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

[MIKA27]

Bond On Set

Far-flung destinations, beautiful women, gunplay, fast cars — this is life behind the cameras of the greatest spy movie franchise in film history — and now you can experience it all with Bond On Set ($20-40). These books explore behind the scenes of several of the most recent Bond films: Skyfall, 007 Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Die Another Day. With photography documenting the making of these thrilling movies, excerpts from the screen plays, and illuminating captions, you'll find deep insight into how these films came to be. Whether you're a die-hard Bond fan, or just a cinephile with an interest in how great movies are made, there's plenty to like in every one of these books.

[Fuzz]

Put A Porsche On Your Keychain Without Taking Out A Loan

The flash drives start at just $39.95 in Australia for the 16GB version, making them the cheapest way to put a Porsche key in your pocket.

Oh not so. You can buy a Porsche key for less than $39.95 on eBay! (ok, it's for a 1970's-80's Porsche, but it's still a Porsche key!)

[MIKA27]

This Is Music Made From A Seizure

Music, it seems, can be made from just about anything. Even bats. No surprise then that the electrical activity of the brain can be translated into tunes as well, something a pair of Standford professors have accomplished. However, instead of normal activity, they’ve captured the “sound” of a seizure.

Neurologist Josef Parvizi and music researcher Chris Chafe, both of whom work at Stanford University,teamed up to produce this surreal and at times, disturbing, piece of music. Parvizi provided Chafe with electroencephalogram of a seizure patient, which was then transformed into audio using tones resembling that of a voice. The final product is a “choir” that sings the seizure.

You can hear the result in the clip above. While it may sound disjointed, there’s actually quite a lot happening, as explained in the university’s newsletter, the Standford Report:

In the moments leading up to the seizure event, though, each of the singers begins to improvise. The notes become progressively louder and more scattered, as the full seizure event occurs (the ictal state). The way Chafe has orchestrated his singers, one can hear the electrical storm originate on one side of the brain and eventually cross over into the other hemisphere, creating a sort of sing-off between the two sides of the brain.

After about 30 seconds of full-on chaos, the singers begin to calm, trailing off into their post-ictal rhythm. Occasionally, one or two will pipe up erratically, but on the whole, the choir sounds extremely fatigued.

Parvizi hopes their work can be adapted to create an early warning system of sorts for carers of seizure patients, though he admits they’re still trying to figure out how the technique can be best utilised.

[MIKA27]

A Really Enormous Cyclone Is About To Hit India's Eastern Coast

A huge storm, cyclone Phailin (pronounced: phie-lin), is approaching the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on the eastern coast of India and will probably also cause heavy rain in neighbouring states. Indian authorities evacuated half a million people over the past few days as predictions about the storm grew more dire.

Mother Jones reports that the India Meteorological Department described Phailin as “very severe” and clearly officials have been taking action to prepare for emergency scenarios. But US meteorologists have been even more extreme in their predictions. Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami told The Associated Press that, “If it’s not a record, it’s really, really close. You really don’t get storms stronger than this anywhere in the world ever. This is the top of the barrel.” Anywhere ever.

Phailin is apparently almost as large as Hurricane Katrina, and has wind power comparable to Hurricane Andrew, which hit Miami in 1992 with 265.5km/h winds. Storm surges during Phailin could reach 11.5 feet (compare to surges during hurricane Sandy which were between 2.8m and 3.9m depending on location). Hopefully Phailin will be an example of unnecessarily dramatic predictions, but it certainly seems like it could set some super storm records in the Bay of Bengal. Stay safe peeps.

[MIKA27]

Make Way For The Olympics: The Paramilitary Clearance Of Rio's Slums

They come bearing satellite TV. Brazil’s Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais, or BOPE, is an elite force of military police who often specialise in urban operations in Rio’s slums — or favelas. As the World Cup and the Olympics approach, BOPE forces are appearing more and more often. And their techniques are evolving.

BOPE has cleared dozens of neighbourhoods over the past few months, and even more over the past few years.

The Guardian reports on the group’s 35th favela-clearing operation this week, describing the multi-step process of extraditing criminals without harming innocent bystanders. First comes the paramilitary operation BOPE is best known for: Sweeping the perimeter and “engaging” targets known for crime or drug trafficking.

When that’s finished, another campaign begins — this one lasting weeks:

A team of street cleaners swept the roadsides and picked some of the rubbish from the filthy stream below.…Next followed a switch of symbols. Red Command graffiti was whitewashed over and thePolicia Militar insignia — a dagger through a skull — was draped over the walls. A brief propaganda display followed: local children were invited to ride on police horses, a PR team displayed the bags of cocaine, cellophane-wrapped blocks of hash and the gun clips they said had been found in the search operations, and a mobile sound van repeatedly broadcast an appeal for support… Another eye-popping change was the arrival of two Sky [TV] salesmen.

Despite this “hearts and minds” approach, there have been many protests over the clearances. Upwards of a dozens people have been killed during clearance operations in the last few weeks, and some residents wonder if BOPE is using excessive force in its operations.

Radley Balko, a journalist whose book, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces, offers a libertarian look at the proliferation of SWAT and other paramilitary operations in the United States, pointed out the disparity between “precision” police action during protests and the frequently violent outcome. “There’s a general trend toward more aggressive, confrontational responses to protest [...], particularly protests at big events like the WTO, the G8, and etc.,” he explained to Gizmodo over email. “Unfortunately, that sort of response, which is often depicted as being extra cautious, actually tends to make violence more likely.”

The controversy sits at the heart of a debate that’s been going on for years, both in Brazil and elsewhere. In some cities, a huge portion of inhabitants live in so-called slums — 1.5 million in Rio alone — and many of these are quiet, residential neighbourhoods that have been around for decades. For some residents, the idea that their comparatively well-established neighbourhoods need to be “cleansed” is both offensive and simply incorrect.

Meanwhile, supporters of the program point to situations where gangs and drug-related crimes have percolated for years; one recent NPR story, for examplem reported that raids are improving in both their accuracy and their effectiveness. To make matters worse, most favelas are tightly-knit communities, both culturally and geographically, which makes it difficult to differentiate between neutral and dangerous zones.

But ultimately, whether in support of the raids or against them, one thing seems clear: They wouldn’t be happening if the World Cup and Olympics weren’t approaching. The same kind of urban whitewashing has riled up residents (and preservationists) in host cities for decades now — from the destruction of traditionalHutong communities in Beijing, to the razing of whole neighbourhoods in Cape Town to make way for the 2010 World Cup.

As one favela resident told NPR, “a plan to takeover [Rio favela] Rocinha isn’t a priority because people who live here are asking for it. It’s a priority because of the international tourism calendar.”

[MIKA27]

Norway Is Overrun With Plastic-Covered Corpses That Refuse To Rot

Norway’s got a major corpse problem that isn’t going away anytime soon. Literally — they won’t rot. What’s the culprit behind this profusion of bodies that refuse to take their place in the circle of life? The same thing that’s also working to keep your sandwich fresh: plastic wrap.

For three decades following World War II, Norway’s burial practices involved wrapping their dead nice and tight in a layer of plastic before setting them into wooden coffins for the Big Sleep. Apparently, they believed it to be more sanitary. Hundreds of thousands of burials later, though, Norwegian funeral directors have found themselves in a bit of a tight spot. These non-rotting corpses are squatting on prime burial spots, leaving the newly deceased high and (figuratively) dry.

For smaller countries like Norway and a few other European states, land is a scarce commodity, so 20 years after a Norweigan is first buried, their plot opens up to let in a new inhabitant (unless the bereaved want to pay an annual fee to keep their loved ones roommate-free). With about 350,000 plastic-filled graves and politicians unwilling to give any extra land to the dead, one former graveyard worker, Kjell Larsen Ostbye, may have found the solution.

Kjell Larsen Ostbye’s underground lime injectors, via Rehabilitation of Grave Sites

By relying on what he remembered from a past chemistry class, Ostbye came up with a technique for poking holes into the ground and through the plastic wrap, allowing him to inject a lime-based solution that would rapidly accelerate the decomposition process to no more than a year. It’s more than just being a great idea — it actually works. Ostbye has already treated over 17,000 Norwegian graves (which takes about 10 minutes each) in multiple cities, earning him about $US670 per plot.

Of course, the family of the deceased must give permission ahead of time, but only a few have said no thus far. And, though people who see Ostbye working are understandably a little put off, they come around eventually. Berit Skrauvset, a 77-year-old woman who often visits her dead husband, assures The Wall Street Journal:

I must say that I think this is a good thing, especially for future generations. The plastic thing was obviously a mistake and we all want things to end the natural way, don’t we? One has to assume that they don’t feel any of it when lying down there.

So while all this may be a bit hard to stomach for some, there is one bright spot in addition to the newly available plots. Plastic wrap companies just got the best free press possible — because that stuff is going to keep you fresh, whether you like it or not.

[MIKA27]

First Blood-Filled Mosquito Fossil Makes Jurassic Park Feel More Real

A team of scientists just made an exciting and very pop culture-friendly discovery in the US state of Montana: the first ever fossilised mosquito with a belly full of blood. This little guy’s been hanging out underground for 46 million years, and it’s a small miracle that it hung in there so long.

“The abdomen of a blood-engorged mosquito is like a balloon ready to burst. It is very fragile,” team leader Dale Greenwalt of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington told Nature. “The chances that it wouldn’t have disintegrated prior to fossilization were infinitesimally small.” Just like Jurassic Park! This also appears to be the right kind of mosquito, unlike the species named in the movie.

Don’t get your hopes up. Although this makes Michael Crichton’s famous dino scenario seem a little bit more realistic, this does not mean that Jurassic Park could come true after all. The fact that DNA would have disintegrated millions of years ago means that there’s no chance scientists could have extracted the information they needed to clone a dinosaur. The mosquito’s abdomen did contain traces of iron and porphyrin, the building blocks of hemoglobin, though that’s still not enough. Finally, the mosquito was not actually found in amber but rather in shale sediments — not that this would have changed how DNA is preserved.

Even if it doesn’t bring us closer to getting an amusement park of death and delight, this is a pretty exciting discovery. We never knew that blood could last so long inside of a mosquito! What other kinds of surprises are hiding underneath Montana? Maybe the claw of an unknown species of velociraptor, the skull of the biggest ever T. Rex, a triceratops? The only thing that’s missing is the stuff we’d actually need to make new ones..

[MIKA27]

Did China Rip Off The Apache Helicopter?

With fully integrated avionics, weapons and communications systems, the AH-64D Apache is one of the most successful and deadly aerial assault platforms America’s ever fielded, and the technology that powers it is a closely held secret. Imagine, then, the DoD’s surprise when these images of what appears to be an intact AH-64D surfaced over the weekend. In China.

The trio of images first appeared on China Defence Blog but don’t explain much. The big question is how — assuming the vehicle pictured isn’t just a full-size movie prop or something — the PLA got a hold of the aircraft in the first place. They’re certainly not on the approved list of export countries. But as David Cenciotti of The Aviationist points out, “It could be one of the U.S. Army Apaches downed or crash landed in Iraq, that was later fixed and exported in China.”

But if even if that is the case, it still doesn’t explain why China’s military would transport an illicit piece of military hardware uncovered in broad daylight. Even the North Koreans have the good sense to paint some camo on theirs.

[MIKA27]

Hear What A Day In The Life Of A Drone Pilot Is Really Like

The BBC has managed to get a rare, fascinating look at a day in the life of a US drone pilot. And while some of you might be quick to brush the task off as glorified gaming, Lt Col Bruce Black’s insights should take care of that for you.

The BBC notes:

There was a bit of separation between one reality and the other. It looked like a typical squadron, everyone would show up for their call, and we would have a briefing for the first part of our shift. What was unusual about our particular mission was that when you got into a box — what we called the ground control station — you were flying an aeroplane that was already flying. You were taking on that mission and continuing what was already going on.

And with as fast as a drone operator needs to switch frames of mind, there’s no time for easing into things — you never know who’s watching.

One particular mission had some political sensitivities to it, and as we were transferring up to go to that mission, on the computer screen where we communicate with each other (and 90% of our communications are done over the internet), I got a whisper from somebody. I don’t know who it was…. He said, “Don’t screw up. The President’s watching.”

Though the President watching might seem like a distraction, it’s going to take a lot more than that to knock you of focus. This is a wildly immersive experience

When you are sitting in the box flying one of these things, you lose sense of the fact you are sitting in Nevada. You get so into what’s going on…. You completely lose track of the fact that you are sitting in a Conex box, sitting in Las Vegas. You are pitch in the middle of this battle…. You’re talking to the in-bounds; you’re talking to the air controller; you’re talking to the guy that’s being shot at; you’re trying to coordinate with the Pentagon; you’re trying to coordinate with the combined operations center there in Qatar. Then all of a sudden the door opens on the box, and the next pilot and sensor operator walk in. And it’s like, “Oh my god… I’m not in Afghanistan.” It’s bizarre — extremely strange.

At the very least, the interview will leave you questioning any assumptions you may have had about drone operators themselves. Head on over to the BBC to hear the interview in full here.

[MIKA27]

The New Deadliest Substance Known To Man Is Top Secret (For Now)

Scientists recently discovered a new type of botulinum toxin (aka botox) that they believe is the deadliest substance known to man. Because they’ve yet to discover an antitoxin, researchers won’t publish the details of gene sequence due to security concerns — a first for the scientific community. Thank God.

When scientists say this stuff is deadly, they mean it. It takes an injection of just 2 billionths of a gram or inhaling 13 billionths of a gram to kill an adult. A spoonful of the stuff in a city’s water supply could be catastrophic. The toxin, which comes from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, blocks the chemical that makes nerves work, causing botulism and death by paralysis. In a comment accompanying a newly published journal article on the new botox, Stanford Medical School professor David Relman said the substance posed “an immediate and unusually serious risk to society.”

You’d be right to wonder: If this stuff is so dangerous, why do we have it in the first place? Well, it’s not manmade if that’s what you’re thinking. Before this new discovery, there were seven known branches on the botulinum family tree, but researchers recently found an eighth type of toxin in stool samples of an infant with botulism. It just so turns out that eighth type, known as type H, is the deadliest substance in the world. Scientists are withholding the genetic sequence so that terrorists, for instance, can’t synthesize it and do something terrible. Terrorists do like botox, too. It was one of these toxins that the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo tried to release in downtown Tokyo in the 1990s.

Despite the somewhat sensational nature of this latest discovery, everything is ok for now. This is, however, a rude reminder of how scientific discoveries can always be twisted into weapons of warfare. Unless we keep them secret, that is.

[MIKA27]

It's Raining Diamonds On Saturn And Jupiter

We’re a little late to the party on this one, but it’s just too fascinating to pass up. A team of planetary scientists recently claimed that the mix of methane, carbon and lightning in Saturn’s atmosphere is causing diamonds to be forged in the planet’s atmosphere. Like, a lot of diamonds.

“The bottom line is that 1000 tons of diamonds a year are being created on Saturn,” Dr. Kevin Baines of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently told the BBC. “People ask me, ‘How can you really tell? Because there’s no way you can go and observe it.’ ”

Baines explained, “It all boils down to the chemistry. And we think we’re pretty certain.”

The chemistry is actually pretty simple. Saturn’s atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen and methane, but when storms crop up, the lightning fries the methane, producing pure hydrogen and burnt carbon, aka soot. As the clouds of soot fall towards the planet, they clump together forming graphite, and as the pressure builds up closer to the planet’s core, that graphite is compressed into pure diamond. So it’s literally raining diamonds on Saturn. The scientists think the same thing might be happening on Jupiter.

Does this do us any good? Not right now. It’s pretty hard to get to Saturn and Jupiter and to get down to where the diamonds are would be pretty tough since the pressure there is about 100,000 times what it is at sea level on Earth. And if we don’t catch them fast enough, the diamonds eventually fall into the core and melt. Nobody wants a melted diamond necklace.

Still, this opens up the future of extreme diamond mining much more then recent discoveries of entire planets made of diamond. Astronomers think that Wasp 12-b, 1200 light years away from Earth, has entire land masses made of diamond and another planet that’s 4000 light years away has a diamond the size of Jupiter. It all goes to show, though, that diamonds are just another rock in a universe full of rocks. They just happen to be very sparkly and very, very expensive.

[MIKA27]

US Military Once Proposed A '***' Bomb

One doesn’t commonly associate the slogan “make love not war” with the US military. Indeed, the United States military is feared and formidable precisely because it has proven so effective at conceptualising clever and innovative ways to search, find and destroy, often with the simple push of a button. However, in a departure from these hostile traditions, in 1994 the Wright Laboratory, part of the US Air Force, produced a three page proposal for a “*** bomb”.

Documentation obtained by the Sunshine Project, an anti-biological weapons non-governmental organisation, found that the Ohio-based Wright Lab requested a six-year, $US7.5 million grant to create a variety of non-lethal weapons. The bluntly titled project, called “Harassing, Annoying and ‘Bad Guy’ Identifying Chemicals” reads like a bawdy proposal penned by a Bond Villian- Auric Goldfinger perhaps?

It proposed a bomb “that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become ***, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistibly attractive to one another”. While the laboratory also came up with similarly questionable ideas, such as bad-breath bombs, flatulence bombs and bombs designed to attract swarms of stinging insects to enemy combatants, one has to admit that the *** bomb is certainly the most novel.

The Pentagon maintains that the love affair with the *** bomb idea was brief. However, the Sunshine Project thinks the Pentagon doth protest too much, finding that they “submitted the proposal to the highest scientific review body in the country for them to consider”. Indeed, the proposal’s information was submitted to the National Academy of Sciences in 2002.

The Pentagon certainly admits giving the project consideration, releasing a statement affirming: “The department of defence is committed to identifying, researching and developing non-lethal weapons that will support our men and women in uniform.”

Nonetheless, the project never made it off the ground. But the question remains: how did they even come up with such an idea?

Perhaps the best clue lies in the political climate at the time. When newly elected President Bill Clinton attempted to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military, there was a din of saber rattling, pitchfork sharpening and moral hand-wringing from the military brass.

The general consensus among many leaders of the military was touted by the Department of Defence, “Homosexuality is incompatible with military service.” And that allowing *** people in the military would pose a security risk and disrupt the needed order for the military to be effective.The resulting Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (later fully called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, and Don’t Harass) compromise, which has since been struck down, was less than thrilling for the Pentagon at time.

Under such circumstances, with paranoia about *** people disrupting military discipline and morale, this project seems, notwithstanding its highly flawed premise, somewhat more understandable, at least in terms of how they came up with the idea.

As to the science behind this military farce, while various companies, peddling scented sprays and rub-ons, find it expedient to claim that their product contains human pheromones which have an aphrodisiac effect, lab testing has lagged behind somewhat in actually confirming any of this. Admittedly, one section of the documents, entitled “New Discoveries Needed” acknowledges that, thus far, no such chemicals have been found to exist.

While the *** Bomb project never became perhaps more than a pie in the sky dream of the Wright Lab, it has gained a second lease on life through news media, popular culture and even academia.

The news of this proposed weapon of mass lovin’ even spawned a musical, disappointingly entitled “*** Bomb — The Musical”. Why they chose this title, as opposed to say “Brothers-in-Arms”, “Das Booty”, or “Saving Ryan’s Privates” is a mystery we may never solve…

For the attempt at making a *** bomb, the Wright Lab had the honour of winning the Ig Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. As the prize is organised by the Annals of Improbable Research, it seems to be an excellent home for the project, though perhaps a step down from the National Academy of Sciences.

Among other 2007 IG Nobel prize winners were Mayu Yamamoto (Chemistry), awarded for extracting vanilla flavour from cow dung, and Dan Meyer and Brian Witcombe, (Medicine) awarded for researching the side effects of swallowing swords. The levity of the event seemed lost on the *** bomb creators, however, who kept a straight face about the whole matter; they declined to attend the award ceremony to accept the prize personally. One hopes they were not insulted by this tongue-in-cheek gesture. After all, is all not fair in love and war?

Bonus Fact:

• One person, Sir Andre Geim, has actually won both an IG Nobel Prize (in 2000) and a real Nobel Prize (in 2010). He won the IG Nobel Prize for an experiment where he and another scientist successfully levitated a frog using magnets. His actual Nobel Prize was won “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene”.
  
• The Wright Lab was named after aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright.
  
• In 1991, **** Cheney, then the Secretary of Defence, dismissed the then common idea that homosexuals in the military would somehow be disruptive or pose a security risk. But, nonetheless, most military brass did not agree with him. At the time, it was costing the government nearly $US30 million per year to keep such a ban in the military.
  

[Fuzz]

Did China Rip Off The Apache Helicopter?

Nah, this is just some dude's full scale RC helicopter...

[MIKA27]

Romania Makes the Ultimate 4-Wheeled Superhero Vehicle

The world needs a four-wheeled hero. Superman with a diesel heart, the ability to ford rivers in a single bound, and more ground clearance than an elephant on stilts. It’s here and it’s simply called the Rescue, and we desperately — desperately — need one in our fleet.

A cross between the original Hummer and Batman’s Tumbler, the Rescue hails from Romania, where Ghe-O Motors has set out to create the ultimate machine to serve humanity in the toughest conditions and most inaccessible places.

Depending on the build, the Rescue can be customized for fire-fighting, medical support, or simply transporting 11 people across whatever hellish terrain you throw at it. To combat fires, the 3.2-ton Rescue can hold hold nearly 200 gallons of water, along with all the assorted pumps and hoses. If it needs to cross a small lake on the way, it can be fitted with pneumatic pillows at each wheel to power-float its way into the action, while tank-style tracks can be mounted in place of the rear tires for blasting through snow.

Naturally, it’s all-wheel-drive and comes with a choice of abnormally large engines, including gasoline mills putting out 500 horsepower or an oil burner churning out 300 hp. Beyond being about three feet longer and two feet wider than an Hummer, details are scant, but Ghe-O just showed off the production version at the Bucharest Auto Show and is taking orders from commercial, rescue, and military outfits now. Put us down for two.

[MIKA27]

Nah, this is just some dude's full scale RC helicopter...

Come on...spill it... Yours?

[MIKA27]

Absurd Secret Police Photos Show the Campy Side of Communist Spy Games

Simon Menner’s new book Top Secret: Images from the Stasi Archives examines the vast collection of information and photos once gathered by the East German secret police. While coincidental, the timing couldn’t be better as news about the NSA surveillance program continues to dominate headlines.

“I had come to realize that the public has very limited access to pictures showing the act of surveillance from the perspective of the surveillant,” says Menner, who spent two years pouring through the Stasi’s archives. “We rarely get to see what Big Brother sees.”

During the Communist era, East Germany employed 300,000 spies to observe its own citizens; more per capita than any other totalitarian government in recent history. First opened in 1992, the archives of the Stasi contain 1.4 million photographs and over 50 miles of documents (For a comparison of data storage for the Stasi and the NSA, see this graphic).

Menner’s book is organized into several sections that include photographs Stasi agents took while on the job, documentation of their training, and random snapshots whose inclusion are puzzling. Many of the images appear deceptively benign.

“The more I look at these photographs, the more terribly normal they appear,” says Menner who has selected images that depict unmade beds, a liquor cabinet, and a drawer containing a toy airplane.

These scenes hardly seem like incriminating evidence, but the photographs had a specific purpose. Stasi agents would take Polaroids before searching through someone’s things in order to put everything back in its place. So if the tangle of sheets on a bed hid correspondence from someone in West Germany, the resident would likely be arrested and imprisoned.

The photographs of the Stasi training exercises are surprisingly humorous because many of the agents look like bumbling spies in a Monty Python sketch. In a section on disguises, men and women don frumpy outfits and wigs to impersonate character types. Others are shown receiving instructions on how to apply fake facial hair, demonstrating secret hand signals, or stiffly practicing arrest and combat techniques with an unintentional campiness.

Menner also selected photographs that seem impossible to explain, like the one of a random guinea pig, or the one of a cat reclining on the floor.

“I can understand why an avid amateur photographer takes pictures of a guinea pig. But why does he take these images during a surveillance operation that could alter the lives of others for the worse? And why did these guinea pig images still end up in the archive?” he asks.

Other images show a forbidden interest in Western culture, like teenagers’ bedrooms decorated with Madonna posters or the contents of packages sent from West Germany. Here, items like aluminum foil, Swiss chocolate, or Philadelphia cream cheese are documented as evidence of capitalist sympathies.

While Menner’s selections often show the Stasi in ridiculous moments, the archives are still a serious matter for former East Germans. Many residents were shocked to discover they had been under surveillance and have found detailed files documenting their daily activities. As of 2011, there was a two-year waiting list to access the archive.

The book, which comes out in the United States at the end of November, was a natural fit with Menner’s previous work. His earlier projects include a curated series of archival photos from World War I and a portrait series of murder weapons seized by the Berlin Police Department.

The book is already out in Germany, where it is helping to contribute to the ongoing national process of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, or coming to terms with the past.

Top Secret: Images from the Stasi Archives is published by Hatje Cantz.

MIKA: Damn hipsters.....

[MIKA27]

Soviets, Saucers and Secret Studies

As incredible as it may sound, in 1967 – which, bear in mind, was still the height of the Cold War – British authorities made a secret approach to the highest echelons of the former Soviet Union’s military. It was an approach that revolved around nothing less than Unidentified Flying Objects. In fact, the British Government came straight to the point: they wished to clandestinely discuss the possibility of establishing a joint UK-Soviet UFO study-program. Sounds near-unbelievable? Yes, it does. But, it’s one hundred percent verifiable.

Thanks to the provisions of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), documentation has surfaced from the Defense Intelligence Agency which reveals at least significant parts of the story. According to the DIA: “In early 1967 (exact date believed to be 10 Nov) Moscow TV presented a program on Unidentified Flying Objects. On 12 Nov 67 a Reuters release in the U.K. (believe article was in Daily Telegraph) reported the TV program.”

The essence of both the Soviet television show and the Reuters story, noted the DIA, was that “…the Russians had recently set up a commission to study UFOs.” The chairman of the commission, the DIA learned, was a retired Soviet Air Force (SAF) Major General A.F. Stolyarov, a former Technical Services Officer. Not only that, the project had at its disposal no less than 18 astronomers and SAF officers and “200 observers.”

A couple of days after the TV production aired, the DIA learned, the Reuters correspondent paid Major General Stolyarov a visit. The general, recorded DIA personnel, “was very polite, confirmed the information about the commission, the 18 astronomers and SAF officers and the 200 observers. In addition, he said five positive sightings had been made.”

One week later, however, things had changed significantly, as the DIA’s files make very clear: “…the Reuters correspondent went back to see General Stolyarov. However, this time the correspondent could not get past the General’s secretary, [and] was politely but firmly told the General was no longer available for interview.”

But, then, there was a dramatic development in the story – and, probably, a whollyunforeseen development. The DIA uncovered information to the effect that, “…on 12 December 1967, the British Embassy was directed by London to further investigate the subject with a view to cooperating with the Russians in observation teams for UFOs.” There may have been a very good reason for the actions of the Brits.

Between the seven year-period of 1959 to 1966, documentation now declassified by the British Ministry of Defense reveals, British authorities received a combined total of 446 UFO reports. In 1967, alone, however, the MoD was inundated with no less than 362 reports – averaging at almost one report per day.

The DIA added that the Scientific Counselor of the British Embassy visited the Soviet Union’s State Committee for Science and Technology and inquired about two things: (a) the status and nature of the Soviet UFO commission and; the possibility of ”British-Russian cooperation in observation of UFOs.” According to the DIA’s sources, “…the British counselor was politely received and the Commission was freely discussed. The British were told they would receive a reply to their request about cooperation.”

DIA records reveal that the Brits did not receive a reply from the Soviets and “did not pursue the subject.” But, the British Government did have its own opinions on the nature of the Soviet UFO program, however. The DIA documentation shows that, “The British Scientific Counselor believes that the original announcement of the work of the Commission on TV was an oversight on the part of the censors because the commission has not been reported or referred to anywhere else. Mr. [Censored] believes the Commission has not been disbanded, but will continue under cover. This information was sent to London.”

Intriguingly, the DIA records also show that the relevant data had been provided by a source that had “read confidential British files on this subject.” It is a pity that the DIA report – which was prepared by a Colonel Melvin J. Nielsen – did not expand upon the reference to these secret documents of the British. Nevertheless, that the British Government chose to make a stealthy approach to the Soviets – and directly in the wake of a significant wave of UFO activity in the skies of the UK – is more than notable. It suggests an undercurrent of concern and unease within certain British-based corridors of power.

Even though the Soviets chose not to take matters further with the Brits (and vice-versa), the very fact that the latter made the approach – at all – is notable. Indeed, in 1991, a source was informed in writing by the British Ministry of Defense that, with regard to UFOs, ”…we do not co-operate with other Governments on this subject.” That stance, however, did not seemingly prevent British authorities from at least attempting to work with the Soviets on the UFO problem – and practically a quarter of a century before I was assured there was no such cooperation at all!

[MIKA27]

Monster Machines: This Qantas Airbus A380 Barely Fits Inside Its Hangar

Yesterday, we were given a tour of Qantas’ Sydney Jetbase including the flight hangar where aircraft are serviced and repaired. At the time of our visit, the bulk of the sprawling installation was filled up by a single Airbus A380. Standing over 24 metres high and boasting a wingspan of nearly 80 metres, it truly is a monster of a machine. Here are the photos.

A A380 turbofan engine ready for service and installation.

The aircraft comes with four engines in all which provide 1,800 horsepower. They are also surprisingly quiet with a 50 percent noise reduction compared to the smaller 747-400 during takeoff.

We were a bit leery of getting too close to the engine’s fan blades. Partly because of that famous death scene in Lost, but mainly because they cost a cool $80,000 each. The entire plane, meanwhile, costs somewhere in the region of $375 million. (You break, you buy!)

Here’s one of the engines attached to the wing.

Parking this thing must have been a nightmare for the pilot — the tail barely cleared the top of the hangar. Indeed, some airports have been forced to modify their runways to accommodate the new class of superjumbo.

Seriously though, look at the size of this thing! It shouldn’t be in the air. Black magic has to be involved somewhere.

When you take the A380′s size into account, its wheels are curiously petite things. They’re barely any bigger than the tyres on a monster truck.

The A380′s wings are constructed from a range of reinfroced plastics including carbon-fibre, glass-fibre and quartz-fibre. They are sized for a maximum take-off weight of over 650 tonnes. The wings also house additional fuel, which can make them look a bit bent during long flights due to the extra weight they are carrying.

The cockpit is pretty industrial looking when you consider the aircraft’s astronomical price tag. We’re not sure what we were expecting, mind. A martini shaker perhaps?

The pilots’ sleeping quarters are also pretty Spartan.

The A380 control stick has a distinct PC joystick circa-1980′s vibe. We like to think that the designers were trying to appeal to pilots’ childhoods — which were doubtless spent playing Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Strategically placed cameras keep the pilots abreast of what’s happening below and behind their aircraft.

…And here’s what the pilot sees from their cockpit displays.

Pilots can access a foldout keyboard from their chairs with which to communicate with crew. Text messages are generally preferred to radio commands, which have the potential to be misheard.

A less glamorous part of the job is replacing the passenger cushions that have accumulated icky stains. Ew.

[MIKA27]

Scientists Figured Out A Way To Cheat Newton's Third Law

Ever since the late 17th century, it’s been understood that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s Newton’s Third Law of Motion. But a group of German scientists recently came up with a trick that appears to break that law, one that lets light accelerate all by itself. And it could bring us faster electronics in the process.

This is not a simple trick. It involves fiddling with the mass of photons, particles that are believed not to have a mass at all, and requires a form of negative mass, a state that scientists believe does not exist. That’s the trick part. And that’s also why it merely appears to break Newton’s third law. All that said, it’s pretty impressive.

What these German scientists basically did is create an optical diametric drive. The basic principle behind a diametric drive calls for an object with positive mass to collide with an object with negative mass causing both to accelerate forever in the same direction. In the 1990s NASA tried and failed to build one, because it would make an awesome spaceship engine. However — and that’s a big however — diametric drives are difficult to build because there’s no such thing as an object with negative mass, at least not one that scientists have observed.

Bear with me here. To get around these basic rules of physics and quantum mechanics, our friends the German scientists used photons to create something called effective mass. This is what a particle seems to have when it’s responding to forces, and there is such a thing as negative effective mass. So the scientists sent a series of laser pulses through a two loops of fibre-optic cable — one bigger than the other — that connect at a contact point. As the pulses are travelling through the different-sized loops at slightly different times, they share photons creating an interference that gives them effective mass, some positive and some negative. In this so-called optical diametric drive, the pulses accelerate in the same direction. Cool, huh? Complicated, but cool.

Needless to say, the idea of laser pulses that accelerate continuously bears big implications for anything that uses fibre optic cables. This method could make computers, communications networks, and so forth to get faster and more powerful. Just remember that it’s a highly experimental new technology; it’s going to take a while before this makes your iPhone better.

[MIKA27]

Would You Work In This Viewless Bubble Building?

The curvaceous forms of blobitecture may look like they’re malleable, but the swoops that define the modern style of lady Zaha, Future Systems, and ol’ Frank Gehry aren’t flexible at all. That’s not the case with the concept for the “Bubble Building” in Shanghai, an ambitious re-imagining of an existing structure that covers the windows in a series of nylon pockets that appear to breathe based on the amount of activity inside.

Interdisciplinary design studio 3Gatti prides itself on adding an artistic touch to its projects, offering playful takes on facades that run the gamut from umbrella-fronted pavilions to grass-covered telco towers. But this might be one of its most unique concepts yet — like the result of a strange orgy between between the Michelin Man, the Stay-Puft dude, a pillow fort and an office building.

Placing plants between the framed glass panes and the billowing antibacterial textile creates what the designers describe to ArchDaily as a “micro-greenhouse” effect, insulating the indoors and keeping temperatures moderate and comfortable year-round. And as if this bulbous exterior wasn’t eye-catching enough, sensors could control ventilation based on how many folks are occupying each room — meaning that the individual bumps would deflate when a specific space was unoccupied (that sounds like a sad, sad silhouette…).

The firm describes the design as a large-scale sculpture — and it is certainly a creative use of materials — but there is one downside that’s clear… or rather, not clear at all. There’s no view! It would be surreal to step into a building with white sheets obscuring all the hustle and bustle of the city, not to mention the lack of unfiltered natural light. If the science behind it holds up, would it be worth forgoing sight to the street for a highly efficient HVAC system?

Seems like a tough trade-off — after all, energy-conscious inhabitants would probably be better off retrofitting everything to Passive building standards. But are there other uses or locations for this idea that make more sense? [ArchDaily]

[MIKA27]

New York City Is Getting Wireless EV Chargers Disguised as Manholes

Imagine an electric Pepsi delivery truck in Manhattan. It makes dozens of stops at the same locations, day in and day out. Now what if at each stop — or every other stop — it could wirelessly top up its battery pack as the driver drops off another case of sugar water. That’s what Hevo Power is aiming to do with a new wireless charging system that blends into its surroundings by aping a manhole.

“I was walking down the street, pondering how wireless charging could be deployed,” Hevo’s CEO and founder Jeremy McCool told WIRED. “I was standing at 116th and Broadway, and I was looking down and saw a manhole cover. And thought, that’s the ticket. There are no cords, no hazards. Everything can be underneath the manhole cover.”

The result is a new system of wireless charging stations that Hevo plans to deploy in New York’s Washington Square Park in early 2014, beginning with two Smart ForTwo electric vehicles operated by NYU.

McCool and his crew opted for a resonance charging system rather than the traditional inductive charging system used by some smartphones, tablets, and retrofitted EVs like the Nissan Leaf.

Traditionally, inductive charging requires a primary coil to generate an electromagnetic field that is picked up by a second coil mounted underneath the EV to juice up the battery pack. But it’s not particularly efficient, with large amounts of energy dissipating through the coil. With a resonance-based system, both coils are connected with capacitors that resonate at a specific frequency.

The energy losses are reduced and you can transmit more energy at a faster rate and further apart.

Hevo’s system comes in three parts: a power station that can either be bolted to the street or embedded in the pavement, a vehicle receiver that’s connected to the battery, and a smartphone app that lets drivers line up their vehicle with the station and keep tabs on charging.

In its current form, Hevo’s system is classed as a Level 2 charging station, with 220-volts and up to 10 kilowatts of energy being transmitted from the pad to the vehicle. McCool says the system can put out more than 10 kW, depending on the application. But for now, Hevo is focusing on Neighborhood Electric Vehicles with small footprints, low speeds, and minimal battery capacity — something that’s perfect for inner-city delivery vehicles.

In addition to the NYU program and working with E-Ride, Hevo is in talks with PepsiCo, Walgreens, and City Harvest to discuss the possibility of rolling out the system for a larger fleet of vehicles.

“It’s an iterative roll out strategy that starts with a fleet and builds on policy matching technology,” McCool says. “This is the kind of ecosystem that needs to exist [for EVs].”

[MIKA27]

Switch-Hitting Flash Drive Works On Laptops And MicroUSB Phones Alike

As ubiquitous as Wi-Fi and mobile data have become, there are still times when you’ll find yourself completely cut off from any and all wireless networks. And inevitably those will be the times when you need to transfer files between a tablet or a smartphone and your laptop. Bluetooth can work in a pinch, but when time is of the essence ADATA’s new DashDrive flash drive plays nice with both USB and microUSB ports.

iPhone and iPad users will want to move along, but anyone with a smartphone or tablet that charges and syncs via a microUSB connection — and supports the USB On-the-Go protocol — will be able to backup and copy files between their mobile devices. The sneakernet isn’t dead yet, and even as just an emergency way to move files between devices the DashDrive is a reasonably cheap solution at $US17 for the 16GB version and $US26 for the 32GB — as long as you don’t lose it.

[MIKA27]

I Have Seen The Future, And It's A One-Handed Magnetic Zipper

Under Armour is making the bold claim that it’s finally “fixed zippers”. And while its innovative new Magzip feature probably isn’t going to change the entire world, it’s still a vast improvement to clothing technology that hasn’t evolved in in almost 100 years. It’s also voodoo magic.

If you’ve ever fumbled trying to connect the two loose ends of a zipper — and really, who hasn’t? — you’ll immediately see the value in Under Armour’s new approach that uses a strong magnet and a re-engineered clasp to automatically guide the two ends of a zipper together, allowing you to do up a coat with just one hand.

The idea for the Magzip actually came from an engineer named Scott Peters, who originally designed it to allow those dealing with conditions that inhibit their fine motor control and coordination to more easily dress themselves. Perfecting the mechanism required about 25 different prototypes, but the final version was patented and eventually licensed by Under Armour for a new line of clothing and jackets destined for a late 2014 release.

Until then you’ll have to keep fumbling, but with less frustration knowing a solution is en route.

[MIKA27]

MOTOPED

If you´re a petrolhead and a DIY fan, the Motoped conversion kit is the perfect project. Motoped is a fusion of a dirt bike and a mountain bike, to build it you simply need to gather an old Honda XR50/CRF50 engine and an old mountain bike that you can strip.

The rest, such as frame, swing arm, jack shaft, bottom bracket, rear hub, etc… will be provided in the kit. Your end and proud result is a 4-stroke motorized bike that you can pedal or ride off-road. watch the video

[MIKA27]

ISAK | 4X4 DEFENDER TOURS IN ICELAND

Feel like an adventure? check out ISAK, they offer modified Land Rover Defenders for individual rentals, as well as for guided convoy tours in Iceland. All the cars are modified and equipped with gear to tackle the demanding and challenging environments, including GPS navigation and mapping devices, special front bumper for ice, latches for Hi Lifts, spot lights, an engine mounted air compressor (to adjust the tyre pressure for different terrains), a VHF long range radio (enables communication between the cars), plus shovels, ropes and other tools. This is truly an amazing opportunity to traverse extreme terrains and tackle the tough Icelandic highland trails on the most iconic 4×4 vehicle.