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

[MIKA27]

POPPY POUR-OVER COFFEE MACHINE

Artisanal coffee doesn't have to be a lot of work. The Poppy Pour-Over Coffee Machine makes it as simple as a normal coffee maker. It features a built-in hopper that holds 1.25 pounds of beans, and a built-in burr grinder so you can wait to grind until you're ready, ensuring maximum freshness.

A 50 oz. water reservoir lets you make up to four servings without refilling, a charcoal filter cleans your water, and best of all, you can adjust the machine's settings right from the Wink app, saving your favorites and sharing them too. And when it's time to order beans and filters, the machine can take care of that, too, with Amazon delivering more before you even need them.

[MIKA27]

E.H. TAYLOR CURED OAK BOURBON

Leave it to the fine folks at Buffalo Trace to continue to release unique and experimental bourbons to make our mouths water. E.H. Taylor Cured Oak is the latest, and it's nothing short of special, and rare. For the seventh release in the Taylor line, the barrel staves spent twice as much time outside drying in the open air than normal, which eventually allowed the whiskey to extract even more complex flavors that lie deep within the white oak. It aged for 17 years in the famous brick and limestone Taylor warehouse, which was built back in 1881. It's 100 proof and undoubtedly unique, but after 17 years in the barrel, there won't be nearly enough to go around.

[Phillys]

Hey Mika,this thread is amazing, keep up the great posts! Going to crack 20K soon. I keep an open tab during the day for idle time, always a great read.

[MIKA27]

Hey Mika,this thread is amazing, keep up the great posts! Going to crack 20K soon. I keep an open tab during the day for idle time, always a great read.

Thank you for reading!! The number of views is overwhelming hence why I keep posting, not to mention the number of PM's I get. Always nice to see.

[MIKA27]

THE 7,000 YEAR OLD FOREST

Extending nearly 1.2 million square miles across Belarus and Poland, the 7,000 year old Białowieża Forest is home to more than 12,000 distinct species of plants and animals. Comprising the largest, and one of the last holdouts of, primeval forest in Europe, the Białowieża has been designated a World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations.

As it straddles them both, Poland and Belarus each play a large role in protecting the forest. On the Polish side, the territory has been designated as the Białowieża National Park, while in Belarus, it is protected under the name of Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park. Open to the public, well over 100,000 people visit the old forest each year.

As you might expect given it’s still around today, protecting the forest is a very old tradition. As far back as the 1300s, hunting rights were being limited, and in 1538, King Sigmund I imposed the penalty of death upon anyone who poached a bison in the region. By 1541, it was declared a bison preserve, and in 1557, the first charter was issued establishing a board of overseers. By royal decree in 1639, all peasants in the forest who agreed to care for it were set free and became exempt from all taxes.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, when Russia, Prussia and Austria divvied up Poland amongst themselves, the tsars began meddling with the Białowieża and its people. Hunters were allowed into the forest and the population of bison dropped by 3/5 in just 15 years; in response, Tsar Alexander re-instituted the reserve, and within a few decades, the bison population had rebounded. At one point, Tsar Alexander II instituted a program to rid the forest of predators, and lynx, bears and wolves were all hunted to extinction.

During World War I, all of the forest’s bison were killed by German and Soviet soldiers, as well as poachers, and the ancient forest remained unprotected until 1921, when it was again declared a national reserve, and its bison stock was re-populated from zoo animals.

During World War II some vainly sought refuge in the forest, and the graves of those killed by the German Gestapo can still be seen there.

Home to some of the oldest trees in Europe, many of Białowieża’s oaks have names including Great Mamamuszi (112 feet), The King of Nieznanowo (125 feet), Emperor of the South (130 feet) and The Guardian of Zwierzyniec (121 feet).

Notably, strategic and highly regulated logging is permitted in much of the forest. Most of the fruits of that labor are used locally for building and heating.

In addition to its majestic old growth, the Biłowieża also boasts river valleys, wetlands and meadows that together support a collection of complex food webs. Large carnivores have returned and include wolves and lynx as well as otters. In addition, 56 other mammal species, 13 types of amphibians, 7 reptile species and over 250 kinds of birds inhabit the site.

Among the forest’s birds, there are 8 different species of woodpecker. Beaver are also active in the Białowieża, to the point that every 6 or 7 years, their work reshapes the landscape. Notably, the bison heard that had to be re-introduced after World War I now boasts more than 900 members.

One of the most remarkable facts about the forest, however, is that it is home to 12,000+ distinct invertebrate species, over half of which inhabit decaying logs on the forest’s floor. Notably, the forest also boasts 1,500 species of fungus including tinder, tinder polypore, ice man and hoof. Together, they work slowly on the rotting wood, such that it can take 40 years for a single log to be consumed.

The strong protection provided to the Białowieża is necessary to preserve many threatened plants and animals, including four species of eagle: Golden, Greater Spotted, Booted and Lesser Spotted. Other forest species at risk include the Dwarf, River and Silver Birches, the Eurasian Elk, Beaver, Otter and Eagle-owl, the Norway Maple, the Grey Wolf, the Red Deer, White and Black Storks, the Lynx, the Grey and Swamp Willows, the Pedunculate Oak and the Wild Boar.

Bonus Facts:

• The oldest known non-cloned tree is a 5,000-year old unnamed bristlecone pine found in the White Mountains of California; its neighbor, Methuselah, a nearly 4,900 year old bristlecone pine in the Inyo National Forest in California, held the title until 2013.
• The 4,000 year old Llangernyw Yew in Wales is, remarkably, still growing, and the oldest tree east of the Mississippi is a 3,500-year-old cypress named The Senator who resides in Florida.
• All of these are babies compared with the 9,550-year-old Spruce Gran Picea of Sweden, which is a clone that was produced from the same root branch shared with many others over millennia.
• The granddaddy of all, the oldest living thing in the world, is Siberian bacteria found in an ice core; these microbes are somewhere between 400,000 and 600,000 years old.

[NJP]

Looking at the Cadillac I think Aussies get a look at the GM, Cadillac and Holden design replacement for our commodore in 2017ish. Drop a V8 in and loose the bells and whistles and your done.

[polarbear]

Looking at the Cadillac I think Aussies get a look at the GM, Cadillac and Holden design replacement for our commodore in 2017ish. Drop a V8 in and loose the bells and whistles and your done.

I'd be ok with that

Personally, if they brought a RHD version of the Cadillac over here to replace the Statesman I'd be interested in one

Especially if they do a 2 door coupe version...

[MIKA27]

Lawsuit: Helicopter Pilot Crashed After Fooling Around On FaceTime

A helicopter pilot was goofing off on FaceTime shortly before a fatal crash, according to a lawsuit filed by a surviving passenger.

The plaintiff, Jonathan Desouza, was getting a flying lesson from pilot Luis Aviles through Palm Beach Helicopters last December when things went horribly wrong. The helicopter crashed while Aviles was showing Desouza a simulated emergency situation that quickly turned into a real one. The lawsuit characterises Aviles’ actions as “grossly negligent” and describes how he played around with his iPhone as he controlled the helicopter:

According to the suit, Aviles was playing around with his phone before the crash, FaceTiming when he should have been paying attention.

Now, this is Desouza’s word against a dead man’s, and nothing has been proven. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, but says it could take over a year to determine why the crash went down. Its preliminary report doesn’t mention anything about the phone as a factor.

But pilots playing around with personal tech in the cockpit has been a problem for a while, and even though the FAA banned personal electronics in cockpits last year, it hasn’t stopped distracted flying tragedies from taking place. A few months ago, federal investigators discovered that the pilot of a small plane had crashed because he was distracted taking selfies and using his phone.

[MIKA27]

Why We Need A Better Way To Kill Satellites

2465. That’s the number of satellites that are whipping gracefully around the Earth as you read this.

Of those, only 1100 are actually active. The rest are either unresponsive or inactive — essentially, space junk. Here’s another number: 21,000. That’s the number of fragments — at least 4 inches wide — that are currently being tracked as they orbit the Earth too. There are probably millions of smaller pieces, says the European Space Agency. These fragments are often the result of in-orbit collisions between satellites and space debris, sending thousands of pieces of what amounts to shrapnel into orbit.

Very, very fast shrapnel.

It creates an extraordinarily dangerous situation for astronauts and spacecraft in orbit. And as more and more entities, both private national, launch satellites, it’s becoming a big problem. “Ultimately, space is a finite resource,” wrote the European Space Agency recently. “Highly prized for Earth observation missions and some types of telecom satellites, low orbit has grown increasingly crowded.”

Death With Dignity

As life in Earth’s orbit gets more crowded, it also gets more dangerous. That’s why the ESA launched a project called the CleanSat Initiative, a program that’s looking for ideas to help “scuttle” satellites when their lives have ended — and, ultimately, write those ideas into law that would require companies to comply.

This could mean removing them entirely from orbit, or removing them them from the busiest substrate of orbit. For example, many retired satellites are currently moved much higher into “graveyard orbit” where they will do less harm. As io9 wrote last year, it’s “where satellites go to die.”

But even that solution has its limits. Not all dead or dying satellites can be moved higher — for any number of reasons — and plenty are already defunct. Last week, we looked at SNAP-10A, the nuclear reactor satellite that the US launched into space in the 1960s, only to have its electrical systems fail less than two months into its mission. NASA predicts it will orbit for another 3,000 years.

In short, the ESA wants to find a faster, more reliable way to push old satellites either down to Earth or up into the graveyard orbit. It’s now asking private companies to collaborate on ideas for such a plan, and will ultimately chose 25 concepts to focus on over the coming years.

Solar Sails and Satellite Cemeteries

Though the ESA has yet to release its finalised brief, it’s clearly focusing on several key concepts.

One is a solar sail — which uses the force of the sun’s radiation a bit like a boat’s sails use wind — that could actually pull old satellites down to Earth. That was the concept presented by a German company called High Performance Space Structure Systems at the ESA’s CleanSat workshop in March.

What would happen when the satellite reaches Earth? Well, the idea would be to control its descent — the way that plenty of spacecraft have been quietly crashed over the years. For example, in 2012, a supply and research craft called Progress started a controlled descent towards the Earth, landing in a patch of ocean that’s colloquially known as the “spacecraft cemetery”.

Yes, you read that right — there’s a spacecraft cemetery in the middle of the Pacific ocean. At RT.com andBLDGBLOG explained a few years ago, many ageing spacecraft have been deposited here over the years:

It is used to deposit the remains of spacecraft that do not burn up on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, such as the carcass of the Russian Mir space station and waste-filled cargo ships. The remote location was specially selected for the disposal of spacecraft because of its depth of four km and distance from shipping lanes.

If the ESA were to develop a solar sail that could push dead satellites down to Earth, it could also do so in a controlled way, depositing their remains over the cemetery rather than over a populated area.

The Final Frontier

Funnily enough, the process of getting satellites out of space is now the frontier. But it’s not a new problem, by any means. NASA, for example, has been trying to solve this problem since the early 1980s. It’s even written into the US National Space Policy: “decades of space activity have littered Earth’s orbit with debris; and as the world’s space-faring nations continue to increase activities in space, the chance for a collision increases correspondingly. As the leading space-faring nation, the United States is committed to addressing these challenges.”

Research satellite GOCE re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere in 2013. Most of the debris burned up, but about a quarter of the satellite “slammed into the Atlantic ocean between Antarctica and South America.

Other government agencies around the world — including the ESA — have similar policies written into law. But that ignores a big chunk of the groups launching things into orbit these days: Private companies. A big part of what the ESA is trying to do with CleanSat isn’t just develop better ways to get rid of old satellites, it’s looking for better ways that private companies will actually adhere to. It’s “the problem of achieving compliance with mitigation regulations,” as the ESA said last week. NASA, too, says that “Many firms voluntarily adhere to measures” designed to limit debris.

It’s an aspect of space law that’s coming to a head as more companies push into orbit. And it’s far from the only legal aspect of space travel that’s up for debate — whether or not the FAA can regulate space travel is another major legal rat’s nest that’s due to be untangled over the next few years as commercial space tourism gets off the ground. Likewise, the issue of mining rights, as well as development rights, on asteroids and even the Moon is another thorny issue up for debate.

Space law sounds like a sci-fi job title, but it’s fast becoming a very real thing.

[MIKA27]

This Watch's Random Mess Of Numbers Still Manages To Perfectly Tell Time

The weapons race in the world of complicated mechanical watches inches towards a horological doomsday as DeWitt reveals its new Academia Mathematical that replaces a pair of hands with a visible hodge-podge of numbered dials — which somehow manage to continually align themselves to perfectly display the time throughout the day.

To be clear, the watch isn’t any more accurate than other mechanical timepieces on the market. It only has a 48-hour power reserve, and it can’t even display the date. But what it does offer is a 384-piece assembly that results in a truly unique way to display the time on your wrist.

Its numbered dials are partially obscured by a darkened sapphire panel featuring a pair of strategically-placed holes, allowing the wearer to see the current hour and minute. As time progresses the dials spin and the numbers jump into position as needed. Is the unique approach more a gimmick than a practical feature? Of course it is. But it’s a gimmick that’s unique to DeWitt, and that’s why watch collectors will probably drop tens of thousands of dollars on the piece when it’s available later this year.

[MIKA27]

This Photo Of Flying F-16s Looks So Perfect I Can't Believe It's Real

What a perfect picture. The timing is perfect, the angle is perfect, the sky is perfect, the F-16 Fighting Falcons are perfect. I mean, the photo is so perfect that it almost doesn’t feel real. Like they have been CGI’d to look like that. Or that they’re toy models strung in the air. But, nope, they’re real. And they’re spectacular.

The picture was taken by US Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christine Griffiths. The US Air Force explains the photo:

Two F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy, fly over Europe on March 20, 2015. The aircraft were participating in a training sortie with the Estonian air force. They also participated in additional, unrelated training with the Finnish and Swedish air forces.

[MIKA27]

People Jump On Cars For Money All The Time

So, apparently people jumping in front of cars and feigning injuries for money is a thing. But now, tough times have befallen these con artists, thanks to the fact that video cameras are literally everywhere.

Why is this so prevalent in Asian countries? And are these people serious to believe their claim can be proven when looking at this video, there are so many multiple witnesses and ahmmm... the fact that a lot of these people are never actually hit in the first place?

[MIKA27]

For 50 Years Now, The US Has Had A Nuclear Reactor Orbiting In Space

Exactly half a century ago this week, a rocket shot off from the California coast. It carried the US’ first and only (known) space nuclear reactor, SNAP-10A, which has been circling the Earth ever since and will continue to circle for another 3000 years.

Back in the 1960s, NASA ran a Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) program to study nuclear power’s potential in space exploration. This program sent up the first radioisotope thermoelectric generators, a technology still used in space probes like Voyager and Curiosity today. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators aren’t nuclear reactors, though. They simply harness the heat from a decaying element, such as plutonium-238.

SNAP 10-A was different. SNAP 10-A was actually a functioning reactor with a controlled fission reaction inside. It contained enough uranium fuel to produce up to 600W of power for a year. Twelve hours after take off on 3 April, 1965, it settled into orbit 500km above Earth and humans back on the ground remotely switched on the reactor.

At first, things went well. But 43 days into the mission, electrical systems on the satellite carrying it failed and the reactor shut down. It’s still up there orbiting. Given its current trajectory, NASA expects it to stay in orbit for another 3000 years.

But it’s getting crowded up there. In November 1979, SNAP-10A suffered an “anomalous event” and the parent satellite begins shedding pieces. “Six more anomalous events occur in the next six years, releasing nearly 50 trackable pieces. Release of radioactives is possible but not confirmed,” reads a NASA report. These events were not documented in more detail, but they may have included a collision.

Since SNAP-10A, NASA has toyed with nuclear reactors in space, most notably the SP-100 starting the 70s. But funding issues and safety concerns terminated the program. The US has only SNAP-10A, but Russia has sent dozens of satellites with nuclear reactors into space, the most notorious of which crashed andscattered radioactive debris all over Canada in 1978.

So that’s one reason why sending nuclear reactors into space is not such a great idea.

[MIKA27]

The $400,000 F-35 Pilot Helmet Can See Through The Pilot's Aircraft

This is one of the priciest pieces of pilots’ head gear ever constructed. The F-35 Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS), with the tremendous price tag of $US400,000, is so advanced that it lets pilots see through their own airframe.

According to Lockheed Martin and manufacturer Rockwell Collins this piece of integrated hardware and software is “the world’s most advanced biocular helmet-mounted display system”, designed to provide pilots with revolutionary situational awareness:

All the information pilots need to complete their missions — airspeed, heading, altitude, targeting information and warnings — is projected on the helmet’s visor, rather than on a traditional Heads-up Display. This approach greatly reduces the pilot’s workload and increases responsiveness. Additionally, the F-35’s Distributed Aperture System (DAS) streams real-time imagery from six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft to the helmet, allowing pilots to “look through” the airframe. The helmet also provides pilots night vision through the use of an integrated camera.

Its main features include:

• Biocular, 30-by-40-degree wide-field-of-view with 100 per cent overlap
• Virtual head-up display
• Look-through-aircraft capability via DAS imagery
• High accuracy tracking with auto-boresighting
• Active noise reduction (ANR)
• Digital night vision sensor
• Ejection capability to 550 KEAS (circa 633 MPH)
• Lightweight and well balanced helmet
• Custom helmet liner for precise fit and comfort
• Multiple interpupillary distance (IPD) settings
• Video recording
• Picture in picture
• Compatible with eyeglasses and laser eye protection (LEP) devices

[MIKA27]

Russian Nuclear Submarine Goes Up In Flames

The disaster aboard the Orel is just the latest in a string of mishaps aboard Russia’s nuclear fleet.

It happened again: a Russian nuclear submarine caught fire. Reports said that the blaze was a result of welding repairs on the vessel, christened the Orel, which was parked in a shipyard for maintenance in the Arctic town of Severodvinsk. The rescue operation took hours, as people were evacuated while the Orel continued to burn. Luckily, the Orel’s reactor was shut off prior to the accident, according to the Tass media agency, which reported that there were no weapons or nuclear fuel on board the sub at the time of the fire.

The Orel has the same design as the famous nuclear submarine the Kursk, which tragically sank in the Barents Sea in the year 2000, with a crew of 118 on board, as well as active reactors and combat weapons.

On Tuesday, firefighters struggled to extinguish the Orel’s rubber insulation material, which had caught on fire between the submarine’s exterior and interior hulls. The shipyard rescuers decided to fill the dry dock up with sea-water in order to contain the blaze.

Orel is just the latest in a long history of accidents and catastrophes aboard Russia’s nuclear submarines. In 2011, repairs caused a fire on the nuclear sub Yekathernburg, injuring nine people. In January 2012, a worker accidentally set the nuclear submarine Gepard on fire in Alexandrovka, also during maintenance. And in September 2013, the Tomsk was engulfed in a fire after it docked at Bolshoy Kamen.

In the case of the doomed Kursk, conspiracy theories blossomed after the attack, with Russian admirals claiming for months afterwards that Americans had torpedoed the submarine. During the days immediately following the disaster, as the sailors were possibly still alive and trapped on the seabed, Russia refused to accept help offered by the U.S., Norway and Great Britain. Eventually, Norwegian divers were allowed to reach the vessel, nine days after it sank; by that time, though, all 118 sailors and officers had perished.

Russia was badly shaken by the Kursk tragedy. Months afterwards, a letter was discovered that had been written by Captain-Lieutenant Dmitry Kolesnikov, listing the names of 23 sailors who had managed to survive for at least two and a half days in a compartment of the submarine. Meanwhile, the conspiracy theory that the Kursk had collided with a foreign vessel eventually faded away after a government commission released a report explaining that the Kursk had gone down because of a torpedo fuel leak that caused an explosion on board.

State Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov was not surprised to hear about another accident on a nuclear submarine on Tuesday. “A private aircraft crashed on runway with a snowplow, millions of scientific documents burned in the center of Moscow, a leading opposition politician got shot next to the Kremlin wall—these are examples of a repressive and corrupt political system, which causes catastrophes in all spheres on all levels,” Gudkov said.

“On my recent visit on a nuclear missile carrier, I asked if the vessel was combat-ready,” Gudkov added. “It turned out that millions of dollars were needed to fix that vessel and at least six months of work, but there is no transparent mechanism to control state money and prevent theft.”

Russia is thought to have the world’s biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons. The military doctrine signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last December states that “Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear weapons or any other types of weapons of mass destruction against Russia.” To fulfill this strategy, the Russian navy has been fixing and upgrading 10 older nuclear submarines; the Orel was one of them.

“Huge money is being invested in new Borey-class nuclear submarines, able to carry Bulava missiles. But it takes a long time to deploy them: they started building the first one in the series, Dmitry Dolgorukiy in 1996 and finished only now,” said Alexander Golts, an independent military expert. “The Russian military-industrial complex often demonstrates the worst of Soviet practices.”

Golts added that the fire on the Orel was “nothing surprising.”

[MIKA27]

MOD TABLET 2 LIFESTYLE ORGANIZER

After first popping onto our radar with their Stash iPhone 6 Case, the crew at the LA-based This Is Ground is back with another gem in the Mod 2 Lifestyle Organizer.

Serving as a follow up to the original Mod, the second iteration has been updated to accommodate your evolving lifestyle needs. Fusing form and function flawlessly, this lifestyle organizer was hand crafted from genuine leather out of the brand’s California headquarters, and features a configuration setup that can be customized along with a magnetic spine to haul all of your daily EDC comfortably and securely. The case retails for $300, and based on how quickly the team managed to sell out all of their pre-orders, we imagine this product will be another home run. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

CAFFLANO KLASSIC PORTABLE COFFEE MAKER

For the coffee enthusiast, the liquid pain found inside the office coffee pot is usually not even worth its free asking price. If you’d like to make high-level fresh coffee for yourself at work or anywhere really, the Cafflano Klassic portable coffee maker should be on your short list.

The complete package fits inside a sturdy tumbler, with a drip kettle, hand mill grinder, metal filter dripper, and the insulated cup being all you need to brew your own. Just grind your beans (about 20g per cup is suggested), pour in the hot water, and before you can even look down on your co-workers coffee habits, you’re ready to sip your way to satisfaction. It’s portable and could make your dull office job refreshingly doable once again. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

BLACK PHOTOGRAPHY APP FOR IPHONE

It takes talent to pull off a truly beautiful black and white photograph; the kind of talent most of us don’t possess, especially when it involves snapping pics with an iPhone. But BLACK is a new app that promises to turn any picture into a B&W gem.

The app helps your photos resemble some of the all-time best B&W analog films, with 10 accurately generated, real B&W film filters including FUJI Neopan 400, Kodak TRI-x 400, Ilford HP5, Lomography Lady Grey 400, Shanghai GP3 100, Tura P400, ORWO N15, and more. You can swipe to choose the effect you want, or use an array of pro tools – Curves, Fade and Vignette – to manually adjust the image for a custom finish. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

The Strange Tale of the Woman From Nowhere

History is littered with cases of people who have mysteriously disappeared, but what are less common are the cases that go the other way around. What of people who mysteriously appear, with no known identity and no clues as to where they came from?

What do we make of these enigmatic people who emerge from obscurity and into our world without explanation or any hint of who they are, as if they had never existed at all? One case from Norway certainly poses this question; a dead woman with no known background, no known previous history, no known killer, and an identity that has remained shrouded in mystery to this day.

On 29 November 1970, in the Isdalen Valley, in Bergen, Norway, also known as Norway’s “Death Valley,” an unidentified woman was found dead. The body was stumbled upon by a professor out for a day of hiking with his two daughters, on a remote hiking trail obscured by some jagged rocks. The woman was naked, and the horrified hikers were able to ascertain that the body was partially charred. Scattered about the corpse were found an empty bottle of liquor, a packed lunch, around a dozen pink sleeping pills strewn about, and two bottles full of gasoline. Police would later discover a badly burned passport in the vicinity as well. The hikers called the Bergen police, and an investigation was mounted, sparking one of the most perplexing and mysterious criminal cases in Norway’s history, and indeed in the world.

The Isdalen Valley of Norway

The initial autopsy ruled that the mystery woman had died of a combination of carbon monoxide poisoning and burns, and a blood analysis showed evidence that a large amount of sleeping pills had been taken before death. On the woman’s neck was a serious bruise that suggested some sort of blunt force trauma to the neck. An odd feature of the body was that the woman’s fingerprints had been completely sanded off. At the time, although the removed fingerprints were certainly odd, it seemed like a pretty open and shut case. The woman, whoever she was, had obviously gone out into the forest and committed suicide via sleeping pills, simple as that. Yet the mystery would only deepen from there.

Police eventually linked the woman to two suitcases they found at a Bergen train station, and the contents turned up several odd finds. For one, all fingerprints had been meticulously, and obviously intentionally, removed. A look at the clothing contained within the suitcases showed that all of the labels had been taken off of every single item, and that the garments were of an elegant Italian design. There was also a prescription for an unidentified lotion, but oddly, the date and the name of the doctor had been removed. Within a hidden lining of the suitcase was found 500 Deutsche Marks. Also found in one of the suitcases was some broken glass that bore partial fingerprints, although they were not enough to glean an identification from. A journal was found among the various belongings as well, but rather than normal entries it contained only a series of incomprehensible codes. Other miscellaneous belongings found in the suitcases included a wig, several eyeglasses with no prescriptions, and silver spoons. There was also a postcard with a picture from a famous Italian photographer.

Puzzled, police decided to make composite sketches of what they believed the woman might look like in life based on the appearance of her corpse and descriptions of witnesses. These sketches were released to a number of news agencies and also given out to INTERPOL in several countries, in the hope of gaining some insight into who she was. Once this was done, eyewitnesses who recognized the woman began to trickle in, and the mystery deepened even further.

A sketch of the Isdal woman

It was discovered that the mystery woman had been travelling under nine different aliases; Jenevive Lancia, Claudia Tjelt, Vera Schlosseneck, Claudia Nielsen, Alexia Zarna-Merchez, Vera Jarle, Finella Lorck and Elizabeth Leen Hoywfer, all of which were found to be fake. Some sightings of the woman described her as wearing several different kinds of wigs, and it was claimed that she had been fluent in French, German, English and Flemish. The weird codes that had been found in the journal were deciphered, and proved to be the coordinates of places it was suspected she had visited, encompassing several areas around Norway and Europe. Dental analysis of the corpse showed that she had also had dental work done in Latin America, although this location was not among those found in the journal’s codes.

As for her stay in Bergen, it was found that the woman had stayed in several hotels in the area, and had exhibited rather odd behavior. It was said that she was prone to changing her room several times after checking in, and that at one point she had vehemently insisted on a room with a balcony. Other details were found by checking through check-in records. It was found that she had identified herself as a travelling saleswoman and antiquities dealer, and that the name she had used to check-in with was a false alias. It was also discovered through room service records that the woman had been fond of porridge with milk, a dish that she had ordered at several establishments. The woman was described as being an attractive brunette in her 30s, and around 164cm tall. Witnesses claimed she kept mostly to herself and did not speak to anyone, although one claimed to have overheard her say “Ich komme bald” (“I am coming soon”). She was also described as being somewhat guarded, and that she was a heavy smoker. The final sighting of the woman alive was when she checked out of room 407 of Hotel Marlin, paying cash and then riding off in a taxi.

Weirdly, for all of the witnesses who came forward claiming to recognize the woman from the pictures, not one family member, friend, relative, or anyone who knew her personally made themselves known. The closest thing police got to this was a startling case of serendipity, when it was discovered that the photographer whose postcard had been in the woman’s suitcase had actually taken her out on a dinner date at the Hotel Alexandra in Loen. When questioned about the woman’s identity, the photographer claimed that she had told him she was from a small village near Johannesburg, South Africa, and that she had made the cryptic statement that she had only 6 months to see the most beautiful places in Norway. Although certainly intriguing, this information would ultimately prove to not be particularly useful. Although the photographer had been accused and acquitted of rape in a previous unrelated case, he was not considered a suspect and was sent on his way. In the end, not one person who knew the woman personally came forward, and not one of her various aliases were found to be an actual real name.

The case got even stranger when a man eventually came forward saying that he had seen the woman on 24 November, 5 days before the body was found. The 26 year-old local man claimed that he had been out hiking with friends when they spotted a foreign woman wandering out in the forest. She was described as looking as if she were in a panic, and she had been wearing elegant clothes that were inappropriate for the a day out in the outdoors. When she had passed the group of hikers, the man claimed that she had seemed about to say something to them but suddenly thought better of it and continued on her way, after which a group of somber looking men dressed in black coats, also foreign, passed by, obviously following her. What’s really weird about this account is that it was given 32 years after the actual murder. When pressed on why he had waited so long to come forward, the man related how he had actually contacted authorities soon after he had recognized her face from the INTERPOL drawings at the time, but when they had questioned him he claims to have been told by police “Forget her, she was dispatched. The case will never be solved.”

The case of the “Isdal woman” has never been solved, and her identity remains a mystery to this day. There has been no forthcoming evidence and there has never been a suspect for the crime. Although the official statement is that she had committed suicide, the murder has created a great amount of speculation over the years as to her identity and has been the subject of several books. One popular theory is that the woman was a spy, and that she had perhaps been killed after she had gotten in over her head, possibly related to clandestine information or the purchase of radioactive material. Another idea is that she was murdered by someone she was close to for unknown reasons, perhaps jealousy or for money. To this day, no one knows for sure.

Who was this mystery woman? Where did she come from and what did she want? Was this a murder or a suicide? The case remains just as baffling as it did that day in 1970 when her body was found. With no new leads, no further evidence, and no suspects, the case has gone totally cold. She remains a nameless enigma with a face only named in known from phantom police sketches. The case continues to inspire a good deal of debate and speculation to this day, and is surely one of the great crime mysteries of the century.

[MIKA27]

The Halfbike Is The Standing Desk Of Bicycles

If you were under the impression that a pair of large wheels supporting a seat under your butt was the only gas-free way to get around a city, you’ve clearly forgotten about the innovative Halfbike first introduced last year. But that’s OK, because there’s now a new and improved version for urban dwellers that promises the same workout in a sleeker design.

There’s actually nothing wrong with a traditional two-wheeled bike. At least until you try to squeeze it into an elevator, onto a subway car, or take it almost anywhere in an urban setting other than the street. To make it easier to transport and store, the Halfbike II uses a smaller front wheel than most bikes have, and trades the back wheel for a pair of tiny tires giving it the appearance of a large tricycle.

However, the Halfbike II is still ridden like a traditional bicycle using pedals closer to its mid-section. The big difference is that there’s no seat, so you have to stand the entire time. It results in a smaller footprint for the bike making it easier to squeeze through traffic and crowds while riding, and thanks to a folding handle, it’s even easier to take with you on public transportation.

The only trade-off of the Halfbike II’s unique design is that cycling becomes a slightly more rigorous workout. But that’s the same reason people opt for a standing desk at work, right? So whether or not being harder to ride is viewed as a pro or a con is up to each individual rider.

The first backers of Kolelinia’s Kickstarter campaign for the Halfbike II can pre-order the innovative cycle, with a July delivery, for just $US350. And assuming it reaches its $US50,000 crowdfunding goal and everything goes smoothly as the bike goes into production, the final retail version is expected to sell for around $US600. So it’s pricier than a cheap used bike no one would ever want to steal, but you can also easily bring the Halfbike II up to your office during the day to ensure it’s safe while you’re at work.

[MIKA27]

Forest Fires At Chernobyl Could Spawn Clouds Of Radioactive Ash

In the years since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the exclusion zone has morphed into an improbable nature reserve — untamed and untouched and, well, still radioactive. A study warns that forest fires could spread radioactive material from the site, but how dangerous the ash would be is unknown.

The exclusion zone extends 30km in all directions around Chernobyl. And it’s been largely uninhabited since the disaster in 1986, save a few hundred people who refused to leave. As the New York Times notes, trees and brush have since grown to cover 70 per cent of the zone. Radioactive materials such as caesium and strontium still lurk in the soil and plants, which could be released again in a forest fire.

A new study published in Ecological Monographs notes that three forest fires since 2002 have redeposited 8 per cent of the caesium-137 from the original disaster. “We’ve invested billions to put a new cover over the old reactor building,” the study’s co-author Timothy Mousseau said to the Times. “But forest fires have the ability to remobilise radioactive material from the original event.”

As the forest grows thicker and temperatures rise with climate change, fires could become even even bigger hazards in the future. It’s still unclear whether the levels of radioactive material released would actually be dangerous for human health, but it illustrates yet again how the Chernobyl disaster could live on in unexpected ways.

[avaldes]

Regarding autonomous flight of airliners, there is not any need to redesign the airplane. All modern airliners already have Cat3 Automatic Take Off and Landing Systems. They can and do, easily fly the entire trip autonomously. If you feel a firm but controlled landing, that was most likely an auto-land. The pilots fly quite a few landings manually to maintain their currency and you can usually tell because they either flare and land very softly or bounce a landing, where the autonomous system sticks every landing at 3-6 ft/sec every time.

Some airports like Heathrow are known for having lots of automatic landings because of the environment and because they have all of the equipment for a Cat3 landing.

[MIKA27]

3D Laser Scan Shows London's Abandoned Underground Mail Rail Network

Beneath the streets of London, an underground rail network once existed to shuttle mail around the city. Decommissioned in 2003, this 3D laser scan serves to save its existence for posterity.

The network was used for 76 years and was in fact home to the world’s first driverless, electrified railway. But the site — beneath one of the city’s mail sorting facilities — is set to become a museum dedicated to the subject of the postal past. These tunnels will become routes for a train that visitors to ride — so the UK-based ScanLAB Project was called in to preserve them in their current state using 3D laser scans. Capturing the scene at millimetre resolution, the result shows the space as it was left, with tools, office detritus and even dartboards littering the depths.

[MIKA27]

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BRING JON SNOW TO YOUR DINNER PARTY

Which celebrities or icons would make your fantasy dinner invite list?

Perhaps Barack Obama so you could have a word in his ear? Or what about Stephen Hawking to discuss how we got here in the first place? Would artist Jeff Koons make the list? And you need someone to be the ice-breaker, so why not Katy Perry to bring some candy-coated fun? Really, the possibilities are endless.

But there's one individual you should probably leave well and truly off the list, in fact if they're on it current quickly strike out their name right now.

Who is this person? None other than Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. His foreboding tales of White Walkers, grisly deaths and the imminent onset of winter are hardly topics to get the party started are they?

And yet that's precisely who Seth Myers invite to his recent dinner party, which quickly descended from a nice meal and a few wines into an evening that will live long in the memory for all concerned.....

[MIKA27]

1960 WATSON INDIANAPOLIS ROADSTER

The 1960 Watson Indianapolis Roadster is just about the perfect example of the iconic American racer, Indy Roadsters were the dominant design between 1952 and 1965 on the race tracks of North America, and even all these years later they’re still the first thing many people think of when you mention the Indy 500.

There’s no small amount of controversy about which car was actually the first Indy Roadster, but it is generally agreed that car designer Frank Kurtis pioneered the layout in 1952. The roadster you see here is a creation of legendary racing car builder A.J. Watson, a man who had a very similar approach to automobile design as Colin Chapman: lightweight was king. Watson used the formula to great success, his cars won the Indianapolis 500 6 times between 1956 and 1964 – not to mention an innumerable number of victories at slightly less famous races across the United States.

The 1960 Watson Indianapolis Roadster you see here was raced at the famous 500 3 times, although it suffered mechanical failures and never finished it did take a commanding victory at the Milwaukee 200 in 1961.

The car was retired from active competition in 1962, it essentially disappeared until it was re-discovered by Mike Fulper in 1981 who stumbled across it by chance in Wauseon, Ohio – where it was being displayed by the proprietor of a local Dairy Queen franchise. He made a deal and purchased the car on the spot, in the ensuing years it was sent off to specialists Floyd Trevis and his son, Ron, for an exceedingly detailed restoration back to its original condition.

Since its restoration the car has been displayed in a number of highly respected collections, including the NHRA Museum and the Andrews Collection from where it’s now being sold. The auction will take place on the 2nd of May 2015 and it certainly isn’t for the faint of heart or wallet – it’s estimated to be worth between $700,000 and $800,000 USD, but with the right bidders in the room it could easily creep past the million mark.

If you’d like to read more about the Watson Roadster you can click here to visit RM Sotheby’s.