that make it invaluable for tracking activities in the backcountry; its battery life allows it keep going when previous generations’ GPS watches would long be dead (though, if on longer treks, you’ll still need to carry some kind of recharger in order to utilise the GPS mode every day).

Though there seemed to be some slight inaccuracies in the tracking data, those kinds of things are to be expected when using sensitive electronic gear out in the wilderness. They weren’t enough to cause alarm, and were balanced out by the extreme usefulness of this particular piece of gear. Perhaps best of all, the Ambit2 can be picked up right now for about $US250 – over $US150 off retail, making this watch an incredible value.

About the Author: Chris Brinlee Jr. (The guy with the Werewolf arms) is an adventurer and storyteller who is currently travelling around the world. Follow his journey on Instagram: @chrisbrinleejr.

[MIKA27]

The Isolated Vault That Could Store Our Data On DNA For Two Million Years

Inside a permafrost-encrusted mountain below the Arctic circle sits the seed bank that could be humanity’s last hope during a global food crisis. This month, scientists suggested that this unassuming vault is the ideal space for preserving the world’s data on DNA.

This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a bunker on the Arctic island of Svalbard, which for the past seven years has amassed almost a half million seed samples from all over the world. The idea is to use the naturally freezing, isolated environment of the far north to preserve the world’s plant life and agricultural diversity — which, of course, is under threat by climate change and disaster. If a food crisis occurs, the vault could provide the seeds that repopulate parts of the world.

But it could potentially preserve much more than seeds. A study in the German chemistry journalAngewandte Chemie this month details the quest to find out how long data stored on DNA could be preserved, and also suggests the vault as the ideal storage location.

Writing Words on Artificial Fossils

Scientists have experimented with encoding data onto DNA for years, making progress in leaps and bounds (you can read an excellent in-depth description over on io9).

Because DNA can last for hundreds of thousands of years under the right conditions (think: fossils), it could do a much better job of storing our digital data than conventional methods like flash drives or CDs. It’s also tiny: As New Scientist points out, a single gram of DNA can store “all the data held by Google, Facebook and every other major tech company.” Still, questions remain about the process — like how long encoded DNA really can last.

That was the question the five-author team from Zurich’s Swiss Federal Institute of Technology set to answer in the study published in Angewandte Chemie. They tested three different dry storage methods, using a sample of text (the Swiss federal charter from the 13th century and the 10th century Archimedes Palimpsest, together 83kb) and putting it through “accelerated ageing” to see how it decayed. What they found was that the DNA’s survival was dependent on two factors: Temperature and water concentration.

The storage method that kept water molecules away best involved encasing the DNA in silica — or glass. This novel process was developed by the team to mimic the way that fossilised bone preserved DNA, as the authors explain:

In ancient fossil bone, DNA has the greatest chance of survival if encapsulated within apatite/collagen structures and crystal aggregates, which protect the solid DNA from the environment and humidity — very similar to the encapsulation of DNA within the inorganic silica particles utilized here.

By encasing the DNA in glass, it gave it the best chance of lasting — just like fossilised bone does in nature. Another thing that helps? Cool temperatures. The study found that silica-encased DNA lasted longer as the temperatures dropped. For example, they calculate that DNA stored this way at 9.48C could last for 2000 years.

Then they extrapolated their findings even further. If this silica-encased DNA were stored in the Svalbard Seed Vault, which is kept at -18C, it could last “for over 2 million years,” they write.

The Cold, Dark Days of Data

So that bunker in the Arctic could be the key to preserving our digital world as we know it.

The authors aren’t really suggesting we encrypt all your Facebook photos on DNA and put them next to rice seeds and varieties of nuts; besides, DNA storage is still way too expensive to be mainstream. But they are pointing to the Seed Vault as an example of our best bet for preserving life on Earth as we know it — through architecture.

If the power goes out at the Seed Vault, for example, the temperature of the surrounding landscape will keep its samples cool. And even if climate change alters the environment on Svalbard, the vault is deep enough inside the mountainside that it will stay cool.

Crucially, it was also designed to withstand the changing tides — because it’s built hundreds of feet above sea level, it will stay dry as the oceans rise.

Vault construction

Every other design detail was carefully considered for security, too — from reinforced doors to the entrance, designed specifically to be visible to the outside world. “We decided early on that there is no point in trying to hide this facility from the public,” said the vault’s project manager when the architectural plans were released. “Instead we will rely on its presence being well-known in the local community, so if the public sees something suspicious, they will react to it.”

So it’s isolated from the rest of the world, but easy to find in the vast white landscape. It’s naturally cool, and dry, and blast-proof to the core. It’s strange to imagine that the world’s crop diversity depends on a bunker with the footprint roughly the size of four average American homes, wedged into a mountainside in the far north.

But as the Angewandte Chemie study reveals, Svalbard is becoming an architectural precedent for scientists and engineers from a huge array of fields.

In the future, we might see more bunkers mimic it to preserve other aspects of life as we know it — a string of glowing concrete bunkers dotting the Arctic circle like some kind of 21st century DEW Line.

Check out the full study, available to rent from Angewandte Chemie, or read New Scientist’s synopsis here.