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

[MIKA27]

8BITDO NES30 ARCADE STICK

8Bitdo is responsible for making some super cool retro-styled gaming accessories. But most of those have been console-focused, leaving arcade-favoring players to fend for themselves. Well, that’s about to change thanks to their new NES30 Arcade Stick.

As is the case with al of their offerings, this nostalgic controller only looks retro and is actually loaded with modern tech – including Bluetooth connectivity, compatibility with a multitude of next-gen gaming platforms (like the Nintendo Switch, Android devices, Windows devices, Macs, Raspberry Pi, and more), and an 18-hour wireless battery life which charges in less than 2 hours. And while it features classic standard 30mm buttons, the joystick can also be swapped out for a Sanwa of your choice and all of the controls can be custom-mapped. You can pre-order the NES30 now for just $80.

[MIKA27]

Mr. Pip’s Double Cross Is Your Next Party Game

There are plenty of fantastically amusing and fun to play games you can break out whenever you have people over at your house, but Mr. Pip’s Double Cross is your next party game because of its unique blend of whimsy, sophistication and bluffing. Games play out kind of like a combination of Yahtzee and Liar’s Poker with some additional rules and punishments that make it a lot harder to lose all of your bets on one round. The game doesn’t explicitly encourage gambling but it’s hard not to imagine everyone buying in for a dollar per die and rolling bones until there’s only man or woman left standing who gets the whole pot. Regardless of whether you’re putting real money on the game, you’re going to have a great time playing what is now considered to be the most popular dice game in the world. It doesn’t hurt that, unlike the traditional cardboard box that gets dusty on a shelf, Mr. Pip is packaged in a gorgeous black or white plastic container that’s as much display piece as it is game storage.

 

[MIKA27]

HERNO SIPPING GIN

Each year, Hernö releases a special sipping gin aged in hand selected casks. And this year, the Swedish distiller opted for ex-Box whisky casks that previously held Sherry. The gin itself is the same award-winning recipe used in more Hernö Gins, but after 21 days in the cask, it takes on some unique flavor characteristics pulled from the cask. It's another hit from the distillery that has the most awarded gin in Europe for the last four years, garnering more than 50 international master and gold medals.

[MIKA27]

Rememory Trailer: Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage Tech Thriller

Peter Dinklage’s starring role in the thriller Rememory has materialized a trailer for its upcoming wide release, after having debuted at the Sundance Film Festival back in January. Indeed, the powerful repertoire of the Game of Thrones star known for, amongst many other quotable attributes, drinking and knowing things will be channeled through the lens of a sci-fi technological murder mystery set in a near-future in which the memories of people can be recorded and experienced by others.

The Rememory trailer features Peter Dinklage as Sam Bloom, a man who comes into the investigative service of widow Carolyn, played by Julia Ormond (Mad Men, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) to look into the murder of her husband Gordon Dunn, played Martin Donovan (Legends of Tomorrow, Ant-Man), who was the inventor of the plot-centric device that can extract, record and play memories. Bloom’s investigation starts when he takes possession of the device in question, which, to use an appropriately Game of Thrones-themed metaphor, turns him into a proverbial Three-Eyed Raven, experiencing the memories of many others in fragments. Likewise, the machine-induced experiences start to take their toll on Bloom, blurring the lines of his own reality; a dangerous development, especially since the mysterious killer is still out there.

Rememory will also notably stand as one of the last onscreen appearances of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, who, of course, perished in a tragic accident in 2016, sadly leaving future entries of his hit film franchise without a Pavel Chekov. The film also co-stars Henry Ian Cusick, who also knows something about being displaced in time and reality and the need to be anchored by a “Constant,” as Desmond Hume on the hit genre TV series Lost. Evelyne Brochu of Oprhan Black also appears.

In the director’s chair for Rememory is Mark Palansky, who directed two episodes of Netflix’s 2017 A Series of Unfortunate Events series and the 2006 romantic comedy film Penelope. Palansky works off a script that he co-wrote with Michael Vukadinovich.

Rememory will make its wide release debut streaming (on a proper device, not your brain itself,) on Google Play on August 24.

 

[MIKA27]

Nosferatu Remake Casts Anya Taylor-Joy

With the vampire craze of the last decade finally losing its bite, it would seem that there is a new cycle of the Undead’s image clearly taking place in popular culture. Already on television, TV series like The Strain and Penny Dreadful have returned to the creatures’ bloodcurdling roots, but it appears now that Studio 8 is looking to resurrect the original unholy beast of live-action storytelling: Nosferatu. 

The movie will be directed by Robert Eggers, who directed critically acclaimed The Witch in 2015. Variety reports that Anya Taylor-Joy, who starred in The Witch, will reteam with the director for Nosferatu. Taylor-Joy recently starred in M. Night Shyamalan's horror thriller, Split, and is currently filming the X-Men movie New Mutants. 

Nosferatu, which famously starred actor Max Shreck as “Count Orlock,” was an unauthorized retelling of Stoker’s stale, save for name changes and a location switch from the monster arriving in England to Germany. However, Murnau’s visage of the vampire being one linked to not only death but the horror of the Black Plague in Europe is one that still haunts more than any pair of pointy fangs.

Indeed, Nosferatu was thought lost for decades due to a copyright lawsuit until a complete copy of the film was found, but its impact has proven eternal since it has already been redone once into another considerably formidable classic: Nosferatu the Vampire, which was directed by Werner Herzog in 1979 and which starred Klaus Kinski as the Undead demon whose contagious reach of pestilence took on the scale of grand art and even beauty.

The original vampire picture also was the subject of the dark comedy Shadow of the Vampire, which starred John Malkovich as F.W. Muranu and Willem Dafoe as Max Shreck; the movie’s fictional premise was the amusing conceit that Shreck really was a vampire hired by Muranu to procure authenticity.

[MIKA27]

Despite Everything You've Read, Daniel Craig Still Says He's Not Sure About Coming Back For Bond

The seesaw that is "Daniel Craig back for Bond 25" news stories continues today. One week tabloids say he's back for two films. The next week, he very clearly states that's not the case.

Speaking on a Boston radio show Tuesday, the actor said the following:

Quote

No decision has been made at the moment, there's a lot of noise out there and nothing official has been confirmed and I'm not, like, holding out for more money or doing anything like that. It's just all very personal decisions to be made at the moment... I know they're desperate to get going and I would in theory love to do it, but there is no decision, uh, just yet.

Now, that was as of Tuesday night August 15, probably around 9 or 10PM AEST. I pin this down to date and time because anything can change at any moment when it comes to this movie.

Of course, you'll remember last month that it was announced the 25th Bond film, untitled and without a director or star, would be released 8 November 2019. Soon after, a few directorial frontrunners emerged, with Yann Demange as the most likely to helm the film. But still, Craig has not confirmed anything and you have to wonder if all these other plans are the producers' way to force him to make a decision.

Also of note, we still don't know which studio will be distributing the film as Sony lost the rights after Spectre. So, to recap: No star, no studio, no director, no script (that we know of), but there is a release date.

Oh Bond 25, you are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

[MIKA27]

Scientists Discover Trove Of Volcanoes Hidden Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet

Scientists have identified nearly 100 previously unknown volcanoes in West Antarctica, which, in addition to the 47 already known to exist in the region, makes it one of the largest concentration of volcanoes in the world.

New research released in a special Geological Society publication series identifies 91 new volcanoes in a region known as the West Antarctic Rift System, a 3,541km-long (3,500 km) area that extends from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf to the Antarctic Peninsula. All of these volcanoes are buried beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, some as deep as two miles. They range in size from 325 to 12,600 feet (100-3,850 meters), the largest being as tall as the Eiger in Switzerland.

The scientists who conducted the study, Max Van Wyk de Vries and Robert Bingham from the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh, say this concentration is bigger than East Africa's volcanic ridge, which would make it the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world — though some geologists say this claim is grossly overstated (more on this in just a bit). It's not known how many, if any, of the newly-discovered volcanoes are active, but scientists are voicing concerns that an eruption could exacerbate the effects of climate change on the frozen continent.

Location map of obscured cone-like structures across the West Antarctic Rift System. Circle colour represents confidence factor, circle size represents diameter, and circles with black rims represent prior discoveries.

Max Van Wyk de Vries, a third-year undergrad, got the ball rolling on this discovery after noticing possible traces of volcanism on publicly-available radar maps of Antarctica. He suggested to the school's geologists that a more rigorous survey be conducted to confirm his initial findings, and they agreed. With the help of Bingham, de Vries remotely surveyed the underside of the ice sheet for hidden peaks of basalt rock, similar to those found atop other volcanoes, and where the tips push just slightly above the ice. The shape of the land underneath the thick layers of ice were analysed using measurements from ice-penetrating radar; the researchers were on the hunt for cone-like structures extending into the ice sheet. These findings were compared with satellite and database records, along with geological information from aerial surveys.

"Antarctica remains among the least studied areas of the globe, and as a young scientist I was excited to learn about something new and not well understood," said de Vries in a statement. "After examining existing data on West Antarctica, I began discovering traces of volcanism. Naturally I looked into it further, which led to this discovery of almost 100 volcanoes under the ice sheet."

Indeed, the discovery of so many previously-unknown volcanoes changes our conception of Antarctica as a volcanic region, both in the past, present, and future. Further research will help geologists better understand how volcanoes might influence changes in ice sheets over long timespans, while also improving our understanding of the continent's climatic past.

Unfortunately, the new results don't indicate which of these volcanoes might be active, or have the potential to erupt, but this new study should inspire further research and seismic monitoring in the area. The researchers say it's imperative that we figure this out as quickly as possible. Should one or more of these volcanoes erupt, it could further destabilize West Antarctica's ice sheets (which are already being affected by human-instigated global warming) and speed up the flow of meltwater into the ocean. Back in 2013, researchers from Washington University detected at least one active, ice-covered volcano in Antarctica (also only the West Antarctic Ice Sheet), so it's reasonable to assume others may be active as well.

Scientists aren't entirely sure what happens when under-ice volcanoes erupt, but these events could cause underground magma and fluids to force open new paths and fracture rock, according to the Washington University researchers. A serious eruption could melt the bottom of the ice sheet immediately above the volcano's vent, but we really have no idea what would happen after that.

"This is a major step forward in understanding solid Earth processes beneath the Antarctic ice sheet," said Mike Coffin, a researcher at the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), in an interview with Gizmodo. "Combining different data types — magnetic, gravity, and satellite imagery — with a digital elevation model and existing volcano databases has proven extremely fruitful, and the work will sow the seeds for much future research on Antarctica."

Coffin, who wasn't involved with the new study, says the researchers' approach is admirable, and the results fascinating — but he's taking issue with a central claim made by the authors.

"I'm not particularly enamoured with the hyperbole — 'one of the world's largest volcanic provinces'," he said. "Clearly the global mid-ocean ridge system (and the resulting ~50% of the Earth's surface that is 'pure' oceanic crust) is the world's largest volcanic province, and even segments of the mid-ocean ridge system (e.g., the Mid-Atlantic Ridge) are much larger than this West Antarctic volcanic province. However we shouldn't inhibit youthful exuberance!"

Coffin says he wouldn't be surprised if some of these newly discovered volcanoes are active, and he'd like to see a similar study done of the entire Antarctic continent. Mount Gaussberg, for example, is a young volcano protruding above the ice in East Antarctica, and Coffin says there may be many more under East Antarctic ice, as well.

Red-hot magma bursting through the Antarctic ice sheet evokes a particularly powerful mental image. Perhaps one of these newly discovered volcanoes will blow within our lifetimes, and we'll actually get a chance to see it. It would be a song of fire and ice, indeed.

[Fuzz]

9 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Despite Everything You've Read, Daniel Craig Still Says He's Not Sure About Coming Back For Bond

 

Bit late, Mika. Just announced a few hours ago he is returning.

[MIKA27]

The Black Death Returns: Bubonic Plague Confirmed in Arizona

It seems like each week introduces a new doomsday scenario, doesn’t it? Between the rising nuclear tensions, the ever-present perils of climate change, and the good ol’ existential asteroid threat, there are a whole host of likely ways the world of human beings could come to an untimely end. After all, planet-wide mass extinctions have happened before and will most surely happen again. Just ask the dinosaurs – actually no, they’re all dead. While the fears of gene editing gone awry, rogue artificial intelligences, and nuclear extermination are all part of modern life, an unlikely threat from our past is rearing its head again: the Black Death.

The Black Death gets its name from the discoloration caused by gangrene.

Yes, that Black Death: The Bubonic Plague, scourge of the Middle Ages, terrifying in its scope and speed. The plague is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria and most commonly spread by fleas carrying the germ. The fleas hitch rides on small rodents which cohabitate alongside humans and well, you know the rest.

The Black Death was a major turning point in European history, leading to all manners of social reorganization and development.

The Bubonic Plague cost the lives of an estimated 50 million people in the 14th century, while another outbreak in the late nineteenth century killed close to 15 million mostly in China and India. Now, health officials in Arizona are warning residents not to spend too much time cuddling with rodents after fleas collected throughout the state have tested positive for the Bubonic Plague.

Public health departments in Navajo County and Coconino County found the fleas on dead prairie dogs near the town of Williams, AZ and the metropolitan city of Flagstaff. Officials have issued statements warning residents to avoid camping or recreating in areas where rodents are known to live, keep cats indoors and dogs on leashes, and don those creepy plague doctor costumes. Ok, maybe that last one is my suggestion. If we’re gonna plague, might as well plague in style.

Plague doctors would stuff the bird-like noses of their masks with herbs in the belief that foul smells, or miasmas, spread the plague

So far, no human cases have been confirmed in this most recent outbreak. The plague still claims about 120 lives each year in undeveloped parts of the world where antibiotics and medical facilities are still in short supply. Hopefully, given the early warning, Arizona officials can tamp this outbreak down before it goes full-on Michael Crichton.

 

[MIKA27]

11 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Bit late, Mika. Just announced a few hours ago he is returning.

Again!? Let's see WHEN it's official. 

[Fuzz]

22 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Again!? Let's see WHEN it's official. 

It is official. Daniel Craig announced it himself.

[MIKA27]

New Clues Emerge About Doomed Expedition Through The Northwest Passage

In 1845, Sir John Franklin led two British Royal Navy ships on an ill-fated expedition through the Northwest Passage — a famous and hazardous corridor connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. None of the crew members returned, spawning a mystery that has endured for more than 150 years. A new analysis explores the various ways in which the sailors could have met their demise — including a rare disease historians hadn't considered before.

To say that the 129 sailors aboard the HMS Terror and Erebus died slow and miserable deaths would be a gross understatement. As they attempted to traverse the last unnavigated section of the Northwest Passage, the ships became hopelessly trapped in ice above the Arctic Circle off Canada's King William Island. For the next two years, the crew members struggled to stay alive, eventually succumbing to a variety of ailments.

Among historians, the generally accepted causes of death include exposure, scurvy, lead poisoning, botulism, tuberculosis and starvation. A new study published in the journal Arctic affirms these earlier conjectures, while adding a new and unexpected cause of death: Tuberculosis resulting in adrenal insufficiency, or Addison's disease. This latest investigation into Franklin's Lost Expedition was authored by Russell Taichman, a University of Michigan dentistry professor, who drew upon his expertise in oral health to establish the likely causes of death.

A depiction of the HMS Terror stuck in the ice. 

The sunken husks of the Terror and Erebus were recently discovered by Canadian archaeologists in Arctic waters (thanks global warming!), but aside from these lost ships, not much is known about the final days of the ill-fated expedition. We know that the ships were well-stocked with canned food, which would have gone a long way toward sustaining the crew. An autopsy done on three sailors who died before the ships were marooned points to the presence of TB. There are also the accounts of indigenous peoples. As Taichman writes in his new study (emphasis ours):

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The Schwatka expedition (1878-80) documented that several Inuit families had observed sailors of the Franklin expedition dragging ship's boats in Washington Bay on the southwest coast of King William Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Inuit reported that the men appeared thin and the mouths of some of them were hard, dry, and black. Many Franklin scholars believe from this description that the surviving crews were suffering from scurvy and possibly lead poisoning.

Armed with these scant clues, Taichman decided to investigate the prevailing cause-of-death theories, and study how each condition may have affected the sailors' oral cavities. With the help of University of Michigan librarian Mark MacEachern, Taichman cross-referenced the crew's physical symptoms with known diseases and analysed over 1700 medical citations. To his surprise, Addison's disease kept popping up during the analysis.

"In the old days, the most common reason for Addison's in this country was TB," noted Taichman in a press release. "In this country now, it's immune suppression that leads to Addison's."

People suffering from Addison's have trouble regulating sodium, so they get dehydrated easily. The disease also makes it difficult to maintain weight, even when food is available. Together, these two symptoms, argues Taichman, helps to explain the wasting condition of the crew, and particularly their oral cavities, as documented by indigenous peoples.

Scurvy, a deficiency of vitamin C, was definitely also problem for the doomed crew members, but Taichman says this disease couldn't possibly be responsible for all the deaths. Lead poisoning — confirmed by an analysis of recovered bones — may have come from lead solder used for the cans and from lead pipes that distilled water for the crew.

"Scurvy and lead exposure may have contributed to the pathogenesis of Addison's disease, but the hypothesis is not wholly dependent on these conditions," Taichman said. "The tuberculosis-Addison's hypothesis results in a deeper understanding of one of the greatest mysteries of Arctic exploration."

It's an intriguing finding, and it helps us better understand what went on during the expedition's final days. One thing we'll never know, of course, is the mental state of these stranded sailors. Marooned for two years in Arctic ice, the survivors pressed on until the bitter end. Ultimately, it was disease that triumphed over these men — and admirably, not a lack of hope.

[MIKA27]

Unintended Experiment Tracks A Solar Eruption To The Outer Reaches Of The Solar System

On 14 October 2014, our Sun let out a great big burp, a coronal mass ejection that swept through the Solar System at an incredibly fortuitous angle. Several spacecraft (and one intrepid Martian rover) detected the solar blast, resulting in an unprecedented experiment that stretched all the way from Venus to outer reaches of the Solar System.

Like so many other groundbreaking experiments in science, this study came about by accident. Back in 2014, scientists working with ESA's Mars Express were preparing to investigate an incoming comet, but they also happened to record the imprint of a solar event — the interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) of 14 October 2014.

Which got them thinking: What if other spacecraft recorded this event? And if so, could this solar blast be tracked as it made its way through the Solar System?

The answer was a resounding yes.

The ensuing collaborative analysis, the details of which now appear in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, involved measurements taken by no less than 10 probes strewn across the Solar System, from ESA's Venus Express and NASA's STEREO-A through to the Curiosity rover on Mars, the New Horizons spacecraft, and (possibly) the Voyager 2 probe. This particular ICME — a giant cloud of highly magnetised solar plasma — was not directed at Earth, but the angle at which it spewed forth sent it into the path of Venus, Mars, Saturn and Pluto, planets around which humans have (or have had) an active robotic presence.

An ESA animation (below) visualises the coronal mass ejection as it traversed the Solar System.

By pooling their data together, this international team of scientists reconstructed the journey of this rather large ICME, allowing them to study changes in its speed, size and intensity. Previously, astronomers have used models and maths to estimate the spread of coronal mass ejections, but the data collected by these probes offers direct, on-the-scene evidence.

In addition to the spacecraft already mentioned, the ICME was also detected by the ESA's Proba-2, the ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. It was monitored by three Mars orbiters — ESA's Mars Express, NASA's MAVEN and Mars Odyssey — and, as mentioned, by NASA's Curiosity. Further out, the ICME was tracked by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and by the NASA-led Cassini mission at Saturn. It was felt in the outer Solar System as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft was still en route to Pluto. It may even have been detected by Voyager 2, but at such at extreme distance, the blip in V2's data may also have been caused by background solar wind.

Looking at the data, the scientists were able to paint a picture of a solar eruption as it propagated through space.

Planet positions on 14 October 2014.

When the Sun first let out this great big belch, the ICME burst forth at a speed of 1000km/s. By the time it got to Mars three days later, it had slowed down to 647km/s. Rosetta measured its speed at 550km/s, and by the time it got to Saturn — a full month after the ejection — it was travelling somewhere around 475km/s.

The scientists were also able to track the ICME's magnetic field over time. Each probe experienced the initial shock, followed by increases in the magnetic field strength and the speed of solar wind. These effects lasted for days.

Sudden decrease in number of galactic cosmic rays detected. 

Several craft were equipped with radiation monitors (namely Curiosity, Mars Odyssey, Rosetta and Cassini), exposing a well-known effect of ICMEs: A sudden drop in galactic cosmic rays. When an ICME passes, it acts like a protective bubble, temporarily brushing aside the cosmic rays. At Mars, the drop in cosmic rays was measured at 20 per cent, and the effect lasted for 35 hours. When it reached Rosetta, the scientists measured a decrease of 17 per cent, which lasted for 60 hours. At Saturn the effect was just slightly slower, lasting for nearly 100 hours. These results show that ICMEs slow down as they spread outwards, encompassing a wider region over the distances covered.

This unintended experiment was seriously cool, and it highlights the surprising degree to which human technology has spread out into the Solar System. That said, it would probably be better to track space weather by distributing dedicated, interconnected probes throughout the Solar System for this very purpose. Perhaps some day.

 

[MIKA27]

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ International Trailer Features a Marvel Cameo

A new international trailer for Thor: Ragnarok has landed online that reveals one of the film’s Marvel cameos—although if you’ve seen Doctor Strange, it’s not exactly a spoiler. Indeed, in one of the post-credits sequences for Doctor Strange we saw that Chris Hemsworth’s Thor comes to Earth seeking Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) help. This trailer features a new scene between the two in which Strange teases some major goings-on ahead for the God of Thunder.

Aside from that, however, this trailer features most of the same footage from the most recent domestic trailer for the next Marvel Studios film. Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) directs a story that goes intergalactic, with Thor hammer-less and held captive by The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) where he’s forced to fight fellow Avenger Hulk. But bigger antagonists are afoot, as Cate Blanchett’s Hela threatens to destroy the universe as we know it unless Thor, Hulk, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and yes Loki (Tom Hiddleston) can team up and save the day.

The film also stars Karl Urban, Idris Elba, and Anthony Hopkins and opens in theaters on November 3rd.

[MIKA27]

‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ Trailer Makes Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” Super Creepy

A24 has released The Killing of a Sacred Deer trailer. Yorgos Lanthimos’ film stars Colin Farrell as a top cardiologist who has a twisted relationship with a young man (Barry Keoghan) that threatens his family and career. Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg in a movie that Gregory Ellwood compared to Michael Haneke’s Funny Games in his glowing review from Cannes. Here’s an excerpt:

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In many ways, this is Lanthimos’ own variation of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, a shocking morality play where there is no control, no easy choices and no happy ending. The difference is that where Haneke played with the inevitability of death Lanthimos is more focused having the horror of what you’ve just seen linger with both the audience and the characters onscreen. He doesn’t just want you to be repulsed, but emotionally devastated. A gorgeously rendered gut punch that ends up being no laughing matter.

While I tend to run hot and cold on Lanthimos’ movies (I didn’t care for Dogtooth or Alps, but I thought The Lobster was terrific), I’m incredibly intrigued with Killing of a Sacred Deer, and I’m going to do my best to make time to see it when it plays at TIFF next month.  At the very least, this trailer makes great use of Ellie Goulding’s pop song “Burn” to maximum creepy effect.

The film also stars Nicole Kidman, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Bill Camp, and Alicia Silverstone. The Killing of a Sacred Deer opens October 27th.

[MIKA27]

Rebel Aquafin Dive Watch

New York based "Rebel Time” have just presented a great looking dive watch. The Rebel Aquafin is a Swiss made automatic dive watch, it is 42mm in diameter, crafted from of 316L stainless steel, and is as comfortable behind a desk as it is 300m under water. It also features a domed Sapphire crystal with AR coating, and is powered by a Swiss Sellita SW200-1 automatic mechanical movement. Available in 3 exciting versions, the AquaFin will come with a high-­grade rubber strap, as well as a comfortable stainless steel bracelet. Just 350 examples of each variant will be produced. $449.00

 

[MIKA27]

Biker Miraculously Survives A 250-Foot Plunge Off A Mountain Road

In addition to capturing moments of road rage, an action cam mounted on a motorcycle rider's helmet can occasionally record a straight-up miracle, as was the case with Matthew Murray who ended up plummeting 76m off a mountain road after a problem with his bike's steering.
After a failed attempt to lean into the corner, Murray hit the mountain road's gravel shoulder at more than 64km per hour, made it impossible to to stop his bike using its brakes before it plunged over the edge of the cliff, which didn't have a guardrail.

Shockingly, Murray was able to get up and walk away from where he landed, but wasn't able to get to his bike to call 911 from his phone. He instead had to climb back up the hill and flag down a passing car to contact emergency personnel for him. Despite being able to walk, Murray still suffered a broken back, collarbone, hip, pelvis, and has two punctured lungs which will require at least a couple of months to recover.

[MIKA27]

WHEN SEX WAS SAFE

Sir Jackie Stewart once famously said “When I was in Formula One, sex was safe and motor racing was dangerous” – funnily enough it was Stewart himself who was largely responsible for many of the safety advances made in motor racing during his time as a driver and later as a team owner.

The new book “When Sex Was Safe” paraphrases Sir Jackie in the title as a hat tip to his impact on racing. The book is a collection of stories and remarkable artwork by the team at Unique & Limited, offering a look back at some iconic moments in racing history with expansive images and entertaining writing.

[MIKA27]

Food of the Future? Insect Burgers Hit European Supermarkets

For decades, a recurring element of science fiction tales has been speculation about what types of foods human beings will eat in the assuredly dystopian future. From Soylent Green’s depiction of humanity forced to eat itself after climate change rids the Earth of its ability to grow food, to the synthetic culinary wonders created by the replicators of the Star Trek franchise, sci-fi writers have imagined a future where humanity turns to strange new foods out of necessity in the brave new futures in which it finds itself. Now, food scientists and biologists in Europe have taken humanity a step in those strange directions with the release of the world’s first insect-based burger meat products.

If you’re gonna make bug meat, you might as well put it right on the label.

Bug-based burgers and meatballs will go on sale at Swiss supermarket chain Coop this month, according to a Coop press release. Silvio Baselgia, Head of Procurement at Coop, says he’s proud to finally offer the bug meat, as his stores have been trying to cram bugs down their customers’ gullets for some time now:

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For a long time we have worked on this goal and now it’s time for us to be the first retailer in Switzerland to start selling insect products from Essento. With enjoyable and balanced taste, these products are perfectly suited to the culinary variety of insects.

The bug burgers are the brainchild of Swiss laboratory Essento, whose mission is to lower the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by livestock every year by devoting agricultural facilities to raising mealworms as opposed to massive, flatulence-filled cows. The average perpetually farting cow releases over 100 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every kilogram of protein it produces; mealworms, on the other hand, produce around a dozen kg of CO2 for each kg of protein they become once their corpses are ground into a fine power.

Christian Bärtsch, co-founder of Essento, says the insect-based proteins are truly the food of the future – if we’re to have a future on this planet, that is:

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As food, insects are convincing in many respects: They have a high culinary potential, their production saves resources, and their nutritional profile is high-quality. Thus insects are the perfect complement to a modern diet.

If we’re gonna save the planet, looks like we’ve got to get used to eating bug balls. Just cover ‘em in Sriracha. Sriracha makes everything edible.

[MIKA27]

Repairing Willie Nelson’s Trigger Guitar

Willie Nelson is famous for quite a few things, but in this edition of your daily Today I Learned we’re going to talk about something other than the pot-fueled poker game. In addition to Nelson himself, some part of his unique and iconic sound comes from Trigger, his 1969 Martin N-20 guitar that’s been with him for as long as anyone can remember. Since the late 1970’s the same man–Mark Erlewine, aka The Trigger Doctor–has been working on Trigger, and that’s the focus of the video Repairing Willie Nelson’s Trigger Guitar. Cards on the table, we had no idea how important this guitar was to Nelson’s sound or music as whole, but it kind of makes sense given that there’s a Trigger Wikipedia page dedicated to the guitar itself. There’s just something about the “hoodoo of Trigger” that influences Willie Nelson’s sound and can never be replaced. It’s a remarkable instrument, but even more remarkable is the fact that Trigger is going strong to this day.

[MIKA27]

MOLLY'S GAME

Molly Bloom ran an illegal poker table for more than a decade. But this wasn't just any back room poker game. Hollywood stars, professional athletes, business elites, and the Russian mob were frequent guests. After making millions, it all came crashing down. Directed by Aaron Sorkin, Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba star in Molly's Game, due in theaters November 22, 2017.

[MIKA27]

THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES

Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman are one of New York's most dysfunctional families. Although Sandler and Stiller are typically known for their more comedic roles, the pair take on dramatic characters as brothers for the Noah Baumbach-directed piece. After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, the film is set to begin streaming on Netflix October 13, 2017, along with a few showings in select theaters.

[MIKA27]

The Final Defenders Trailer Is All About Sigourney Weaver Getting Her Menace On

There's a lot we still don't know about Alexandra, the mysterious villain at the heart of Netflix and Marvel's superhero team-up show — but the third and last full trailer for the series is about exactly what you need to know about her: It's Sigourney Goddamn Weaver getting to be evil as hell, and it's delightful.

Despite the show being just less than a day away at this point, this new trailer has time for a lot of new footage of the series, ramping up Alexandra's presence and threat so we can really start to get an inkling of why she demands that Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the Iron Fist need to team up to stop her. Plus, it's got Jessica ragging on Danny Rand, a consistent theme in all these trailers, and that's always a good thing.

Bonus points for the trailer's "menacing string section" actually being accompanied by footage of Alexandra listening to a menacing string quartet.

The Defenders hits Netflix tomorrow.

 

[Fuzz]

16 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

The Final Defenders Trailer Is All About Sigourney Weaver Getting Her Menace On

There's a lot we still don't know about Alexandra, the mysterious villain at the heart of Netflix and Marvel's superhero team-up show — but the third and last full trailer for the series is about exactly what you need to know about her: It's Sigourney Goddamn Weaver getting to be evil as hell, and it's delightful.

Despite the show being just less than a day away at this point, this new trailer has time for a lot of new footage of the series, ramping up Alexandra's presence and threat so we can really start to get an inkling of why she demands that Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the Iron Fist need to team up to stop her. Plus, it's got Jessica ragging on Danny Rand, a consistent theme in all these trailers, and that's always a good thing.

Bonus points for the trailer's "menacing string section" actually being accompanied by footage of Alexandra listening to a menacing string quartet.

The Defenders hits Netflix tomorrow.

 

[MIKA27]

On 8/18/2017 at 3:09 PM, Fuzz said:

Claire fought better than Danny Rand in the first Iron Fist series LOL