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

[MIKA27]

The Birth, Death, and Resurrection of True Movie Poster Art

A great movie poster can be better than the movie itself. With one single glance, it can sell an impossible promise and offer unlimited possibility. However, in the past few decades, the idea of the illustrated, artistic, idealistic movie poster has more or less gone away. Now, a new documentary called 24 x 36: A Movie About Movie Posters explores why that happened and poses a solution to the problem.

Directed by Kevin Burke, 24 x 36 recently had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2016. We spoke to Burke about tackling such a massive subject as the birth, death, and resurgence of the movie poster.

“One of the things I love about documentaries is it’s very much a living breathing thing throughout production,” Burke said. “So you go in with one idea and, as you’re interviewing and doing this research you realize this person said something I didn’t expect, now I’ve gotta follow this story thread. That’s how we ultimately landed in this place where it felt very important to me to explore the idea of illustration specifically across the board in poster art.”

The film begins in the early 20th century at the start of the movie poster. At that time, most of the posters were illustrated, and that sort of set the tone for decades to come. Up through the 1980s, illustrated, artistic movie posters were the norm. Artists like John Alvin, Bob Peak, and Roger Kastel dominated later in the century with their work on posters like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Apocalypse Now, and Jaws. “One of the things I love about this film is we get to introduce people to some names they may not know but whose work they definitely know,” Burke said.

However, at a certain point in the ’90s, that stopped, and illustrated art started to fade. 24 x 36 talks to various marketing executives and designers who attempt to explain why illustrations went away, giving way to floating heads of famous actors created in Photoshop. One good thing that came out of that shift, though, is that it informed Burke’s entry into the subject. “That was my journey, too,” he said. “I collected one-sheets and they were very special to me. Then I stopped for two decades. Screenprinting filled a void for me that was created when one-sheets stopped using illustrated art.”

Screenprinting is a process where an artist designs a poster and it’s physically created by hand pulling inks in various layers and patterns. It’s usually in a limited edition, which makes things more collectible and this is where Burke’s idea for the whole movie came into play. Like myself, Burke is a collector of limited edition screenprints—the kind of stuff you see from Mondo, Gallery 1988, Bottleneck, and Hero Complex Gallery. In his eyes, this kind of work proved there’s still a market for posters that have a bit more thought put into them. And he set out to make a movie about that work.

“When I first started, the finished movie in my head was a hero worship piece about screenprinting art,” Burke said. “So that’s the story we wanted to tell, ultimately, to say ‘Hey there’s a possibility that illustration could return.’”

Burke and his team spent several years traveling the country, doing interviews with fans, artists, gallery owners, curators, and more exploring the world of screenprinting. “I could easily, easily make another movie out all of the footage,” he said. “But you’ve got to consider, I’m a nerd about this stuff, I could watch a two and a half hour movie but I also want to introduce the subject to people who aren’t familiar.”

The documentary is a fantastic guide for beginners to the world: it’s loaded with absolutely gorgeous art from modern artists like Daniel Danger, Laurent Durieux, Jason Edmiston, and numerous others; it talks about art-driven events like MondoCon; and it explores the controversy in the poster world about licensing official images. Unfortunately, it also slows down considerably once it gets to the meat of its argument. However, if it simply teaches people something new about art, Burke feels he’s succeeded.

“I want somebody to read the synopsis and say ‘Holy shit! I never thought about that,’” Burke said. “[I want them to say] ‘I have my favorite movie posters, I know what they are but I neve really thought to explore it a bit more, I’m going to check this out.’”

24 x 36: A Movie About Movie Posters is currently without distribution. It was produced by Snowfort Pictures. Get more information here.

 

[MIKA27]

The New Rogue One Trailer Is Here

Watch it. Go.

I don’t need to say anything else. It’s the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer. Of course it’s going to be amazing.

The movie is out on December 15. That’s soon.

[MIKA27]

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them Is Now A Five-Part Movie Series

Look, I’m just gonna say it: If it takes you five movies to find where the fantastic beasts are, you’re doing a really bad job of finding them.

J.K. Rowling has just confirmed at the Global Fan Event in Los Angeles that Fantastic Beasts will be the first movie in a series of at least five movies. Rowling said that she had just finished plotting the overall arc of the pentalogy out — however, there could always be more.

According to Rowling, the next Fantastic Beasts movie will not take place in New York, but instead another world capital (although presumably Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander will continue to be the thread that ties them all together), giving insight into the wider Wizarding World before the events of the Harry Potter saga.

J.K. Rowling might be done with Harry after Cursed Child, but she’s very clearly not done with anything else. The first Fantastic Beasts movie arrives November 17.

[MIKA27]

This Former Nuclear Bunker Is Now Used To Preserve All Of America's Film Reels

There’s a fascinating backstory about the building that is now the US National Audiovisual Conservation Center, which is where the Library of Congress stores all 6.3 million pieces of the library’s movie, television and sound collection. It used to be a nuclear bunker that stored $US4 billion ($5.3 billion) during the Cold War. Now, it’s a one-stop shop for all things regarding film preservation and restoration, with kilometres of shelves stacked with film reels to the ceilings; all sorts of machines that can repair film, process film and print film; and any sort of video player you can imagine to play any sort of format that ever existed.

It’s fun to take a tour of America’s film archive, which includes the likes of Casablanca and whatever movie Adam Sandler made recently. They have it all. They even house nitrate film reels, which are extremely flammable because they’re essentially rolls of gunpowder. It’s no wonder that the nitrate vaults look more like a maximum security prison than a Civic Video.

 

[MIKA27]

The People Who Roleplay As Cops In Grand Theft Auto

I was sitting in a police car in a video game. Next to me was a Grand Theft Auto Online fan who didn’t want to play the game the way most people do. Actually, he was doing something the game was never really built for.

Known in-game as ViceCity2012, this player wore a nice black suit and an ear piece. He drove through Los Santos, the game’s fictionalized version of Los Angeles, roleplaying as a plainclothes police detective. Crime in this session of Rockstar’s online game was getting out of hand, he claimed. He said a man was recently kidnapped and had his ear cut off. He described it as “some real Reservoir Dogs shit.”

Plain Clothes Detective ViceCity2012, the officer for my ridealong.

Many GTA fans use the game as a sandbox to play out criminal fantasies. That’s what GTA has long been about. Steal a car. Get chased by the cops. Cause mayhem. Some players, however, want to do it the other way around.

They want to play as the law.

The series wasn’t built for it, but, with the help of mods, chat-rooms, and some imagination, players of recent GTAs, including the hugely popular GTA V, have found a way to roleplay as cops. Thousands of people use the LSPDFR mod, for example to turn GTA Online into a sort of police simulator.

Some do it for the fun of pretending to arrest other players who roleplay as criminals. Others do it to satisfy the fantasy of driving in to save the day. The ones I’ve met do it with unabashed admiration for law enforcement, drawing no connection between their fantasies of what police can be like in a video game and the frequent headlines about police killings of people of colour in America or even of the killing of police.

They see the police as an occupational archetype, as the kind of people who have the capacity to calm the chaos of GTA Online, where just about everyone else is shameless outlaw.

Like most GTA roleplayers and modders, they are an enterprising bunch. They use mods to don police uniforms and drive law enforcement vehicles, some of which are made by fellow fans. They create scenarios such as routine traffic stops and patrols, sometimes even engaging in high-speed car chases.

Some players take it very seriously. They use actual police radio codes and follow police protocols (or at least, what they believe to be protocol). They will call for backup if they feel like the situation is too much for just one officer.

They will mutter “10-4” into their microphones. They draw inspiration from their own experiences with police in real life as well as from cop shows and research. Not all roleplayers are focused on ‘realism,’ however, and are more prone to take in-game mishaps, like running someone over, with a laugh.

None of the handful of police roleplayers we spoke to said they were an actual officer. A lot of them do like watching the TV show Cops.

Because GTA wasn’t built for people who want to play as the police, players have to set it all up for themselves. The form groups and assemble in small shared instances of the game where they act out a script or improv.
In a typical roleplay session, some people play the cops, others ordinary citizens. Millions of people may play GTA, but only a few dozen can interact with each other in GTA Online in any given instant. The game groups players into a shared shard of GTA Online’s big map that encompasses the big city of Los Santos and the northern suburbs and mountainside of Blaine County. Players organise to get into the same shards. As they pick tasks, every so often a player takes on the role of dispatch, giving out orders and information to the officers in the field.

The citizen players may have directions requiring them to commit certain crimes to get those going, but usually they will just play and see what happens. The majority of crimes are improvised, GTA police roleplayers told me. For example, a player in a session could attempt to steal a car and then lead police on a high speed pursuit. The police players would then have to react without knowing where the chase was headed or what the outcome will be.

They say it is more fun this way; it adds a sense of surprise and realism.

Police roleplaying groups usually rotate members into different roles. In one session, a player might be a cop, and in the next session they could be a citizen. Some groups create worlds filled with different jobs and roles, like paramedics and firefighters.

Other groups focus on just having police and citizens. In these more focused sessions, citizens are more or less waiting to cause some trouble. They drive around and observe or roleplay a routine, like going to work or getting gas. The real appeal is the moment when citizens and cops interact with each other.

Many roleplay groups have senior members who help coordinate all of this ahead of the session. Some players are even assigned ranks, such as Captain or Deputy, which they can use to call the shots in a session.

Depending on the session and the platform, players will use mods or chat to roleplay actions that GTA V doesn’t support, like ticketing or arresting players. One of the most popular mods amongst police roleplayers both online and offline is LSPDFR, a mod that turns GTA into a law enforcement simulator. LSPDFR adds new animations, custom uniforms, improves the the AI of the computer-controlled police in the game, allows players to pull over and arrest suspects and more.

In an effort to expand their stories, some roleplayers maintain Twitter accounts where they continue to roleplay on a daily basis. GTA Online police departments and city officials will even hold press conferences. Sometimes roleplayers use photos to tell short stories of crimes or events that happen to them, like a visit to the morgue.

 

Even with mods, some actions are not possible. You can’t search a person by patting them down. You can’t lay down with your hands on your head. For these actions, roleplayers use their imagination, often announcing or typing what they’re doing to other players.

Onlookers can peer into this GTA Online world thanks to YouTube, where a remarkable variety of police-related videos can be found.In these videos you can see some of the ways police roleplayers like Smith help the citizens of Los Santos. I’ve observed players patrolling streets, helping people with car problems, checking licence plates, arresting people and driving them back to the station and more.

The people who play as cops in GTA have a variety of motivations. Some players are into the thrill of being helpful. “I have always found it pleasurable to help people when they are in need,” explained Corporal Smith, a Youtuber who records himself and friends roleplaying as police officers.

Smith uses GTA Online to handle things like mountainside crashes and even suspicious clowns. People can have problems in the game.”I enjoy being the one to point them in the right direction,” he said.

Some, like Corporal Smith, say they want to join a real-life police force. Smith explained that GTA V roleplaying was, in his mind, a way to help him experience some of the scenarios he might face as an actual police officer.

Another roleplayer, SteveTheGamer, wanted to be a GTA V police officer because it was a means of restoring order to the otherwise unhinged game. “Even though this is a video game, it seems like it always bring the worst out of everyone, ” he said. “I wanted to do something different then just being a criminal.”

Screenshot from a trailer promoting a GTA Online PS4 Police Roleplay Group

Others say they roleplay as a police officer because it rekindles a sense of childhood fantasy and nostalgia. “I would always watch Cops on TV in the 90’s,” said DoctorGTA, a popular roleplaying YouTuber. “So it was like a little boy living a fantasy without having to work the job.”

DoctorGTA, SteveTheGamer and Corporal Smith are just three players who are part of a much larger police roleplaying community who upload videos that feel like episodes of Cops. Coincidentally, many roleplayers I spoke to were fans of that show.

The police roleplayers know that the police violence has become a big issue in the U.S these days, but they mostly hand-waved it when I pressed them on it. “Most of the time I just stay away from watching TV,” said DoctorGTA. “Unless it’s Cops. So [police violence] does not really affect what I do [in GTA V].”

SteveTheGamer did say that a few of his fans feel uncomfortable during certain moments in his videos. Mods like LSPDFR add nonviolent options to GTA V, like ticketing or arresting, but sometimes Steve and other roleplayers feel they need to use lethal force.

For some of his viewers this can be an uncomfortable thing to witness. “I always do my best to explain the situation and also ask them what they [the fans] would have done if they had to deal with it.”

I should point out I only talked to a few GTA police roleplayers and can’t speak to the views of everyone in the scene. But spend enough time watching police roleplay videos and reading roleplaying tweets and you see that many players are living out a specific fantasy when it comes to being a police officer: cops vs. robbers, good vs. bad.

Police roleplaying has been around long before GTA V. Players roleplayed as cops in GTA IV, where they have been setting up police groups for years. Before that, a mod for 2004’s GTA: San Andreas, GTASAMP, allowed players on PC to take on the role of a police officer.
In 2013, a gamer named Herb got tired of GTA Online players’ tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. He played GTASAMP, and it inspired him to create something for GTA Online that had more structure and community.

The result is the Life in Los Santos group, a group of roleplayers who try and create functional worlds filled with paramedics, drug dealers, cops, taxi drivers and more.

Life in Los Santos now has over 300+ members and hosts roleplay sessions across PC, PS3, PS4 and Xbox One. That’s how I met ViceCity2012, the player who graciously allowed me to do a ridealong with him.

We were in pursuit in an unmarked vehicle. What this really meant was that it was a standard car that looked like a black Crown Victoria. These are the types of conceits that roleplayers have to make sometimes, especially if they’re on consoles, where less modding is possible.

Pulling up to a group of police and other roleplayers during my ridealong.

After pulling up on the scene, ViceCity2012 got out of the car. I watched from inside as policemen walked around and spoke to each other. The voice chat was a bit hard to keep up with, but I made out that police were searching for a player known as “the Russian,” a criminal who was on a rampage after his in-game girlfriend got murdered by another player.

On this server, death could be permanent. Hers was. Her character was not coming back. The person playing as the Russian used this as motivation and had opened fired on a officer. We arrested him for shooting a firearm. Outside of some verbal conflict, the arrest went smoothly.

From a video showcasing a police roleplaying group, The California Dept. of Public Safety

I was surprised to find that a lot of the moments I shared with the police roleplayers were more mundane than action-packed. A lot of officers just milled about, chatting and observing. It felt more believable than I was expecting, like a slow segment in an episode of Cops.

As I drove more with ViceCity2012, the sun started to set in Los Santos. Only a few cars were still on the road. ViceCity2012 saw a van in the middle of the road, stops the police car and stepped out. There was already a cruiser parked in front of the van. The driver, a young woman, slurred her words and explained that she wasn’t drunk.

The officers weren’t buying it.

Police stopping a suspected drunk driver. Across the street a man yells at the police on the scene.

Suddenly, across the street, another roleplayer walked out into the road. He was a civilian and was upset over the police asking the woman to step out and take a breathalyzer. The man began to yell. ViceCity2012 walked over to the man and tried to explain the situation, but the man had no interest in listening to him.

Before ViceCity2012 could get the man off the street, a computer-controlled driver behind the wheel of a hatchback slammed directly into the roleplaying concerned citizen. Bam! He went flying, and the car took off. Despite being in a stern scenario only moments ago, ViceCity2012 and the other officer were too busy laughing to stop the car. The man who was just hit tried to improv some injured noises, but he couldn’t contain his laughter either.

They were not taking their police roleplaying very seriously.

[MIKA27]

HUMAN SOUND SMART HEADPHONES

There are dozens of companies who either already have or are working on releasing a pair of wireless headphones or earbuds. But, to be honest, they basically all look and function basically the same. Over-ear phones are unwieldy and come equipped with a bulky headband, whereas their bud-style brethren are dainty and need be shoved directly into your ear canal. While you could likely be decently happy with one or the other, you’d be limited by your choice. And it didn’t seem like anyone was trying to bridge the gap between the two – until now.

Human, Inc. has launched a crowdfunding campaign for their pair of wireless smart headphones, which they have appropriately dubbed Sound. These uniquely shaped devices strike the perfect balance between movement-friendly earbuds and their more comfortable over-ear counterparts, but they also have a vast number of other impressive features. For example, their button-free interface works via a series of natural human movements to play, pause, skip, and toggle volume. They also feature ambient noise control, so you can decide the level of exterior sound cancellation – or, when off your ears, they can work together as a single portable speaker. They also feature onboard translation software, biometric monitoring, 12 hours of battery life, and the list goes on and on. These comfortable hyper-advanced wireless headphones will retail for $400. [Purchase]

 

 

 

[MIKA27]

Olloclip iPhone 7 Lenses 

Smartphone photographers rejoice, Olloclip have unveiled their new interchangeable lens system for iPhone 7. The new system is called "Connect” and it separates the frame on your phone from the lens housings, letting them quickly attach to and align with your iPhones camera, even if you have a screen protector. The new lenses have similar perspectives as DSLR cameras, you can choose from three different sets to suit different iPhoneography styles: the Core Lens Set ($99.99) includes fish-eye, super-wide 120-degree view lenses and a 15x macro for super close up, the Active Lens Set ($79.99) an ultra-wide angle lens for a 155-degree field of view and a 2x optical zoom and the Macro Pro ($119.99) a triad of macro lenses, giving you 7x, 14x and 21x optical zoom.     

[feral]

Haha ^^ the gta article

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[feral]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the-desalination-era-is-here/#

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[MIKA27]

13 minutes ago, feral said:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the-desalination-era-is-here/#

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk
 

Great article on desalination, thank you for sharing

[feral]

You're welcome sir

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[MIKA27]

Discoveries May Rewrite History of China's Terra-Cotta Warriors

In the four decades since mysterious terra-cotta statues first came to light in northern China, archaeologists have uncovered a whole lifelike army. But that wasn’t the only secret hidden underground there. Stunning revelations are now rewriting the history of the great ruler who created this army as part of his final resting place. And a radical new theory even suggests that foreign artists trained his craftsmen.

Known today as the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di left a legacy that would make him a towering figure in Chinese history. By the time he died in 210 B.C., he had united warring kingdoms into one country, put an end to feudalism, and built the Great Wall that endures today as a monument to his power.

But his most stunning project first came to light in 1974 when farmers uncovered strange figures while digging a well near the old Chinese capital of Xianyang. Excavations have since revealed sections of a grand funerary complex. Three huge pits harbor several thousand warriors, presumably meant to protect the emperor for eternity. These statues were unlike anything ever uncovered before in China. And that raises a big question: How could the royal artists have come up with such an idea?

Experts identify these terra-cotta figures as acrobats. Some believe the sculptures' lifelike details are evidence of Greek artistic influence. 

Scientists have gathered a variety of provocative clues: Terra-cotta acrobats and bronze figures of ducks, swans, and cranes uncovered at the royal tomb complex may show evidence of Greek influence. And European DNA has been recovered from skeletons at a site in northwestern China.

Putting these together, experts have worked out a theory: Inspiration for the terra-cotta army may have come from foreign artists. Traveling from Hellenized areas of Western Asia and arriving in China 1,500 years before Marco Polo, they could have trained the local craftsmen who furnished the emperor’s tomb with statuary.

China's Megatomb Revealed

Scientists using remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar, and core sampling have also revealed the emperor’s tomb complex to be much larger than once believed—almost 38 square miles (some 98 square kilometers). At its heart stands a tall earthen mound that covers the ruler’s tomb, which remains sealed. Many other people were also buried at the site. Archaeologists have discovered mass graves that appear to hold the remains of the craftsmen and laborers—including convicted criminals in chains—who died during the three decades it took to create the royal mausoleum. Other mass burials seem to tell grisly tales of a brutal struggle to capture the emperor’s throne.

Chinese Game of Thrones

Despite the brilliance and power of the First Emperor, he was unable to make sure his eldest son succeeded him. It was a failure that had devastating consequences. Experts now believe it may have launched a bloodbath—and ultimately brought a swift end to the dynasty that Qin Shi Huang Di founded.

An account written in about 89 B.C. by Sima Qian, an official in the second dynasty, describes a time of deadly palace intrigue: One of the emperor’s many sons conspired with the chief eunuch to murder his oldest brother, the emperor’s presumed heir, and to seize the throne himself.

Now archaeologists have found tantalizing clues that the power grab was even more brutal than Sima Qian described. A group of skeletons was found with artifacts belonging to the royal family. These were mostly males, possibly the deceased emperor’s sons. One skull offers clues to their fate. It’s split by the metal bolt from a crossbow, likely shot at close range. Experts now believe these young princes may have been executed by their ambitious sibling who was trying to secure the throne for himself.

A metal bolt shot from a crossbow remains lodged in this male skull. He may have been a prince who was murdered in a bloody struggle for his father's throne. 

In another area, very close to the emperor’s burial, archaeologists have identified a group of about a hundred tombs. But after excavating several, they’re still unsure of what they’ve found. The burial chambers are empty, and body parts lie strewn in the doorways along with a scattering of pearls and pieces of gold. Were these the royal concubines, buried near the deceased emperor to serve him in the next world as they had in this life? Or do these graves represent something sinister?

According to the account left by Sima Qian, the new emperor—the usurper—killed many of his father’s concubines. Sad as it may seem, that move would have made sense to someone whose claim to the throne was shaky. The usurper had already killed the heir apparent and also likely did away with other brothers who were potential rivals. But what if some of the concubines were pregnant? And what if one were to give birth to a boy who was then hidden, brought up in secret, trained to be a great warrior, and finally presented as a fully grown man able to overthrow his much older brother and take their father’s title and territories for himself?

In thinking through this worst-case scenario, there would have been no choice. The women had to die. But why their bodies were dismembered is unclear. Perhaps clues will turn up in the many burials that are still to be excavated.

The skull and leg bones of a young female are likely the remains of a concubine found near the emperor's burial. 

In the end, though, all the bloodshed was for naught. The usurper, Qin Er Shi, couldn’t begin to fill his father’s shoes. His rule lasted a mere three years, and his family’s dynasty was soon overthrown. The first emperor’s tomb surely holds many more surprises, but archaeologists have no plans to excavate it in the near future. Exposing fragile artifacts to air and light might damage them beyond repair, it’s feared, so the tomb will most likely stay buried until radically new conservation technologies are discovered in the future.

Sima Qian wrote that the emperor was laid to rest in a bronze coffin, and his burial chamber was filled with lavish grave goods—replicas of palaces, rivers of mercury, “rare utensils and wonderful objects.” But Sima Qian was writing more than a century after the first emperor’s death. Could he really have gotten all the details right?

Some of his statements seem too over the top to be true—that the emperor pressed 700,000 laborers and convicts into service to build his grand funerary landscape, for example. And Sima Qian seems to have skipped over some important features altogether, offering not one word about the creation of the terra-cotta army.

But in light of the evidence for royal murders before the unlikely succession of a very junior prince, it seems entirely possible that his description of the royal burial chamber is accurate—and that archaeologists will someday uncover Qin Shi Huang Di’s fabled trove of treasures.

 

[MIKA27]

Why Asgardia Is More Likely To Be A Pie In The Sky Than A Nation In Space

I have become citizen number 62 of Asgardia, a new space nation dedicated to expanding peaceful exploration of space for the benefit of humanity. It is led by Igor Ashurbeyli, chairman of UNESCO’s Science of Space Committee and founder of the Aerospace International Research Centre in Vienna. At first glance, it’s an amazing concept and surely one that every space scientist should welcome.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

According to its website, Asgardia will offer an “independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws. It will become a place in orbit which is truly ‘no man’s land’”. Its first aim is to launch a satellite in October 2017, on the 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. Another goal is to create a “protective shield” from threats to life on Earth, such as space debris, coronal mass ejections and asteroids.

The project, announced at a press conference in Paris on October 12, is urging people to sign up to become citizens. Ashurbeyli has said that when the number of applications goes above 100,000, the organisation can officially apply to the UN for the status of state. The claims are visionary – but could they be something of a mirage?

In Norse mythology, Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds of the ancient gods, ruled over by Odin. Set in the skies, it is connected to Earth by the rainbow bridge, Bifrost. In taking the name Asgardia for the new “nation state”, the founders call upon its potential citizens to create an independent world of peaceful scientific cooperation. I am not sure the mythological world of Asgard is the best model for such an aspiration: after all, the largest hall in Asgard is Valhalla, where warriors killed in battle spend their time feasting or fighting.

More fitting perhaps are the descriptions of Asgard in the fictional Marvel universe, where it’s a world that “exists in another dimensional plane and is about the size of the United States”. According to Marvel’s history, Asgard was created by the god Thor on Earth, where he had bought a huge piece of property. But Iron Man confronted Thor about his construction, “and after a short but heated debate, [Iron Man] proposed to Thor that Asgard would be considered a separate nation just like a foreign embassy”. I enjoyed the phrase “short but heated debate” – surely code for a punch-up. But a “separate nation just like a foreign embassy” is pretty much what the Asgardia of today is proposing.

Artist’s impression of the first Asgardia satellite.

The Need To Stay Grounded

But when you turn your attention from the world of mythology and super heroes back to reality, things are a little less exciting. What, exactly, is Asgardia? What is it for? What will it do? How will it operate? What is its governance? How is it funded? The organisation has failed to disclose any such information.

We already have the International Space Station as an example of international collaboration in space, including both governments and private organisations. Although the ISS works well, it is regulated by international space agencies and wrapped in the associated bureaucracy. If Asgardia’s vision is to make space and experimentation in space more accessible, then that is laudable, but cannot be completely divorced from the necessity of some regulation.

When it comes to plans to defend the Earth from space debris we need a bit more substance than an aim to launch a satellite. Maybe I am cynical, but I’d like to know who is doing the work. Where is this satellite being built? How will Asgardia achieve something that no other nation, or consortium of nations, has come close to achieving?

I also have some worries about the wording in the Concept. In particular, it complains about the fact that “economical and political considerations often take precedence over purely scientific ones and ethical boundaries are considered necessary to sustain safety”. To combat this, it says “Asgardia will demonstrate … that independent, private and unrestricted research is possible”. To me, ethical boundaries are necessary – especially if unrestricted research is on the agenda and it is to be “free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws”. History has given us too many examples where unrestricted research has resulted in unacceptable consequences – the Nazis, for example, did a lot of unethical and unscientific research.

We currently have laws and treaties that govern the peaceful use of space, acknowledged by all space-faring nations and operated through the UN. They may not be perfect, and may be in need of revision, given the accelerating pace of space technologies and the increasing influence and role of private companies in space exploration. But at least they are a framework within which nations must operate.

Importantly, these laws state that the nation launching a satellite – or procures the launch of one – is liable for any damage caused by it. The office in charge of these laws also oversees the international register of all objects launched into space, and co-ordinates efforts to monitor space debris.

If Asgardia is serious in its desire to be an independent player in space exploration, then it must consider its duties relative to the UN treaties – any attempt to become a “launching state” or procure a launch for a satellite leaves Asgardia liable if something goes wrong. It is difficult to reconcile this with Asgardia’s declared aim of being “free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws”. No nation should be free to act completely independently of its neighbours – and by basing the idea of Asgardia in space, every nation on Earth is Asgardia’s neighbour. There is no doubt that space law is in need of an urgent update – but I don’t believe that acting completely independently of land-based laws is a useful way forward.

I hope that my doubts and concerns are groundless, and that Asgardia will indeed fulfil its promise to act for the benefit of humanity. Especially as by the time I had finished this article, the number of citizens of Asgardia had climbed to almost 20,000.

[MIKA27]

The Whisperers Might Finally Be Coming To The Walking Dead

Negan hasn’t even struck the first blow and already we’re seeing what could be his villainous replacement on The Walking Dead.

AMC shared an Instagram photo on Friday that teases a major comic book plot point: the arrival of the Whisperers, a murderous cult whose members disguise themselves from the walkers by wearing their skin. They don’t kill the undead, instead saving their ravenous bloodlust for the living. The photo hints at one of those rampages from the comics, when they attacked the Alexandrians and put some of their heads on spikes, establishing a border for their territory.

You’ve been warned – #TWD premieres October 23.

The Whisperers, who get their name from the fact that they only speak in whispers (to stay hidden), were mentioned all the way back in Season 3’s episode, “Clear.” Morgan, in one of his crazy rants, talked about seeing “people wearing dead people’s faces,” which many have taken to mean the Whisperers.

A few fans have even theorised that Fear The Walking Dead is about the origin of the Whisperers, which would take that lacklustre spin-off and make it way more interesting.

If the photo is introducing the Whisperers, it’s admittedly a bizarre time, given the fact that we’re only now just diving into The Saviors’ threat, with the promise of introducing The Kingdom and developing The Hilltop community. Still, it might make sense to slowly start integrating the Whisperers’ storyline into the show over the season, giving us plenty of anticipation for when they eventually arrive. I’m guessing the end of Season 7 — so long as it doesn’t include another agonising cliffhanger.

[MIKA27]

Listening To This Dude Narrate His Scary Ride Down A Narrow Ridge Is Hilarious

Claudio Caluori is a hilarious mountain biker who’s scared of heights. So it’s pretty perfect to force him ride a wild course filled with narrow ridges, scary slopes and insane jumps.

It’s even better because you get to hear Caluori narrate the entire ride and basically freak the hell out while he’s going at it. The frightened mountain biker tries to tell himself not to look left and not to look right, screams helplessly a bunch of times, essentially curses at the course and then thank the higher beings for letting him get down safe. It’s just great.

[MIKA27]

Brain Implant Allows Paralysed Man To Feel Objects With A Prosthetic Limb

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC have developed a system that’s enabling a man with quadriplegia to experience the sensation of touch through a robotic arm that he controls with his brain.

Prosthetic limbs are getting better all the time, but they’re still not able to convey the sense of touch to the user. That’s a serious limitation given just how important touch is for hand use. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a piece of cake or the fork we use to take a bite out of it. A research team led by Robert A. Gaunt from the University of Pittsburgh is the first to develop a system that overcomes this limitation, allowing a paralysed 28-year-old man to feel objects through a robotic limb.

To make it work, the researchers implanted tiny microelectrode arrays — each about the size of a shirt button — into the primary somatosensory cortex of the patient’s brain — the part of the brain that receives all sensory input from the body. Prior to the surgery, brain scans were used to determine where the patient processes touch in each of his fingers and his palm.

After the surgery, currents were delivered through the electrodes. With the help of a computer, this allowed the patient to experience the sensation of touch through a robotic arm.

“I can feel just about every finger — it’s a really weird sensation,” said Nathan Copeland in a release, who became paralysed from the chest down following a car accident in 2004. “Sometimes it feels electrical and sometimes it’s pressure, but for the most part, I can tell most of the fingers with definite precision. It feels like my fingers are getting touched or pushed.”

Importantly, the stimulation of the sensory cortex is producing natural sensations instead of tingling, and the sensations were stable for months following the surgery. Copeland, who correctly identified objects about 80 per cent of the time, can feel pressure and discern its intensity to a certain degree, but he can’t identify whether an object is hot or cold. That said, this particular approach could be used to convey information about an object’s location in space, and the pressure needed to interact with and manipulate an object.

“The ultimate goal is to create a system which moves and feels just like a natural arm would,” noted Gaunt in a statement. “We have a long way to go to get there, but this is a great start.”

[feral]

Why Asgardia Is More Likely To Be A Pie In The Sky Than A Nation In Space



I have become citizen number 62 of Asgardia, a new space nation dedicated to expanding peaceful exploration of space for the benefit of humanity. It is led by Igor Ashurbeyli, chairman of UNESCO’s Science of Space Committee and founder of the Aerospace International Research Centre in Vienna. At first glance, it’s an amazing concept and surely one that every space scientist should welcome.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

According to its website, Asgardia will offer an “independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws. It will become a place in orbit which is truly ‘no man’s land’”. Its first aim is to launch a satellite in October 2017, on the 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. Another goal is to create a “protective shield” from threats to life on Earth, such as space debris, coronal mass ejections and asteroids.

The project, announced at a press conference in Paris on October 12, is urging people to sign up to become citizens. Ashurbeyli has said that when the number of applications goes above 100,000, the organisation can officially apply to the UN for the status of state. The claims are visionary – but could they be something of a mirage?

In Norse mythology, Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds of the ancient gods, ruled over by Odin. Set in the skies, it is connected to Earth by the rainbow bridge, Bifrost. In taking the name Asgardia for the new “nation state”, the founders call upon its potential citizens to create an independent world of peaceful scientific cooperation. I am not sure the mythological world of Asgard is the best model for such an aspiration: after all, the largest hall in Asgard is Valhalla, where warriors killed in battle spend their time feasting or fighting.

More fitting perhaps are the descriptions of Asgard in the fictional Marvel universe, where it’s a world that “exists in another dimensional plane and is about the size of the United States”. According to Marvel’s history, Asgard was created by the god Thor on Earth, where he had bought a huge piece of property. But Iron Man confronted Thor about his construction, “and after a short but heated debate, [iron Man] proposed to Thor that Asgard would be considered a separate nation just like a foreign embassy”. I enjoyed the phrase “short but heated debate” – surely code for a punch-up. But a “separate nation just like a foreign embassy” is pretty much what the Asgardia of today is proposing.



Artist’s impression of the first Asgardia satellite.

The Need To Stay Grounded

But when you turn your attention from the world of mythology and super heroes back to reality, things are a little less exciting. What, exactly, is Asgardia? What is it for? What will it do? How will it operate? What is its governance? How is it funded? The organisation has failed to disclose any such information.

We already have the International Space Station as an example of international collaboration in space, including both governments and private organisations. Although the ISS works well, it is regulated by international space agencies and wrapped in the associated bureaucracy. If Asgardia’s vision is to make space and experimentation in space more accessible, then that is laudable, but cannot be completely divorced from the necessity of some regulation.

When it comes to plans to defend the Earth from space debris we need a bit more substance than an aim to launch a satellite. Maybe I am cynical, but I’d like to know who is doing the work. Where is this satellite being built? How will Asgardia achieve something that no other nation, or consortium of nations, has come close to achieving?

I also have some worries about the wording in the Concept. In particular, it complains about the fact that “economical and political considerations often take precedence over purely scientific ones and ethical boundaries are considered necessary to sustain safety”. To combat this, it says “Asgardia will demonstrate … that independent, private and unrestricted research is possible”. To me, ethical boundaries are necessary – especially if unrestricted research is on the agenda and it is to be “free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws”. History has given us too many examples where unrestricted research has resulted in unacceptable consequences – the Nazis, for example, did a lot of unethical and unscientific research.

We currently have laws and treaties that govern the peaceful use of space, acknowledged by all space-faring nations and operated through the UN. They may not be perfect, and may be in need of revision, given the accelerating pace of space technologies and the increasing influence and role of private companies in space exploration. But at least they are a framework within which nations must operate.

Importantly, these laws state that the nation launching a satellite – or procures the launch of one – is liable for any damage caused by it. The office in charge of these laws also oversees the international register of all objects launched into space, and co-ordinates efforts to monitor space debris.

If Asgardia is serious in its desire to be an independent player in space exploration, then it must consider its duties relative to the UN treaties – any attempt to become a “launching state” or procure a launch for a satellite leaves Asgardia liable if something goes wrong. It is difficult to reconcile this with Asgardia’s declared aim of being “free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws”. No nation should be free to act completely independently of its neighbours – and by basing the idea of Asgardia in space, every nation on Earth is Asgardia’s neighbour. There is no doubt that space law is in need of an urgent update – but I don’t believe that acting completely independently of land-based laws is a useful way forward.

I hope that my doubts and concerns are groundless, and that Asgardia will indeed fulfil its promise to act for the benefit of humanity. Especially as by the time I had finished this article, the number of citizens of Asgardia had climbed to almost 20,000.

I'd like to be a citizen if they would just change the name.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[MIKA27]

YOU NEED THIS STORM TROOPER WHISKEY DECANTER IN YOUR LIFE

No man-cave is complete without a a Storm Trooper whiskey decanter. Every dedicated Star Wars fan knows this. Rest assured that this decanter is the finishing touch you've been waiting for.

Based on original helmet molds created in 1976 by industrial designer Andrew Ainsworth, this decanter and matching glass are about as authentic as you can get. Each set is made of high-quality Super Flint Glass, meaning this is heirloom quality stuff. You can pass it down from one generation of troopers to the next!

The decanter and shot glass are sold separately. You can pick up the decanter here for about $27 USD and the shot glass here at $15 USD.

  

 

[MIKA27]

CHARBAY DOUBLE AGED RUM

All high quality rums are meant to be sipped relished, but you might want to take a little extra time enjoying Charbay Double Aged Rum. Double-distilled in Charbay's 100% copper Alambic Charentais Pot Still in 2005, it's made from sugar cane syrup sourced from Hawaiian and Jamaican sugar cane syrup. It was then rested for five years in stainless steel before being transferred to French oak barrels for an additional three years. And now, it's finally been bottled at its full cask strength of 137 proof. Only 120 cases are available in 2016, and it's certain to leave a lasting impression on the premium rum market. [Purchase $450]

[MIKA27]

YUNAK EVLERI HOTEL

Rarely does sleeping in a cave sound this comfortable. The Yunak Evleri Hotel is a series of seven cave houses carved into the side of the hill, now made into a total of 40 private rooms. Each abode is decorated with hand-crafted furnishings and antiques, an ensuite bathroom, and a private patio overlooking the Turkish Mesa. Upon arrival, guests are greeted at the main lobby, housed in a 19th-century Greek mansion that also holds a music room, computer room, meeting rooms, and passage to the rooftop terrace where you can enjoy outdoor candlelight dining while seated on upholstered Turkish pillows.

[MIKA27]

Watch A Tesla Brake Automatically When The Car Ahead Of The Car Ahead Of It Brakes

Tesla’s new Autopilot software is smart. It was already pretty smart, but the latest version 8.0 upgrade makes it even better. The car’s radar can now see past — around and below — the car in front of you, to detect what’s happening with the car in front of it.

This quick video from Tesla aficionado Bjorn Nyland is pretty damn impressive. The technology in v8.0 is now primarily radar-based, rather than the image-processing front-facing camera of previous iterations — although that’s something Tesla might change again with a future partnership with Nvidia on the books. Radar means the Tesla can determine what’s happening not just within the car’s field of computer vision, but beyond it.

Pretty cool, right?

BONUS VIDEO BELOW - Long Drive Test 

 

[MIKA27]

Australian Scientists Just Made Quantum Computing 10 Times More Stable

Australian engineers have created a new quantum bit which remains in a stable superposition for 10 times longer than previously achieved, dramatically expanding the time during which calculations could be performed in a future silicon quantum computer.

The new quantum bit, made up of the spin of a single atom in silicon and merged with an electromagnetic field — known as “dressed qubit” — retains quantum information for much longer that an “undressed” atom, opening up new avenues to build and operate the superpowerful quantum computers of the future.

“We have created a new quantum bit where the spin of a single electron is merged together with a strong electromagnetic field,” said Arne Laucht, a Research Fellow at the School of Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications at UNSW, and lead author of the paper. “This quantum bit is more versatile and more long-lived than the electron alone, and will allow us to build more reliable quantum computers.”

Building a quantum computer has been called the “space race of the 21st century” — a difficult and ambitious challenge with the potential to deliver revolutionary tools for tackling otherwise impossible calculations, such as the design of complex drugs and advanced materials, or the rapid search of massive, unsorted databases.

Its speed and power lie in the fact that quantum systems can host multiple “superpositions” of different initial states, which in a computer are treated as inputs which, in turn, all get processed at the same time.

“The greatest hurdle in using quantum objects for computing is to preserve their delicate superpositions long enough to allow us to perform useful calculations,” said Andrea Morello, leader of the research team and a Program Manager in the Centre for Quantum Computation & Communication Technology (CQC2T) at UNSW.

“Our decade-long research program had already established the most long-lived quantum bit in the solid state, by encoding quantum information in the spin of a single phosphorus atom inside a silicon chip, placed in a static magnetic field.”

What Laucht and colleagues did was push this further: “We have now implemented a new way to encode the information: we have subjected the atom to a very strong, continuously oscillating electromagnetic field at microwave frequencies, and thus we have ‘redefined’ the quantum bit as the orientation of the spin with respect to the microwave field.”

The results are striking: since the electromagnetic field steadily oscillates at a very high frequency, any noise or disturbance at a different frequency results in a zero net effect. The researchers achieved an improvement by a factor of 10 in the time span during which a quantum superposition can be preserved.

Specifically, they measured a dephasing time of T2=2.4 milliseconds — a result that is 10-fold better than the standard qubit, allowing many more operations to be performed within the time span during which the delicate quantum information is safely preserved.

“This new ‘dressed qubit’ can be controlled in a variety of ways that would be impractical with an ‘undressed qubit’,”, added Morello. “For example, it can be controlled by simply modulating the frequency of the microwave field, just like in an FM radio. The ‘undressed qubit’ instead requires turning the amplitude of the control fields on and off, like an AM radio.

“In some sense, this is why the dressed qubit is more immune to noise: the quantum information is controlled by the frequency, which is rock-solid, whereas the amplitude can be more easily affected by external noise”.

Since the device is built upon standard silicon technology, this result paves the way to the construction of powerful and reliable quantum processors based upon the same fabrication process already used for today’s computers.

The UNSW team leads the world in developing quantum computing in silicon, and Morello’s team is part of the consortium of UNSW researchers who have struck a $70 million deal between UNSW, the researchers, business and the Australian government to develop a prototype silicon quantum integrated circuit — the first step in building the world’s first quantum computer in silicon.

“Quantum computing is one of the great challenges of the 21st century, manipulating nature at a subatomic level and pushing into the very edge of what is possible,” said Mark Hoffman, UNSW’s Dean of Engineering. “To have a team that leads the world in this field, and consistently delivers firsts, is a testament to the extraordinary talent we have assembled in Australia at UNSW.”

A functional quantum computer would allow massive increases in speed and efficiency for certain computing tasks — even when compared with today’s fastest silicon-based “classical” computers.

In a number of key areas — such as searching large databases, solving complicated sets of equations, and modelling atomic systems such as biological molecules and drugs — they would far surpass today’s computers. They would also be enormously useful in the finance and healthcare industries, and for government, security and defence organisations.

Quantum computers could identify and develop new medicines by greatly accelerating the computer-aided design of pharmaceutical compounds (and minimising lengthy trial and error testing), and develop new, lighter and stronger materials spanning consumer electronics to aircraft. They would also make possible new types of computational applications and solutions that are beyond our ability to foresee.

Other researchers who contributed to the work include members of Morello’s CQC2T team at UNSW — Rachpon Kalra, Stephanie Simmons, Juan Dehollain, Juha Muhonen, Fahd Mohiyaddin and Solomon Freer; Andrew Dzurak and Fay Hudson at the Australian National Fabrication Facility, David Jamieson and Jeffrey McCallum from the CQC2T University of Melbourne team, and Kohei Itoh of Japan’s Keio University.

[MIKA27]

Werner Herzog's New Volcano Documentary Looks Beautiful And Terrifying

Check out the trailer to Werner Herzog’s newest documentary Into the Inferno for everything you would expect: Beautifully filmed, panoramic shots of far-away places you’ll probably never visit; non-stop narration oscillating between cynicism and soaring existentialism; and even ancient Norse doomsday poetry.

The film debuts on Netflix next Friday (October 28), and it looks like another classic. The famed German director partners up with volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer in his latest journey to visit active volcanoes in Indonesia, Iceland and Ethiopia. The quest the two men begin has an ambitious and very broad goal: To understand these magnificent forces of nature. And, as expected, the documentary about volcanoes is also not really about volcanoes (“But what we were really chasing was the magical side, no matter how strange things might eventually get…”) and is really about us (“It is a fire that wants to burst forth and it could not care about what we are doing up here”).

Early reviews are saying this documentary is another great one from the legendary director with the Rotten Tomatoes score currently hovering at 92 per cent. If you’ve liked Grizzly Man or Encounters at the End of the World, you’re probably going to love this one.

[MIKA27]

Hospital Ward Gripped By Mysterious Hallucinations Quarantined After Five Fall Ill\

This week, an emergency room in the US’ Pacific Northwest was briefly quarantined after five people — including two police officers and a hospital worker — experienced mysterious hallucinations from an unidentified illness believed to be spread by touch.

According to Oregon Live, the enigmatic incident began early Wednesday morning when a 54-year-old caregiver in North Bend, Oregon, called police to report seven or eight people “trying to take the roof off her vehicle.” Police say they found nothing, but after the caregiver reported the unseen vandals a second time, sheriff’s deputies escorted her to a nearby hospital for suspected hallucinations.

Shortly afterward, however, one of the deputies began experiencing similar symptoms and returned to the hospital. Soon after that, the other deputy, a hospital worker and the caregiver’s 78-year-old patient also began hallucinating and were hospitalized.

A hazmat team was subsequently deployed to both the hospital and the initial residence, but was unable to locate a common source of contamination. Blood tests also failed to find anything unusual.

According to police spokesperson Patrick Downing, initial investigations suggested the 78-year-old patient’s narcotic fentanyl patches could be the source of the hallucinations, but that explanation was later ruled out.

“Investigation has found that all those patches and potential medications that may have caused the symptoms have been accounted for,” Downing told KVAL News. “The vehicles, equipment and uniforms have been checked with no contaminates identified or located on or about them.”

Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.

MIKA: WOW, this sure rings some bells with a very similar incident back in the 1990's

[MIKA27]

Two Mysterious Openings Found in the Great Pyramid of Giza

A project called Operation ScanPyramids recently completed a year-long innovative scan of the Great Pyramid and has uncovered two mysterious openings never seen before. The technique used by the researchers is just as mysterious as the openings. Are the openings  evidence of the long-rumored secret passages into or out of the 4,500-year-old wonder?

We are now able to confirm the existence of a ‘void’ hidden behind the north face, that could have the form of at least one corridor going inside the Great Pyramid.

Thermal scan of the Great Pyramid

In the announcement released last week by Operation ScanPyramids, researchers from Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering and the Paris-based non-profit organization Heritage, Innovation and Preservation (HIP Institute) under the authority of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, revealed the discovery of not one but two unknown cavities in the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid at Giza. The first is about 345 feet (105 m) above the ground on the northeastern edge of the pyramid while the second is behind the northern side at the upper part of the entrance gate.

Mehdi Tayoubi, founder of the HIP Institute, and other researchers refer to the opening as “voids” or “anomalies” because they don’t really know what they are yet. The ScanPyramids project found them using a mysterious technique called muography. Muons are particles from the upper layers of the atmosphere created from collisions between cosmic rays from outer space and atmospheric atoms.

Just like X rays pass through our bodies allowing us to visualize our skeleton, these elementary particles, weighing around 200 times more than electrons, can very easily pass through any structure, even large and thick rocks, such as mountains.

Tayoubi’s team put aluminum emulsion plates inside the pyramid to collect the particles. By comparing the amounts of cosmic particles that passed through the pyramid’s stone structure, they can determine its density and locate passages and openings. The cavity they found on the northeastern edge is estimated to be about 30 square feet (2.8 square meters) but the exact shape has yet to be determined.

While some experts believe the two openings may lead to hidden passages or rooms, Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former Minister of Antiquities, isn’t so sure.

These people are scientists and do not have an archaeological background. The core of the pyramid was built using long stones and small stones. If you know that, you’ll find anomalies everywhere. I think there are no secret rooms and these anomalies have to do with the way the pyramid was built.

Is Hawass saying that as an antiquities expert or as someone who wants to keep new knowledge of the Great Pyramid from leaking to the public? We may find out soon.

Hawass and his antiquities committee approved the ScanPyramids Operation’s request to extend the project for another year.

The last Wonder never stops keeping us in wonder.