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

[MIKA27]

Shadow Tactics Is A Stealth Renaissance

Commandos was a very good video game. It's also a kind of game that we haven't seen much of since, so it's nice to see Shadow Tactics step in and deliver us a similar kind of experience. Well, as similar as swapping World War Two for Japan's Edo period can get, anyway.

History lesson: Commandos was a 1998 real-time tactics game where, instead of building armies and blowing up tanks, the focus was on controlling a small group of special forces on stealth missions. The entire game was built around the idea of enemies having cones of vision that moved around in real-time, forcing you to sneak, hide and stab your way past them.

Shadow Tactics is pretty much this. You control a team of sneaky Japanese warriors who are undertaking dangerous, stealthy missions like blowing things up and killing important people. Each warrior has their own strengths and weaknesses that make them more useful for certain situations, and the idea of staying hidden and out of sight of guards is just as central as it was in Commandos.

The fun comes not from sneaking individuals around, as though this were a top-down Metal Gear, but in getting everyone working together. Shadow Tactics has a command queue system called Shadow Mode, where you can pause, line each character up with a certain number of actions before pressing "play" and seeing them all executed in real-time.

Here's some in game playing footage:

When you get all five characters going, some distracting, others diverting, others sniping, others stabbing, things get excellent.

Everything feels great, with animations and reactions nice and precise; I've never felt like I'm being cheated by a hiccup or a slowdown. You'll want to get into the settings as soon as you can to change the key bindings, though; some of the default options for essential commands like moving the camera and picking stuff up are a bit weird, while the default key for shadow mode didn't even work for me (you can remap everything though, so this is a hurdle to overcome, not a lasting fault with the game).

What keeps me poring over every map though, more than even the strategies and planning involved, is how pretty everything looks. There's a wonderful toy-like quality to the game's world, like it's a giant diorama made by master craftsmen, and it's a pleasure finding downtime to just pan the camera around and take everything in, from the gentle flowing of a river to the busywork of townspeople to the chaos of a battle unfolding around the map's edges.

Oh, and while the English-language voice acting is just fine, you'll want to switch to the surprise inclusion of Japanese vocals (there are helpful subtitles for everything, even NPC chatter, that hover over each character in the game), which don't just feel more authentic, but are fantastic.

I haven't finished the game yet, hence why this isn't a full review, but I'm dying to get back in and see how intricate the remaining stealth scenarios get and how gorgeous some of the later levels are, because what I've played so far has only reinforced the fact that 2016, for all its faults elsewhere, was been an absolute utopia for strategic video games.

[MIKA27]

This Valerian Clip Shows What's Possible When 3000 Alien Species Live Together

Though it's easier to simply call Luc Besson's new movie "Valerian", that isn't the full title. The full title is "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", and a new clip from the film explains the title in detail.

This clip features Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) landing on that titular city of a thousand planets. It's called Alpha, and it's the result of thousand of planets combining over thousands of years and travelling hundreds of millions of kilometres. Check it out.

That is a beautiful scene. It's also chock-full of a lot of interesting information that's useful to later events in the film. But we won't spoil that just yet.

One thing you may be wondering after watch the clip is, "How they hell did Alpha get created?" Well, the very first scene of Valerian answers that question in stunningly beautiful fashion.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets opens August 10.

[MIKA27]

Trailer Released For Automata, A Sexy Robot Noir Based On A Webcomic

Penny Arcade has released the debut teaser trailer for Automata, a robot detective series based on their popular webcomic, with Hellboy's Doug Jones as the investigative automaton.

The series, which got over $US500,000 ($650,280) on Kickstarter, takes place in an alternate Prohibition-era America where robots (called automatons) are the new liquor. Hated, feared, and regulated. No one can make new robots... and the ones that already exist, like Jones' Carl Swangee, are treated as an underclass by humans.

Along with his partner, New York private detective Sam Regal (Basil Harris from Grimm), Carl's tasked to spy on a wealthy businessman's wife. Upon her murder, Sam and Carl find themselves entrenched in an investigation ripe with sex, intrigue, and lies. You can check out a sample of the comic to see how similar the series looks, as directed by Van Alan.

Automata recently premiered at SeriesFest in Denver. It currently has five episodes, running about 10 to 12 minutes each. They have all been released to Kickstarter patrons, but no word when they will go out to the general public. We'll keep you updated as we learn more.

[MIKA27]

R2-D2 Auctioned Off For $4 Million, Likely Not To A Kid Whining About Power Converters

R2-D2 is a hero of the Rebellion. He's survived several generations of Skywalkers. He's the galaxy's sassiest astromech droid (say that three times fast). And now, an auction house has sold him to an anonymous buyer for $4 million. That's a lot of credits.

This isn't an original R2-D2; that little guy would have probably gone for a much higher sum. The model auctioned off by Profiles in History was reconstructed out of parts from the original Star Wars trilogy and the first two prequels. Sadly, no interior mechanism was included, so the buyer will have to settle for prerecorded whistles and beeps.

Of course, the idea of an "original" R2-D2 doesn't really fly, considering that Lucasfilm always worked with multiple prototypes. There were four R2-D2 models behind the scenes of the first Star Wars movie: Two for Kenny Baker, who played the heroic droid, and two remote-controlled stunt models for more dangerous moments. For The Empire Strikes Back, Lucasfilm doubled their fun, using eight R2-D2 models instead of just four. Despite the prequels' reliance on CGI, by the time Attack of the Clones rolled around, they were working with 15 models. With all those droids, it's no wonder they had enough spare parts to build an entirely new model for auction.

Still, the auction-model R2-D2 went for a much higher price than other Star Wars memorabilia from the same sale. Mark Hamill's original lightsaber, for instance, got snapped up for a measly $US450,000 ($585,518) to Ripley's Believe It or Not (although the auction house originally said it went for $US390,000 ($507,449)). Just goes to show how much impact one little droid can make.

[MIKA27]

This Means Something: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind Sequel?

40 years ago Steven Spielberg‘s ufo film Close Encounters of the Third Kind informed us we were not alone.  Since then, we’ve watched the skies, waiting for some sign.  Will that patience pay off?

Today, the day after World UFO Day, this strange video appeared on Sony Entertainment’s youtube channel with the title, “This means something”:

Obviously it’s a little secretive, but hardcore fans of the 1977 film will recognize the phrase immediately from Richard Dreyfuss‘s character’s mashed potato sculpture during dinner after his own close encounter.

The text below the video urges viewers to visit a We Are Still Not Alone website, which prompts the user to enter their email address to learn about UFO sightings.  There is also a PG rating down in at the bottom left hand corner of the website’s main page, listing “some intense sci-fi action, mild language, and thematic elements.”

There have been rumblings for decades about a sequel to Close Encounters.  Spielberg even went so far as to have famed effects man Rick Baker whip up some aliens in the early 80s for use in a continuation story.  Of course, we got E.T. in 1982, but the possibility of telling the next chapter of Roy Neary’s journey with the friendly reticulans.

Another notable thing in this under a minute video that maybe you missed the first time, a flash of another familiar scene from the original movie:

Timing aside, the use of the world “still” in website leads this writer to believe in the likelihood this will be a sequel project, rather than a reboot.  Yes, we all know how Sony likes their reboots, but the care and time put into this one points towards continuation rather than retelling.

Hopefully we’ll learn more about this project ahead of the film’s 40th anniversary on November 16th, 1977 [2017]

MIKA: Personally I love the Original movie and I wonder if there will ever be a remake (Which is not required) or a sequel? Perhaps this year marking the 40th Anniversary, it will simply be a polished re-release?

[MIKA27]

Tower of Human Skulls is a Macabre Aztec Mystery

Oh, those crazy Aztecs. Just when you want to believe that maybe they weren’t so bad comes word from Mexico City that archeologists digging near the temple known as Templo Mayor have discovered a tower of at least 675 human skulls that had been long rumored to exist. What was also rumored was that the skulls belonged to conquered male warriors and were stacked, along with the rest of their skeletons, to form a rack of bones that was supposed to scare away the Spanish conquistadors. We now know how that turned out. Perhaps Hernan Cortes and his men might have thought twice about invading had they known what the archeologists just discovered … many of the skulls belonged to women and children.

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“We were expecting just men, obviously young men, as warriors would be, and the thing about the women and children is that you’d think they wouldn’t be going to war. Something is happening that we have no record of, and this is really new, a first in the Huey Tzompantli.”

Biological anthropologist Rodrigo Bolanos, described the horrific and historic find in an interview with Reuters. The top of the tower was found appropriately in the chapel of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of the sun, war and human sacrifice. It measures six meters (20 feet) in diameter and, despite finding so many skulls already, its height is unknown because there appear to be many more underneath.

The legend of the tzompantli skull and bone walls dates back to the writings of Andres de Tapia, a Spanish soldier under Cortes who also kept a detailed diary. His writings described tens of thousands of skulls in the Huey Tzompantli wall.

The Aztecs have always had a reputation for performing human sacrifice for religious rituals, sporting events and as a way of getting rid of conquered enemy soldiers. Those soldiers were always assumed by historians to be men, just like the Aztec warriors. That’s why the discovery of the skulls of women and children in the tower is a mystery. Did the enemies of the Aztec use women and children in their armies? Were the women and children sacrificed along with the male soldiers by the conquering Aztecs? Is there some other yet unknown reason for their presence?

The answers lie in the next layers of the mysterious and macabre tower of skulls that the archeologists at Templo Mayor continue to slowly and carefully excavate.

[MIKA27]

Japan’s Evaporated People and the Town of the Vanished

People vanish all over the world for a variety of reasons, ranging from the mundane to the more mysterious and even supernatural, and while this may seem to be a phenomenon confined to sparsely populated or remote areas, this is not always true. In the island nation of Japan one can find one of the most bustling, crowded cities in the world, Tokyo. This is a vast jungle of concrete and high rises crisscrossed by countless roads, highways, train lines, and webs of subway systems, and it is also a place where tens of thousands of people regularly drop off the face of the earth. Not only is this a mecca of disappearances, but nestled within this advanced metropolis is a place where the vanished go. It is a place where they become shadows in a sense, husks of their former selves, perpetually cloaked in secrecy and mystery. This is the strange story of Japan’s evaporated people and the town they call home.

One very unusual cultural trend in Japan in recent times has been that of what are called the johatsu, or roughly translated to the rather creepy sounding “evaporated people.” These are people of all ages and all walks of life, both men and women, who suddenly orchestrate their own vanishing, dropping out of society and disappearing without a trace, never to be found, leaving behind confusion, mystery, and concerned family members who rarely get any answers. While disappearances happen all over the world and there are obviously those in many cultures who choose to fall off the grid, in Japan there are estimated to have been around at least 100,000 since the 1990s; an astronomical amount considering the country’s population of approximately 127 million.

The reasons for the johatsu phenomenon are many, but mostly can probably be boiled down to Japan’s society of conformity, high expectations, and shame. Here the group is valued more than the individual, uniqueness is discouraged, the nail that sticks out often hammered back down. For students, they are expected to enter a good university, which necessitates taking stringent entrance examinations that require studying practically every moment of their free time. Once in society, they will more often than not be subjected to Japan’s fanatical work ethic, with harsh deadlines and countless hours of unpaid overtime. Indeed, the work environment is so taxing that Japan is probably unique in that it has its own word for death by overwork, karoshi, which affects hundreds or possibly even thousands of people per year. For those who cannot fit in, who cannot pass their tests, or who lose their jobs, great shame can be brought down on them and even their families.

It is due to this exacting, unforgiving environment that many such people seek to escape in some form. For others it might be because of an abusive marriage or severe gambling debts, but in all cases there is a desire to escape. It is for this reason that Japan’s suicide rate is estimated to be around 60% higher than the global average, and for many others the answer lies in simply vanishing. They cut all ties with the world they once knew, change their names, sometimes even their appearances, and wipe their slates clean; shedding their old life in order to find some sense of freedom from the oppressive society that has shunned them. In most cases, they are never heard from again, leaving uncertainty as to what has happened to them or even if they are alive or dead. French journalist Léna Mauger, who wrote the definitive report on this phenomenon, entitled The Vanished: The Evaporated People of Japan in Stories and Photographs, spent years studying the johatsu and said of this propensity for some people to erase themselves from society thus:

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It’s so taboo. It’s something you can’t really talk about. But people can disappear because there’s another society underneath Japan’s society. When people disappear, they know they can find a way to survive. To disappear in a country as modern [as Japan], with all the techniques of tracing, with social networks, I thought that it was amazing.

There are numerous tales that have come back from some of these evaporated people that shed light on their reasons for vanishing. One which was in Mauger’s book is the sad story of an engineer known only as Norihiro. He had lost his job but was too ashamed to tell his wife about it, so he at first chose to continue to act as if he were still employed. Every day Norihiro would put on his suit and tie as usual, going through the motions and would head off to work. He would then spend the rest of his day sitting somewhere alone, even staying out late to simulate the overtime work he would be expected to do or the drinking parties he would have to attend, and then head home. However, with no incoming salary there was only so long he could keep up this charade. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before he was caught in his web of deceit and terrified of telling his wife the truth, he chose to just one day to go off and keep on going, never looking back and not even leaving a note behind. Norihiro would say of his experience:

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I couldn’t do it anymore. After 19 hours I was still waiting, because I used to go out for drinks with my bosses and colleagues. I would roam around, and when I finally returned home, I got the impression my wife and son had doubts. I felt guilty. I didn’t have a salary to give them anymore. I could certainly take back my old identity … But I don’t want my family to see me in this state. Look at me. I look like nothing. I am nothing.

Another such tale concerns a construction worker called Yuichi, who in the 1990s was tasked with taking care of his sick mother. However, he found that the expenses involved in doing so were taking their toll, and he realized he did not have the means to care for her any longer. One day he took his mother to a low-scale cheap hotel, calmly checked her in, and proceeded to vanish off the face of the earth. In yet another story, a martial artist called Ichiro was happily married with a child and his life seemed to be in order. The couple had just bought a new house and started a Chinese restaurant, but then the stock market crashed and they found themselves in extreme debt. In the end, Ichiro and his whole family decided that the only answer was to “evaporate.” Ichiro would later reflect on this decision, saying:

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People are cowards. They all want to throw in the towel one day, to disappear and reappear somewhere nobody knows them. I never envisioned running away to be an end in itself . . . You know, a disappearance is something you can never shake. Fleeing is a fast track toward death.

Although it may seem strange that so many people would be able to so fully vanish in a society as advanced as Japan’s, the process of evaporating is not as difficult as it may perhaps seem, and there is a whole shadow society and economy in place under the surface of Tokyo’s neon drenched, bustling metropolis waiting to assist these lost souls and take them in. One facet of this are the shady, clandestine businesses that specialize in helping people disappear, doing everything from moving their things in the dead of night, to erasing any evidence or paper trails, to even making it all look like a robbery or abduction. In some cases they will set up dummy cell phone accounts or bogus addresses for mail to go to, even setting up fake phone numbers that connect to actors paid to pretend to be friends or colleagues. In the heyday of the johatsu phenomenon companies helping with these disappearances were a veritable industry, and in a way it still is as people continue to vanish. For those who cannot afford the often exorbitant prices charged by these businesses, which are often called “night movers,” there is actually a surprising number of manuals outlining how to go about disappearing oneself, with titles such as Perfect Vanishing: Reset Your Life, and The Complete Manual of Disappearance.

Once vanished, many of these “evaporated” find themselves in whole towns or areas of the city that have fallen off the grid to cater to them. One of the most notorious such places is called Sanya, a run-down suburb of Tokyo that once served as a home for thousands of blue collar workers who helped to propel Japan’s growth during its boom years, but which is now a gritty sprawl of dirt-cheap housing and low priced shops, hotels and restaurants, essentially a slum where the down and destitute congregate. Sanya is a difficult place to find, and doesn’t even officially exist, having over the years faded from maps to become just another shoddy, nondescript neighborhood of Tokyo, and this is exactly how its denizens want it. It is a perfect place to fade away and disappear. Mauger said of this forsaken place:

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Taxi drivers avoid venturing into this shady neighborhood. The only ones who go there, they say, are those excluded from the good life and forgotten by everyone—the nameless.

It is said that the majority of people who live here are those who have vanished from their former lives, living in anonymity and fiercely refusing to be photographed or talked to by outsiders. The businesses here specifically cater to those who don’t want to be found, with the evaporated finding off-the-books work paid in cash with no questions asked and the streets lined with what are called yonige-ya, or “fly-by-night shops,” which are usually run by the Japanese mafia, called the Yakuza, and which offer anything the vanished may need for cheap and all cash based. In Sanya a person can just melt away into the background, fade from existence, and never be found, even as skyscrapers and all the trappings of a modern, technologically advanced society loom nearby. Although it is populated, in a sense this place is a ghost town, its denizens phantoms in a sense, and one resident has said of Sanya:

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You see people in the street, but they have already ceased to exist. When we fled from society, we disappeared the first time. Here, we are killing ourselves slowly.

Sanya, the town of the vanished

Many of these vanished people have left loved ones behind, who often have no idea of what has happened to them or even if they are alive, and it is not easy to track any of these people down. Part of the problem is the way things are done in Japan and the huge amount of red tape overlying people’s personal information. Here privacy is nearly impenetrable. For instance it is practically impossible to access public records, and such information can only be accessed in criminal cases by police, while johatsu cases are not classified as such. Further complicating things is that not even police are allowed to look at financial information such as ATM transactions, banking information, or other such records, leaving them completely blocked off from the outside world. There are also no social security numbers in Japan, and if a person has not registered themselves with city hall then it is as if they do not exist at all.

Only adding to the problem is that authorities tend to pretend that the johatsu phenomenon doesn’t even exist, and ten to look away from such cases. There is also no official national database committed to missing persons, and many such cases are unregistered in police files, underreported, or played down, putting the burden of keeping true figures of missing persons onto non-profit organizations such as The Missing Persons Search Support Association of Japan. These formidable difficulties have meant that a family’s only choice is to go to one of the thousands of private detective agencies in Tokyo, many of which specialize in johatsu cases, but even then they may never find their loved ones and the financial cost is often too high for them to see the case through to the end. Indeed the vast majority of these cases are never solved, and even those that are can lead to frustration and heartache, as the person they are seeking does not want to be found and will often merely vanish again.

In the meantime there are few places these families can turn to for help or support, and the police are generally indifferent to their plight, often looking the other way or downplaying what has happened. These families are left struggling in a quagmire of uncertainty of what has happened to their loved ones, financial difficulty, and often the shame that has come to them by having a family member opt out of society. For those who have disappeared, their lives are lived in a kind of limbo, and are typically fraught with hardship and financial woes, but for most of them this is a one way ticket, and few ever come back from the dead. They have made their choice and there is usually no going back.

It is all vaguely spooky and somewhat tragic that these people should want to shun their old lives and take up a ghostly existence. It is hard to imagine what must be going through their minds or the decisions they have made or the circumstances that have forced them into self-imposed exile. It is also rather baffling that in such a crowded city these people could so completely erase themselves and live out shadow lives right in one of the biggest cities in the world, that they could so totally melt away without a trace. It really puts a sinister tint on the bright lights of this mega city, that we can look out at its countless glittering lights which hide within them this underworld of lost souls.

[MIKA27]

NASA Is Moving Ahead With An Ambitious Plan To Deflect An Asteroid

A mission to demonstrate an asteroid deflection technique just got a NASA promotion to the design phase. Called DART, the plan would see a refrigerator-sized spacecraft smash into a non-threatening asteroid, causing it to move ever so slightly from its original orbital path. The project is seen as an important first step in developing a planetary shield against incoming asteroids.

DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is being designed by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and it will rely on the "kinetic impactor technique", whereby a fast moving spacecraft will smash into a Near Earth Object (NEO), causing it to gradually shift its orbit. Eventually, the tactic could be used to nudge an asteroid that's headed straight for Earth.

In what will be the first demonstration of its kind, DART will be tested on the smaller of two non-threatening asteroids in the Didymos system. The two asteroids in this binary pairing are known as Didymos A, which measures about 780m in diameter, and Didymos B, which is about 160m wide. NASA is hoping to smash a spacecraft into Didymos B in 2024. These rocky objects are similar in size and composition to many asteroids, including those that could wreak havoc on Earth.

"A binary asteroid is the perfect natural laboratory for this test," said Tom Statler, program scientist for DART at NASA Headquarters, in a statement. "The fact that Didymos B is in orbit around Didymos A makes it easier to see the results of the impact, and ensures that the experiment doesn't change the orbit of the pair around the Sun."

For the mission, DART would fly to Didymos and use an autonomous onboard targeting system to aim itself at Didymos B. The refrigerator-sized spacecraft would strike the smaller asteroid at about 6km/s, which is about nine times faster than a bullet.

To the naked eye, this celestial collision won't appear as much, but Earth-based observatories should be able to measure the resulting change in the orbit of Didymos B around Didymos A. Even a small nudge should have an impact on its orbital trajectory, which will become more obvious over time.

Importantly, DART will allow scientists to better determine the effects of such impacts on asteroids, and the data gleaned from this mission could inform future efforts — including a mission to deflect an actual Earth-bound asteroid. This test will let scientists know how heavy and fast a kinetic impactor needs to be, or how many kinetic impactors might be required to sufficiently move a single target.

"DART is a critical step in demonstrating we can protect our planet from a future asteroid impact," said DART co-leader Andy Cheng from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. "Since we don't know that much about their internal structure or composition, we need to perform this experiment on a real asteroid. With DART, we can show how to protect Earth from an asteroid strike with a kinetic impactor by knocking the hazardous object into a different flight path that would not threaten the planet."

Moving the project from the conceptual stage to the design stage is no guarantee this mission will actually happen, but it's an important next step. Regardless, it's encouraging to know a planetary shield is in the nascent stages of development.

[MIKA27]

The Strange Tale of Albert Herpin, the Man Who Never Slept

The locals knew him as a “weird loner”, who lived off of a steady diet of canned fish, crackers, and fruit. He lived in a strewn-together little hovel with no electricity on the edge of town, near the railroad tracks down by Ewing, New Jersey. He was routinely seen as he stopped by a local delicatessen, where he would pick up his tin can delights, along with several newspapers, eight of which he read every night when he returned home.

In fact, he spent all night, every night, reading those newspapers, because Albert Herpin was the New Jersey man best known for never sleeping a day in his life.

Herpin, according to a New York Times article from February 29, 1904, was born in France in 1862 (although some accounts place his year of birth as early as 1851). He was injured in a carriage accident at an early age, and doctors attending to the youth noticed that he never seemed to close his eyes; hence, it was believed at the time that young Herpin would not live long, as his rare condition also seemed to indicate that he never went to sleep.

However, the child seemed to function normally, despite his persistent insomnia, and young Albert grew to adulthood without incident, although his rare condition did manage to attract the attention of the medical community. It was said that Herpin, being the recluse that he was in adulthood, had never suffered any issues due to lack of sleep, in addition to never having used a toothbrush in his life. On one occasion in his life, he sought medical attention from a leg injury (which we can at least assume didn’t occur during a sleepwalking incident).

Herpin worked as a street sweeper around Trenton, doing odd jobs to earn his keep, and at least enough to pay for his voracious reading habit. At his shack in Ewing, there was never any bed, as Herpin claimed he had no use for one; instead, a comfortable Morris chair sat in one corner, where the only rest he received apparently took place during his nightly newspaper reading excursions.

For the second time in his life, Herpin made headlines in the New York Times, although sadly, at the ripe old age of 93, he wouldn’t be around to read about himself; sleep had finally come for Herpin, in the “eternal” sense, when he passed away of natural causes.

The NYT piece read:

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“Death came today for Alfred E. Herpin, a recluse who lived on the outskirts of the city and insisted that he never slept. He was 94 years old and, when questioned concerning his claim of “sleeplessness”, maintained that he never actually dozed but merely “rested”. “No other person with total insomnia has lived for such a long period of time. It was likely that he died for other reasons, not sleep deprivation, as his insomnia did not seem to have any effect on his health.”

Being the voracious reader that he was, we wonder how Albert would have felt about the fact that the Times article got his name wrong in his obituary! Then again, reading as much as he did every night, we further imagine that Herpin caught a lot of typos in his day.

As for the science behind what caused Herpin to seemingly stay awake his entire life, Herpin apparently submitted to observation for a period of two weeks at one point, during which the attending medical staff never saw him sleep. Shortly before his death, Herpin had been admitted to a New Jersey hospital, after his friends at the local deli where he bought his newspapers noticed that he hadn’t been by in several days, and later found him sick at his home. While hospitalized, his doctors and nurses also said that Herpin, despite his poor health, never appeared to sleep.

Skeptics might argue that, while Herpin claimed that he never slept, his claims were based in what is known as “sleep state misperception”, where a person may perceive that they had trouble sleeping, despite actually appearing to get normal amounts over the course of a night. Then again, if Herpin was actually sleeping from time to time, while apparently unaware of doing so himself, he nonetheless did a fair job convincing his doctors that he didn’t require any slumber to be able to function normally.

A condition more similar to Herpin’s circumstance is known as Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI), although as the name implies, people who suffer from this condition find themselves unable to sleep as a result of a rare, genetic mutation that causes people at some point in their lives to suddenly stop sleeping. Shortly afterward, difficulty sleeping usually sets in, followed by coma and eventual death from the disorder. However, Albert Herpin allegedly never slept his entire life, and certainly was not affected with speech impediments or other ill health affects resulting from his prolonged insomnia.

At present, it remains unclear if there is anyone else who has suffered insomnia to quite the same extent that Herpin did. If his story is true as reported, the ultimate cause of his lifelong sleeplessness may rank among the greatest modern medical mysteries of our time.

[MIKA27]

An Intriguing Game of Thrones Theory Suggests Ned Stark Is Actually Alive

Look, this one might seem a bit crazy, this one might seem stupid, and annoying, but, believe me, it's important to entertain every single Game of Thrones conspiracy theory, no matter how goddamn ridiculous it is. As fans of both the books and shows know well, no character is ever completely dead on Game of Thrones. Jon Snow, The Hound, Beric Dondarrion, The Mountain, and, in the books, Catelyn Stark—they all are resurrected in some form or another. And since fan theories are pretty much writing the show going forward, we've got to at lease give every one a chance.

There's a theory that has been around for a number of years on A Song of Ice and Fire fan forums that suggests that Ned Stark is actually alive.

Yes, everyone watched as Ned's head was very clearly severed from his body and placed on a spike on the ramparts of King's Landing. But, what if that wasn't actually Ned Stark who was beheaded in front of his entire family, the fancy royalty, and a bunch of angry, dirty commoners?

According to the theory, Jaqen H'ghar of the Faceless Men and Ned Stark were being held prisoner in the Red Keep at the same time. If you recall, back in Season One Arya first meets Jaqen when he's being transported out of the Red Keep as a prisoner. Now, it seems strange that a Faceless Man would be so easily imprisoned. So, it's logical to believe that he was captured on purpose. That purpose was for Varys to pay Jaqen to replace Ned Stark at his execution with an imposter. Now, there are a few versions of this theory that could make sense. In one, Jaqen himself takes Ned's place, and the man who we know as Jaqen (at least by appearance) is just a dead prisoner whom the Faceless Man sacrificed in Stark's place.

Another possibility is that Arya's sword teacher Syrio Forel was not killed by Ser Meryn Trant before he made his escape. Instead, he also ended up in the Red Keep with Jaqen and Ned and was given the face of Ned and sacrificed in his place. And/or he's actually a Faceless Man and made the swap between himself and Jaqen and he's been Jaqen this whole time. That's why Jaqen telling Arya that "There is only one God, and A Girl knows his name," seems so similar to Syrio telling Arya that "There is only one God and his name is Death."

And this would make sense, because there are a number of clues in the books that point toward Ned's body looking different after he was executed. Sansa points out that the head on the Red Keep doesn't look like her father's, and Catelyn Stark notes that his bones look smaller.

So, where the hell has Ned disappeared to when this whole war is going on and his entire family is getting steadily killed off?

Good question! According to this theory, Ned has had to stay in hiding and travel away from Westeros where he won't be discovered. He's also working for Varys to help pay off the debt owed to the Faceless Men. And, hell, weirder things have happened in Game of Thrones, anyway.

 

[MIKA27]

How to Drink Like the Founding Fathers this 4th of July

It should be well-known that the Founding Fathers, as well as most early Americans, were fond of a drink.  It wasn’t uncommon for citizens to start their day with a quart of hard cider and Benjamin Franklin himself noted some of his employees would take a pint in between each meal.  He would later record more than 200 synonyms for “drunk.”  Judging from the bar tab for a 1787 farewell party held for George Washington, those synonyms were used frequently.  Adjusted for inflation and converted to US dollars, the party cost roughly $15,400, which is a shit-ton of money to spend on alcohol.

With that, here’s how to drink just like the Founding Fathers this Fourth of July:

Beer

Currently, we’re in the middle of what feels like a craft beer renaissance, with breweries popping up on both coasts of the country and everywhere in between.  But what seems like uncharted territory is really just us returning to the 18th century and, in some respects, even earlier.  We think we like beer now, but consider this.  It’s currently illegal to stop a road trip and pick up more beer because you drank it all on the drive.  In 1620, that’s why the Pilgrims didn’t make it to Virginia.  The Mayflower was packed with more beer than water and it still wasn’t enough.  It may have been the single greatest booze cruise in the history of man and the Pilgrims, of all people, were so hardcore they founded a colony just to resupply for the trip back to England.

Not that long after, beer was produced locally almost down to the household.  Families in rural America brewed their own beer in small amounts for home consumption while larger breweries supplied individual cities, rarely expanding.  It was, along with cider, served to everyone eating breakfast, including children.  And if you were traveling, tradition dictated you stop in for a drink at each tavern you passed, making every trip a bar crawl.

George Washington produced beer for the common people as well.  In a notebook he kept during the French and Indian War, George Washington included a recipe for small beer, a lower-quality, low-alcohol brew.  It’s not a complicated recipe and was meant for paid servants and possibly soldiers in the British Army.  The notebook includes details about Washington’s daily life in the Virginia militia, suggesting brewing was as commonplace to the guy on the one-dollar bill as a one-dollar bill is to us.

There was a tasting of a limited run of Washington’s brew done in midtown Manhattan this time last year.  Pete Taylor helped decipher the recipe and actually brewed the beer, which apparently turned out well and leaned toward the sweet side.  If you’re looking to get some for your July 4th, your best bet might be brewing your own, but Yards Brewing does make General Washington’s Tavern Porter, which was inspired by the writings of the General.

Thomas Jefferson was even more active in the brewing life.  Jefferson and his wife, as newly-weds, brewed fifteen-gallon batches of small beer every two weeks.  Eventually, Jefferson expanded his brewing and by 1814 there was a brewhouse in Monticello and Jefferson was malting his own grain.  Not long after, friends and neighbors were asking for Jefferson’s recipe and sending servants to train in his methods, so something right was happening at the Virginia estate.  If you want to sample something similar, Yards makes Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale, based on when they worked with City Tavern in Philadelphia to recreate Jefferson’s recipe.  City Tavern’s been around in one form or another since before the Revolution and they’ve staked their reputation on being authentic to the time, so they’re a safe bet for drinking like a revolutionary.

If you’re indecisive or can’t pick a favorite president, Yards offers an Ales of the Revolution 12-pack.  You get the porter, the ale, and Poor Richard’s Tavern Spruce, based on Benjamin Franklin’s recipe.  Each beer has been around for a little while, with Poor Richard’s being the most recent addition in 2005, but it’s always worth calling attention to a good bit of alcoholic historical preservation.

Whiskey

Jefferson may have dominated the Founding Father beer market at Monticello, but Mount Vernon was the whiskey juggernaut.  In February of 1797, Washington’s first eighty gallons were produced and by June he was expanding.  Though, surprisingly, the man behind the success of the whiskey wasn’t Washington.  It was the Scotch-Irish John Anderson.  His recipe first called for only wheat, but eventually he moved to a mixture of rye, corn, and a little barley.

In fact, Anderson was so successful Washington trusted him to run the distillery, saying “Distillery is a business I am entirely unacquainted with,” and that it was Anderson’s confidence that even convinced Washington to go into the business in the first place.  Good thing he did too, because what started as a small batch distillation turned into the most successful commercial distillery in Virginia.

Mount Vernon is still distilling.  While the spirits aren’t cheap, they’re not the most expensive whiskies we’ve ever seen either.  If that’s not an option, American whiskey is a well-established practice by now, despite the interruption of the Temperance Movement.  Everyone has their favorites and the best practice for celebrating an American spirit is finding a batch that fits your tastes.  Luckily, we have a few articles to help you out there.

Cider

Cider’s going to be a hard one to nail down, especially if we’re adhering to what was available to the Founding Fathers.  This means toss out that Woodchuck and Angry Orchard, because the ciders available to, and often made by, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were dry, fruity ciders rather than the fizzing sugar-fests mass-produced today.

There are a few reasons for the difficulty in finding an authentic cider.  Even though its popularity has exploded lately, cider’s still not as popular as beer and, like we said before, a lot of the most popular ciders are super-sweet and don’t hold true to those early, dry ciders.  A lot of availability depends on region.  So if you’re reading this in California, it’s probably going to be harder for you to find a faithful bottle than, say, a guy in New England.

Plus, a lot of the apple varieties and methods used by colonists and early patriots were lost, killed by German immigration and Prohibition. It’s only just starting to re-emerge, although not always in pure strains and verbatim recipes.  Cross-breeding and reinterpretation are common, as well as the experimentation craft brewers are so fond of, so cider’s recovery is less like a recovery and more like a rebirth.

It also seems like a good rule of thumb, and this is just us making an educated guess, but more traditional ciders are packaged like wine, in big 750 mL bottles, instead of six packs.

All that being said, it’s not impossible to find an authentic American cider, or at least an homage to it. Ablemarle Cider Works have a cider called the Royal Pippin, made from Jefferson’s favorite apple, the Ablemarle Pippin.  They also have the 1817, based on a recipe found in A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees and the Management of Orchards and Cider by William Coxe, published in 1817.  It looks like it’s sold out for this year, but it’s worth mentioning, as it’s the most authentic variety we’ve been able to find.

Wine

It says something about the United States when, at a party thrown only days before the framers signed off on the Constitution, everyone drank two bottles of wine and that wasn’t the end of the night.  John Adams was so enthusiastic about wine he once attempted to smuggle 500 bottles of French Bordeaux into the country so he didn’t have to pay import taxes.  When he failed, he made Thomas Jefferson do it for him.  By God, John Adams was going to do two things.  He was going to break off from the tyranny of England and then was going to get blitzed out of his mind.

The Adamses once shocked a French dignitary by hosting a dinner where everyone drank so much they, by the sounds of it, puked in night tables and vases for the sole purpose of being able to “hold a greater amount of liquor.”  There’s a puke-and-rally joke to be made here, but we’re too preoccupied by the image of patriot-vomit-filled end tables to think of a good one.

Luckily, wine similar to what they drank in the 18th century might be the easiest thing on this list to find.  Madeira and claret wines are still being made in the same regions they were back then, so finding a good bottle is going to be as simple as heading to your local liquor store.  Although, for added authenticity, you could always pull a John Adams.

Alcoholic Punch

This one is hard to make more specific.  The tab doesn’t go deeper into detail, so all we can do is guess at what they drank.  We have a few punch recipes and from the looks of them when the Founding Fathers asked for punch, really what they meant was “all that stuff you’ve got on the middle shelf, plus a couples lemons or whatever.”

Our first punch is Philadelphia Fish House Punch, first made by rebellious colonists in the Schuylkill Fishing Company of Pennsylvania.  They may have taken the spirit of the Revolution a little far and declared the organization itself a sovereign state, which may or may not be treason, we have to check.  Although, the reason they haven’t been tried for treason may be that the punch decimates anyone’s desire to do anything other than lay down face first on 18th century floorboards.

Stone Fence is another that sounds promising and summery.  We haven’t talked too much about rum, but rest assured, the colonists, especially Ethan Allen, leader of The Green Mountain Boys, loved it.  Stories about Allen being carted away after nights of hard drinking are common.  It’s a simple drink, taking two ounces of rum and topping it off with hard cider.  It also heavily suggests The Green Mountain Boys were thoroughly stitched for their climb up to Fort Ticonderoga.

Our last one has been destroying livers presumably since people have had access to rum, porter, and the idea of mixing.  The ominously but strangely encouragingly named Rattle-Skull hits a lot of the autumnal tastes the mid-September party would have wanted, but we don’t like to think of skull-rattling as a seasonal activity.  More of a patriotic one. In this drink in particular, measurements vary, so feel free to play with the amount of rum and brandy you want to include.

No Water

This July 4th, if your plan really is to emulate the Founding Fathers, throw out the kitchen sink and for sure don’t provide plastic water bottles for your guests.  Common health teaching at the time meant water was almost completely avoided for the simple reason that they believed it would make you sick.  Also you were poor.  So all us guys who tote a brimming, cold, reusable water bottle around with us would be dirty, low-born garbage people to the Founding Fathers.

Granted, there’s something to the colonial avoidance of water, seeing as they didn’t have reliable filtration or purification methods and water’s a great harborer of some nasty diseases.  Sure, some things have change, but why take the chance?

Obviously, we have a lot to live up to when it comes to the signers of the Declaration but we can take some direction from this John Adams quote: “If the ancients drank as our people drink rum and cider, it is no wonder we hear of so many possessed with devils.”  In other words, “Greeks and Romans were either satanic or drunk, and I’m going with drunk.”  So, this Fourth of July, get out there and make your forefathers proud.

[MIKA27]

Balido Watch

Pierre Nobs the founder of Ventura watches, has teamed up with award winning designer Simon Husslein (designed watches for Nomos Glashutte, Braun, and Ventura) for the beautiful Bolido watch, a Swiss timepiece that features a number of unusual characteristics that allow a very attractive price. The minimalist watch features a one-piece stainless steel 43mm case with the face sitting slightly angled towards the wearer for better legibility. Other standout design features include a crown at 12 o´clock, plus an unusual strap integrated into the underside of the case and hidden inside the base. Water-resistant to 100m, the Bolido is available in several colors. watch the video below: $460

 

[OZCUBAN]

On 03/07/2017 at 0:48 PM, MIKA27 said:

Can You Identify Every Character In These Special 30th Anniversary Star Trek: The Next Generation Posters?

Last year, Star Trek turned 50. This September, The Next Generation will turn 30. To commemorate that event, artist Dusty Abell has created two posters filled with packed full of ships, characters, and even a few favourites from the Holodeck.

Abell's two posters are divided into heroes and villains — so one has our intrepid crew at the centre of it:

And the other is packed full of Romulans, Borg and Klingons:

Now that you've had some time with these, how many people and things were you able to identify?

If something stumped you, be thankful that the two poster set comes with a key that will tell you exactly what you're looking at. Which is great because it's going to be the one you don't know that will keep you up all night.

The limited edition poster set — and the key — is available for $US99 ($129) at Roddenberry.com

How cool are they ?

[Fuzz]

On 03/07/2017 at 2:48 PM, MIKA27 said:

Can You Identify Every Character In These Special 30th Anniversary Star Trek: The Next Generation Posters?

 

 

18 minutes ago, OZCUBAN said:

How cool are they ?

I want to know why they used several characters more than once? At a quick glance, I see; 4 Picards and 2 each of Data/Geordi/Worf/Tasha/Riker/Laren (though one Riker is his transporter double Thomas Riker, and the younger transporter version of Ensign Ro).

[MIKA27]

18 hours ago, Fuzz said:

 

I want to know why they used several characters more than once? At a quick glance, I see; 4 Picards and 2 each of Data/Geordi/Worf/Tasha/Riker/Laren (though one Riker is his transporter double Thomas Riker, and the younger transporter version of Ensign Ro).

Meh... Picard is a Legend thats why.

What I'd like to know is why on Earth did they have to include Whoopie Goldberg. I know she was in TNG, but someone could have left her out all together and I'd most certainly be interested in buying the piece.

[MIKA27]

This Game Of Thrones KFC Commercial Has A Twist Even More Shocking Than Hodor's Death

In Game of Thrones' sixth season, Hodor (Kristian Nairn) died much in the same way he lived: Being helpful, overworked, and generally misunderstood by the people around him. Even by Game of Thrones standards, Hodor's fate was a sad one, but not nearly as dark as this Hodor-themed KFC commercial.

On the show, Hodor dies holding the door against a swarm of White Walkers and wights who are trying to murder Bran, Meera and Hodor himself while near the cave of the three-eyed raven. In a weird, mind-trippy sequence, we learn that the reason that Hodor can only say his own name has to do with a bit of complicated warging and time travel that inadvertently leads to a young Hodor hearing the phrase "hold the door" and witnessing his own death in the future through Bran.

KFC's commercial has a few similarities to Hodor's final scene, such as a bloodthirsty hoard, a repeated phrase, and a man with one job — but its final twist is (in my opinion) even more shocking and heartbreaking to witness.

MIKA: Here's the original screen in GOT this KFC commercial is using as a meme

This one makes me piss myself laughing every time. It's just simply HODOR 

 

[MIKA27]

Amelia Earhart May Have Survived Crash-Landing, Newly Discovered Photo Suggests

A newly discovered photograph suggests legendary aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished 80 years ago on a round-the-world flight, survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands.

The photo, found in a long-forgotten file in the National Archives, shows a woman who resembles Earhart and a man who appears to be her navigator, Fred Noonan, on a dock. The discovery is featured in a new History channel special, "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence," that airs Sunday.

Independent analysts told History the photo appears legitimate and undoctored. Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director for the FBI and an NBC News analyst, has studied the photo and feels confident it shows the famed pilot and her navigator.

"When you pull out, and when you see the analysis that's been done, I think it leaves no doubt to the viewers that that's Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan," Henry told NBC News.

Earhart was last heard from on July 2, 1937, as she attempted to become the first woman pilot to circumnavigate the globe. She was declared dead two years later after the U.S. concluded she had crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and her remains were never found.

Amelia Earhart sits in her Electra plane cabin at the airport in Burbank, California, on May 20, 1937

But investigators believe they have found evidence Earhart and Noonan were blown off course but survived the ordeal. The investigative team behind the History special believes the photo may have been taken by someone who was spying for the U.S. on Japanese military activity in the Pacific.

Les Kinney, a retired government investigator who has spent 15 years looking for Earhart clues, said the photo "clearly indicates that Earhart was captured by the Japanese."

Japanese authorities told NBC News they have no record of Earhart being in their custody.

The photo, marked "Jaluit Atoll" and believed to have been taken in 1937, shows a short-haired woman — potentially Earhart — on a dock with her back to the camera. (She's wearing pants, something for which Earhart was known.) She sits near a standing man who looks like Noonan — down to the hairline.

"The hairline is the most distinctive characteristic," said Ken Gibson, a facial recognition expert who studied the image. "It's a very sharp receding hairline. The nose is very prominent."

Gibson added: "It's my feeling that this is very convincing evidence that this is Noonan."

The photo shows a Japanese ship, Koshu, towing a barge with something that appears to be 38-feet-long — the same length as Earhart's plane.

For decades, locals have claimed they saw Earhart's plane crash before she and Noonan were taken away. Native schoolkids insisted they saw Earhart in captivity. The story was even documented in postage stamps issued in the 1980s.

"We believe that the Koshu took her to Saipan [in the Mariana Islands], and that she died there under the custody of the Japanese," said Gary Tarpinian, the executive producer of the History special.

"We don't know how she died," Tarpinian said. "We don't know when."

It is not clear if the U.S. government knew who was in the photo. If it was taken by a spy, the U.S. may not have wanted to compromise that person by revealing the image.

[MIKA27]

NORTHERN LIGHTS OPTIC ALPINE NOIR SUNGLASSES

Northern Lights Optic specialises in eyewear influenced by 20th century designs, but with thoroughly modern 21st century materials and construction methods. The NL 18 sunglasses above are part of the new NLO Alpine Noir collection, characterised by black on black color schemes and classic ski-inspired design cues.

The NL 18 was developed to evoke the styling of World War II-era aviation goggles, with removable leather side shields, a subtle pilot eye shape, and a single-bridge design. They measure in at 49-23-143 and if you don’t like all black, they also come in matte silver and G15 green (pictured below).

[MIKA27]

OMEGA UNVEILS A NEW LIMITED EDITION 007 TIMEPIECE

They might not have found a new Bond just yet but OMEGA are forging ahead with the highly sought after James Bond pieces regardless, this time looking back in time for inspiration.

The Seamaster Diver 300M “Commander’s Watch” was officially unveiled in London last night and it will evoke the rank and regalia of James Bond in military dress across three different films and actors – Roger Moore in “You Only Live Twice”, Sean Connery in “The Spy Who Loved Me” and Pierce Brosnan in “Tomorrow Never Dies.”

The watch itself is an attractive nautical-themed piece which features the striking colours of red, white and blue as used by the Royal Navy alongside the Commander’s insignia itself.

Cased in stainless steel and paired with a polished white ceramic dial, the watch wears facetted blue skeleton hour-minute hands and a varnished red seconds hand with a “007” gun logo counterweight. Flipping the watch around will reveal a transparent caseback which shows off a rotor with the Royal Navy’s Commander rank insignia. All of this is driven by OMEGA’s Calibre 2507 movement.

Another standout design cue is the 5-stripe blue, red & grey polyamide NATO Strap which carries the watch’s commander theme in attractive fashion. There’s also a metal bracelet version for those who prefer the classic look. 

Those keen for the latter will need to move quick as the stainless steel version is limited to 7,007 pieces whilst another version in 18K yellow gold is limited to just seven pieces.

[MIKA27]

JAWS ON THE WATER

Much in the same way a beer tastes a bit better out of the glass, a movie is just more fun when watched outdoors during the summer. Something about the combination of warm, open air and the company of friends just enhances the experience. But the Jaws On The Water screenings take that to a whole new level.

As scary as it is simple, this screening takes place on the lake at Volente Beach Water Park in Leander, Texas. Every weekend in July audience members grab an inner-tube, a cold beer and float out towards a giant inflated movie screen to enjoy Steven Spielburg’s 1975 hit. If you are the type of person to leave the light on after catching a horror movie, then our guess is that this might not be for you. For everyone else, however, try and move fast to pick up some tickets – because only a limited number are available for this yearly event. Last screening takes place July 23rd.

 

[MIKA27]

FOUR ROSES 50TH ANNIVERSARY SMALL BATCH BOURBON

It’s no secret that those in the whiskey distilling industry are treated like family. For it’s the very nature of the spirit to help bring us together in a celebratory fashion. So it makes sense then that Four Roses would go out of their way to celebrate Senior Brand Ambassador Al Young’s 50th Anniversary with the brand and distillery this year.

In doing so, Texas-based Four Roses is releasing a commemorative 50th Anniversary Bourbon that’s made up of Four Roses’ 10 unique bourbon recipes. The end result is a one-of-a-kind offering from the distillery – complete with hints of cinnamon, peaches, and cherries combined with attractive aromas of gardenias and magnolia blossoms. It debuted just last month at Whisky Live Louisville and around 10,000 bottles of the Small Batch Bourbon are slated for distribution so be on the lookout for a bottle or two making their way into your local liquor store here in the coming months.

 

[MIKA27]

Sur La Table 3-Tier Cedar Plank Grilling Rack

In addition to their more standard cookware offerings, Sur La Table has come up with some ridiculous cooking gadgets over the years. In addition to the cast iron garlic roaster and the pocket press we now have one more grilling gadget to add to the collection, the Sur La Table Cedar Plank Grilling Rack. At some point in your grilling career you’ve probably at least attempted to cook salmon or asparagus on a cedar plank. It makes the food easier to remove. It imparts subtle flavors of the wood. It smells downright fantastic. The biggest problem with grilling on cedar planks was always taking up so much of the grill that you don’t have enough space for brats, burgers or steaks. That isn’t an issue with this gadget, because of the stainless steel rack and the tiered, step up setup that holds the three planks. It’s just one more piece of Sur La Table hardware/cookware that will last a lifetime.

[MIKA27]

We Finally Have An Update On Horror Master John Carpenter's Spooky New TV Projects

We've known since late 2015 that esteemed genre director John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, They Live) has been working on several small-screen projects. Today, we got an update on exactly what televised awesomeness we'll be seeing from him — and one project involves his favourite holiday.

According to a press release, Carpenter and his producing partner Sandy King, who also happens to be his wife, have signed a deal with Universal Cable Productions to executive produce scripted shows for the company's various channels and streaming platforms. First up will be Tales for a Halloween Night, an anthology series for Syfy:

Quote

Based on Carpenter's award-winning graphic novel anthology of stories where he brings together storytellers from the worlds of movies, novels, and comics for a collection of horror stories featuring graveyards, sunken ships, creepy crawlers and ghosts that will haunt your dreams long after you've finished reading. A search for a writer is underway.

Also in development is Nightside, based on Simon R. Green's series of pulpy novels about a private investigator who works cases in London's supernatural underbelly; Jill Blotevogel, who co-developed MTV's Scream series, will pen the script. Here's a bit more about the story:

Quote

Nightside is the secret heart of London beating to its own rhythm, pumping lifeblood through the veins of its streets and alleys, hidden in eternal darkness where creatures of the night congregate and where the sun is afraid to shine. It's the place to go if you're looking to indulge the darker side of your nature — and to hell with the consequences.

Both Tales for a Halloween Night and Nightside are still in development, so there's no news on when we might get to feast our eyeballs on them.

[MIKA27]

Bomb Discovered In New York Turns Out To Be A Time Capsule

Construction crews in New York shut down a street in the Flatiron district yesterday after accidentally digging up a bomb. But they soon discovered that this bomb wasn't filled with explosives. Surprisingly, the strange, metal artefact was filled with paper letters and photos. Yes, this bomb was actually a time capsule, originally buried in the 1980s.

The bomb squad was called out and crews shut down 21st Street, in between 5th and 6th Avenues. Some people even posted photos and video of the bomb to social media before they knew what it was.

One Twitter user proclaimed that the NYPD "literally found a bomb on 21st Street".

But after examining the object, the NYPD discovered that the inactive bomb was filled with letters and photos from 1985, buried by the owners of the legendary (and now closed) Danceteria nightclub. The building is now office space, but construction crews were doing work to convert the space yet again into apartments.

The Danceteria, open from 1979 until 1986, is perhaps most famous for Madonna's club scene in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan.

The NYPD called John Argento, the old owner of the club, and asked him what the deal was. He explained that they had purchased the bomb from an Army Surplus store and hung it inside the club for years before deciding to turn it into a time capsule. Argento and his partner had encouraged clubgoers and musicians to fill the capsule with mementos, to be opened in 10,000 years.

"It was a great excuse to have two great parties," Argento told New York magazine's Daily Intelligencer blog. "We can have a party when we will fill it, and we can have a second party when we solemnly lower it into the ground."

A third party to open it up wasn't to be, of course. The old time capsule didn't make it 10,000 years into the future, let alone 30. Everything inside the time capsule, which was buried underneath a parking lot, has reportedly been destroyed by water damage, though Argento won't know for certain that all is lost until the city gives him possession of the capsule. The NYPD is holding on to it for a few more days so that a proper search can be conducted of the item.

It turns out that old Looney Tunes-style bombs don't make the best time capsules, if you want the items inside to stick around for very long. If you really want your time capsule to see the future, you should probably get your advice from experts, such as the good folks at the Smithsonian, who have tips and tricks for preservation.

As we've said many times, burying things in the ground is quite literally the worst possible way to preserve things for the future. But we'll keep doing it. Because we never learn.

[MIKA27]

Science Reveals The Secret To Ancient Rome's Indestructible Concrete

Roman concrete is famous for its durability, lasting for thousands of years and seemingly stronger with each passing year. New research has uncovered the chemical processes responsible for the sturdiness of this ancient building material — a finding that could inspire modern engineers to revive this forgotten technique.

If this news about ancient Roman concrete sounds familiar, it's probably because you're remembering work done by the same researchers a few years ago. Back in 2014, a research team led by Marie D. Jackson of the University of California at Berkeley showed how the recipe for Roman concrete — a mixture of volcanic ash, lime, and seawater combined with a volcanic rock aggregate — produced a chemical reaction that resulted in super-strong concrete. The trouble is, Jackson's team wasn't entirely sure how the Romans managed to facilitate this complex reaction.

In a follow-up study, published this week in American Mineralogist, the researchers have learned that it wasn't the Romans who facilitated this chemical reaction — at least not directly. Rather, the strengthening process was caused by the steady filtering of corrosive seawater through the concrete over time, which triggered the growth of rare, interlocking minerals that made the material even tougher.

Indeed, ancient Roman piers and breakwaters, some of which were constructed more than 2000 years ago, are thought to be stronger today than when they were first constructed. Modern marine concrete structures, made of rocks or gravel mixed with water and cement, crumble within a few decades.

Inspired by naturally-cemented volcanic ash deposits, the Romans learned how to make concrete — and they did so by exploiting the binding powers of what scientists now call a pozzolanic reaction. This reaction, named after the city of Pozzuoli in the Bay of Naples, causes minerals to grow between the aggregate and the mortar, in this case, a mixture of silica oxides and lime found in volcanic ash, which has the happy effect of preventing cracks from growing. Modern concrete also uses rock aggregate, but particles used today are deliberately kept inert to prevent reactions from taking place. Unfortunately, these nonreactive aggregates help cracks to grow and spread, resulting in steady deterioration.

As the previous work by Jackson's team revealed, the presence of a rare mineral in the Roman marine mortar, called aluminous tobermorite, allows mineral crystals to grow around the lime particles via the pozzolanic reaction. But this only happens at relatively high temperatures, so it wasn't obvious how the Romans managed to achieve this effect. It's tough for scientists to do this in the lab today, and when it is done, it can only be done in small batches.

This microscopic image shows the lumpy calcium-aluminium-silicate-hydrate (C-A-S-H) binder material that forms when volcanic ash, lime and seawater mix. Platy crystals of Al-tobermorite have grown amongst the C-A-S-H in the cementing matrix.

Convinced that something else was responsible for the effect, the researchers took samples of aluminous tobermorite, and a related mineral known as phillipsite, to Berkeley's Advanced Light Source lab for X-ray scanning. They found that the aluminous tobermorite formed within pumice particles and pores in the cementing mix, but because it isn't possible to recreate this effect over short timescales without high heat, the researchers figured something else had to be responsible.

That something else, concluded the researchers, is the steady pounding of seawater. Instead of eroding the concrete, seawater sifts through the material, dissolving components of the volcanic ash. Over the course of hundreds of years, this allows minerals to grow from the highly alkaline fluids that are leaching out. This results in the proliferation of interlocking, crystal-shaped structures that increase the concrete's resistance to brittle fracture.

To a materials engineer working today, this process would represent a total nightmare. In fact, scientists spend a lot of time trying to prevent this sort of thing from happening in modern materials.

"We're looking at a system that's contrary to everything one would not want in cement-based concrete," said Jackson in a press release. "We're looking at a system that thrives in open chemical exchange with seawater."

So why don't we do as the Roman's did? For one, volcanic ash isn't the most accessible natural resource. But more importantly, we still don't have the precise recipe used by the Romans to make the concrete, nor do we have access to similar building materials.

"Romans were fortunate in the type of rock they had to work with," said Jackson. "They observed that volcanic ash grew cements to produce the [mortar]. We don't have those rocks in a lot of the world, so there would have to be substitutions made."

Jackson and others are currently working on a replacement recipe, and should it be developed, it could be put to good use — including a tidal lagoon that's slated to be built in Swansea, United Kingdom. This structure, which will be used to harness tidal power, will need to operate for 120 years in order for the construction costs to be recouped.

"You can imagine that, with the way we build now, it would be a mass of corroding steel by that time," said Jackson. Instead, using this ancient Roman technique, we could built a structure that would remain intact for centuries.