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

[MIKA27]

TITAN BLACK ROLEX DAYTONA STEALTH

Titan Black are masters when it comes to enhancing the world’s finest timepieces, and nowhere is that mastery more apparent than in their modification of Rolex watches. The Rolex Daytona: Stealth is, consequently, a masterpiece.

Limited to 20 pieces, the watch features complete Diamond-Like Coating (DLC) and a black dial with Luminos Marker. Inside the 39mm case, water resistant to 100m/330 ft, is an automatic chronometer movement. Each watch is laser engraved with a number so you know you’re getting something truly special. (Price: £15,500.00 BUY)

[MIKA27]

The Sun is About to Turn Upside Down (Sort Of)

Big changes are about to occur on the Sun. Anything that happens on the Sun is big of course—especially to the pipsqueak planets that orbit it and, at least in the case of Earth, depend on it for life. But this time the changes are big even by solar standards: The Sun’s magnetic field is about to flip upside down, its opposing magnetic poles switching places—north to south, top to bottom. It’s as though you took a bar magnet and rotated it 180°, except it’s the magnetism that rotates, not the magnet—and the magnet in this case is a million miles (1.6 million km) across, has a surface temperature of about 11,000°F (6,000°F) and weighs about 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons, give or take. So definitely big.

It’s hard to say exactly when the reversal will happen, but it’s been slowly unfolding since the summer. Scientists won’t know for certain if the flip is complete until December 7, when the south solar pole, which we currently can’t see due to the inclination of the Sun, comes into view. When that happens, astronomers will be ready with some of the best solar telescopes they’ve got: the powerful Wilcox Observatory, operated by Stanford University; the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in Arizona; and the space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory and Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). And what they learn about the still-mysterious inner workings of the Sun could have implications for global communications, satellite operations and even the health and safety of human beings in space.

The solar flip-flop coincides with the event known as “solar maximum,” a time when sunspot activity is especially intense, leading to huge solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which send bursts of particles screaming out into space. That upheaval, known quite appropriately as “space weather,” can trigger intense auroral displays (aka the Northern and Southern lights), and even disrupt satellite communications. The worst solar storm on record, called the Carrington Event, after Richard Carrington, the British astronomer who observed it, happened in 1859. While there weren’t any satellites to disrupt back then, the electromagnetic blast that reached Earth caused telegraph wires to heat up and burst into flames.

But it’s not at all unusual for storms like this to break out and for the Sun’s magnetic field to flip. Both the solar maximum and the magnetic reversal happen every 11 years, in fact, in a cycle that has been going on for millions or even billions of years.

“Astronomers first documented the existence of sunspots in the early 1600’s,” says Todd Hoeksema, a solar astronomer and director of the Wilcox Observatory, and scientists realized there were sometimes more of these dark blotches and sometimes fewer.

It wasn’t until the mid-1800’s, though, that they realized the blotches spread like an outbreak of solar poison ivy, then receded, then spread again in a regular rhythm—and looking back at earlier records realized that the rhythm could be traced at least back to about 1700. “We’re now at the maximum of Cycle 24,” Hoeksema says, and about to go into Cycle 25.”

The magnetic flip doesn’t cause the sunspot activity, though: it’s actually the reverse. Sunspots are places where magnetic field lines emerge from beneath the solar surface. They’re blazingly hot, but sufficiently cooler than the surrounding areas that they seem dark by contrast. And when they get big enough and numerous enough, they force the Sun’s overall magnetism to change direction. Things calm down after that until, about five years later, sunspots begin to increase again as our parent star winds up toward the next maximum.

It all sounds pretty routine, really, but there’s one caveat: sometimes, for reasons solar experts still don’t understand, sunspot activity dwindles and stays that way for a while. From the mid-1600’s until about 1715, observers saw barely any sunspots, even during the most intense part of the solar cycle. “They may have still been there,” says Hoeksema, “but been too weak for anyone to notice them.”

During this period, known as the Maunder Minimum, temperatures in Europe were abnormally low—so low that people could (and did) ice skate on the Thames, which never freezes today. The relationship between sunspots and temperature may not have been a coincidence. “When the Sun is less active,” says Hoeksema, “it’s also less bright, and puts out less energy.”

The Maunder Minimum may not be a one-off event. Cycle 24, just ending, was about half as active as usual for the past century, and Cycle 25 is tentatively looking as though it might be weak as well. This has led to speculation that we might be entering another decades-long sunspot low, which could temporarily mitigate the effects of global warming.

Unfortunately, that’s a long shot. The Maunder Minimum came at the end of a much longer period known as the Little Ice Age, so solar cooling was clearly not the only cause. The Sun does cool during sunspot-free periods, but only, says Hoeksema, “by a few tenths of a percent.”

A loss of sunspots would have more significance for space weather: with fewer solar storms, Earth would be relatively free of the electronic communications glitches that can result. Moreover, astronauts en route to destinations like Mars would have fewer occasions to huddle in radiation shelters while a space storm raged outside.

But there’s a downside too. When the Sun is quiet, the heliopause—the boundary region where the solar wind slams into the particles of interstellar space—relaxes as well. That allows high-energy cosmic ray particles, normally kept at bay, to penetrate deep into the Solar System. So while the radiation from solar storms would be reduced, the radiation from outside would increase. “If I were going to Mars,” says Hoeksema, “I’d go at solar max, because solar events are somewhat predictable, and they don’t last very long.”

As a scientist, meanwhile, Hoeksema loves the idea that the Sun might be entering a new, low-activity phase. “We don’t really understand why some cycles are stronger than others,” he says, “and there’s nothing scientists like better than a mystery.” The sun, which has never lacked for those, may be about to offer up a few more.

[MIKA27]

Auto Defensa: Rough Justice in Mexico’s Lawless Mountains

In late January I traveled along winding mountain roads in Guerrero state, Mexico, to witness the opening of a new chapter in the country’s enduring battle against organized crime. This was not, however, a drug eradication mission conducted by the Mexican Army, or an operativo by the Federal Police to nab cartel chiefs. Instead, I was there to document a burgeoning movement of “Auto Defensa,” or autonomous uprisings by campesinos who, pushed to the breaking point by criminal gangs operating in their communities, decided to take back control of their towns and villages.

The event generally credited with sparking this movement occurred on January 5th in Ayutla de los Libres, a town of roughly 30,000, when a local representative, or comesario, was kidnapped for ransom.

A group of locals decided to combat the kidnappers. They armed themselves, closed roads into and out of the town, formed patrols and, before long, freed the comesario and took his captors prisoner.

"Welcome to Las Animas" Members of the Policia Communitaria set up a bunker to guard the entrance to the pueblo.

This was the beginning of a levantamiento, or uprising, in Ayutla that takes its historical precedent from the concept of “Uses and Customs” that the Mexican government affords indigenous communities in some parts of the country, allowing them a level of self-governance that includes the formation of community police forces.

This contemporary incarnation of community policing in Ayutla, however, is special. It was not mediating land disputes or arguments over livestock, as its predecessors so often did. Donning masks and wielding shotguns and machetes, these self-deputized protectors were willing to confront — head on — the sort of crime and lawlessness that has turned parts of Mexico into North American killing fields. There have been 60,000 murders in Mexico since 2006, and large tracts of the country are virtually ungovernable.

Incredibly, in Guerrero — as remote and impoverished as it is — drug gangs have operated with near-impunity and in collusion with corrupt security forces. The threat of extortion and kidnapping hangs like a pall over every farmer, stall owner and businessman — most of whom pay protection money to local mobsters. The darker side of this lawlessness, of course, manifests itself in the epidemic of violence, including rape and murder, that has become commonplace.

In an undisclosed location near Ayutla, an armed member of the Policia Communitaria patrols outside a 'casa de justicia' a makeshift prison where detainees the group have arrested for crimes including murder, rape, extortion and kidnapping and are being held.

Residents of La Costa Chica in Guerrero could not leave their houses after dark, and entire villages were paralyzed with fear until the community banded together and kicked both the municipal and federal police out of Ayutla (they have since returned) and began rounding up known delinquents and clearing the streets of criminals.

The Ayutla uprising has been so successful (residents say criminal activity has dropped 90% since early January) that it caused a ripple effect in villages all over La Costa Chica and in other indigenous communities throughout Guerrero. The group from Ayutla and the district of Teconapa (known as UPOEG) have even gained recognition from State Governor Ángel Heladio Aguirre Rivero, who has publicly praised their fight against crime.

The movement is not without its own dark underbelly, however. By mid-January, newspaper reports began appearing detailing the operations of the Policia Communitaria, operating what seemed like a program of social cleansing, arresting criminals and those suspected of crimes and detaining them in makeshift prisons in the Guerrero hinterlands. At the beginning, there were 30 prisoners.

Soon as many as 60. It was rough popular justice: the accused were often paraded and shamed before crowds of hundreds.

Members of the 'auto defensa' committee in Ayutla de los Libres, a small pueblo in the La Costa Chica region of Guerrero state, Mexico, guard the entrance to the town.

Critics of the Policia Communitaria suggest they are not merely operating outside the law but are violating human rights and denying accused criminals due legal process.

What will happen to the Auto Defensa movement remains to be seen, of course, but for now spirits are high in the villages of Ayutla, San Marco, El Pericon and many of the other places I visited in the mountains of Guerrero. The people have turned the tables on the criminal gangs and have managed in a couple of weeks to do what the central government has failed to do for years: impose order, if only for a while, on chaos.

[MIKA27]

HOVDING | AIRBAG FOR CYCLISTS

After first going viral across the web as a concept, the Hovdig Airbag for Cyclists is now available for purchase! The "invisible helmet” as its also known, is a great solution for those who refuse to wear a helmet while cycling. The device is worn as a collar and deploys a helmet shaped airbag in 0.1 seconds as soon as the gyros and accelerometers detect you falling helplessly off of your bike.

[MIKA27]

KINETIC VEST | BY KLYMIT

The Kinetic Vest is no ordinary vest, it uses the innovative Klymit NobleTek, a type of insulating technology that uses argon gas to keep your body warm. The vest features chambers that inflate with a small tank(included), trapping the heat inside your clothes, basically like double-paned windows insulate a building´s interior. The vest after inflated remains ultralight and provides the same insulation as traditional heating fibers that are three times as thick. It’s like having your personal A/C thermostat.

[MIKA27]

Pink Star diamond fetches record $83m at auction

A diamond known as the Pink Star has sold for $83m (£52m) at auction in Geneva - a record price for a gemstone.

The diamond measures 2.69cm by 2.06cm (1.06 inches by 0.81 inches) and is set on a ring.

The Pink Star was sold to Isaac Wolf, a well known New York diamond cutter who has renamed it the Pink Dream.

The winning bid surpasses the $46.2m paid for the Graff Pink diamond three years ago, which was half the size of the Pink Star.

The $83m includes Sotheby's commission.

The winning bid was for 68m Swiss francs ($74m) and reports say there was a long silence between that offer and the previous telephone bid of 67m Swiss francs.

"Ladies and gentlemen, 68 million is the world record bid for a diamond ever bid and it's right here," Sotheby's David Bennett said as he brought down the hammer.

Sotheby's played the theme tune from the "Pink Panther" movie after the winning bid was confirmed.

Origins

According to the auctioneer, the Pink Star was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, but it did not say which country.

"It's really extraordinarily rare," said Mr Bennett.

"Very, very few of these stones have ever appeared at auction."

It took two years to cut and polish the diamond, which was 132.5 carat in its rough state.

In its finished condition the Pink Star is 59.60 carat, more than double the size of the next biggest diamond in its class.

A carat is a weight measurement used for gemstones and is 0.2g (0.00705 ounces).

Sotheby's has sold almost $200m worth of jewellery in its current auction, a record for a single auction according to the company.

[MIKA27]

Star Wars Scenes Spectacularly Recreated In LEGO

Who doesn’t love LEGO and who doesn’t love Star Wars right? A the must-have combination in anyone’s childhood.

The actual term ‘Lego’ is a combination of the Danish “Leg Godt” which means to “play well”. It also means “I put together” in Latin, but the LEGO group claims this is only a pure coincidence, so there you go, something to remember for your next trivia round.

Taking some of the most memorable and classic scenes from the Star Wars films and using the officially licensed LEGO versions of the characters, they’ve created a phenomenal collection of LEGO-only scenes.

It’s a photographic series that is a true feast for the senses and fans alike, we’re only featuring a few, but rest assured there’s plenty more on their Flickr profile.

May the force be with you!

[MIKA27]

Beats Studio Wireless Headphones:

In the past Dre's Beats headphones have been derided for their somewhat juvenile appearance, and for being the sort best meant for music with a lot of bass — and perhaps fairly so. The Beats Studio Wireless Headphones ($380) are an answer to that criticism, ditching the childish aesthetic for a more subtle matte look, and balancing out the sound for a more discerning audience.

While their professional sound carries a heftier price tag, it's the result of a re-engineered acoustic engine and improved software meant to recreate music as the artist intended. Noise-canceling technology, a battery that lasts up to twelve hours, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity with a 30-foot range are really just icing on the cake.

[MIKA27]

inFORM - Interacting With a Dynamic Shape Display

Five engineers from the tangible media group at MIT’s media lab have developed ‘inFORM’, a dynamic shape display that has the capability to render three-dimensional content physically, so users can interact with tangible digital information. the system has been created to communicate with the physical world around it, such as moving objects on a table’s surface. in the future, the technology could be used to mediate interaction through geospatial data, such as maps, terrain models and architectural models.

Urban planners and architects would be able to view 3D models in real-time to better understand design prototypes. in the medical industry, inFORM can be used to visualize cross sections through volumetric data such as CT scans, which could be viewed in three dimension allowing doctors and surgeons to physically analyze information. built on top of a state-of-the-art shape display, the unit ultimately renders real-time user input through tactile feedback and tangible interaction.

The concept facilitates the manipulation of actuating physical objects

User manipulating a flashlight

User interacting with a ball

Remote participants in video conferences can be displayed physically

The user interacting with a flashlight from the otherside of the screen

inFORM system details

MIKA: Thanks to Oliver for the heads up on this news. Truly amazing technology

[MIKA27]

This Is The NASA Curiosity Rover's Next Mission

First NASA had to build it. Then the guys and girls at the Jet Propulsion Lab had to land it in seven minutes of terror. Then they had to move around and find habitable surroundings. Now, the next phase of the Curiosity Rover’s mission is about to get underway, and NASA wants to explain it to you.

Basically, it involves navigating a mini-van up a giant mountain on an alien planet. Nothing serious.

Curiosity will now start climbing Mount Sharp in the Gale Crater, near where the Curiosity Rover first landed. To give you some perspective, Gale Crater is the size of the island of Hawaii, and Mount Sharp is higher than any mountain in the continental United States.

The bold rover has already explored some of this alien environment, and now it’s driving through rugged terrain to reach a small valley in a place called Murray Buttes. We say small, each butte is around 10 metres high and the length and width of a football pitch. There’s actually a small road-like path cut through the valley, and that’s what Curiosity will drive up to reach Mount Sharp.

There are massive sand dunes between Curiosity and its path up the valley towards Mount Sharp, and NASA don’t feel comfortable driving the rover over them for fear of getting it stuck. You can’t exactly call the NRMA or roadside assistance on Mars if you roll your rover or get it bogged.

As you watch every video and look at every image from the Curiosity Rover you realise

[Fuzz]

HOVDING | AIRBAG FOR CYCLISTS

So, instead of wearing a slightly silly looking helmet, you're going to wear an even more silly looking neckbrace that makes you look like you're hiding a giant goiter?

Star Wars Scenes Spectacularly Recreated In LEGO

As much as I enjoy Star Wars, I could never get past how a huge galactic empire could have such an inept army. I mean, they got beaten by Ewoks! Ewoks!!!

[MIKA27]

So, instead of wearing a slightly silly looking helmet, you're going to wear an even more silly looking neckbrace that makes you look like you're hiding a giant goiter?

As much as I enjoy Star Wars, I could never get past how a huge galactic empire could have such an inept army. I mean, they got beaten by Ewoks! Ewoks!!!

Could have been worse, it could have very well been an army of Gungans!!

[Fuzz]

Could have been worse, it could have very well been an army of Gungans!!

Gungans vs Droid Army. Ewoks vs Stormtroopers.

Seriously, has no-one heard of orbital bombardment?!

[Fuzz]

Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps

Here's a fantastic vid by Destin from Smarter Every Day, showing the amazing properties of the Prince Rupert's Drop.

[NJP]

Well it's taken 4 Party Shorts, 3 RG Perlas, SLR Serie A and a couple of H Upmann half Coronas but the 59 pages are read and watched. I really enjoyed the time it took and thank you Mika for your time posting. Thank you to others for throwing in posts as well..I've ordered all sorts of ***-bits I don't need the wife and the architect are using lights from the Edison Light Globe Dude in Seddon for the new house. I've now got shares in a couple company's that are doing some special things and a need for more wrist watches. So at this point Mika your thread has cost me the most on FOH and I wouldn't change a thing.

Keep'em coming mate.

Cheers Nic.

[MIKA27]

Well it's taken 4 Party Shorts, 3 RG Perlas, SLR Serie A and a couple of H Upmann half Coronas but the 59 pages are read and watched. I really enjoyed the time it took and thank you Mika for your time posting. Thank you to others for throwing in posts as well..I've ordered all sorts of ***-bits I don't need the wife and the architect are using lights from the Edison Light Globe Dude in Seddon for the new house. I've now got shares in a couple company's that are doing some special things and a need for more wrist watches. So at this point Mika your thread has cost me the most on FOH and I wouldn't change a thing.

Keep'em coming mate.

Cheers Nic.

Hello Nic.

Many thanks for your post and the kind words, I'm truly pleased this thread has provided you with reading material whilst enjoying a drink and cigar as well as a hole in your pocket!! It really is tempting some of the stuff that's being developed these days with gadgets and it doesn't help being on a forum which tempts you with cigars and gadgets.

I am really pleased at the positive feedback from members of our forum as well as Fuz's stalking from time to time. It makes posting all the merrier from my part mate and again, it's something I enjoy.

Hopefully catch up sometime soon seeing youre in Melbourne.

Mika

[MIKA27]

Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps

Here's a fantastic vid by Destin from Smarter Every Day, showing the amazing properties of the Prince Rupert's Drop.

Cool stuff. Love the Heston Blumenthal PPE precaution.

[MIKA27]

Coin Is The Smart Bank Card Of The Future

Carrying a wallet sucks. No question. It’s big, bulky and full of bank, credit and debit cards and a swathe of stupid loyalty cards from that coffee place you’ll never go back to. The dream is to have everything in one simple card. Meet Coin: the smart bank card that keeps all your cards in one.

Coin is a regular-sized debit card that lets you store multiple cards at once. Everything from your business credit card through to your personal debit card can be logged on the Coin.

To get cards into the device, you simply plug a swipe-card reader into your iPhone or other iOS device (no word if it works with Android yet), give the card a description and the app transfers the data to the Coin via Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy.

The Coin then has all your cards programmed into it, and you simply press a little button on the digital card itself to switch between accounts. One assumes that when you select a card, it can reprogram the magnetic stripe at the top of the card to represent the data you scanned into your iPhone.

It also has a zone alarm, which means that if you put your card down or have it stolen and it gets too far away from you, your iPhone pushes you a notification saying it has gone out of range.

The only two issues I can really envisage with this right now is the fact that it relies on magnetic stripe technology, not chip-card or contactless payment tech which is often safer. The other issue is that you probably won’t be able to stick this into your ATM and pull cash out.

Other than that, it looks incredible, and I want one.

[MIKA27]

Terrifying Typhoon Haiyan Footage Continues To Emerge

Typhoon Haiyan was the most powerful storm ever recorded in our history on this planet, and it came to bear on the Philippines with terrifying force. This eyewitness footage shows off just how deadly the resulting storm surge was.

If you can, we’d encourage you to donate to the Haiyan relief fund being run by the Red Cross.

[MIKA27]

The PlayStation 4 Has A Day One DOA Problem

How annoying would this be? You’ve had your next-generation console on pre-order for a few months, and as soon as you get it, de-package it and set it up, you realise it’s dead-on-arrival. DOA as retailers say. That is what’s happening with more than a few Day One Playstation 4 consoles out there.

US customers buying the consoles from Amazon and other retailers are wailing online about their borked consoles.

According to Kotaku, the issue comes from a failure on the console’s part to broadcast a signal to the TV on boot. That flashing blue light is meant to turn white and an HDMI signal is meant to be broadcast to the TV, but instead, the console just sits there like a pulsating paperweight of fail.

Retailers, however, do look like they’ll accept a return of these consoles.

[MIKA27]

Sydney Man Constructs Street Luge With Turbines And Afterburners

Most of us are happy with regular modes of transportation: trains, trams, cars, bicycles, time-travelling phone boxes. You know, the usual. Brave is the person who decides that strapping a jet engine — withafterburners — onto a man-sized skateboard is not only a good idea, but one he or she should actually ride upon… without meeting a grisly end.

Despite the insanity, this is the dream of Sydneysider Daz Fellows, who’s strapped not one, but two turbines to a carbon-fibre street luge, in the hopes of setting a new world speed record. Ben Wojdyla of Road & Track caught up with Fellows and asked him a bunch of questions, including just how powerful this maniacal luge is:

The maximum thrust of a single engine (five-minute rating) is 202 pounds, with maximum continuous thrust of 176 pounds and approximately an extra 38 percent with the afterburner at full burn. Combined, the two engines produce approximately 537 pounds of thrust with afterburners. They run on Jet A-1 fuel.

Steering is done by leaning, just like on a skateboard. Braking is done with my feet—no mechanical braking is allowed if I want the official Guinness land speed record for a powered luge. Wheels are snowmobile drag-racing wheels, and I run 12 of them under my board. The body of the board is 9.8 feet [3m] long and 2 feet [0.6m] wide, and it’s 100 percent carbon-fiber composite with a carbon-fiber fuel cell holding approximately 1.3 gallons [4.92L] of fuel. The entire board itself is basically a molded fuel tank with turbine engines, on which I lie.

Fellows has recorded several tests of the turbines, one of which you can watch below:

If you’re in the mood to build one yourself, or just like the idea of owning some jet turbines, Fellows has a store front where you can purchase his hardware.

[MIKA27]

Scientists Shatter Quantum Computing Bit Life Record By Over 10 Times

Quantum computing will change our world. But currently, it’s just about impossible. Qubits, the bits that power quantum computing, require crazy-cold temps to create, and they only survive about three minutes at room temp. Now, a research team has made room-temp qubits last for 39 minutes. That’s monumental.

Right now, quantum computing is limited by the fact that qubits are so difficult to produce. Unlike regular bits, which have a value of either one or zero, qubits sit in a state of superposition, both one and zero at the same time. This highly-unstable state can be achieved at temperatures near absolute zero (−273.15°C), but degrades quickly at normal temps. And trying to operate a computer at more than 270°C below zero is, uh, rather impractical.

So these findings, published in this week’s Science, are pretty impressive: at -268°C, the researchers were able to create qubits from a novel material that survived for three hours. More importantly, they were able to bring them to room temperature for 39 minutes without destroying their quantum state. Since all the qubits were in the same quantum state, they couldn’t be used for computing — a functional quantum computer would operate based on different states between qubits. But this is a huge step toward making quantum computing a reality, and not just a shockingly cold one.

[MIKA27]

Freezing A Fighter Jet In Mid-Air With 30,000 Watts Of Flash

It can be hard to take a good picture of something moving relatively fast, but it’s really hard to take a good picture of a jet moving at 600-ish kilometres per hour through the sky. Yuri Acurs, stock photographer extraordinaire, tried to tackle that challenge with excess — in the form of 30,000W of flash.

The picture that Acurs managed to pull off is pretty impressive, but the setup was just beyond ludicrous. Worth it? Maybe. Stupid awesome nonetheless? Definitely.

[MIKA27]

Monster Machines: The Super-Secret 'Research' Sub That Helped Win The Cold War

Quests for scientific knowledge and military superiority often go hand-in-hand. And nowhere is that more exemplified than in the nuclear-powered NR-1 research vessel. When it wasn’t busy exploring the wonders of the deep ocean, its crew engaged the Soviet Union in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game of sub-sea espionage — much of which is veiled in secrecy even today.

Officially known as the Deep Submergence Vessel NR-1 — but “Nerwin” to its crew — this diminutive submarine began as a pet project of Admiral Hyman Rickover, the father of the nuclear Navy. It launched from General Dynamic’s Groton facility in 1969, and while a majority of its functions were for legitimate scientific research — underwater search and recovery, oceanographic research and installation of underwater equipment — the NR-1 was built with black ops in mind. To that end, the vessel was never officially named or commissioned, allowing Adm Hymann to avoid congressional committee oversight and commission limits.

At just 43m long with a 4m beam and 4.5m draft, the 360-tonne NR-1 is the smallest nuclear submarine ever put into service. Powered by a custom-built miniaturised nuclear power plant, the Nerwin could achieve a sustained top speed of about four knots and dive as far down as 1000m.

It housed a crew of about 11 sailors — quite uncomfortably — for up to a month. Granted, the nuclear engine theoretically gave the vessel unlimited dive time, the quarters were so tight that the crew still had to eat and sleep in shifts despite their modest numbers.

The galley consisted of a sink and a small oven, the shower facilities were a bucket you got access to once a week, the meal plan was strictly TV dinners, and the oxygen came from burning chlorate candles. Of course, the crew could always pop to the surface and resupply from the sub’s dedicated tender ship, which also acted as a tow boat to drag the sub out to remote locations.

The NR-1 was so small that it was continually buffeted by currents. “Everybody on NR-1 got sick,” Allison J. Holifield, who commanded the sub in the mid-1970s, told Stars and Stripes. “It was only a matter of whether you were throwing up or not throwing up.”

Being a research vessel, the NR-1 lacked weapons — but it made up for that with some of the most advanced electronics, sonar and computers on the planet at the time. It also came with a boom-mounted manipulator, equally helpful when retrieving an F-14 and its prototype missile from the seabed, collecting bits of the Challenger after it exploded upon liftoff, or tapping into Trans-Atlantic communications channels to spy on the Soviets.

After nearly 40 years of secret service, the NR-1 was finally decommissioned and disassembled in 2008. However, the US Navy has re-collected a few of the vessel’s components and used them to establish a submarine museum in Groton, the NR-1′s birthplace and base of operations.

[MIKA27]

This Floating Hotel Room Comes With An Underwater Fish-Peeping Deck

You probably want to visit the Manta Resort, a new getaway in Zanzibar — because, at the Manta Resort, you can actually get away from the getaway and stay a few hundred metres offshore in a floating hotel room. And then you can get away again in the underwater bedroom built for watching fish.

The Underwater Room is exactly what it sounds like. The tiny floating island features three levels for lucky holidaymakers. On the water level, there’s space for lounging and dining, while a sun deck above makes for great tanning and even better stargazing at night.

The room’s real allure is underwater where the bedroom sits 4m beneath the surface. With windows on all sides and lights to illuminate the water at night, you can peer out into the Indian Ocean and see everything from trumpet fish to octopus float by. Gives new meaning to the idea of sleeping with the fishes, huh?

This unique experience does not come cheap at $US1500 a night. But that also buys you full access to the rest of the resort on land. The exotic location is also great for scuba diving as well as safaris. But, seriously, your own floating island with an underwater bedroom? Why would you ever leave?

Oh, and in case you had any doubts about having the place to yourself, this is what it looks like on Google Maps…