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

[MIKA27]

Great News, Spiders Are Pretending To Be Leafs Now

Today in 'f*&k spiders forever' news: they're pretending to be leafs now.

That's great. Just great.
Asides from freaking people out and inspiring us to set our own homes on fire, spiders do a bunch of wild s#@t. They pretend to be ants on some Assassin's Creed shit, so they can eat ants. They also have a crap-ton of eyes.

They're freaky is what I'm saying.

That's why this whole 'spiders pretending to be leafs' thing is so troubling.

The good news: these spiders, potentially a new species are unique to China. They were discovered in southwestern China's Yunnan rain forest. Surprise surprise, they pretend to be leaves for one single reason: to kill and eat things.

Why has it taken so long for us to find this potentially new species of leave-masquerading goddamn hellspider? They are so good at pretending to be leaves that — no shit — human beings thought they were actually leaves. Only two have been found so far.

It's all pretty interesting/terrifying.

This Never Before Seen Spider Looks Like a Leaf and comming to a letterbox near @Ken Gargett soon.  

[MIKA27]

The Tesla Model S P100D's Updated 0-100 Time Is So F**king Quick

The Tesla Model S P100D was one of the fastest cars in the world, claiming a zero to 100km/h time of just 2.7 seconds when it was introduced in August. A wireless update coming next month drops that down to 2.5 seconds. That is so unbelievably quick.

AU Editor's Note: 0-100km/h actually translates to 0-62mph, which takes very slightly longer than 0-60. That's why you're seeing a discrepancy of a tenth of a second between US figures and our own Aussie metrics. 

I’m going to be open and honest; the quickest car I’ve ever driven in my short, feeble driving lifetime is probably the Mustang GT350 a rich friend let me drive once, with 0-100km/h time of 4.3 seconds.

I can’t imagine shaving 0.2 seconds off of that time and still being able to realistically interpret my reality.

But that’s what the updated Model S P100D will do with an upcoming wireless update, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Twitter:

Quote

Looks like the Model S P100D Easter egg will allow it to do 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 sec and a 10.6 sec 1/4 mile via software update next month - Elon Musk

That is so mind-blowingly stupid quick. It’s a luxury sedan that can ferry a family and take them to highway speeds as quick or quicker than supercars priced multiple times higher.

The Model X P100D will be getting a similar boost, with Musk tweeting that it would be shaving 0.1 seconds off of its 3.1 zero to 100km/h time. Considering that thing could literally act as a paperweight for our planet’s tectonic plates, it’s pretty difficult to fathom.

I, for one, welcome our new dimension-warping electric overlords.

[MIKA27]

How Pluto Got Its Heart

Four billion years ago, an asteroid the size of Manhattan smacked into Pluto, punching out a crater that filled up with ice from above and water from below, eventually becoming so heavy it caused the entire planet to tip over.

That, at least, is the conclusion of two new scientific papers published today in the journal Nature. Each paper seeks to explain how Sputnik Planitia — the brilliant, ice filled basin affectionately called the "left lobe" of Pluto's heart — formed and evolved over time. Together, the two studies tell a remarkable, almost fantastical origin story involving giant asteroids, buried oceans and exotic ices that twisted entire worlds upside down in aeons past.

While the papers agree on the broad brushstrokes and diverge on the details of how Sputnik Planitia came to be, neither analysis is complete or irrefutable. The truth about Pluto's icy heart possibly lies somewhere in the middle.

A 1050km-wide, teardrop-shaped basin that is believed to have formed during an ancient impact, Sputnik Planitia has received more attention than any other geologic feature spotted on Pluto during the New Horizons flyby. And for good reason: Pluto's shiny left lobe is downright astonishing. Flat, smooth and brilliant, this vast, icy plain features virtually no craters, suggesting the surface has been renewing itself since it was formed. In other words, Pluto is geologically active.

But while Sputnik Planitia revealed things about the former ninth planet we never expected to learn, its location, at Pluto's equator, posed a mystery.

"If you drew a line from the center of Charon through Pluto, it would come out on the far side right near Sputnik Planitia," said James Keane, a doctoral student at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. "That line is called the tidal axis. Anytime in planetary science that we see a connection between a large geologic feature and this special axes, it's basically a hallmark of a process called true polar wander."

True polar wander, or the re-orientation of a planet with respect to its axis of rotation, occurs because planets, like all other objects, prefer to spin in the way that minimises energy. If you stuck a wad of gum on a toy top, it would cause the top to tip over until it reached a new, minimum energy spin axis. Likewise, if you add a bunch of mass to a planet's north pole, the extra weight will tug that pole toward the equator.

We see evidence of true polar wander all over the solar system. On Mars, a vast mountain belt — something planetary scientists call a "positive mass anomaly" — sits squarely on the equator. On Saturn's moon Enceladus, a chain of geysers are spewing seawater into space, producing a negative mass anomaly that happens to lie right at the south pole. In both cases, when weight was added or subtracted, the celestial body reoriented to compensate.

Sputnik Planitia's equatorial location suggests the basin is heavy — so heavy it caused the entire planet to tip over. "The assumption is that it's a positive mass anomaly," Keane said.

But this is all rather odd, because remember, Sputnik Planitia formed when a rogue space rock smacked into Pluto, a collision which probably ejected a lot of mass out of the basin. Something must have happened since then to add a lot of weight back — but what?

Animation showing how Pluto might have re-oriented itself in response to volatile ices accumulating in Sputnik Planitia. Image: James Tuttle Keane. Maps of Pluto and Charon by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

That's where the new studies comes in. Keane's analysis, which used computer simulations to imagine where Sputnik Planitia formed and how it migrated over time, indicates that an accumulation of volatile ices, namely nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide, has made Pluto's heart heavy.

"Pluto has really extreme seasons, and volatile ices migrate around the surface on seasonal timescales," Keane explained, adding that topographic depressions like Sputnik Planitia are cold traps, encouraging ices to settle out. "Our idea is that this basin formed up north, some fifty to sixty degrees away from its present location, and as each season went by, more ice got trapped, causing the basin to reorient toward the equator."

Keane's models indicate that Sputnik Planitia has accumulated a lot of volatiles, enough to yield a several-kilometre thick sheet of ice. Fault networks on Pluto's surface support the idea that this icy mantle has been migrating in a southeasterly direction over time, tugging the rest of the dwarf planet along with it.

Still, Keane admits, it is hard to image a scenario in which ice alone caused Pluto to tip over. "You'd need many tens or hundreds of kilometers of it," he said.

Pluto, with annotated fault scars that provide evidence of true polar wander.

Francis Nimmo, a planetary scientist at UC Santa Cruz who led the other study out today in Nature, has a slightly different take on Sputnik Planitia that may solve this problem. Whereas Keane's study focuses on the power of ice, Nimmo's model simulations indicate that a slushy, subsurface ocean did most of the heavy lifting that caused Pluto to roll over.

Planetary scientists have long suspected that at some point, Pluto had a deeply buried, liquid water ocean, kept warm by the heat of radioactive elements in the dwarf planet's core. According to Nimmo's analysis, after Sputnik Planitia was carved out, the topographic depression would have started to rebound, drawing water up from this underground reservoir.

"If you remove a big chunk of ice from the surface, you're removing a lot of overburden," Nimmo explained. "What happens then is that water underneath pushes up on the remaining ice, and rises up. And because water is denser than ice, that gives you some extra mass."

Comparison of mantle uplift in the Moon's Orientale Basin with proposed ocean uplift in Sputnik Planitia. 

Nimmo estimates that Sputnik Planitia's slushy ocean is up to 100km deep, and buried beneath another 200km of ice. The ocean is probably filled with ammonia salts, he said, which not only act as antifreeze, they increase the density of the water, making Pluto's heart even heaver.

Both researchers were quick to point out that their hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, and that in fact, a combination of ice and water were probably responsible for Pluto's big stumble. "Both of us agree that this reorientation happened, and that Sputnik Planitia has extra mass," Nimmo said.

"Like all things in science, it's probably a little bit of both," Keane added. "Volatiles, oceans, and things we haven't explored in detail."

Unfortunately, the best way to confirm Keane and Nimmo's theories is through detailed gravity measurements, and to get those, we're going to need to stick a probe in orbit around Pluto. Given that such a mission is not even on the drawing board yet, it's safe to say we're going to be pondering the origin of Pluto's heart for a long time.

Meanwhile, New Horizons continues to sail away from the Sun, and is on track to rendezvous with a mysterious red Kuiper Belt Object, MU69, in 2019. No doubt, the spacecraft's second flyby will uncover more wonders and continue to upend everything we thought we knew about the outer solar system.

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, MIKA27 said:

Great News, Spiders Are Pretending To Be Leafs Now

Today in 'f*&k spiders forever' news: they're pretending to be leafs now.

That's great. Just great.
Asides from freaking people out and inspiring us to set our own homes on fire, spiders do a bunch of wild s#@t. They pretend to be ants on some Assassin's Creed shit, so they can eat ants. They also have a crap-ton of eyes.

They're freaky is what I'm saying.

That's why this whole 'spiders pretending to be leafs' thing is so troubling.

The good news: these spiders, potentially a new species are unique to China. They were discovered in southwestern China's Yunnan rain forest. Surprise surprise, they pretend to be leaves for one single reason: to kill and eat things.

Why has it taken so long for us to find this potentially new species of leave-masquerading goddamn hellspider? They are so good at pretending to be leaves that — no shit — human beings thought they were actually leaves. Only two have been found so far.

It's all pretty interesting/terrifying.

This Never Before Seen Spider Looks Like a Leaf and comming to a letterbox near @Ken Gargett soon.  

it is just a spider.

hardly a threat if in human history, they have been spotted just twice.

i actually have a new huntsman moved into the letterbox. beautiful looking thing.

[MIKA27]

The Man Who Wants to Make Artificial Glaciers to Save the Himalayans

The Himalayans had a water problem. In the summer months, parched residents looked to the mountain peaks, wondering why the glacial melt they relied upon for fresh water had dried up completely.

Typically, the snow and ice that melted during the summer months would sustain the agriculture in this mountainous region’s high-altitude villages, between India and Nepal. But climate change has shrunk the glaciers in the Himalayas significantly over the past decades. The existing glaciers are no longer close enough to the villages to provide water during the hot months.

Indian scientist Sonam Wangchuk saw a way to bring relief to these villages. He created a method to spray water from nearby glacial streams into freezing air during colder months to create artificial glaciers.

The glaciers are called ice stupas, which look like magical ice palaces in the dry, brown terrain, and are meant to store water for trees, farming and drinking to these villages until the sun melts it during the summer months. Named after Buddhist monuments, they are each 30 meters tall and can provide millions of gallons of water to parched residents.

Glacial melt is a huge issue worldwide, especially since glaciers and snowpacks are often used as a natural slow-release reservoir for areas that don’t get much summer rain.

The increase in greenhouse gases keeps some areas too warm for glaciers to properly refreeze in the winter and to slowly thaw throughout the spring and summer. Some scientists are predicting that most of the glaciers near Mount Everest will be gone by 2100. According to a study published by the European Geoscience Union’s scholarly journal, 70 percent of the Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2100.

Wangchuk, 50, is among five laureates honored for their work benefiting the world through innovation. The winners of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise were announced today in Los Angeles and were chosen based on projects rooted in science, technology, the environment, exploration and cultural heritage.

Wangchuk, of India, is an engineer and teacher from Ladakh. He began developing the artificial glaciers as a classroom project with his students from the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh Alternative School, according to a release from Rolex. A crowdfunding campaign paid for the first 20-meter-tall glacier, which was built with 2.3 kilometers of pipe.

“I started thinking about things that could make a real impact on people’s lives, mainly through meaningful education,” he said in a statement. “All these young Ladakhis—95 percent of them—were failing in the educational system owing mainly to their being a cultural and linguistic minority in India.”

That first glacier provided fresh water for a village until July. All told, the one glacier provided an extra 1.5 million liters of fresh water for trees, villagers and local monks. Wangchuk will receive $104,000 from the award to expand his project to additional villages.

Some research is being done into how to prevent glacial melt that these villages rely on for drinking water. A study published in 2011 in Nature Geoscience suggested rocks and other debris could be placed on glaciers to slow down the melting process.

California faces a similar, but different, problem with climate change keeping the Sierra Nevada range too warm for a strong snowpack. But impoverished regions like these Himalayan villages don’t always get the amount of attention first-world areas receive, yet the problems are just are urgent.

When he isn’t innovating, Wangchuk is teaching at a school for students who needed a second chance after failing out of traditional Indian secondary school. He founded the region’s alternative school in 1994, and students there learn about solar power and innovation in addition to typical high school studies.

Wangchuk hopes to use the funds from the award to build 20 more glaciers in the region.

 

[MIKA27]

Freedrum 

Freedrum is a virtual drumkit that fits in your pocket. Simply slip the sensors on your drumsticks, pair them with your smartphone and enjoy your kickass air drumming anywhere! The best part? You can put a pair of earbuds in, so you won’t have to hear anyone complain about your skills. How cool is that? Freedrum is designed to create an immersive experience, it feels almost like playing real drums, with natural feeling of movements to hit the different drums like the hi-hat the snare and the ride. If you want the full experience, get a second pair and strap them to your feet to mimic pedals! The clever device doesn´t require an internet connection and runs on a battery that should keep you drumming for a week of regular use.

 

[MIKA27]

PRADA AMBER INTENSE COLOGNE

The label "intense" might make you think Prada Amber Intense Cologne has even more ingredients than the original Amber on which its based. Instead, it's a removal of fragrances that lends it greater punch. With a base of Somalian myrrh and Italian bergamot orange, it's bold, elegant, and, thanks to top notes of Indonesian patchouli and vanilla from Madagascar, a bit mysterious, as well. Arrives in a simple, handsome black 3.4 oz spray bottle.

[MIKA27]

Aston Martin Vanquish S 

The existing Vanquish was already great. Instead of a complete re-think, the Aston Martin Vanquish S makes several subtle tweaks to up the performance of the already powerful GT. The 6.0L V12 gets a new intake system, boosting its output from 565 to 592 hp, and the re-calibrated eight-speed transmission delivers faster shifts and a more refined in-town experience. The suspension has likewise been updated for more precise control in sport modes, and the aerodynamics have been plussed with a front splitter and rear diffuser crafted from exposed carbon fiber. The finished package is a refined yet exhilarating tourer that's as comfortable on cross-country drives as it is on twisty mountain roads.

[MIKA27]

The Voynich Manuscript: A 700 Year Old Coded Book That Hasn't Been Cracked

Perhaps the world's greatest literary mystery, the Voynich Manuscript has been plaguing code crackers for roughly 700 years.

At 240 pages, the medieval manuscript is written in an unknown or coded language and filled with pictures of exotic plants, naked figures and the stars. Nobody knows what it actually is, or where it originated.

The Manuscript

It isn't just the indecipherable language that renders the book a mystery.

The subject matter of the manuscript is primarily derived from its illustrations. Plants, astrology, cosmology, biology, apothecary, pharmaceuticals and what appears to be recipes, all appear in its pages.

The most obvious conclusion that has been drawn is that the manuscript is actually a book on pharmacology. However, if you look closely at the drawings you may notice something quite odd — many of the plants are composite, two or more objects fancifully stitched together. This isn't exactly the mark of a text that is strictly medicinal.

In fact, not one theory behind the manuscript's purpose holds up completely — which makes sense when investigators have so little to go on.

The Voynich Manuscript seems to be a mixed bag of scientific and pseudo-scientific study, some of which matches the knowledge and equipment being used at the time of its conception, and some of which doesn't.

The Language

There are several reasons why the Voynich Manuscript has evaded the understanding of expert cryptographers for hundreds of years.

Firstly, the vast majority is written in an indecipherable language with unique characters, instantly making it more difficult to tackle. Even if a simple substitution cipher (where each symbol represented a particular letter) had been used to code it, which real-world language did it originally apply to?

Latin, German, Italian Mesoamerican and East Asian languages, amongst many more, have all been theorised.

Secondly, nobody knows the rules to the cipher. Perhaps it's a group of symbols that represent a single letter or even entire words in a real language. Maybe fake characters have been added to represent spaces or to simply complicate the encryption.

Finally, it may not be a simple substitution cipher. Imagine if a polyalphabetic cipher had been used — where multiple cipher alphabets are utilised simultaneously? And that's just one possibility.

When you take these points into consideration, it all becomes incredibly complicated — and confusing — quite quickly.

Matters become further convoluted when you check the margins of some of the pages. Some of them contain notes in a variety of languages, including German, medieval French and Latin.

Sadly, these margin notes haven't been accurately dated — though it seems logical that they were added later, particularly as there is allegedly evidence to suggest that the manuscript itself has been rearranged throughout history.

The History

Carbon dating places the creation of the manuscript between 1404 and 1438 and both the text and illustrations have been determined as characteristically European.

Despite this, nothing is known about the first two centuries of its existence. The first confirmed recording of the manuscript only dates back to 1639, from a letter written by its then-owner, Georg Baresch — an alchemist from Prague.

Hoping to crack the book, he requested the help of Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher, who had recently published a Coptic dictionary that could allegedly help decipher hieroglyphics. Kircher tried to get his hands on the manuscript himself, but wasn't successful until after Baresch's death.

The book arrived with a note, written by the rector of the Charles University in Prague, that has some interesting claims regarding the manuscript's history. Part of it reads:

Quote

"Dr. Raphael, a tutor in the Bohemian language to Ferdinand III, then King of Bohemia, told me the said book belonged to the Emperor Rudolph and that he presented to the bearer who brought him the book 600 ducats. He believed the author was Roger Bacon, the Englishman. On this point I suspend judgement; it is your place to define for us what view we should take thereon..."

As far as history dictates, Kircher was unsuccessful in deciphering and sadly there was no record of it for another 200 years. However, it is generally believed that it remained in the collection of Collegio Romano, where Kircher taught.

This is because the college — now named the Pontifical Gregorian University — was short on money in the early 20th century. In 1912 the school decided to sell some of its collections, including 30 manuscripts that were purchased by Polish book dealer, Wilfrid Voynich.

Despite his attempts to have the manuscript deciphered by a variety of scholars, Voynich died without ever knowing the secrets of the book that now bears his name. After passing through several more owners during the 20th century, it was eventually donated to Yale University in 1969.

Of course, hoax theories are also woven into the history of the manuscript.

Some believe that as an antique book expert, Voynich himself may have manufactured it. A medieval manuscript with Roger Bacon's name attached would have been worth a lot — although this doesn't fit with the historical accounts of the book or its carbon dating.

Others think that the hoax may have originated from Baresch and Kircher's time. The letter that came from the manuscript when it was delivered to Kircher was written by Joannes Marcus Marci, who was a good friend of Raphael Sobiehrd-Mnishovsky, a lawyer who had a judicial post under both Emperor Rudolph and Ferdinand II.

He was the source of the Roger Bacon story and, funnily enough, a cryptographer who claimed to have invented an uncrackable cipher. Was he perhaps putting his theory into practice?

Will It Ever Be Cracked?

Considering the complex nature of the language, it has always seemed rather unlikely. At least until recently.

In 2014, Stephen Bax, a professor of applied linguistics at the University of Bedfordshire, claimed to have deciphered 14 of the mystery characters and used them to identify some of the drawings, such as coriander juniper and hellebore.

In a statement, Bax said, "I hit on the idea of identifying proper names in the text, following historic approaches which successfully deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs and other mystery scripts, and I then used those names to work out part of the script."

"The manuscript has a lot of illustrations of stars and plants...I was able to identify some of these, with their names, by looking at medieval herbal manuscripts in Arabic and other languages, and I then made a start on a decoding, with some exciting results."

Further hope comes in the form of publication. In early 2016 a small Spanish publishing house that specialises in old documents won the right to clone and distribute the manuscript — including every tear, stain and blemish.

The theory is that if more people have access to the manuscript, the more likely it will get cracked. But before you get too excited, only 898 clones will be created (the number is a palindrome and chosen purposely) and will cost between £6,000 to £6,900.

Perhaps over the next few years the mystery will finally be solved.

[MIKA27]

The New Kong: Skull Island Trailer

 

Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman and Samuel L. Jackson have a problem. They're on Skull Island and don't know they're about to meet the Eighth Wonder of the World himself. But we do, and now we've gotten an even better look at him, because the new trailer for Kong: Skull Island is here.
John C. Reilly's character clearly knows what's up though — and check out that epic beard!

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has harnessed his love of 1970s war films into this period monster movie, which will eventually link up with the world we saw in 2014's Godzilla. Before that, though, a group of researchers and soldiers are going to find themselves on a mysterious island they should not be on.

In addition to the trailer, two new posters were also revealed.

Kong: Skull Island opens 9 March 2017.

[MIKA27]

MARSHALL MID BLUETOOTH WIRELESS HEADPHONES

Marshall is perhaps most well-known for their guitar amps. You might recognize them as the brand of choice for artists such as Ace Frehly, Kurt Cobain, or Eric Clapton – to name a few. But they’ve recently taken the dive into more dwelling-friendly audio equipment. While much of this gear may be smaller, it is no less formidable. One such example is their latest release, the Mid Bluetooth wireless headphones.

These premium on-ear headphones feature dynamic custom-tuned 40mm drivers that offer “a robust sound that balances clarity with just the right amount of bass.” That means they’ll deliver sound as it was intended to be heard directly to your ears. They also have an uninterrupted playtime of over 30 hours per charge and a range of up to 30 feet. And you can play, pause, shuffle, and adjust the volume all with a multidirectional control knob mounted on the ‘phones. It’s even equipped with phone functionality, so you can answer, reject, or end a call with the very same knob. And, if you do make a call, the two built-in passive noise reduction microphones ensure that you can chat without the need to carry your phone around. These stellar headphones retail for $199. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

HIGHLAND PARK FIRE EDITION

What better way to keep warm this winter than with a good old bottle of scotch whisky? Highland Park definitely agrees with this notion, evident from the release of their FIRE Edition bottles. For this round, they tapped into the local Norse mythology for inspiration, as well as a few spent Port wine casks.

The release comes as a follow-up from their earlier ICE Edition. However, with this go around, the 15-year vintage was matured exclusively in 100 percent refill Port casks, contributing to the scotch’s slight reddish hue and heightened aromas of dark fruits and light smoke. It’s all held within a bespoke crimson red glass, alluding to the molten world of the Viking Fire Giants. Each bottle also comes encased in a black wooden cradle and wooden stopper -also painted black of course. More on the inspiration can be found in the accompanying booklet recounting the epic battle between the Fire Giants and the Gods for rule over the world. A release of 4,398 bottles will be made available in the US beginning in December of 2016 and will retail for $300. The ideal remedy for heightened exposures to holiday cheer.

[MIKA27]

STELLAVIE DIRECTOR PORTRAIT PRINTS

Every great film is a time-consuming, painstaking work of art. Celebrate them appropriately with Stellavie Director Portrait Prints. These giclée fine art pieces measure roughly 16" x 20" and are printed on textured, acid-free cotton paper. Developed in collaboration with artist Julian Rentzsch, each one combines the visage of a famous director — Nolan, Coppola, Spielberg, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorsese, Lynch, Burton, or Tarantino — with elements from their iconic films and a personal quote that briefly sums up their signature style. Limited to 200 prints per edition, signed and numbered by the artist, they're a perfect upgrade over traditional movie posters.

[MIKA27]

AUTODROMO MONOPOSTO CHRONOGRAPH WATCH

Inspired by an era of racing where the driver had to reply on his knowledge of his car as much as his gauges, the Autodromo Monoposto Chronograph Watch presents its information in a simple, elegant manner. The watch was first launched in 2012 and quickly sold out, and is returning as the company's first automatic chronograph. It's powered by a Seiko movement, with sapphire crystal on the front and rear, a 43mm stainless steel case, and a leather strap that's handmade in the USA. It comes in three colorways — black, silver, and Azzurro blue — and is limited to 500 pieces, total.

[MIKA27]

The Southern US Is Burning

Over 80,000 acres of land stand torched as dozens of wildfires rage across the southeastern United States this last week. The apparent cause? An unsavoury combination of drought, carelessness and arson.
Nearly 4000 firefighters have been assigned to the US Southeast, where 32 fires have burned a total of 83,000 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

While many of the fires started in remote locales, smoke is spreading far and wide across the region, prompting environmental and health officials to air quality warnings. According to one doctor in Chattanooga, Tennessee, "everywhere smells like a campfire."

North Carolina and Georgia have been hardest hit so far, with 40,000 and 29,000 acres of land burned in each state. The Rough Ridge Fire, which was sparked by a lightning strike in Georgia's Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest nearly a month ago, grew to over 21,000 acres by Tuesday morning local time. In Tennessee, firefighters are currently battling nearly 70 blazes across 16,000 acres.

A haze lingers over Atlanta's skyline from a large fire burning in northwestern Georgia

Much of the Southeast is bone dry right now, with 21 per cent of land from Virginia to Alabama in a condition of "extreme or exceptional drought," according to the US Drought Monitor. Unfortunately, meteorologists are not predicting much rainfall any time soon. In North Carolina, conditions are actually expected to get drier and windier over the next few days, making it even easier for large fires to spread.

Weather, however, is only part of the story: Many of these fires bear the telltale fingerprints of humans. Of the 1200 wildfires Tennessee has seen this year, arson is suspected in roughly half. More innocently, people trigger wildfires all the time by discarding lit cigarettes, starting campfires and setting off fireworks.

This week, the Tennessee Valley Authority issued a "burn ban", applying to anything that might produce an open flame, while Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has told residents not to ignite any fireworks. Given that fire conditions only seem to be getting worse, other states may well decide to adopt similar precautions in the days and weeks ahead.

[MIKA27]

The Showrunner Of The Walking Dead Thinks A Feature Film Is Inevitable

The Walking Dead is as popular as ever in its seventh season on AMC, but showrunner Scott Gimple has his sights set on an even higher prize: An expansion to the big screen.
When asked about the possibility of The Walking Dead becoming a film, here's what he said to Comicbook.com:

Quote

"That question comes up every now and again," Gimple said. "I'm sure one way or another, one day, it will happen. I think it would be cool." 
"William Shatner as Rick. We'll get Edward James Olmos as Daryl. Hit all the big shows!" Gimple joked about a potential reboot on the big screen. "Matthew Fox as the Governor!"

So... doesn't sound like the powers that be behind The Walking Dead are making any actual plans for a movie just yet. That said, though Gimple is clearly making a funny in his above comments, a zombie-fighting Edward James Olmos would actually be an amazing sight to behold.

[MIKA27]

Can You Pick Out All The References In This Action-Packed Sci-Fi Poster Mashup?

Your eyeballs may not be prepared for what I'm about to show you.

Below is a piece of art by Josan Gonzalez and Laurie Greasley which combines characters and references from dozens of modern and classic science fiction films into one epic, action-packed poster. Check it out.

The piece is part of Sci-Scapes, a new art show at the Hero Complex Gallery in Los Angeles opening November 18 and on display through December 4. The show features artwork inspired by the work of Moebius, Katsuhiro Otomo and Geof Darrow.

There's a ton of great work in the show, but we can't get over the insanity of this piece. It's actually eight individual panels that combine together to form the full image. The gallery is selling all eight of the original panels, prints of each original panel or a 61 x 91cm poster of the entire thing, like you see above.

Want some more detail shots? Yeah, you do.

So what about it? Can you name all the references?

For more on the show, visit Facebook or the Hero Complex Gallery site.

[MIKA27]

This Science Fiction Picture Book Will Make Your Kids Want To Colonise Mars

The way things are going here on Earth, we're going to need to colonise Mars soon. A new hard science fiction picture book (how often do we hear those words?) will not only get your kid excited about blasting off to the Red Planet, it's chock-full of lessons about how to survive once there.

In 2015, aerospace engineer Andrew Rader and illustrator Galen Frazer teamed up to publish Epic Space Adventure, a children's book that recounts Giraffestronaut MC Longneck's Voyager-esque journey through the Solar System with his robot companion Sputnik. In Mars Rover Rescue, MC Longneck is back, this time, on a mission rescue a lost Mars rover with the help of some equally adorable friends from the National Association of Space Animals (NASA).

The artwork and storylines are delightful, but what's most impressive about Rader's recent books is their educational value. The rockets, spaceships and rovers featured in Epic Space Adventure and Mars Rover Rescue offer realistic representations of state-of-the-art space technology, or tech that futurists like Elon Musk hope to build in a generation. The Mars rover, for instance, looks very much like Curiosity.

In Mars Rover Rescue, which Rader describes as "basically The Martian for kids", MC Longneck and his NASA buddies engage in realistic survival activities, including melting ice for water and — in a clear shoutout to Mark Watney — growing potatoes.

"It's trying to show kids what it will really be like to live on another planet," Rader told us. "The reality is, it's the kids growing up right now who will be going to Mars and living there."

Courtesy of Rader, we are excited to share a sneak peek of the artwork from Mars Rover Rescue, which features 56 pages of full-colour illustrations. You can get the hardcover and ebook edition for just $US13 ($18) by backing the book's (already funded) Kickstarter, or chip in a bit more and get card games, sticker packs and colouring books, too. Books start shipping in December.

 

 

[MIKA27]

Emilia Clarke Joins Cast Of Star Wars Han Solo Film

The Queen of Dragons is moving from Westeros to a galaxy far, far away. Emilia Clarke has been cast in the upcoming Star Wars Han Solo spinoff film, in an as-of-yet unannounced role.

The Game of Thrones actress will be joining Aiden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, who've been cast as Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, in the prequel story about the famous smuggler and future hero of the Rebellion. While there's not much information about the film yet, it will centre around Han Solo and Chewbacca's adventures.

The movie, being helmed by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, comes out sometime in 2018. In the meantime, we've got Rogue One: A Star Wars Story coming out December 15, followed by Star Wars: Episode VIII, slated for 15 December 2017.

[MIKA27]

‘Mifune: The Last Samurai’: How Japan’s Greatest Actor Changed Cinema Across the Globe

Steven Okazaki’s new documentary pays tribute to Japanese matinee idol Toshiro Mifune, whose iconic performances in films like Seven Samurai and Rashomon still influence cinema today.

On the Mount Rushmore of International Actors, there must invariably be a place for Toshiro Mifune, the Japanese leading man who on Monday—in a move long overdue, given that such honors had previously gone to the likes of Kim Kardashian, Shrek, John Tesh, Absolut Vodka and President-Elect Donald Trump—finally received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The actor, whose professional life was equally marked by prolificacy and quality, died in 1997 at the age of 77 from Alzheimer’s-related complications. However, his legacy lives on through his imposing body of work, which was highlighted by his 17 collaborations with auteur Akira Kurosawa. His was a career full of performances that combined stoic stillness and fiery animalistic expressiveness, and come next Friday, it’ll receive a fitting tribute from a compelling new documentary, Mifune: The Last Samurai.

Writer/director Steven Okazaki’s non-fiction film is far less flashy than its subject, a dashing and charismatic matinee idol who helped redefine Japanese—and, by extension, world—cinema beginning in the 1940s, and in particular, with 1950’s groundbreaking Rashomon. Okazaki spends considerable time discussing that masterpiece, in which Mifune’s unbridled performance as a possible killer and rapist serves as the dramatic lynchpin of director Akira Kurosawa’s haunting, open-ended meditation on the nature of truth. Unlike Mifune’s magnetic turn in that classic, forever marked by his cackling grin as he sits tied up in front of a panel of judges, Okazaki’s portrait—narrated, soberly, by Keanu Reeves—is measured and composed, sacrificing anything like aesthetic daring in its recounting of Mifune’s rise to superstardom.

That ascension was anything but preordained, since for much of his early life, Mifune didn’t seem to consider acting a potential vocation. Raised in China, Mifune first set foot on Japanese soil after being drafted into the Imperial Army during World War II at the age of 20. Even during his service, his dynamic force of personality was evident, as his son Shiro recalls in Mifune that his father repeatedly found himself in trouble because of his fondness for questioning authority—a severe no-no in the stricter-than-strict Japanese military, which often resulted in him being beaten with leather shoes by his superiors. Once the war was over, Mifune applied for a job as a camera assistant, and as luck would have it, his resume eventually found its way into a newspaper-advertised competition for cinema’s “New Face”—which, in turn, brought him to the attention of Kurosawa.

Mifune’s opening twenty minutes provide background on the 1900 to 1920s popularity of Japanese lone-samurai movies (dubbed “chanbara,” because that was the sound made by ronin’s clashing swords), and the way in which Mifune arrived on a cultural scene that—following the nation’s WWII defeat—was eager for a fresh, vibrant, non-conformist take on traditional material. That came courtesy of Mifune and Kurosawa’s work together, and in particular, from both Rashomon and, shortly thereafter, 1954’s Seven Samurai, whose bold, realistic action upended genre conventions. Okazaki’s clips from that epic lend credence to his claim that Mifune’s performance style was borderline revolutionary, vacillating between coiled calmness and rampaging ferocity to spellbinding effect. When his frequent co-star Kyoko Kagawara (herself a participant in greats like Tokyo Story, The Crucified Lovers and Sansho the Bailiff) states, “There was no one like Mifune. How do I say this? He had a big presence didn’t he?,” it comes across as a vast understatement. And moreover, it doesn’t even take into account the fact that, as confirmed by myriad archival photos, he was also a strikingly handsome man who married the debonair style of Clark Gable with the sexualized cool of Steve McQueen.

Steven Spielberg (who directed Mifune in 1941) and Martin Scorsese soon appear in Mifune to wax poetic about the star, and in the latter’s comments about the inevitable end of director/star relationships, one can sense that he’s also referencing his long-standing personal/artistic bond with Robert De Niro—which, like Mifune and Kurosawa’s did, has petered out over the years as both have sought new creative avenues and collaborative partnerships. Their comments provide an outsider’s perspective on Mifune’s cinematic impact, which included starring in movies that influenced The Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurai), A Fistful of Dollars (Yojimbo), and Star Wars (The Hidden Fortress), and in doing so helped thrust Japanese cinema into the international spotlight.

Contracted to Toho Studios—which spearheaded Japanese cinema’s 1950s to 1960s “golden age” thanks to Kurosawa’s films and the Godzilla franchise—Mifune worked tirelessly, eventually appearing in over 160 features, as well as a number of late-career TV projects designed to keep his struggling production company afloat. Through it all, as recounted by numerous interviewees in Mifune, the actor was a diligent and dedicated castmate on the set, and a funny and charming individual off it—even if his drinking habits were somewhat notorious (in a funny bit, Reeves mentions Mifune’s fondness for alcohol and cars, followed by pictures of some of his drunk driving-destroyed autos). Even though an affair ultimately tarnished his image at home, driving him to pursue projects in America and elsewhere, his status as Japan’s most important actor has never waned. And as evidenced by the footage on display throughout Okazaki’s documentary, his output with Kurosawa—including the phenomenal Macbeth adaptation Throne of Blood (and its death scene, featuring slews of real arrows), The Bad Sleep Well, High and Low, and Red Beard—resulted in some of the medium’s greatest achievements.

Of course, Mifune made sterling films with others, including Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy and Kihachi Okamoto’s The Sword of Doom. Yet it’s his Kurosawa collaborations that have best stood the test of time, given that—when viewed as a whole—they provided the finest platform for the actor’s varied, majestic talents. Whether playing characters of bottled-up reserve or full-throated inhibition, Mifune radiated a primal, physical intensity, such that his own movements (balletic and imposing at times; methodical and calculating at others) seemed to infect everything surrounding him in the movie frame. Spielberg says that it felt as if Mifune’s performances were “created by seismic activity underground”—and in everything from Hollywood’s science-fiction blockbusters to its revisionist Westerns, the reverberations of his unparalleled artistry can still be felt at the multiplex to this day.

 

[MIKA27]

2017 REZVANI BEAST ALPHA

Time to unleash the beast. At least that was Rezvani’s prerogative at this year’s Los Angeles Show. Dubbed the Beast Alpha, it looks like a supercar from a dystopian future, tearing through the urban streets on its way to the salt flats for some speedy reprieve. Ironically enough, upon further inspection, we’re not too far off in this assumption.

The highlights of this beast is most certainly the power under the hood. What began as an Acura K24 block engine was then modified by the Rezvani team to include upgrades such as a high-performance turbo, new camshaft profiles, an inter-cooling system, and forged aluminum pistons to provide an output of 500 horses. And with such power, those lucky enough get behind the wheel can expect a 0-60 launch in 3.2 seconds on their way to a 174mph top speed. The Beast Alpha also hosts a set of insane “SideWinder” doors (which pop out and slide forward), a front fascia, and a central exhaust port to keep the beast breathing smoothly. Oh, and thanks to its carbon fiber body, it weighs in at an astonishingly light 1,950 pounds. It’s now available for order with a starting price of $200,000. [Purchase]

 

[MIKA27]

TESLA COIL WINDPROOF ARC LIGHTER

When you think about it, it is a little crazy that so many people still walk around with small amounts of flammable fluid in their pants, bags, or in their desk drawers. Why bother with conventional flames when we have lighters like this Tesla Coil Windproof Arch Lighter?

This thing works by creating a super high intensity electric arc on the push of a button that is hot enough to immediately spark up anything you put in its path. Measuring in at 3 by 1.75 inches, it’s slightly larger than your common Zippo, but just about the same size as a Bic lighter so it is easy to throw in your pockets or bag. What really sets this thing apart is the fact that you won’t have to worry about refilling your lighter, creating waste, or working in windy conditions. This lighter can recharge via a mini USB cable and can run for an entire week, or roughly 300 uses, on just one charge. Use the lighter of the future for just $19. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

MICHTER'S CELEBRATION SOUR MASH WHISKEY

The ceiling for American whiskey has been raised yet again in the form of Michter's Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey. The new release is the first Celebration in three years, and is the final one blended by Master Distiller Willie Pratt before his upcoming retirement. The whiskey comes from only six barrels, with ages ranging from a decade old to nearly 33 years aging. It arrives at a robust 116.8 proof with a yield of only 258 highly sought after bottles.

[MIKA27]

Snowpiercer Is Being Turned Into A TV Show, Which Is Just Perfect

The team behind Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is making a show based on Bong Joon-ho's 2013 film Snowpiercer, and I couldn't be happier about it.
TNT just ordered an hour-long pilot based on the film (which was itself based on a French graphic novel), and it's produced by Josh Friedman. The show will follow the general set up of the movie, which is that a few years in the future, the Earth has frozen. Now, the remaining survivors live on a speeding train that races around the world. However, the train is arranged from front to back by class, and the people considered lower class are not happy about it.

"Snowpiercer has one of the most original concepts to hit the screen in the last decade, and it's one that offers numerous opportunities for deeper exploration in a series format," Sarah Aubrey, the EVP of TNT, said in a statement. "We look forward to [this] take on a world where humanity is pushed to the extreme."

While the TV show won't have the movie's stars (which included Chris Evans, Ed Harris and Tilda Swinton), the idea is just ripe for the format. It's a rich, huge world. There could be episodes based on different cars. Flashbacks. The sandbox is damn near infinite and a talent like Friedman (who did a great job with Sarah Connor, no matter what anyone says) playing in it is incredibly exciting.

At the moment, Snowpiercer is just a pilot order. It still has to be made, then ordered to series before most of us get to see it. But this is a good first step.

[MIKA27]

This Week's Fukushima Earthquake Was An Aftershock From 2011

When a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked the Fukushima prefecture of Japan on Tuesday, fear swept the island nation that it could herald a repeat of the tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima five years ago, both of which were caused by an enormous, magnitude 9.1 earthquake.

Mercifully, Japan was spared this time around. But the two earthquakes at Fukushima are, in fact, connected. According to geologists,the quake was an aftershock of the Tōhoku mega-quake in 2011, and there could be more aftershocks to come.

"It's not unusual to see this," Christie Rowe, a geologist at McGill University who specialises in earthquakes, told Gizmodo. "It's part of the expected pattern."

When a large earthquake strikes a region, it generates a cascade of smaller quakes, called aftershocks. In general, the greater the magnitude of the initial earthquake — called the mainshock — the larger, more numerous and longer-lasting the aftershocks will be. New Zealand experienced a large, magnitude 7.9 earthquake last week, and the nation has since felt thousands of aftershocks, some with a magnitude of more than six.

In March of 2011, Japan experienced a massive earthquake when the North American continental plate, which the northern half of the island nation sits on, thrust eastward over the subducting Pacific plate, causing the seabed to rise by up to 30m in one go. In the months following the Tōhoku mega-quake, Japan experienced countless aftershocks, including some large, magnitude 7.0+ earthquakes. But five years on, Rowe said, "there's still a lot of tension left over in the North American plate," whose momentum carried it a bit too far over the Pacific plate in 2011, leaving it stretched out.

It's impossible to be certain that this week's earthquake at Fukushima was direct consequence of the Tōhoku mega-quake. But the two earthquakes occurred in relatively the same spot and featured the same direction of motion. What's more, this week's quake falls within the "long tail", in which big aftershocks from a magnitude 9.1 earthquake are still possible.

In other words, it's the best explanation we've got.

Map of magnitude 6.0+ earthquakes near Japan from 1990 to 2014.

Unfortunately, yesterday's earthquake is likely to spawn aftershocks of its own, which is why Japan's Meteorological Association is warning residents to remain vigilant for about a week. "There will be a heightened risk of aftershocks [from this week's quake]," Rowe said. "Japan can expect more smaller earthquakes."

The very good news is there are no reported casualties, or even serious injuries, from Tuesday's earthquake, which generated tsunami waves of up to 1.4m, and was felt as far south as Tokyo. The Fukushima Daini Nuclear Plant, which was taken offline after the 2011 earthquake, suffered a temporary malfunction in the system that cools a spent nuclear fuel rod storage pool. But the system was soon restarted without incident, according to Tokyo Electric Power.

Japan dodged a bullet, but this week's earthquake was a sobering reminder that the legacy of 2011 mega-quake lives on. And, that in certain parts of the world, earthquake risk is never going to go away.