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

[MIKA27]

INCASE IPHONE 5 LEATHER POUCH

New iPhones undoubtedly found their way to the bottom of Christmas trees this past week, and if the grateful recipients of those relatively fragile gadgets are looking to protect their handhelds in style, they can turn to the new Incase Leather Pouch for the iPhone 5. The piece is constructed from premium full grain leather, and features a soft suede interior lining that guard against scratches. Stitched reinforced edges protect the iPhone from bumps and drops, while a convenient card slot holds ID and credit cards. Built for the iPhone 5, the pouch is compatible with the 5S, 5C and 4S. The leather pouch is in stock now at the Incase webstore, available in brown/tan and black/tan.

[MIKA27]

Has the mystery of nine skiers who died in the Siberian wilderness in 1959 been SOLVED? Author claims new 'scientific' explanation for the Dyatlov Pass incident

A mysterious case of nine experienced skiers who died in bizarre circumstances on an expedition into Siberia may have been solved by an America researcher.

Donnie Eichar, a film-maker and author, spent four years investigating the so-called Dyatlov Pass incident, and has now claimed that he has discovered a 'scientific' explanation for the baffling case.

The skiers, who were all students, were led into the wilderness of the Ural mountains by 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov.

Oblivious to what fate had in store: Four of the victims - Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolle, Luda Dubinina, Semyon Zolotarev and Zina Kolmogorova

Their aim was to reach the remote Otorten Mountain, but - with the exception of one man who turned back early due to ill health - the entire party would be found dead beneath the snow.

Rescuers sent out into the -24-degree weather to track the party down at first found only a collapsed tent, still filled with all the clothing and survival gear needed to make the rest of the journey.

But the empty tent baffled investigators, as it still contained items of clothing and pairs of shoes - implying that some of the students had ventured out into the wilderness barefoot and without coats.

Even when later searches uncovered the frozen bodies of all nine victims, no convincing explanation could be found for why the experienced hikers - who would have been well-versed in winter survival techniques - had come to such a tragic end.

Search parties found one group of bodies lying in the snow on flat land near a river, a mile from the tent, next to the remains of a long burnt-out fire.

Around 350 yards away lay the corpse of Dyatlov, the engineering student from Ural Polyetchnic who had put the expedition together and was its leader. His name would later be given to the area where the tragedy took place, as well as the incident itself.

Nearby, a search dog sniffed out the remains of Zina Kolmogorova, 22, under four inches of snow, and then that of Rustem Slobodin.

The bodies were in a line 200 yards apart, as if they had been trying to crawl behind each other back up to the shelter of the tent, but never made it.

Eerie: The tent as the rescuers found it on February 26, 1959, which had been cut open from inside

Another two months went by before the rest of the group were found, under 15ft of snow in a den they had desperately hollowed out for themselves before succumbing to the cold.

Some of this group had broken bones and terrible internal injuries but, strangely, no external wounds, not even scratches on the skin.

Post-mortem examinations of all nine bodies threw their own anomalies, as some bodies were fully clothed, others almost naked. One, belonging to Lyudmilla Dubinina was missing her tongue and eyes.

An investigation by a Soviet government inspector was also fruitless, and was quietly dropped after concluding nobody was to blame. Lev Ivanov, the inspector, concluded only that all nine deaths had been caused by what he described as ‘an unknown elemental force which they were unable to overcome’.

Unsolved mystery: The skiers setting up camp on February 2, 1959 in a photo taken from a roll of film found at the camp of the Dyatlov Pass

Experienced skiers: Yuri Yudin hugging Lyudmila Dubinina as he prepares to leave the group due to illness, which saved his life as he left the expedition before the deaths

But in a recent interview with Failure magazine, Mr Eichar hinted at his conclusion, saying: 'The conclusion that I have come up with could only have happened with the help of modern science and the help of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.'

Jason Zasky, who interviewed Mr Eichar, also wrote that his theory: 'involves a particular type of repetitive wind event (one that could be produced by the topography of Dead Mountain), which in turn might have triggered panic-inducing infrasound.'

Mr Eichar has stayed tight-lipped about the specifics, but said the original investigator: 'couldn’t explain what happened because he lacked the science and technology to do so.'

The 'infrasound' theory to which the interviewer refers is a bizarre - but apparently plausible - explanation which argues that sound waves too low to hear could have subtly affected the minds of the skiers, panicking them and causing them to rush recklessly out into the snow, where the cold killed them.

These waves of infrasound, it seems, could have been produced by high winds resonating thanks to the shape of the mountains.

Studied have suggested that infrasound - soundwaves too low for humans to hear - can nonetheless produce feelings of unease, awe or even terror which cannot be explained any other way.

It is unclear how far this explanation matches Mr Eichar's - but supporters of the theory claim it can account for the bizarre situation in which the bodies were found.

[MIKA27]

Samsung's 110-Inch Monster: World's Largest Ultra HDTV For A Cool $170,000

At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung unveiled the world’s largest 4K TV. But its paltry 85-inch size is now dwarfed bigger brother, which offers up 110 inches of screen real estate. This things is HUGE!

Indeed, Samsung promised a larger version of the TV almost a year ago now, and true to its word it goes on sale today. At least, in China, the Middle East and a few European countries at first, until it starts to roll out across the rest of the world next year. Still, it might be worth the wait. Measuring 2.6-meters by 1.8-meters, it’s bigger than a king size bed and should be even more incredible to look at than the 85-inch version.

It will, of course, cost you. The Associated Press reports the TV will cost around $US150,000 (about $168K Australian). Here’s hoping we get to see it at CES next week.

[MIKA27]

These 100-Year-Old Negatives Were Found Frozen In Antarctic Ice

These images look pretty great considering they’re 100 years old. They look even better when you learn they’ve been sealed in Antarctic ice for 100 years.

Discovered by a team of Antarctic conservators, the treasure trove contained 22 unprocessed cellulose nitrate negatives. They’re believed to have been snapped by the Ross Sea Party way back in 1915, while they attempted to set up supply depots on the New Zealand side of Antarctica.

The newly discovered negatives were processed and restored in Wellington, New Zealand. Although many of the resulting images are damaged, the Antarctic Heritage Trust has been able to recognise some of the landmarks, in particular around McMurdo Sound.

The negatives were discovered in a corner of a supply depot, originally built by Robert Falcon Scott for a doomed expedition to the South Pole in 1910-1913. You can read more about the discovery over on Imaging Resource.

[MIKA27]

Bison, Hollywood And... Birth Control

A rocky outpost off the coast of Los Angeles, Santa Catalina Island was originally home to exactly zero bison. In 1924, however, when the island was owned by William Wrigley Jr. of chewing gum fame, a film crew imported 14 buffalo for a movie shoot. The crew left; the bison did not. The finished film, The Vanishing American, contains exactly zero scenes with bison.

As it goes, the drama happened offscreen. Fourteen bison multiplied to a peak of 600. They trampled; they stomped; they knocked over fences to keep out deer, another invasive species that thrived on the island. After Wrigley died, his heirs created in 1972 a conservancy to preserve the island’s natural habitat — which may have been a quixotic cause by then because, on top of buffalo and deer, the island was also overrun with goats and pigs.

But bison were the thousand-pound problem on the island. Culls that sent the bison to livestock auctions were stopped after a public outcry. The conservancy began sending some animals to Native American reservations, but the transfer was costing as much as $US100,000 per year. In 2009, they tried a new strategy, one that was a lot easier than forced buffalo relocation.

“You get close enough, and then you just pop her in the butt,” Carlos de la Rosa of Catalina Island Conservancy told the Wall Street Journal. De la Rosa was describing a birth control vaccine called PZP, or porcine zona pellucida. Made of a glycoprotein derived from pigs’ eggs, PZP stimulates the immune system to create molecules that latch onto the bison’s own eggs to prevent fertilization. Female bison were rounded up and injected for the initial vaccines, but subsequent doses were delivered via long-range dart gun.

According to a recently published study in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, the PZP has been working great. Last year, just one baby bison was born, appropriately named “Uno.” The vaccine even wears off after a couple years and seems to have no ill effects. Catalina’s conservancy plans to keep up the birth control experiment, maintaining the herd at around 150 to 200 animals.

PZP has been used elsewhere in the wild, too, notably to manage elephant herds in a South African national park and wild horses in the American west. In each of these cases, human intervention had turned the animals loose, allowing them to thrive where they otherwise wouldn’t. Only more human intervention can keep them from running wild.

A view of the harbor in Santa Catalina Island

In Santa Catalina Island, the humans need the bison, too. Despite being far from a natural presence there, the animals are a major draw for tourists. The charisma of these bison is why simply killing them won’t fly — even if it means the surviving ones would no longer starve — as well as why getting rid of them all is certainly not in the conservancy’s best interest.

The conservancy did, however, kill the goats and pigs that also once ran roughshod over the island. Deer remain a problem because their hunting is capped by the state’s Department of Fish and Game. When the bison birth control program began in 2009, the WSJ interviewed one island resident who opposed the conservancy’s efforts to return Catalina to nature — or its idea of nature. “You had something special,” he told the paper. Without all these animals, natural or not, he said, the island would be like any other place in Southern California.

[MIKA27]

First Private Supersonic Jet Promised in 2018 — For $80M

For billionaire executives, a 16-hour flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo is just too damn long to spend out of pocket. The Spike Aerospace S-512 promises to cut that time in half, and it won’t cost more than a measly $80 million.

The Boston-based Spike crew is made up of former Airbus, Bombardier, and Gulfstream engineers, along with a handful of entrepreneurs and investors that have set out to create the world’s first supersonic private jet.

Their goal is to create a new breed of business aircraft that can reach a cruising speed of Mach 1.6 (1,218 mph) and a top speed of Mach 1.8 (1,370 mph). At those speeds, the S-512 is theoretically capable of flying from New York to London in less than four hours, all while carrying up to 18 passengers in the opulence they’re accustomed to.

It’s no accident that Spike is quoting flight times over oceans and not the continental U.S. — the FAA prohibits supersonic flight over land, with few exceptions. But Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and even NASA have been working on ways to redesign supersonic aircraft to reduce the boom when breaking the speed of sound, but to no avail.

And Spike isn’t the first to promise a supersonic jet. Aerion announced plans in 2009 to create its own 12-seat supersonic business jet (which, ironically, was pegged to cost $80 million). That jet was supposedly due in 2015 — and Spike’s is promised to take off in December 2018.

[MIKA27]

Volgograd blasts: IOC 'confident' Games will be safe

The International Olympic Committee president says he has confidence that Russian authorities will deliver a "safe and secure" Games in Sochi.

Thomas Bach wrote to President Vladimir Putin to express condolences for the "despicable" attacks that struck Volgograd within 24 hours.

Investigators say the attacks on a railway station and trolleybus, which killed at least 31 people, were linked.

They struck just over a month before the Winter Olympics begin.

Volgograd was also targeted in October, when a suspected female suicide bomber killed six people in an attack on a bus.

It is being widely assumed in Russia that the people who carried out the Volgograd bombings were involved in the Islamist-inspired insurgency against Russian rule in the Caucasus republics of Chechnya and Dagestan, and that the target was the Games, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford.

In a statement, Russia's foreign ministry did not blame any particular group but likened the attacks to acts by militants in the United States, Syria and elsewhere.

It called for international solidarity in the fight against "an insidious enemy that can only be defeated together", reported Reuters news agency.

Regional Governor Sergei Bozhenov said the bombings were a "serious test" for all Volgograd residents and all Russians.

Russians nervous

Investigators say at least 14 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a trolleybus in Volgograd on Monday morning.

It came a day after 17 people died in another suicide attack at the central station in the city. Scores were injured in the two attacks.

In his statement, Mr Bach said he was "certain that everything will be done to ensure the security of the athletes and all the participants of the Olympic Games", which open on 7 February.

But correspondents say despite intense security in Sochi, Russians are palpably nervous that following these attacks in Volgograd - which lies 700km north-east of Sochi - bombers could also strike elsewhere.

The ferocity of Monday's attack was evidenced by the damage done to the trolleybus

Police cordoned off the site of the explosion as they looked for clues

The explosion was the second in the city in 24 hours. A blast hit a train station on Sunday.

Sunday's explosion blew out many windows, and sent debris down the station steps

No-one has admitted carrying out either bombing, but they came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov threatened new attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Olympics.

Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee - Russia's main federal investigating authority - said identical explosives were used in the two attacks.

"This confirms the theory that the two attacks are linked. It is possible that they were prepared in the same place," he said.

President Putin has ordered security measures to be tightened across Russia and in particular in Volgograd.

The US condemned the attacks and offered its "full support to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games".

The UN Security Council said its members condemned "in the strongest terms" the "criminal and unjustifiable" acts.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter he was "shocked and saddened" by the attacks, and offered Moscow whatever help was needed.

Busy market

The latest explosion took place near a busy market in Volgograd's Dzerzhinsky district.

Maksim Akhmetov, a Russian TV reporter who was at the scene of the blast, said the trolleybus was packed with people going to work in the morning rush hour.

He described the scene as "terrible", adding that the bus was "ravaged" and that there were "bodies everywhere, blood on the snow".

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said the injured include a pregnant woman, two 16-year-olds and a baby aged about six months whose parents are assumed dead.

The regional governor announced five days of mourning.

The force of the explosion removed much of the bus's exterior and broke windows in nearby buildings.

"It is now possible to preliminarily say that the explosive device was set off by a suicide bomber - a man whose body fragments have been collected and sent for genetic testing," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

The first blast rocked Volgograd-1 station at lunchtime on Sunday, when it was packed with people travelling to celebrate the New Year.

An Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus region has led to many attacks there in recent years.

Insurgents have also attacked major Russian towns.

[MIKA27]

Who, What, Why: What is the quenelle gesture?

Anelka (right) said the sign was a "dedication" to comedian Dieudonne

French footballer Nicolas Anelka has denied accusations of anti-Semitism after celebrating a goal by performing a controversial hand gesture known as a "quenelle". What is it?

The gesture involves touching or gripping your shoulder with one hand while holding the palm of your other hand outstretched and pointing to the ground. Some describe it as a combination of the bras d'honneur with a bent arm (which means "up yours") and the Nazi salute.

It is the trademark of the hugely controversial French comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, who once said he would like to put a quenelle - a rugby-ball-shaped serving of fish or meat paste - up the backside of Zionists.

Dieudonne made the gesture when he headed his own anti-Zionist campaign in the European elections in 2009. French media trace it further back, to one of his performances in 2005. It came to greater prominence in September when two soldiers were photographed appearing to make the gesture outside a Paris synagogue.

There are thousands of examples posted online, some at sensitive sites such as the Auschwitz death camp, and Dieudonne's fans can be seen repeating it outside his theatre.

West Bromwich Albion striker Anelka said on Twitter it was dedicated to his "comedian friend" - who has been convicted of making anti-Semitic remarks and now faces a ban on public appearances. Both Anelka and Dieudonne say it is an anti-establishment symbol of defiance. But the French sports minister, Valerie Fourneyron, was one of many to disagree with the footballer's interpretation, saying it was sickening and incited racial hatred.

Jean-Yves Camus, a French academic who studies the extreme right, told the Independent the quenelle has become a "badge of identity, especially among the young, but it is doubtful that all of them understand its true meaning". He says Dieudonne has become the hero of a movement convinced the world is run by Washington and Tel Aviv.

"I think it's likely to be more complex than just being associated with the far right," says Jim Shields of Aston University, an expert on the French far right, because Dieudonne has been involved with anti-racist left-wing activists as well as far-right activists. "At the moment, the use of this gesture seems too diffuse to fit any simple right-left interpretation."

Anelka is not the first French footballer playing in England to make the gesture. Samir Nasri and Mamadou Sakho were also photographed in this way, although Sakho later tweeted that he had been tricked and didn't realise its true meaning.

[MIKA27]

Pilot Testimonials: Captain Kenju Terauchi

The events of Japan Airlines flight 1628 are immortalized as one of the most compelling UFO close-encounter cases of all time.

There are several contributing factors that validate the latter, including, but not limited to: the fact that the report was made by Captain Kenju Teraushi, a former Japanese fighter-pilot with over twenty-nine years of flight experience (at the time of the event), as well as his copilot and flight engineer; the dialogue between the crew and the FAA flight control tower was recorded for the entire duration of the event; the latter dialogue confirmed that military radar picked up additional traffic (aka the presence of another aircraft) in the immediate vicinity of JAL flight 1628; and even the alleged intervention by the CIA whom confiscated the aforementioned radar evidence.

So what happened?

(Note: Part of what makes this encounter so significant is the vast amount of detail, testimony, data, etc. associated with it. Because there is such a wealth of information, I will only summarize the important parts of the encounter from two sources: a fantastically detailed case report by UFOevidence.org which I highly recommend reading for a full understanding of the details in this encounter [including the dialogue between JAL 1628 and the Traffic Control Tower], as well as a personal interview with John Callahan which can be found at the end of the article).

On November 17th, after a stop in Iceland, Captain Kenju Terauchi and his crew of two others (copilot and were flying over Alaska carrying a cargo of wine. Just after around 5pm, Terauchi first noticed the presence of additional traffic in his vicinity: a group of lights below and to the left of his heading at the time. Terauchi’s first thought was that these lights belonged to special military jets on a mission, which made sense because Alaska, being so close to Russia, was patrolled by aircraft of the United States Air Force (this thought was further reinforced by the fact that there were two military bases in the area: Eielson and Elmendorf). Terauchi ignored the additional aircraft as such and proceeded to the specified air route (called Talkeetna) as per the request of the Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (AARTCC). However, he wouldn’t be ignoring these lights much longer because a couple minutes after making the course change, Terauchi realized that those lights had not changed course; they were flying along with JAL1628.

As Captain Terauchi and his crew progressed, the lights remained to the bottom left of their airplane until something suddenly appeared directly in front of JAL1628′s cockpit. “Traffic in front of us” was Terauchi’s response, according to the recorded communications between the cockpit and AARTCC. According to Terauchi’s description (taken from his post-encounter written testimony):

“It was about seven or so minutes since we began paying attention to the lights (when), most unexpectedly, two spaceships stopped in front of our face, shooting off lights. The inside cockpit shined brightly and I felt warm in the face.”

Terauchi goes on to speculate about a variety of the “spaceships” characteristics including the crafts’ use of “jets” to maneuver/maintain balance and the ability of one or both of those ships to not only fly level with, but also maintain the speed of Terauchi’s jumbo jet (despite having just made such a radical, high-speed maneuver from the left of the jumbo jet to the immediate front of it).

Shortly thereafter, a conversation ensued between Captain Terauchi and the AARTCC regarding the unknown traffic in the immediate vicinity of JAL1628. It began with Terauchi asking the flight controllers whether or not they had any traffic on radar ahead of JAL1628. When the AARTCC replied that they in fact did not have any additional traffic on radar, they proceeded to ask Terauchi to describe what he was seeing. They asked about the altitude of the traffic (which was reported as matching that of JAL1628) and whether it was military or civilian (Terauchi was unsure, but reported seeing white and yellow navigation lights and strobe lights).

Following this conversation, the two aircraft remained with JAL1628 and changed formation from one on top of the other, to one in front of the other, still at a consistent distance of about a mile. During this time, Terauchi requested that his copilot retrieve his Alpha 7,000 camera with ASA 100 film from behind his seat. After taking out the camera, Terauchi attempted to take pictures of the aircraft but failed. He claimed that the auto-focus did not function correctly and after switching to manual focus, the shutter apparently would not close and, after their plane began to vibrate, Terauchi put the camera away in an effort to concentrate on observing the lights. Around this time the AARTCC reached out to the Air Force’s nearby Elmendorf Regional Operational Control Center (ROCC) to see if they had picked up the alleged additional traffic around JAL 1628.

During the few minutes it took for the ROCC to respond, the lights directly in front of JAL 1628 darted away from the jet toward a “flat pale white light”, which Terauchi would later claim to be part of a much larger mother-ship (featured in the above illustration); the lights previously in front of his plane were alleged to be returning to this mother-ship. Minutes later the ROCC would report that they were not picking up any additional traffic either. Despite the latter, Terauchi decided that he would estimate the distance the lights had moved away from the plane, input that relative area into the plane’s weather radar, and check to see if the objects showed up. Sure enough, right there on the plane’s radar was a large, round object (or an elongated, “stream-like” dot according to the flight engineer). Either way, the radar target was green meaning it was a weaker target, whereas a red target is almost always another aircraft (again, visit the UFOevidence.org article to see additional information on the radar data including the primary and transponder returns).

The AARTCC had radioed JAL 1628 to see if the crew still had visual contact of the unidentified traffic. Not only did they have visual contact, but they had radar contact as well. The AARTCC then indicated that they had picked up a signature trailing about five miles behind the plane. The crew corrected that the traffic was at 11 o’clock, around eight miles away and at the same level as the plane. After a solid amount of dialogue between the AARTCC and the ROCC, the latter identified a signal on the ground radar that was at the 10 o’clock direction of JAL 1628, at the same altitude about seven to eight miles away. In other words, the ROCC had confirmed that there was in fact additional traffic exactly where Terauchi said it was.

After this confirmation, there was communication between the AARTCC and the ROCC about the unknown target on radar, including how the target was unknown to the AARTCC and how Terauchi could empirically describe the aircraft but could otherwise not identify it as any known aircraft. During this dialogue, the ROCC lost the unknown target on radar. Apparently the explanation for this is that the unknown craft changed it’s position after being identified from radar; it shifted from being in front and slightly above JAL 1628, to the left and below (all the while maintaining a distance of seven to eight miles from JAL 1628).

The sky was getting darker and Terauchi began losing visibility of the objects (plural because despite the singular target on radar, “two small spaceships” were accompanying the larger target, or “mothership” as Terauchi referred to it, for the duration of the encounter) because they were on the darker side of the sky, while Terauchi was on the lighter side (again refer to the UFOevidence link above for more detail). Visibility of the objects remained low until two bright lights suddenly appeared to the north which Terauchi estimated to be “four to five mountains away” above the Alaska pipeline.

At this time JAL 1628 was about thirty miles outside of Eielson air force base and with the bright city lights illuminating the sky, Terauchi looked back and saw the silhouette of “a gigantic spaceship”. The crew requested permission for an immediate, forty-five degree course change. The course change was granted, they executed it, and the ship was alleged to still be following them.

Terauchi then requested a descent to which he was again granted permission. All the while, the gigantic space ship was maintaining its position and this prompted the crew to request a direct flight path to Talkeetna, which was also granted. Still, the ship stayed steadily behind them. Eventually, the AARTCC routed a United Airlines passenger plane to JAL 1628′s position to verify what was happening. In the time it took the United plane to get there, however, the gigantic space ship had fallen back, allowing JAL 1628 to move significantly ahead. When the two planes were about twelve miles apart, the spaceship had allegedly disappeared and aside from a number of primary hits on their radar, the United plane saw nothing except for JAL 1628. Terauchi and his crew then continued on to their destination and so ended the encounter.

Terauchi made the news with his narrative and an FAA investigation by John Callahan and others was underway. The investigation was interrupted by a third party, however, and the evidence was allegedly confiscated. All of this and more of the entire case is very well explained in the following personal interview with John Callahan:

http://youtu.be/ABC05Dpk-E4

After reading (and watching) all of the above, hopefully it is apparent why this encounter over Alaska was one of the most significant UFO cases in history. John Callahan presented the above witness testimony at the Citizen’s Hearing, the most recent attempt at coaxing disclosure. Unfortunately, Callahan’s time was limited and he didn’t have a whole lot of time to explain everything, but it was still one of the most compelling cases to be presented. As such I think this case deserves more attention because the current accepted explanation that Terauchi’s story could not be verified is a poor one. There is just too much detail and information to this case for it to remain unexplained.

[MIKA27]

MAXSTONE Camera Remote

Some shots with your DSLR are just easier to achieve with a remote — and some are downright impossible without one — whether you're shooting long exposures with a tripod, time-lapse photography, or video. And while there are plenty of simple remotes out there that pair with your camera using an IR signal, nothing compares to the ease of use of your phone with the MaxStone Camera Remote ($40).

It combines a small IR- and Bluetooth-equipped pebble-like device that hangs on your camera using its attached dongle, and an iOS app, letting you have full control of your shutter up to 80 feet away on your iPhone. With time-lapse, automatic bulb, manual bulb, and video functionality, there's no limit to the kind of photos you can take.

MaxStone uses Bluetooth 4.0 and infrared technology to realize the connection between your iPhone and the cameras. MaxStone offers a completely wireless solution to control your camera throught MaxStone App on your iPhone.

[MIKA27]

Whiskey Beef jerky

What could possibly taste better than a healthful, meaty snack combined with the sweet, oaky flavors of whiskey?

It's that very question that drove the guys at Get Some Jerky to create Whiskey Beef Jerky ($7). Made from locally-sourced beef near their home in Sacramento, California, their jerky is seasoned with all-natural ingredients so you never have to deal with dry, flavorless, processed jerky again. Their whiskey beef jerky gets its flavor from premium whiskey — adding a subtle burn to its taste — along with brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and more, giving it a unique flavor like no other.

[MIKA27]

Asimov's 2014 Starts Tomorrow

Isaac Asimov famously wrote an article for the New York Times way back in 1964 where he detailed the world of tomorrow.

Tomorrow, in this case, being quite literal for us; Asimov’s vision starts on Wednesday. How accurate was he?

The original article makes for fascinating reading, if only because while predictions of the future can have the habit of going all Criswell, Isaac actually nailed a lot of things we take for granted right now, let alone in 2014. He did cover himself with a disclaimer:

I don’t know, but I can guess.

But still, my hat’s off — once again — to Isaac’s extraordinary predictive skill.

One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better. By 2014, electroluminescent panels will be in common use. Ceilings and walls will glow softly, and in a variety of colors that will change at the touch of a push button.

Whether you’re stuck in front of a computer, or just staring at a smartphone screen, this starts well, and goes on in the same style.

Gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs. Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare “automeals,” heating water and converting it to coffee; toasting bread; frying, poaching or scrambling eggs, grilling bacon, and so on.

George Foreman is probably quite glad this one panned out correctly.

Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014.

Nobody’s developed Isaac’s positronic brains just yet, which is why robot vacuum cleaners tend to suck.

Much effort will be put into the designing of vehicles with “Robot-brains”*vehicles that can be set for particular destinations and that will then proceed there without interference by the slow reflexes of a human driver.

Which is, within a certain degree of flexibility, exactly what Google’s cars do now, and the direction that the big auto makers are heading.

Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books.

Ever heard of that little thing called the Internet?

Sure, there’s a few things that we haven’t quite managed yet — physical panes of glass as windows are still very much a thing, although you could replace them with LCD screens I suppose — but it’s an uncanny read, right down to very-nearly-getting the world population correct.

We’ve actually gone past Isaac’s pick of 6.5 billion people, but he very wisely noted that this would continue to be a resource problem.

You might be tempted to think that Asimov’s piece isn’t that impressive, given it’s couched in some broad language, but consider this.

How accurately do you think you could predict what we’ll be doing at this point in 2064?

Visit to the World’s Fair of 2014

[MIKA27]

This Truck Is Made Of Ice, And You Can Actually Drive It

Behold the first self-propelled ice sculpture ever — a truck made of ice that actually works! It’s a real truck, using 5000kg of ice over a regular truck chassis complete with engine and electrical system. Check out the videos to see how they built it — and how it melted.

The truck ran for 1.6km at about 20km/h on December 12, 2013.

http://youtu.be/3i_bsfwPE1s

[MIKA27]

Mystery Steam Over Fukushima Could Be Sign Of Another Meltdown

The newest update in the highly disconcerting series of devastating failures that is the Fukushima cleanup effort is troubling to say the least. Tepco has confirmed that (unexplained) plumes of steam have been rising from the mangled remains of Reactor Building 3. In other words, there’s a chance Fukushima could be in the middle of another meltdown.

The thing is no one has been able to find out the exact cause of the rising, mysterious radioactive steam because the combination of physical damage and, more importantly, lethal radiation levels have made investigating the reactor impossible. Tepco has known that a followup meltdown was a severe possibility though. The Reactor 3 fuel storage pond is still home to about 80 tonnes of plutonium-based mixed-oxide fuel according to the The Ecologist, and should that fuel storage pond dry out, the highly radioactive rods will melt down with devastating results.

Still, there are two other slightly less severe possibilities outlined by The Ecologist. First, the molten fuel could have burnt its way through the base and into the soil below, producing steam as it comes into contact with groundwater (while simultaneously releasing radioactive contaminants into the ocean). Second, reactor rod fragments could have come into contact with rainwater, producing extreme amounts of heat and, consequently, steam. As The Ecologist notes, “Of the three choices this is probably the least serious.”

While some of the possible outcomes might be better than others, nothing we’re facing is exactly ideal. But of course, that seems to be the recurring theme for Tepco’s efforts at containing the Fukushima disaster. Why change now.

[MIKA27]

World's Most Remote Plane Crash Memorial Is Also The Most Beautiful

September 19, 1989 UTA Flight 772, flying from Paris to Brazzaville (in the People’s Republic of Congo), was taken over by six Libyan terrorists. They set off a suitcase bomb over the Sahara Desert, and all 170 souls aboard perished. 18 years later the victims’ families met at the crash site to build this memorial.

It’s one of the world’s least-accessible memorials and one of the most beautiful.

[MIKA27]

Incredibly Enough, This Helicopter Is Not Going Down In Flames

This incredible photo by Nir Ben-Yosef aka xnir — an Israeli photographer who specialises in aviation and air-to-air photography and production — may look really scary. But, fear not, because this AH-64A Apache is not going down in flames. It’s just releasing flares to show off.

[MIKA27]

Ireland Is Tearing Down Thousands Of Empty, Brand New 'Ghost Homes'

Phoenix, Madrid: These are the cities we tend to hold up as examples of the havoc that construction booms — and busts — can wreak on a housing market. Ireland is in the news less, but its situation is just as dire; an estimated 300,000 brand-new Irish homes have sat empty for years. And now the government is demolishing them.

According to the BBC, one in five Irish homes is vacant. This glut of housing is a symptom of the truly gigantic building boom that hit Ireland in the early 2000s: Guest workers from all over Europe flocked to rural areas around the country, where speculative housing projects were popping up in droves. But just a few years later, as the global financial crisis took hold, it became clear that the demand just wasn’t there. In 2006, Irish economist David McWilliams named these developments “ghost estates,” and the name has stuck.

Some of the many empty newly built apartment buildings stand with their exterior window shutters closed in Sesena, Spain.

Today, people who did buy new homes are out hundreds of thousands of dollars, and more that 600 new developments across the country are abandoned. Many of these homes are poorly built — all but uninhabitable, even if the buyers were there — and some are dangerous: The New York Times reports that a two-year old wandered into one construction site this year and drowned. A similar situation developed in Spain, where thousands of units of new housing still sit vacant, attracting blight and crime.

Spurred by stories like these, Irish officials are going to unprecedented lengths to fix their mistake, opting to demolish the brand-new homes. According to the NYT, the government plans to raze at least 40 developments by the end of 2014. Bulldozers will pull down hundreds of homes that once went to market for $US500,000 or more — symbolizing the grim reality that the illusive market for these luxury suburbs never existed, and never will exist.

Houses stand vacant in the Castlemoyne development in North Dublin, Ireland.

Are there other options? Possibly. One Detroit nonprofit recently started offering vacant homes to writers and artists in an effort to revitalize nearly empty neighborhoods, though the effects of such projects are untested. Another project, in Cleveland, turned an abandoned home into a solar greenhouse. Other cities are toying with ideas like turning empty units into homeless shelters, storage spaces, or shared workshops.

But it’s not as simple as it sounds. When Ireland’s housing boom was in full swing, building codes were often treated more as suggestions (the NYT uses the phrase “honour code”), which means that many of these structures aren’t even inhabitable. It’s hard to imagine a future for homes that rest on unstable foundations with plumbing systems that spew sewage regularly. Although they do serve as a tidy metaphor for the situation their country’s housing is in

Only a 45-minute drive from downtown Madrid, towering vacant apartment blocks loom over empty streets and weed-filled lots. Apartments galore are for sale and rent, and prices are plunging.

[MIKA27]

Mining in Greenland - a country divided

Greenland's economy relies on fishing and hunting, but the government has ambitious plans to develop the country's resource industries. In places like Narsaq, there's a fear that mining could destroy the environment and traditional ways of life.

Jens Erik Kirkegaard looks out across the smooth black water of Kangerluarsuk fjord to the snow dusted mountain rising steeply from the far shore. It's a clear, cold day at the beginning of winter, and Greenland's mining minister has his hands stuffed deep in a pair of seal-fur mittens to keep them warm.

"When you grow up in Greenland, you don't really think about the different mountains having different minerals," he reflects.

Standing by his side is a man with a white beard, wearing a battered red felt hat. Greg Barnes is chief geologist for Australian mining company Tanbreez Minerals, and he's brought the minister here to pitch his plan to turn the mountain they're looking at into a mine.

Coloured houses cluster at the foot of Qaaqarsuaq, or 'Big Mountain'

"It is the world's biggest rare earth deposit, it's probably got 50% of the world's rare earth in it," he claims. "This is one of the world's top 10 mines eventually we think."

Rare earth elements are used in everything from mobile phones to solar panels to wind turbines. China dominates world supply, but if people like Greg Barnes are right, Greenland has the potential to be a major player.

It's not just rare-earth minerals - Greenland also has reserves of gold, iron-ore, rubies and uranium, as well as oil and gas. In this country of just 57,000 people, with a GDP of $2.4bn (£1.5bn), developing those resources could have a big economic impact.

On an overcast day, there's not a single speck of colour on the fjords

And it could bring full independence from former colonial master Denmark, which still provides a substantial annual subsidy for Greenland's budget.

"It gives you some thought that you've been walking on billions of dollars all your life and not knowing about it," Kierkegaard says. "It's a significant time in Greenland."

In the nearby town of Narsaq, money like that could make a huge difference.

Nestled at the foot of a mountain where two fjords meet, it's a picturesque town of brightly coloured houses like Lego bricks sprinkled amongst the snow.

Like much of Greenland, it has traditionally made its living from fishing and hunting, and also more recently farming for lamb. But at the town slaughterhouse, manager Henning Sonderup tells me that traditional way of life no longer pays the bills.

"Many people are unemployed," he says. "Lots of families from Narsaq have moved out to other cities, so we have to do something."

Several years ago the shrimp processing plant in Narsaq closed, and with it around 80 jobs. It's been partly offset by the arrival of a catering school and the construction of a new slaughterhouse, but Narsaq's population has fallen by around 10% over the past five years.

Sonderup feels that unemployment and a lack of opportunities leads to social problems - "people drinking beer, some going around just like zombies with nothing to do".

'We want a new school'

Susanne Lynge is another who thinks the town is in a downward spiral.

She's leading a loud protest in the snow outside the town council offices, shouting slogans into a megaphone while dozens of school children cheer in response. They wave colourful signs calling for the council to speed up construction of a new school.

"Our local government needs money," she says. "I wish they would open the mining."

Henning Sonderup reels off a list of the improvements that mining could bring: "New school, bigger hospital, better airport, new harbour, new roads, everything," he says. "Greenland will be on the map again."

The Tanbreez mine isn't the only one proposed near Narsaq. Another Australian company, Greenland Minerals and Energy (GME), is developing a rare-earth mine at Kvanefjeld, a mountain plateau about 6km (3.7 miles) from the town.

Unlike the Tanbreez mine, Kvanefjeld will produce uranium, fluoride and thorium as well as rare-earth minerals.

'If mining is starting here in Narsaq, we will be moving away,' Avaaraq Olsen

The mine's prospects received a major boost in October when Greenland's parliament voted by 15 votes to 14 to overturn a long-standing ban on uranium mining. There are more legal hurdles to be overcome before uranium mining is a reality in Greenland, but the vote triggered huge debate in Greenland and much concern in Narsaq.

Avaaraq Olsen is a teacher and member of the local council for the opposition Inuit Ataqatigiit party. Sitting in her kitchen, she remembers the day the ban was overturned.

"I was very sad, I was crying," she says. "I'm ashamed of being a Greenlander. If this mine is starting here in Narsaq, we will be moving away, not just from Narsaq, but from Greenland."

At Olsen's house, there are guns by the door where you or I might keep umbrellas, ready to be slung over the shoulder whenever the weather is right for hunting birds or seals.

"My biggest concern is it will cause so much pollution that we won't be able to live in our town - and all the animals and biodiversity will be destroyed, " she says.

These environmental concerns are shared by other hunters and fishermen, and many of the 50 or so sheep farms in the surrounding area.

French-born Agathe Devisme runs Ipiutaq Farm with her Greenlandic partner Kallista Poulsen. As well as farming 300 sheep, they also rent out a cottage on the farm to tourists during the summer.

Devisme and her daughter Ina

"People coming to Greenland are looking for something pure," she says. "It's the last corner of the world not touched by pollution. If there is any kind of radioactivity in the area, they will not like it."

The mines would also involve an influx of foreign workers into Narsaq, as there simply aren't enough skilled workers in Greenland to fill all the jobs the mines will create. Some see this as a benefit - the miners will live in the community, send their kids to the school, and spend their money at local businesses.

But other aren't so sure.

"I don't think it's healthy for such a small town to have so many people from outside," says Ivalo Lund, head nurse at Narsaq's Hospital. "It will be young men looking at the beautiful young girls here."

She's worried about sexually-transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies to fathers who leave town, and like Olsen says she'll move away if the Kvanefjeld mine goes ahead.

"I will be sad to see this town be destroyed," she tells me. "It will be a mining town and we will never ever be able to live as we do now."

Ib Laursen: 'The status quo is not an option'

Greenland Minerals and Energy have spent much time trying to assure local residents that these concerns are misplaced.

"Other countries like Canada and France have uranium mining," says Ib Laursen, the company's operations manager as he drives around town. "If they can do it, we can do it in Greenland, we can take best environmental standards and put them to work here."

We stop at an empty multi-story housing block, its windows smashed and boarded and insulation poking out through holes in the walls. Laursen has lived in Narsaq on and off for 10 years, and wants me to see the impact of people leaving town.

"Despite what people say I do have a social conscience, my heart is here," he declares. "I'm more worried about the mental pollution, in a place like this where you have more and more social issues.

"We need to break that circle we need to bring back jobs and opportunities to the region. And you cannot make an omelette without cracking some eggs, because this will be an industrial revolution for this area."

There's still a question whether that industrial revolution will ever happen. Despite years of government promotion, there are no mines currently operating in Greenland. But this year has seen the strongest signs yet that mining will become a reality.

As well as overturning the uranium mining ban, in October Greenland's government granted the first major new mining license in years. Tanbreez Mining has applied for a license to develop their mine, and there are several other companies likely to follow suit over the next year.

Climate change may also help speed the development of new mines, making minerals more accessible as Greenland's ice-cap melts.

If and when mines do go into production, ensuring that the benefits are maximised and the pitfalls avoided will be a huge challenge for Greenland's government. Avaaraq Olsen isn't sure they're up to it.

Greenland has no roads outside of its cities and towns - intercity transport is by boat, plane or helicopter

"We are a young nation, we don't have enough experience," she says. "We don't have enough skilled people to work in the ministries who are going to secure our safety and our health."

But the mayor of South Greenland, Jorgen Waever Johansen, rejects the criticism.

"I know some groups around the world would like to have the Arctic as a prehistoric natural museum," he says. "But there are people here who want a good standard of living and want to be part of a global world."

Greenland is on its way to independence, he says proudly.

"Why should any people strive for independence if they don't believe in themselves?"

[MIKA27]

JON OLSSON AUDI RS6

Swedish professional freeskier and alpine ski racer Jon Olsson is known for is love of outrageous vehicles for getting to the slopes, last year he was driving an awesome camouflage Lamborghini, and previously he drove a powerful Audi R8 Razor GTR. This season he has chosen a more modest vehicle but still spectacular, an Audi RS6 wagon, with a similar paint scheme and equipped with all the necessary gear to withstand the winter months.

This badass wagon is also mind blowing to drive, in Jon´s words: "I have never jumped into a stock car and have it blow my mind, this truly is the most impressive car I have ever driven”.

[MIKA27]

Remarkable Untouched 1942 Apartment Discovered In Paris

It was a discovery that captured the imagination of Paris, an untouched piece of its history, nestled deep within today’s bustling and brightly lit city streets.

3 years ago a Parisian apartment located on Right Bank (not far from the famous Opéra Garnier) had been left dormant for 68 years. Nobody had left or entered the apartment during that time, until one day auctioneer Olivier Choppin-Janvry ventured into the building itself. What he found was a perfectly preserved home, complete with traditional high wooden ceilings, rich tapestries, a quaint wood stove and more than few taxidermy animals.

One of the more significant findings was a painting of a beautiful French women by Giovanni Boldini. There was a period when few knew who the women in the painting was, until another discovery was made. Several handwritten love notes from Boldini to Madame de Florian confirmed that it was in fact her in the painting, the personal muse of the artist himself.

Her home is now in the trust of her estate and currently is closed to the public – that many change one day, but in the meantime these captivating photographs will provide a glimpse into an era long since forgotten.

[MIKA27]

The Intriguing Tale Behind The Famous Hollywood Sign

It’s recognised throughout the world as an American cultural icon that defines the movie industry. The Hollywood sign, is located on Mount Lee, high up along the Hollywood Hills which form part of the Santa Monica mountain range. It was erected in 1923 with each letter standing an impressive 45ft high. It’s positioning was deliberately designed to capture the attention of those living lower down in Los Angeles itself.

But why would anyone care about the term “Hollywood” on a hill?

What many people don’t know is that back then, the sign actually read “Hollywoodland”. It was created to actually promote an expansive new housing development within the hills themselves, prime real estate with stunning views. Once all the plots of land were sold, the idea was that the sign be taken down several months later.

But such was its visibility in movies (and therefore its association with celebrity) that 26 years later the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and City of Los Angeles Parks Department decided to remove the term “LAND” entirely but keep “HOLLYWOOD”. It was move designed to reflect the changing nature of the area itself – people had long forgotten about the housing development. Its bold white letters were seen to encapsulate the lavish lifestyle of its locals, whilst serving as an inspirational symbol to those trying to make it big.

That still holds true to this very day.

[MIKA27]

A Brilliant Photo Retrospective On Life In 1970s USA

The 1970′s are now regarded as the decade that served as the “pivot of change” in the United States.

TV changed from being innocent and saccharin to become more edgy, salacious and dramatic. Suddenly females were taking the lead roles as strong independent characters. Soul, jazz, funk and later rap, hip-hop and punk music exploded into the mainstream. In 1977 science fiction capture the imagination of millions with the release of the first Star Wars movie.

Did we mention that it was also the decade where the first home computer made its debut?

But it wasn’t all just entertainment, the 1970′s showcased a far darker side to America’s personality. Peaceful protesters were fire upon at the Kent State University, the US military finally withdrew from Vietnam, Richard Nixon (then the President) was forced to resign after abusing his power and the environment become a genuine concern to the wider public.

There’s 23 images serve as a reminder of that moment in history, an era where change was ever-present and often for the better.

[MIKA27]

This Clear Purple Sea Creature Is Proof The Ocean Is Where Aliens Hide

Say hi to the Portuguese man o’ war. It’s purple, it’s clear, it looks like a balloon, it’s painfully venomous, but it’s not a jellyfish and you wouldn’t have to convince me too hard that it’s from an alien world. This Portuguese man o’ war, which other than being a fantastic name, washed up on a beach to freak people out (and to expose the alien hideout that is the ocean).

The Portuguese man o’ war is often mistaken as a jellyfish (because jellyfish look freaking crazy and we’re more understanding of crazy looking things like the man o’ war as long as they’re called jellyfish) but is actually a siphonophore. Siphonophores are fascinating because they look like a single organism but they’re not, they’re actually a colonial organism made up of little individuals called zooids. Zooids are attached and dependent on each other so much that they can’t survive independently.

What I have determined after learning all that and seeing the man o’ war is that aliens have already crash landed on Earth and they’ve been living in the ocean. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

[MIKA27]

The Lost Giants: A Great Big Contentious Debate

“It is the mark of a great man,” wrote the French novelist Honoré de Balzac, ”that he puts to flight all ordinary calculations. He is at once sublime and touching, childlike and of the race of giants.” In putting aside those calculations of the modern epoch which might be deemed “ordinary,” one nevertheless runs the risk of plummeting to depths of the inevitable couloir that comprises the modern debate over supposed giant skeletons.

Believed to have belonged to a literal race of giants presumed once to have existed at some point on planet Earth, for years there have been hotly debated arguments regarding the supposed existence beings of large stature, particularly throughout parts of the ancient Americas. Key to this viewpoint is, to borrow again from Balzac’s words, that a literal race of giants trudged throughout the ancient world, existing apart from the ancestors of humans that live today. But how likely is it that actual “giants” once roamed the Earth?

What strange and spurious knowledge, the layman may ask, could lend itself to such a fantastic view of the ancient world? Arguably, if there were the bones of actual giants being unearthed, this would be something that would dominate the news in our modern era of sensationalism. Furthermore, if evidence existed of the reality that giant beings once walked our lands, our current viewpoints regarding the anthropological record would indeed have to revised… and in likelihood, this astounding information would become household knowledge.

At this point in the discussion, the argument tends to become fragmented into two extremely opposing positions on the matter.

Believers look to decades-old documentation drawn from newspapers, science journals, and publications by entities such as the Smithsonian (issued mostly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) that do document human skeletons of extraordinary proportions, often measuring greater than seven feet in length. Those of the skeptical persuasion argue that things such as erosion and other natural processes that occur over time contribute to the scattering and enlargement of bones, thus giving an inaccurate representation of the specimens being examined. Furthermore, even if a skeleton were accurately measured and found to be in excess of seven feet in length, this is nothing too far beyond the extremities of human height today, especially among those whose physical stature lends itself greatly to competitive sports.

In truth, there is some merit to both positions: debunkers can try to sweep the “giant” finds under the rug all they wish, but there truly are a number of instances where very large skeletons have been discovered. These often bear a number of curious traits, such as double rows of teeth and strange bone formation, suggesting growth abnormalities and the possibility of genetic disorders.

But leaning more to the skeptical side, it is important to maintain that if these beings looked human, and possessed traits that are still observed among modern humans, we would probably be incorrect in asserting that they are thus representative of a separate race that existed apart from humankind… something that is constantly asserted in books seeking to address the subject. Again, perhaps there is room both for skepticism, as well as acceptance that reports of large skeletons might present an element of human history worthy of closer study. But is it wrong to call them “giants”, if indeed these instances represent humans of tremendous stature that once existed?

It is curious that there is so often an attempt by the more doubtful among us to dismiss these reports of “giants”, since in at least some cases, excavations have apparently revealed multiple bodies of very tall individuals, buried alongside humans of normal stature; in the best case scenario, this could be viewed as evidence which suggests, at very least, that these human “giants” of long ago might have appeared more frequently than the typical, sparing appearances of individuals today who exceed normal height, due to genetic growth irregularities caused by such things as clinical giantism and acromegaly.

As noted previously, while many have suggested that so-called “giant” bones and their discovery are more likely the results of hoaxes and misidentification, there are a number of cases where giant bones have indeed been recovered, photographed, and even stored in museums; rather famously, the allegations that the Smithsonian has, in many instances, sought to recover these specimens, only to turn around and claim to misplace them, has fueled notions of an intentional cover-up seeking to silence such discoveries. However, there are many giant specimens that have both made headlines, and which made their way to the Smithsonian, as we see in the photograph above, which features one of the largest skulls kept in the U.S. National Museum collections.

Another of these had been a jawbone recovered by Civil War veteran Dr. William DeHart in 1911, which still exists in the Smithsonian’s off-site storage facility, according to their records (see accession card below, obtained via the request of a research associate of mine who inquired about a number of allegedly lost skeletons at the Institute).

The discussion of these aforementioned conditions of giantism and acromegaly brings to light a few other interesting arguments regarding the debate over giant discoveries. For instance, when we examine some of the photographs of giant skulls that exist in collections, we often begin to see traits that are in keeping with conditions like acromegaly, which is a growth hormone imbalance resulting from the production of hormones within the anterior pituitary gland, often resulting from the presence of a tumor. Physical characteristics of individuals suffering from this condition often include pronounced features such as raised cheekbones, a bulging or sloped-looking forehead, and enlargement of the jaw.

In the photograph above the skeleton of an Iranian man who likely suffered from acromegaly (referred to here as a “pituitary giant”) features many of the signs of a growth hormone imbalance, including periosteal reaction, which involves the formation of new bone in response to stimuli periosteum, a membrane that covers bone. Altogether, this would make for a rather “beastly” looking individual, and one can only imagine the rumors that might have circulated had nineteenth century laymen uncovered such an example while, say, plowing a field where they had occasionally managed to turn up arrow heads!

When looking at such reports of “giants”, the average height of these large individuals, while living, tends to have been around seven feet; there are, however, exceptional cases that allege giants of far greater size, sometimes exceeding ten feet in length, have been found. This brings us to another interesting point: a skeptical disposition that is often espoused when arguing about giants (or against them, rather) is that these beings are nothing truly anomalous, since we have often (or at least semi-often) seen humans in modern times of equal extremity in their size. We must accept this as a true statement, since seven feet in height might not indicate anything particularly far removed from some of the more extreme among today us in terms of size. However, the tallest living man on record, Robert Wadlow, stood at only 8′ 11” in height, coming in just short of being nine feet tall. Arguably, if a ten or eleven foot skeleton were actually ever unearthed, this would indeed be quite a find; whether one chooses to call it “anomalous” might still be debated, but using Mr. Wadlow for comparison, there are no known instances in modern times where any human has reached such heights.

There are at least a few compelling reports that have emerged since the late nineteenth century, which suggest ”giant” finds which might exceed the best records of today. The Winona, Minnesota History of Winona County from 1883 mentions the discovery of a pair of skeletons, one of them, found near Mineral Bluff being ten feet in length, and a second, unearthed near the Dresbach township, measuring nine feet. “Their size, form, and structure would lead those well versed in paleontology to believe they belonged to a race prior to the Indian,” the entry reads. If this information could be taken with certainty, we would be faced with the possibility of an ancient human more than a foot taller than Robert Wadlow, pictured here alongside his father, a man of nearly six feet in height (5′, 11” to be exact). Arguably, a ten-foot-tall human would be truly gigantic, by most anyone’s standards.

Similar discoveries of humans that exceeded Wadlow’s physical size tempt our imaginations, but without offering rock-solid evidence of men of immense stature. Taking these for what they are in a historical context, among the best of those cases, the story of the Giant of Castelnau remains perhaps the most intriguing. Here, a series of skeletal portions discovered in the 1890s in France pointed to a Bronze-Age man who, while living, had been at least ten feet or more in height, with a more impressive figure of 11′ 6″ estimated by Georges Vacher de Lapouge, who discovered the bones. Within a few years of Lapouge’s discovery, reports of human remains discovered at Montpellier, France included bones so large that the individuals they belonged to likely stood “between 10 and 15 feet in height.” The last we hear of these bones is that they were allegedly taken to the Paris Academy, where they were studied. Since at least a few of the good “seven-footers” that were allegedly lost or hidden away by the Smithsonian do still exist in their archives, perhaps if proper channels were followed, some new insights into the whereabouts of skeletal remains from the Castelnau and Montpellier finds could be obtained in modern times also. Arguably, if there were proof of humans growing to anywhere between ten and fifteen feet in height at some point in our past, it would indeed open an all new dimension to the debate over these so-called “giants.”

What we must keep in mind with regard to all this is that most who seek to address the topic are going to gravitate heavily in one direction or another, seeking to favor the likelihood of there being either a vast and mysterious riddle from our ancient past that is continually being covered up by “the powers that be,” or to the contrary, that there is absolutely nothing to any reports of alleged giants, and that all instances suggesting such discoveries are either hoaxes, hearsay, or the results of ineptitude when measurements and other would-be-scientific data was being retrieved. Clearly, there is some middle ground here; some of the extremely large skeletons, for those willing to go looking for them, still exist in private collections and, interestingly, even amidst the Smithsonian’s own archives; photographs and accession cards denoting their existence still exist just as well. Arguably, this should be given serious consideration by conspiracists and skeptical debunkers alike. While we can’t say there was ever a separate race of giants that existed in the Americas or elsewhere, as many have asserted, we can’t in honesty maintain that there have simply never been any skeletons of large stature ever found, or that among them there weren’t some specimens which aroused some compelling questions about the ancient living individual they represented.

Why, then, are many so quick to explain away reports of giant skeletons as being the result of newspaper hoaxes, erosion, scattering and displacement of bones, and other theories which would likely seek to dispel there ever having been a discovery in the first place? Maybe it’s more a semantic matter of what we consider to be a “giant.” Conversely, with the modern medical knowledge of conditions that cause excessive production of growth hormones that are known to cause such conditions among humans, how can so many of the “giant” finds be considered evidence of a “lost race,” or worse, the long-lost evidence of the Biblical Nephilim or some other equally improbable explanation for these finds?

At the end of the day, our best bet might be to stop shoveling dirt on top of the aspects of science and history that we would simply prefer to ignore, based on our beliefs, preconceived expectations, or purely our desire to be right. Behind the debate over the so-called giants of the ancient world exists an opportunity to come to a better understanding of human development and evolution.

Choosing not to have that debate, based on ideological misgivings we maintain toward people who don’t share our views, will get us nowhere. Maybe it’s time we decided to meet in the middle, for a change.

[MIKA27]

Whoa: Watch Scientists Use Sound Waves to Make Things Levitate

With every new year comes change, and change can be scary. Thankfully, we know that there’s at least one way 2014 will be like every year that came before it. Watching scientists make stuff levitate is still cool as hell, same as it ever was.

The latest work comes from a group of researchers at the University of Tokyo. What we see in their latest proof of concept clip is fairly dumbfounding: Arrangements of tiny little beads lift into the air and glide around in perfect formation. An iron screw spins gently in space. Pieces of plastic, broken match heads, and even droplets of water all defy gravity, all thanks to the precise application of ultrasonic sound waves.

The idea itself is not entirely novel. As we’re told in the clip, scientists have been experimenting with acoustic levitation for decades, using sound waves to suspend materials in mid-air. What’s new here, though, is the ability to move those materials in three dimensions.

That’s made possible by the unique arrangement of the speakers themselves. Where former setups bounced sound waves off a solid plate, the Tokyo researchers instead use four panels of speakers, all facing each other. These walls combine to create an “ultrasonic focal point,” which can be moved—along with the object trapped in it—by adjusting the output from each speaker array. The sound waves are out of the range of human hearing, so the setup effectively operates in silence.

We’re already seeing similar technology used in clever ways. McLaren recently announced it’s doing away with windshield wipers, reportedly employing ultrasonic vibrations to let its cars repel rain. Other obvious applications range from hoverboards to flying carpets. In the meantime, I’d be OK with 2014 being the year of funny animated GIFs of floating ants. Don’t let me down, science!