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

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Dr. Strange Banishes A Kid To Hell When Jimmy Kimmel Hires Him For A Birthday Party

It looks like becoming Master of the Mystic Arts has left Stephen Strange’s bank account in a bad way.

In this skit from last weeks Jimmy Kimmel, Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his turn as the Sorcerer Supreme for some chuckle-goof promotion. The lines about LinkedIn profiles and the Eye of Agamotto make for some good giggles, but the skit really works because kid birthday parties can often be perfect storms of screaming, manic elation, and tears. There’s alway one child — sometimes the birthday celebrant — who could use a time-out in a nether dimension.

I’m sure Dr. Strange brings Lucas back. Eventually.

 

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Iceland's Latest Renewable Energy Project Is So Badass

Iceland, land of elves and shark meat delicacies, is proving to be far more inventive than the rest of us when it comes to new energy technologies. Having already tamed its shallow geothermal resources, the chilly island nation is now trying to tap into the power of magma.

New Scientist reports on a fascinating new effort underway in Iceland to turn our planet’s gooey innards into a cheap and abundant source of power. Since early August, the Icelandic Deep Drilling Project has been boring down into ancient volcanic lava flows located in Reykjanes, Iceland. These flows overly the mid-Atlantic Ridge, the tectonic boundary separating the North American and Eurasian plates where magma bubbles close to the surface. Conveniently, this oceanic plate boundary takes a land-based detour through Iceland’s southwest.

If the drill can penetrate to a depth of 3 miles (5 kilometers), it will reach “supercritical steam,” water that has been heated by magma to temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius at pressures of 200 atmospheres.

The energy potential in this lava-heated steam is enormous. A geothermal company involved with the project estimates that a single one of these deep, hot wells could have a capacity of 50 megawatts (MW), ten times higher than your typical shallow geothermal well, and enough to power 50,000 homes. In 2009, a pilot project reached a depth of 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) and was able to pull 30 MW of power, although that energy was never used.

Iceland has already eliminated fossil fuels from its grid, which runs entirely off hydropower and geothermal energy. It’s great to see that a nation so far ahead of the rest of us in this respect isn’t just resting on its laurels, but finding bigger and badder sources of clean energy. I personally can’t wait to visit in ten years and see “powered by the mid-Atlantic ridge” inscribed on the outside of a building.

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Video Games: Watch The First Trailer For Red Dead Redemption 2

Beautiful landscapes. Animals. Birds. Rivers. Campfires. Men with horses and canoes and trains and carriages and guns. This is Red Dead Redemption 2, and it’s out in a year from now.

Rockstar’s Aussie arm has posted its own version of the RDR2 trailer on YouTube, and it’s useful because it tells us when the game will be out in Australia. That’s Spring 2017, which means either September, October or November next year.

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Russian Scientists Find Mysterious Lost Nazi Arctic Base

As the Arctic Ocean melts and the waters stay unfrozen all year round, secrets hidden in the ice are slowly being exposed. One such secret reappeared in August when a Nazi weather station from World War II was rediscovered by Russian scientists on an island just 1,000 km (620 miles) from the North Pole. Its name – Treasure Hunter – suggests the Nazis were looking for something more than just weather reports or a convenient location for attacking the U.S., Europe and Russia from the north. What were they searching for? Did they find it?

Alexandra Land is one of the Franz Josef Land islands

Schatzgräber or Treasure Hunter is located on Alexandra Land, a 1,050 sq km (410 sq mi) island discovered by Russian navigator Valerian Albanov and named for Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia. The small island’s main feature at that time was an isolated polar bear population that was genetically distinct from those on the mainland. While it’s now part of Russia and has a Russian military base, its ownership has been disputed since its discovery – first by Norway because of its proximity to whaling areas; later by the U.S. because of its proximity to the oil and minerals of the Arctic.

Then there’s the Nazis, who ignored all disputes and just took the island in 1942 for an alleged weather station. It was one of the few islands not already occupied by Allied forces for monitoring weather and the availability of open waters in the Arctic Ocean for ship activity. According to the official story, the men stationed there were air-dropped supplies but in 1944, as things got worse for the Third Reich, were forced to eat raw polar bear meat. They all became stricken with trichinosis and had to be rescued by U-boat, returning the island to the smiling polar bears.

While the history of the base was well-known, it was never explored again until this year in August when Russian researchers returned to find many Nazi artifacts exposed by the melting ice. PolitRussia reports those included the abandoned buildings, gasoline canisters, munitions and well-preserved papers. It’s hoped that these documents will shed light on the biggest secret of all… why was the base called Treasure Hunter?

Nazi exploration of Antarctica – with or without the help of Admiral Byrd – gets all of the attention, but perhaps the Nazis were looking at the other pole as well for UFOs, alien artifacts and otherworldly treasures to give them the technology they felt the needed to win the war and dominate the world. What else would they be looking for on a frozen island guarded by polar bears? Or were they really polar bears?

Did the Nazis find what they were after on this remote Arctic outpost? Well, they didn’t win the war but it may have been too late for that. It’s obvious that they hid their “treasures” well, as secret bunkers and hidden tunnels are still being discovered and searches continue for rumored treasures like a train loaded with gold alleged to be buried in Poland.

The artifacts already discovered at Schatzgräber and any new ones exposed are being transported to the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk (Archangel – how appropriate) for analysis.

Will Russia share the secrets or will we have to hack to find them?

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WTF: ST. ERIKS POTATO CHIPS

Usually when beer and potato chips are being consumed in the same sitting, the chips are a kind of after thought. Something salty and crunchy to wash down with your brew. These potato chips from St. Eriks brewery in Sweden, however, are something entirely different.

The small micro brewer spared no expense in the production of this bar-snack. Intended to pair with the brewery’s namesake IPA, they made sure to use only the finest ingredients. Each of the five expensive morsels are made from nordic ammarnas potatoes, and are garnished with a rare mutsutake mushroom, truffle seaweed, leksand onion, and crowned dill by chefs from the Swedish National Culinary team. The catch to all of this? These potato chips are expensive. Like, really expensive. One of them could buy you roughly ten bags of normal, plebeian potato chips. The whole batch? They could buy probably 50 or more.

So be sure to eat them with your pinkies up. Prices are set at $56. [Purchase]

MIKA: I say again.... WTF!?

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YELLOWSTONE LIMITED EDITION BOURBON

Fall is a great season for bourbon releases, and one of the standouts this year might be Yellowstone Limited Edition Bourbon. This year's batch combines a 12-year-old bourbon with a 7-year — each of which was hand-selected and finished in new toasted wine barrels. Around 7,000 bottles are available, and it's made available at 101 proof from the folks at Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon, KY.

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Daisy Ridley Heavily Implies Rey's Parents Will Be Revealed In Star Wars: Episode VIII

It wouldn’t be the middle movie in a Star Wars trilogy without a shocking parental reveal, right?

In a recent interview, Vulture asked Daisy Ridley around Rey’s parentage, which has been heavily speculated about pretty much since the character was revealed, and will only be speculated about even more fervently in the run up to Episode VIII. Ridley answered:

We will see in a year. Just sit tight on that question.

Thus seemingly indicating that fans will learn about her mysterious backstory in the next mainline Star Wars film.

Now bear in mind, she doesn’t outright say that Rey’s parentage mystery will be solved in Episode VIII — her implication could just as easily imply that specific characters, such as Luke, could be ruled out of being related to her during the events of the movie (the interviewer was specifically asking her if Rogue One‘s Jyn Erso was Rey’s mother, or if she’s the child of Obi-Wan Kenobi, for what it’s worth).

In the past, Ridley has dismissed the desire to learn about Rey’s parents as being unimportant to the character’s journey — but considering the constant speculation about it, it’s definitely something fans want to know. Could we get a definitive answer in Episode VIII? We’ll have to wait and see.

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The New Peter Jackson Project Is Yet Another Post-Apocalyptic YA Tale 

Peter Jackson helmed one of the greatest fantasy adaptations of all time, as well as The Hobbit trilogy. Now he’s shepherding another genre entry to the big screen: Philip Reeve’s steampunk saga Mortal Engines. Though the Lord of the Rings trio of Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens will co-write the script, directing duties will go to VFX whiz Christian Rivers.

Though Rivers will make his feature directorial debut, he’s no rookie — after meeting Jackson when he was just a teen, he went on to work on the entire LotR and Hobbit series, and won an Oscar as part of King Kong‘s visual effects team. All told, Rivers has been part of Jackson’s inner circle for nearly 25 years (he has credits going back as far as 1992’s Dead Alive).

Jackson and Walsh have owned the rights to Mortal Engines, an award-winning YA series centred on a 15-year-old hero, since the first book’s release in 2001. According to Variety:

The book is set in a world many thousands of years in the future. Earth’s cities now roam the globe on huge wheels, devouring each other in a struggle for ever diminishing resources. On one of these massive Traction Cities, Tom Natsworthy has an unexpected encounter with a mysterious young woman from the Outlands who will change the course of his life forever.

The sci-fi/fantasy movie is the first in a planned series of films based on Reeve’s novels. The series is comprised of four books: “Mortal Engines,” “Predator’s Gold,” “Infernal Devices,” and “A Darkling Plain.”

This is the first Jackson-Walsh-Boyens project not directed by Jackson; in addition to writing the script, they will all produce, too. Filming is set to begin in New Zealand next autumn.

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George Lucas Has Had Nothing To Do With The Story For Indiana Jones 5

Which means we can probably look forward to George Lucas throwing shade at Indiana Jones 5 after it comes out.

Just as Lucas bowed out of any storytelling ideas for the seventh Star Wars movie, the co-creator of Indiana Jones will not contribute to the plot of Indiana Jones and the Fifth Item of Archaeological Importance, according to Indy 5 screenwriter David Koepp. Speaking in a recent interview with Collider, Koepp says that there’s been no consulting with Lucas about the story of the next film:

He’s not, to my knowledge. I’ve had no contact with him.

Lucas is involved with the movie, however — Spielberg told press at the premiere of The BFG that Lucas will be an executive producer on the film. But news that he’s not involved with the script of Indiana Jones 5 might give solace to fans who want a movie that’s a little more like the first three movies in the franchise and a bit less like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Koepp appears to agree, going on to discuss the importance of the “MacGuffin” that sits at the heart of every Indy movie and how the new movie is looking to learn from the mistakes surrounding the sci-fi trappings of Crystal Skull:

I think that what [Indy] looks for and when he looks for it dictates what the movie’s gonna be. So the selection of the MacGuffin is everything. I think Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, being set in 1957 there was a conscious desire to say, ‘Much like two of the other ones were World War II movies set in the 30s and early 40s, this is ’57 so a lot of our influences are gonna be science-fiction movies.’ You got that with the original [script], Jeb Stuart took the first shot at it with Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars. That was a really conscious decision that dictated a lot about what the story would be and what the movie would be like, and I think that was followed through on really nicely. I thought Steve did a really good job with that. I don’t know that the idea was most suited to an Indiana Jones movie, but that was what we did. So we tried to be very careful with the selection of the MacGuffin and the eras to give ourselves as much latitude to make the best kind of Indiana Jones movie that we most want to see. Learning how that’s the importance of the choice of the MacGuffin is a big deal.

Whatever the MacGuffin that Indy is going after, it won’t be one created with the help of George Lucas, either way.

 

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@Ken Gargett House: Australia's Version Of 'Pizza Rat' Is This Enormous, Rodent-Toting Spider 

In further proof that everything is stranger and more terrible in Australia, footage of an enormous banded huntsmen spider dragging a dead mouse up a fridge in Coppabella, Queensland, went viral on social media this weekend. Pizza rat has never felt so quaint.

It is unclear whether spider — nicknamed Hermie by the surprisingly cavalier humans who discovered and proceeded to videotape it rather than burning their house to the ground, collecting an insurance payout and moving abroad — actually killed the mouse. But arachnid expert Helen Smith of the Australian Museum said probably not.

“I would be very surprised if a huntsman would attack a mouse and even if it did, that the venom would be sufficient to kill it fast enough for the spider to still have hold of it,” Smith told The Guardian.

Nevertheless, banded huntsmen, which can grow to have a legspan of over 16cm, have been known to catch other vertebrates, including geckos. So perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked that this gnarly predator has developed an appetite for the occasional dead mammal.

I might point out that humans are also vertebrates, also mammals, also live inside houses and from time to time drink themselves into a cold stupor and appear dead. I’m starting to feel like Australia’s policy of censoring TV shows that paint arachnids as unthreatening creatures is spot on.

 

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Paleolithic Cave Art In Spain Could Be First Of Its Kind

Archaeologists working in Spain have uncovered a trove of cave etchings that has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of human history in Europe. The cave art was found near the resort town of Lekeitio on Spain’s northwestern coast. According to Spanish news outlet Deia, Basque local officials gave a press conference announcing the etchings, which they are describing as a “treasure of humanity.” The etchings depict various animals such as bison, horses, and goats, as well as lions – a first for cave art in this particular area and from this time period.

The etchings are found over 50 meters from the cave’s entrance and stretch across the walls of the cave in two main panels that depict dozens of animals. These works of Paleolithic art have been estimated to be close to 15,000 years old and range in size from just a few centimeters across to up to over 150 cm (~5 ft). The fact that these new cave etchings bear some resemblance to other well-known cave art in France has some archaeologists now wondering if the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer groups that made them might have been farther-reaching than previously thought.

Like other Paleolithic art, the cave etchings depict animals typically hunted by humans during this era.

Visitors are not currently allowed at the site, which lies underneath a building in the heart of Lekeitio and has been described as extremely difficult and dangerous to reach. These new etchings were found not far from Spain’s famed Cantabria region, where the Cave of Altamira, Spain’s most famous prehistoric archaeological site, was discovered in 1880. The etchings in Altamira were only the second set of Paleolithic cave art ever to be found and their authenticity was hotly debated. As for this set of early human art, Lekeitio officials have planned another press conference for the end of this month after analysis and carbon dating on these new etchings can be confirmed.

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This Guy Just Paid Way Too Much for the World’s Most Expensive Whisky

For $130,000 you can buy a Maserati GT, a meal at Masa for you and 129 of your closest friends, or an entire neighbourhood in certain sections of Detroit. Or, you can do what one high roller just did and pay HK$1.003 million ($129,186 by today’s exchange rates) for a single bottle of whisky.

Yes, somebody paid roughly two and a half times the price of America’s median household income for a one bottle of whisky. The whisky—without an ‘e’—wasn’t distilled in Ireland or aged in charred new-oak American barrels. No, the world’s priciest whisky hails from Japan, thanks to a record-shattering auction price garnered by a regular-sized bottle.

Suntory, Japan’s oldest distillery, has been around since 1923, but it wasn’t until 2005 that Suntory released the extremely limited-edition Yamazaki Single Malt 50 Year Old Whisky, of which only 250 were made. The product took on a cult following and was elevated to almost mythological status in the years following.

So what does a $130k bottle of whisky taste like? “Sweet-sour dried fruits, a full-bodied, silky mouthfeel, and a lingering, slightly smoky aftertaste with mild woodiness,” according to nosing and tasting notes from Suntory. So, like whisky, basically.

The Grand Hyatt Hong Kong got its hands on a bottle, and put it up for sale this month as part of Poly Auction’s Prestige Collection of rare spirits. The bottle, which originally retailed for a still whopping $9,600 in 2005, sold for 13 times its original value. With just under 16 1.5-ounce shots in a 700-milliliter bottle, that’s more than $8,000 per serving.

Somebody pass the Old Crow. Doing the math on booze I’ll never be able to afford makes me need a drink.

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Playa Viva Treehouse

The Playa Viva resort in Mexico offers guests an unique opportunity to stay at a treehouse suite surrounded by lush palms, with a unobstructed ocean view, and a mile-long private beach. Raised 6 feet above the ground, the 700 square feet circular treehouse is outfitted with a king-size bed, private bathroom, open-air shower, ocean view and a small lounge area with in-floor hammock. There’s also a daybed so more people can share the experience. The eco-friendly treehouse suite is made of bamboo with electricity and hot water provided by solar power.    

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FUNK FACTORY BOSBES BEER

There aren't very many lambic style beers in the U.S. that can stand up to the ones over in Belgium. But there's a small Geuzeria that popped up in Wisconsin that is churning out sours that are rising in popularity. Bosbes is one of the releases from Funk Factory Geuzeria, and is a blend of lambics that were aged in used french oak wine barrels for 18-24 months. Then, it's re-fermented with two pounds per gallon of blueberries for 6 weeks. The result is funky and sour, but approachable with a balance that shows plenty of promise for this upcoming brewery.

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This Trailer for Russian Horror Flick The Bride Is Terrifying in Any Language

I can’t read any of the text in this trailer, but presumably, it’s the set-up for director Svyatoslav Podgayevskiy’s The Bride. But who needs words when the images are so freakin’ terrifying? Clearly, a white-gowned spirit who’s been in the grave for a century or so has risen to be the ultimate Bridezilla.

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Everything We Know About The Cyber Attack That Crippled America's Internet

Friday’s DDoS attack on Dyn’s domain name servers was unprecedented. The attack utilised a botnet made up of “internet of things” (IoT) devices (think: Smart TV’s, DVRs and internet-connected cameras) to take down a major piece of internet infrastructure. The result? For most of Friday, people across the United States and some parts of Europe were unable to access sites like Amazon, Twitter, CNN, PayPal and Spotify. Here’s what we know so far.

Who did it?

This is the biggest question, and we don’t have a solid answer yet. There were rumblings online that the attack might have been state-sponsored, but an unnamed intelligence official told NBC they have ruled that out, saying it was a “classic case of internet vandalism”.

NBC News reports:

Quote

A senior US intelligence official told NBC News the current assessment is that this is a classic case of internet vandalism. The official said it does not appear at this point to be any kind of state-sponsored or directed attack. Impossible to say how long it will take to say who’s responsible, the official added.

As is usually the case with anonymous US officials, the source didn’t offer any proof to bolster that claim. So for now, we’ll have to accept this conclusion with a good dose of scepticism.

How was the attack done? 

Dyn confirmed the analysis of some cybersecurity companies that the attack was launched by IoT devices infected with the “Mirai botnet”. Mirai is malware that recently became open source, allowing anyone to build their own botnet army made of IoT devices.

Dyn’s official statement on the attack explains:

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At this point we know this was a sophisticated, highly distributed attack involving 10s of millions of IP addresses. We are conducting a thorough root cause and forensic analysis, and will report what we know in a responsible fashion. The nature and source of the attack is under investigation, but it was a sophisticated attack across multiple attack vectors and internet locations. We can confirm, with the help of analysis from Flashpoint and Akamai, that one source of the traffic for the attacks were devices infected by the Mirai botnet. We observed 10s of millions of discrete IP addresses associated with the Mirai botnet that were part of the attack.

As Dyn implies in its statement, this event was not your conventional DDoS attack. Instead, it seems to be the first large-scale attack using IoT devices. Because of the estimated billions of available unsecured IoT devices, these attacks could allow for an unprecedented amount of DDoS power — enough power to take down major pieces of internet infrastructure protected by some of the best DDoS mitigation in the business. That’s exactly what we saw on Friday.

What comes next?

Some of the devices used in this botnet against Dyn came from one Hangzhou Xiongmai, a Chinese manufacturer that creates parts for internet-connected webcams. Just this morning, Hangzhou Xiongmai said that it would recall the devices utilised in the attack and send out security patches. Hangzhou Xiongmai devices were vulnerable because they didn’t force users to change the passwords that connect the devices to the internet, leaving the devices with default passwords. This, in turn, allowed hackers to co-opt them.

It remains to be seen if this attack will be launched again, but there is no doubt that it inspired would-be hackers to build more botnet armies using the wealth of unsecured IoT devices and readily available malware. It’s unclear what mischief they’re planning, but if hackers are able to make much of the internet unusable, say, once or twice a month, it will totally change how the web works.

So to put it bluntly: Last week’s cyber attack was very scary. Never before have key pieces of internet infrastructure been so vulnerable, and there’s no doubt that some copycat hackers will try to get their kicks in while they still can.

 

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A Torch That Can Start Fires And Cook Dinner Is The Best Camping Accessory

Wicked Lasers is known for its handheld lasers and torches that redefine what it means to be bright. A few years ago it released a torch that was intense enough to start a fire, and now the company has managed to dramatically shrink its design so you can easily bring it the next time you go camping and leave the matches at home.

At 219mm long the FlashTorch Mini still isn’t something you can clip to your keychain and keep in your pocket. But its about 40 per cent smaller than the original FlashTorch, while maintaining the ability to start fires, or cook dinner, thanks to its impressive 2300 lumen output. For comparison, that’s roughly the same brightness as a video projector used in a large lecture hall.

At max brightness the FlashTorch Mini’s rechargeable batteries will only last for about 30 minutes. But you can dial back the lumens to a setting that’s still bright, just not completely blinding, to max out battery life to up to 100 minutes. The most important feature, however, is an automatic lockout mode which prevents the $US200 ($263) FlashTorch Mini from accidentally powering on in your bag, turning your camping gear into an instant, but presumably unwanted, bonfire.

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The Walking Dead Season Premiere Bludgeoned Its Ratings Rivals To Death

Because baseball bats. Get it? Look, it’s a very obvious joke about that thing that happened like everyone else is making!

Yes, in perhaps unsurprising news, The Walking Dead‘s seventh season premiere has reported gangbuster ratings — a total of 17 million viewers tuned in in the US. This is actually not a record for the series (season five’s premiere garnered 17.29 million viewers), but enough to routinely thump everything else that was on TV on the Sunday. It’s a rather impressive number for the show, and proof that even after seven years the series has the capacity to command feverish attention, but also kind of a depressing one, because it essentially validates the creative team’s decision to drag out the cliffhanger to season six for a lot longer than it should have.

It’s very obvious in hindsight to see that’s why the decision to tease whoever Negan whacked to death at the very end of season six — and then spin it out over months and months and months of teasing and speculation and kind of ridiculous spoiler policing for a moment that, it turns out, was basically “spoiled” by the 100th issue of The Walking Dead comic’s release four years ago — was made.

But whatever The Walking Dead ultimately sacrificed in dramatic tension surrounding Negan’s threat, it certainly got curious people to tune in for something they were forced to wait half a year for in droves. The fact that they did so in huge numbers probably indicates to AMC it’s worth doing something equally stunt-y in the future… so stay tuned for the inevitable cliffhanger ending to season seven, I guess?

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Russia Reveals 'Satan 2' Nuclear Missile Capable Of Destroying Texas In One Blow

Russia is flexing its military muscle as tensions with the US simmer in the wake of a heated third presidential debate, where Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton called Republican candidate Donald Trump a “puppet” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now, Russia has declassified the first image of its new thermonuclear intercontinental ballistic missile.

The RS-28 Sarmat missile — better known as the Satan 2 nuclear missile — has finally been revealed after years of being hyped by the Russian government. According to a Russian publication aligned with the Kremlin called Sputnik, the super-nuke has a payload capable of destroying an area “the size of Texas“.

The new weapon can deploy warheads of 40 megatons, or about 2000 times as powerful as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagaski in 1945.

Former assistant secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy Dr Paul Craig Roberts called the atomic bombs that Washington dropped on Japan “popguns” compared to today’s thermo-nuclear weapons. “One Russian SS-18 wipes out three-fourths of New York state for thousands of years,” he said in a blog post. “Five or six of these ‘Satans’ as they are known by the US military, and the East Coast of the United States disappears.”

To make it even more frightening, the Satan 2 is also capable of evading radar defences and could travel far enough to strike the US East and West Coast.

The picture of the rocket was published today by chief designers at Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau. Along with photos of the rocket, the designers included the following statement (roughly translated by Google Translate).

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In accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation: On the state defence order for 2010 and the planning period 2012-2013. JSC SRC Makeyev instructed to begin the development of OCD Sarmat. In June 2011, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation signed a state contract for OCD Sarmat. Prospective strategic missile systems (RKSN) Sarmat is created in order to secure and effective nuclear deterrent tasks of Russia’s strategic forces.

This rough translation can give you at least some insight into how long the engineers have been working on this missile, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has been following US-Russia relations. In 2013, Russian announced it would begin deploying a new type of long-range missile to replace its Cold War standby, the original Satan missile. The Satan 2 missile is the realisation of the deployment.

The original Satan missile was developed in the 1970s, as the Soviet Union achieved nuclear parity with the US in the wake of the Cold War. Those missiles are now approaching the end of their service lives. US and Russia both signed treaties in 2010 restricting the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles the countries would keep in reserve, but despite the truce, Russia said it must maintain a strong nuclear deterrent because of the US military involvement in Europe. The Satan 2 will be put into service in late 2018, and Russian officials say it will fully replace the old Satan missiles by 2020.

Russia’s decision to suddenly reveal the new missile is especially troubling as tensions between the country and US are flaring up over hacking allegations and conflict in Syria. While we don’t expect any immediate military conflicts between the NATO allies, it is certainly upsetting to know that people are actually spending time building such catastrophic weapons.

 

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The Arctic Looks Drop Dead Gorgeous In This Video

 

As you grow older, you start realising that you might never get to see certain cities or visit some places around the world. Like, I’m fairly confident that I’ll never visit the Arctic. And, whatever, that’s OK, it’s too cold up there anyway. But my oh my, is it beautiful. It looks almost unreal — the white of the ice looks completely pristine and the structures just look untouched.

Just check out this video of Ben Brown’s trip to the Arctic. It’s so awesome that you don’t ever have to make the trek out there yourself.

 

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House Of Tomorrow From 1933 Declared US National Treasure, Will Be Restored

When the House of Tomorrow was completed in 1933 it gave visitors a sneak peek at the shiny, optimistic future that was to come — all 12 sides of it. Today, this relic of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair sits in disrepair. But preservationists are hoping to change that with the announcement of a new campaign to restore the house to its former glory.

The US National Trust for Historic Preservation has declared the House of Tomorrow a “National Treasure”, and the Indiana Landmarks organisation plans to raise $US2 million ($2.6 million) to preserve the house. Technically, the house is now property of the National Park Service and has been since the 1960s, but budget cuts for maintenance of historic buildings have left the House of Tomorrow neglected.

“By declaring it a National Treasure, we have the opportunity to save the House of Tomorrow while also honouring its legacy of innovation,” David J. Brown of the National Trust for Historic Preservation said in a statement.

House of Tomorrow in 1933 (Photo: Wisconsin Historical Society)

Designed by George Fred Keck, the House of Tomorrow was built as one in a series of 12 futuristic houses in coordination with the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933, whose motto was “A Century of Progress.” Despite being geographically separated from the main event, the House of Tomorrow welcomed thousands of visitors just across the border in Indiana.

The house had everything from an attached garage that could move up and down at the push of a button to central air conditioning. It even had an aeroplane hangar. The car that was often parked out front was “streamlined” in the ultra modern style of 1930s futurism.

After the exhibition, the houses were moved from their original site near Chicago to Beverly Shores, Indiana. But the House of Tomorrow looks pretty shabby these days.

“To guide us through the restoration design process, we have enlisted the services of Chicago architect and former Indiana Landmarks board member Bill Latoza. Although the timetable will depend on fundraising, we hope to get the restoration underway by spring 2017 [autumn in Australia],” Marsh David, the president of Indiana Landmarks said in a statement.

Indiana Landmarks is currently raising the $US2 million ($2.6 million) to restore the house and announced that it plans to lease out the house for residential living in the future. If it’s affordable (I’m not holding my breath), sign me up!

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When Exorcism Fails In Incarnate, The Next Logical Step Is... Mind-Melding?

“I don’t do exorcisms,” Aaron Eckhart asserts in the new trailer for Incarnate. “I don’t use religious methods to treat the symptoms. I go inside the victim’s mind to treat the disease.” That’s the summary of the film, in which his character is called upon to help a family desperate to save their possessed little boy.

One question stands out: If mind-meld technology actually existed, wouldn’t someone be putting it to more practical use than, like, battling demons?

Incarnate is directed by Brad Peyton (San Andreas), and besides Eckhart it features an intriguing cast, including David Mazouz (Gotham‘s Bruce Wayne) and Carice van Houten (Game of Thrones‘ Melisandre). It will be out in the US December 2. An Australian release date has not yet been confirmed.

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Nintendo Customers In The 90s Were Super Weird

This video was made in 1991, but it feels like it comes from another dimension.

It's an instructional video, made by Nintendo, to help retail staff deal with customers when selling Nintendo consoles.

It's unreal.

The soft focus, the haircuts, the music. Plenty of you whippersnappers reading this most likely weren't even born when this was made, but I was very much born. I would have been 15 around this time. I actually find it strange to believe I existed in a world that looked like this.

Anyway, this video is flat out hilarious. From the customer that wants to bake the store clerk a pie, to the guy who wants to return a NES covered in mud -- this is video is a goddamn time machine to another world.

This is video game history.

[MIKA27]

This $5 Million Poker Hand Is More Intense Than a Bond Movie

The extent of my Texas Holdem knowledge comes from movies and occasionally playing with friends for $5 buy ins. The highest pot I've ever played for is probably somewhere around $10, making this $27,800,000 pot a few thousand times more intense. So, I can only imagine a tiny fraction of the stress it takes to go all in with $5.9 million before the flop is dealt, like this hand between William Kassouf and Griffin Benger during the World Series of Poker this week.

And then there's Kassouf's incessant heckling of Benger. Though Benger has the winning hand (a pair of aces unknown to Kassouf), his opponent keeps harassing him into calling his bet. Eventually Benger breaks under Kassouf's verbal assault and puts him all in. The two throw verbal jabs over the table as the rest of the hand is dealt. Kassouf, who has a pair of kings in his hand, needs only one to beat Benger's aces. Watch the scenario, which is way more stressful than that poker scene in Casino Royale.

 

[MIKA27]

THE INDUSTRIAL TINY CABIN BY WHEELLIFE

While many ‘Tiny Homes’ are set on wheels, few are actually capable of being towed by your average truck. Even then – rarely are they actually road-legal. The Industrial model from WheelLife Tiny Homes, on the other hand, can be towed legally by your own truck.

You would think that this kind of mobility would come with some real downsides – like maybe a smaller, more cramped house, or something with less natural light. Neither of those things are true. In fact, it seems like the Industrial model may have a bit of an edge on others on the market. The space features a sloped, sleek roofline that starts low over the bedroom, and rises to 14 feet high just above the living room in the front of the home. For ample light, this front portion of the house features floor to ceiling windows that lead right out to a private deck. All of this makes for a well lit, and paradoxically spacious feeling home despite the spartan 338 square feet floor plan. Even with this limited square footage, the designers of the home were able to fit a loft bedroom, a main bedroom, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room. Not bad for a tiny home. The base prices on these are set at just around $70,000. [Purchase]