MetaFilter posts by cenoxo.
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Numi Intelligent toilet with KOHLER Konnect [Press Release] — Real Life Example (Moments Made Better): • In the dark, as you walk up to Numi, the lid will open and treat you to a warm seat; when you walk away, it flushes and closes. Hassle-free for night time trips to the bathroom. • Use app or the remote to program personalized presets for different users, and you can use voice to access the preset/profile (in case you misplace the remote). There is probably a difference between you, your spouse, and your children when it comes to washing; this lets you easily program and select personalization using voice and app. • Ask Alexa to access your own playlist of songs (if you have Verdera and have Numi set up as an Alexa speaker).
posted on Jan-6-19 at 4:21 PM
Warm Greetings from a Cold Country – Christmas in Antarctica — USN veteran Richard Kontner, accompanied by a well-travelled ukulele, joined Richard Byrd’s 1928 South Pole Expedition and sent ~1500 Christmas cards in 1929 while aboard the The City Of New York anchored near Little America, Antarctica.
posted on Dec-25-18 at 5:18 AM
I read 1,182 emergency room bills this year. Here’s what I learned. — A $5,571 bill to sit in a waiting room, $238 eyedrops, and a $60 ibuprofen tell the story of how emergency room visits are squeezing patients. [Sarah Kliff, Vox 12/18/2018]
posted on Dec-23-18 at 1:55 PM
HOW International Design Awards: 2018 Winner Galleries — Best of Show • Advertising • Annual Reports • Apps • Covers • Editorial • Identity • Illustration/Photography • Infographics • Invitations • Kiosks/Interactive • Miscellaneous • Packaging • Posters • Signage & Environmental Graphics • Student • Video • Websites • 3D
posted on Dec-20-18 at 6:52 AM
Why Taylor Swift Is Using Facial Recognition at Concerts — Swift’s security team has used the cutting-edge technology at recent shows to keep her safe from stalkers [Rolling Stone, 12/13/2018]. Taylor Swift fans mesmerized by rehearsal clips on a kiosk at her May 18th Rose Bowl show were unaware of one crucial detail: A facial-recognition camera inside the display was taking their photos. The images were being transferred to a Nashville “command post,” where they were cross-referenced with a database of hundreds of the pop star’s known stalkers, according to Mike Downing, chief security officer of Oak View Group, an advisory board for concert venues including Madison Square Garden and the Forum in Los Angeles.
posted on Dec-15-18 at 7:28 AM
Ant-mimicking SE Asian jumping spider Toxeus magnus nurses its babies with nutritious spider ‘milk’ until they reach puberty.
posted on Nov-29-18 at 12:29 PM
Met police driving cars into thieves on mopeds in crime crackdown — To reduce moped crime, London police use tougher tactics including marking spray, remote-controlled spikes to burst bike tyres, and ramming suspects' bikes [The Guardian, 11/24/2018].
posted on Nov-24-18 at 7:38 AM
FCC tells SpaceX it can deploy up to 11,943 broadband satellites — Initial launch of 4,425 satellites to be followed by 7,518 closer to the ground. [Ars Technica, 11/15/2018]. SpaceX "proposes to add a very-low Earth orbit (VLEO) NGSO [non-geostationary satellite orbit] constellation, consisting of 7,518 satellites operating at altitudes from 335km to 346km," the FCC said in the draft of the order that it approved unanimously today. The newly approved satellites would use frequencies between 37.5 and 42GHz for space-to-Earth transmissions and frequencies between 47.2 and 51.4GHz for Earth-to-space transmissions, the FCC said. More details, WP, Elon Musk on making Starlink (YT).
posted on Nov-15-18 at 11:03 PM
Art galleries at the CGSociety, a networking platform for professional digital artists: Editors' Pick, Featured, Trending, Recent, Hall of Fame. [Some NSFW, and previously (with inactive links)]
posted on Nov-3-18 at 9:07 AM
See the Glorious Winners of the 2018 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest (Gizmodo's images can be zoomed). Details of the overall 2018 winners are at Royal Museums Greenwich, along with galleries of 2018 sub-category winners. Vote for your favorite image among other entries in the People's Choice Awards 2018, and browse galleries of previous 2017-2009 contests.
posted on Oct-25-18 at 12:04 AM
Joachim Rønneberg, commander of Operation Gunnerside and other Norwegian sabotage raids against German heavy water production during World War II, died October 21, 2018, age 99. He was the last survivor of the real "Heroes of Telemark".
posted on Oct-22-18 at 11:44 AM
Nikon Small World in Motion Annual Winners 2018-2011 — beautiful microscopic movies and digital time-lapse photomicrography. (See also Nikon International Small World Photomicrography Competition Annual Winners 2017-1975).
posted on Oct-3-18 at 5:11 AM
Interview - Photography legend Joel Meyerowitz: phones killed the sexiness of the street — “In the 60s and 70s you could look at my street photographs and trace lines from the eyes of people connecting with other people’s eyes, setting up these force fields.” Today, what entranced Joel Meyerowitz about the street is all but dead. “Nobody’s looking at each other. Everybody’s glued to their phones.” From The Guardian, March 7, 2018.
posted on Mar-7-18 at 11:25 AM
USAF's Controversial New Plan To Retire B-2 And B-1 Bombers Early Is A Good One – The flying service is making the right sacrifices to ensure the B-21 Raider gets fielded in large numbers while making the B-52 all it can be. (More at Air Force Magazine.)
posted on Feb-12-18 at 7:30 AM
More U.S. military drones are crashing than ever... Driving the increase was a mysterious surge in mishaps involving the Air Force’s newest and most advanced “hunter-killer” drone, the Reaper, which has become the Pentagon’s favored weapon for conducting surveillance and airstrikes against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other militant groups. From the Washington Post, January 19, 2016.
posted on Jan-19-16 at 7:40 PM
The Japanese women who married the enemy — "American GIs were told not to fraternise with Japanese women, but they did." Within a few years after Imperial Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945 and subsequent occupation, over 30,000 Japanese war brides married American troops and returned to the United States with them (BBC News documentary broadcast schedule).
posted on Aug-17-15 at 5:18 AM
What the collapse of ancient capitals can teach us about the cities of today — Warnings from history: Angkor was a thriving metropolis of 750,000 before a series of mega-monsoons made it unliveable. Can modern flood-threatened cities learn from its downfall?
posted on Feb-17-15 at 3:59 AM
New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers – Kyle Wiens of iFixit vs. the modern family farm tractor.
posted on Feb-12-15 at 4:59 AM
The fantastic animal sculptures of Ellen Jewett.
posted on Oct-26-14 at 10:01 PM
End the Tyranny of 24/7 Email — THIS Labor Day weekend, odds are you’ll peek at your work email on your “day off” — and then feel guilty about it.
posted on Aug-31-14 at 6:26 AM
Francesco Maglia: The Umbrella Maker Of Milan — The Maglia family have been partners with the rain since 1854, when they began producing umbrellas in Milan. Here's our portrait of Francesco Maglia.
posted on Jun-28-14 at 4:27 AM
Chili's Has Installed More Than 45,000 Tablets in Its Restaurants — When your server is a screen, you spend more money. Hungry? No human server in sight? With a flick of your wrist, you can instantly order more appetizers and drinks, indulge your whim for Baby Back Ribs, let the kids play games, read the news, pay your check (with a default tip), and get done faster. Be sure to save room for some Cinnamon Molten Cake: doesn't it look tasty?
posted on Jun-21-14 at 3:30 AM
Most expensive rescue in German history as man begins second week trapped 3000 feet underground in cave — It may take rescuers a week to evacuate speleologist Johann Westhauser after he was injured by a rockfall in the depths of Germany's Riesending Cave.
posted on Jun-14-14 at 12:00 PM
Camera Used by Astronauts on Moon "Pulls $940 Gs" at Auction — The history of Hasselblad cameras used (and perhaps abused) during the Apollo moon missions.
posted on Mar-27-14 at 5:00 AM
Ceramic artist Brett Kern creates puffy inflatable dinosaurs (studio views in his anaglyphic 3D Gallery).
posted on Jan-30-14 at 2:52 AM
Cuttlefish: Kings of Camouflage – (SLYT HD 53:26) PBS NOVA, April 2007. Wikipedia article, more images.
posted on Jan-26-14 at 4:50 AM
Olympus BioScapes Winners 2004-2013 — Photomicrography's small world is bigger than Nikon, after all (previously).
posted on Jan-5-14 at 10:34 AM
Painstakingly assembled insect sculptures by Edouard Martinet (more images on his Press page).
posted on Dec-26-13 at 3:41 AM
John Bell Hood’s Leg — "This marked Hood’s third major combat injury; he had suffered an arrow through the hand while fighting Comanche Indians in 1857, and had lost the function of his left arm after being struck by shell fragments at Gettysburg. Hood was a famous general, but he now faced an outlook shared by hundreds of thousands of other soldiers who were likewise injured during the war. He became dependent on the kindness of strangers, like the Little family, in order to start his long road to recovery in the midst of a realization that he would live the rest of his life as a disabled man." By Brian Craig Miller, New York Times, December 20, 2013.
posted on Dec-21-13 at 9:08 AM
China’s Space Program Is Taking Off — "Its engineers have caught up with Europe when Europe was 20 years behind the space-racing superpowers. But by 2020 or a little thereafter, when the International Space Station (ISS) may be on its last legs, Chinese space managers expect to have a Mir-class space station in orbit. ... As was the case with the Cold War space powers, China's leaders are using human spaceflight to signal the world—and the long-suffering Chinese people—that Beijing's state-capitalism approach has won modern superpower status for their ancient society." From Aviation Week & Space Technology, November 25, 2013.
posted on Dec-15-13 at 7:43 AM
The Great War’s Ominous Echoes — "It is tempting — and sobering — to compare today’s relationship between China and America to that between Germany and England a century ago. Lulling ourselves into a false sense of safety, we say that countries that have McDonald’s will never fight one another. Yet the extraordinary growth in trade and investment between China and the United States since the 1980s has not served to allay mutual suspicions. At a time when the two countries are competing for markets, resources and influence from the Caribbean to Central Asia, China has become increasingly ready to translate its economic strength into military power." By Margaret MacMillan, New York Times, December 13, 2013.
posted on Dec-14-13 at 2:43 AM
Long on speed but short on style, Luke Skywalker's X-34 Land Speeder has been handsomely improved by subsequent generations — more in the Air Drive gallery by photographer Renaud Marion.
posted on Dec-1-13 at 7:01 PM
Chess Portraits — a glamourous costumed set by photographer Francesco Ridolfi.
posted on Nov-26-13 at 3:33 AM
Luigi Prina: The Ships That Sail Through The Clouds — Italian architect creates beautiful flying air ships.
posted on Nov-23-13 at 7:07 PM
"Douglas County Model" gives libraries new e-book leverage — The public library system in Douglas County, where bedroom suburbs rub shoulders with century-old ranches, might seem an unlikely game-changer in the world of publishing. But the county's innovative e-book lending platform, which aims to flip the dynamic between publishers and libraries, is giving hope to cash-strapped libraries from Alaska to Australia that they'll be able to offer more electronic material to users, for less money. From The Denver Post, 11/21/2013.
posted on Nov-22-13 at 4:02 AM
What Combat Feels Like , Presented in the Style of a Graphic Novel. An animated film based on a true story by Iraq veteran Colby Buzzell (previously).
posted on Nov-19-13 at 4:58 AM
Auto Correct — Has the self-driving car at last arrived? From The New Yorker, November 25, 2013.
posted on Nov-18-13 at 3:28 AM
Redwood Saga (1946) — Once upon a time, how tiny lumberjacks with tools and muscle power fell the big ones.
posted on Nov-9-13 at 8:53 AM
Blonde hair, skimpy skirt, big blue eyes. Yup, it's ... INTERNET EXPLORER — Get ready for Inori, the 'personification of IE'. Microsoft launches ad campaign in Singapore featuring a new Internet Explorer 11 mascot (mildly NSFW anime, not hentai).
posted on Nov-8-13 at 3:14 AM
Containership’s Structure Visually Flexing in Heavy Seas — Underdeck time lapse video (16x normal speed) of the 294 meter MOL Excellence as she rolls, pitches, and yaws during a voyage from Tokyo to Los Angeles. Large ships are designed to flex while underway, but when seas get rough they can break like the MOL Comfort on June 17, 2013.
posted on Nov-2-13 at 7:59 AM
Have We Reached Gadget Fatigue? — Smartphones are everywhere, and smartwatches are poised to follow. Techies are eying Google Glass. And we now wear our technology on our sleeve. Have we finally reached gadget overload? From CIO, September 5, 2013.
posted on Sep-10-13 at 4:41 AM
Inside the Nanga Parbat Murders — One of the worst massacres in mountaineering history happened this summer in Pakistan. Will it happen again? from Outside Online, July 30, 2013 (more details in Climbers Recount Murder on Famous Pakistan Peak at National Geographic and Chilling Accounts of Nanga Parbat Massacre at Climbing). One Pakistani Taliban group claimed the attack was retribution for a U.S. drone strike that killed Wali-ur-Rehman on May 29, 2013. After a dangerous investigation by Pakistani Army forces and local police, 20 perpetrators were arrested by August 19, 2013.
posted on Sep-2-13 at 9:55 AM
Matte Shot - A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX ...the inventiveness and ingenuity of the craft of the matte painter during Hollywood's Golden Era. Some of the shots will amaze in their grandeur and epic quality while others will surprise in their 'invisibility' to even the sophisticated viewer. I hope this collection will serve as an appreciation of the artform and both casual visitors and those with a specialist interest may benefit, enjoy and be amazed at skills largely unknown today.
posted on Aug-10-13 at 3:03 PM
The Drone That Killed My Grandson — Dr. Nasser al-Awlaki, Fulbright scholar, founder of Ibb University and former president of Sana University, served as Yemen’s minister of agriculture and fisheries from 1988 to 1990. His 16-year-old grandson Abdulrahman (an American citizen born in Denver, Colorado) was killed by an American drone strike in Yemen on Oct. 14, 2011, two weeks after his father Anwar was killed by a previous drone strike.
posted on Jul-19-13 at 5:17 AM
In France, a Mission to Return the Military's Carrier Pigeons to Active Duty — Grounded After Modern Communication Devices Soared, Birds May Offer Low-Tech Solutions; No Round Trips [WSJ]. Let us not forget Le Vaillant, Cher Ami, and the other birds that save lives.
posted on Nov-11-12 at 7:17 AM
Email stress test: Experiment unplugs workers for 5 days — Slave to your email? Wonder what would happen if you had to do without it?
posted on Sep-6-12 at 4:29 AM
Speedqueens — Women in motorsport from 1898 to the present day. Fasten your seatbelts, gentlemen.
posted on Sep-2-12 at 9:07 AM
The Case of the Stolen Blanks — The real story behind the cheating scandal at the National Scrabble Championship.
posted on Aug-22-12 at 5:38 AM
NASA’s lunar lander crashes, ignites massive explosion (+video). The spider-like spacecraft called Morpheus was on a test flight at Cape Canaveral when it tilted, crashed to the ground and erupted in flames.
posted on Aug-11-12 at 6:26 AM
Prada Menswear Fall/Winter 2012 — starring Neo-Victorian gentlemen Garrett Hedlund, Gary Oldman, Jamie Bell, and Willem Dafoe. Photographed by David Sims. (*quote by Coco Chanel.)
posted on Jul-21-12 at 7:26 AM
posted on Jan-6-19 at 4:21 PM
Warm Greetings from a Cold Country – Christmas in Antarctica — USN veteran Richard Kontner, accompanied by a well-travelled ukulele, joined Richard Byrd’s 1928 South Pole Expedition and sent ~1500 Christmas cards in 1929 while aboard the The City Of New York anchored near Little America, Antarctica.
posted on Dec-25-18 at 5:18 AM
I read 1,182 emergency room bills this year. Here’s what I learned. — A $5,571 bill to sit in a waiting room, $238 eyedrops, and a $60 ibuprofen tell the story of how emergency room visits are squeezing patients. [Sarah Kliff, Vox 12/18/2018]
posted on Dec-23-18 at 1:55 PM
HOW International Design Awards: 2018 Winner Galleries — Best of Show • Advertising • Annual Reports • Apps • Covers • Editorial • Identity • Illustration/Photography • Infographics • Invitations • Kiosks/Interactive • Miscellaneous • Packaging • Posters • Signage & Environmental Graphics • Student • Video • Websites • 3D
posted on Dec-20-18 at 6:52 AM
Why Taylor Swift Is Using Facial Recognition at Concerts — Swift’s security team has used the cutting-edge technology at recent shows to keep her safe from stalkers [Rolling Stone, 12/13/2018]. Taylor Swift fans mesmerized by rehearsal clips on a kiosk at her May 18th Rose Bowl show were unaware of one crucial detail: A facial-recognition camera inside the display was taking their photos. The images were being transferred to a Nashville “command post,” where they were cross-referenced with a database of hundreds of the pop star’s known stalkers, according to Mike Downing, chief security officer of Oak View Group, an advisory board for concert venues including Madison Square Garden and the Forum in Los Angeles.
posted on Dec-15-18 at 7:28 AM
Ant-mimicking SE Asian jumping spider Toxeus magnus nurses its babies with nutritious spider ‘milk’ until they reach puberty.
posted on Nov-29-18 at 12:29 PM
Met police driving cars into thieves on mopeds in crime crackdown — To reduce moped crime, London police use tougher tactics including marking spray, remote-controlled spikes to burst bike tyres, and ramming suspects' bikes [The Guardian, 11/24/2018].
posted on Nov-24-18 at 7:38 AM
FCC tells SpaceX it can deploy up to 11,943 broadband satellites — Initial launch of 4,425 satellites to be followed by 7,518 closer to the ground. [Ars Technica, 11/15/2018]. SpaceX "proposes to add a very-low Earth orbit (VLEO) NGSO [non-geostationary satellite orbit] constellation, consisting of 7,518 satellites operating at altitudes from 335km to 346km," the FCC said in the draft of the order that it approved unanimously today. The newly approved satellites would use frequencies between 37.5 and 42GHz for space-to-Earth transmissions and frequencies between 47.2 and 51.4GHz for Earth-to-space transmissions, the FCC said. More details, WP, Elon Musk on making Starlink (YT).
posted on Nov-15-18 at 11:03 PM
Art galleries at the CGSociety, a networking platform for professional digital artists: Editors' Pick, Featured, Trending, Recent, Hall of Fame. [Some NSFW, and previously (with inactive links)]
posted on Nov-3-18 at 9:07 AM
See the Glorious Winners of the 2018 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest (Gizmodo's images can be zoomed). Details of the overall 2018 winners are at Royal Museums Greenwich, along with galleries of 2018 sub-category winners. Vote for your favorite image among other entries in the People's Choice Awards 2018, and browse galleries of previous 2017-2009 contests.
posted on Oct-25-18 at 12:04 AM
Joachim Rønneberg, commander of Operation Gunnerside and other Norwegian sabotage raids against German heavy water production during World War II, died October 21, 2018, age 99. He was the last survivor of the real "Heroes of Telemark".
posted on Oct-22-18 at 11:44 AM
Nikon Small World in Motion Annual Winners 2018-2011 — beautiful microscopic movies and digital time-lapse photomicrography. (See also Nikon International Small World Photomicrography Competition Annual Winners 2017-1975).
posted on Oct-3-18 at 5:11 AM
Interview - Photography legend Joel Meyerowitz: phones killed the sexiness of the street — “In the 60s and 70s you could look at my street photographs and trace lines from the eyes of people connecting with other people’s eyes, setting up these force fields.” Today, what entranced Joel Meyerowitz about the street is all but dead. “Nobody’s looking at each other. Everybody’s glued to their phones.” From The Guardian, March 7, 2018.
posted on Mar-7-18 at 11:25 AM
USAF's Controversial New Plan To Retire B-2 And B-1 Bombers Early Is A Good One – The flying service is making the right sacrifices to ensure the B-21 Raider gets fielded in large numbers while making the B-52 all it can be. (More at Air Force Magazine.)
posted on Feb-12-18 at 7:30 AM
More U.S. military drones are crashing than ever... Driving the increase was a mysterious surge in mishaps involving the Air Force’s newest and most advanced “hunter-killer” drone, the Reaper, which has become the Pentagon’s favored weapon for conducting surveillance and airstrikes against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other militant groups. From the Washington Post, January 19, 2016.
posted on Jan-19-16 at 7:40 PM
The Japanese women who married the enemy — "American GIs were told not to fraternise with Japanese women, but they did." Within a few years after Imperial Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945 and subsequent occupation, over 30,000 Japanese war brides married American troops and returned to the United States with them (BBC News documentary broadcast schedule).
posted on Aug-17-15 at 5:18 AM
What the collapse of ancient capitals can teach us about the cities of today — Warnings from history: Angkor was a thriving metropolis of 750,000 before a series of mega-monsoons made it unliveable. Can modern flood-threatened cities learn from its downfall?
posted on Feb-17-15 at 3:59 AM
New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers – Kyle Wiens of iFixit vs. the modern family farm tractor.
posted on Feb-12-15 at 4:59 AM
The fantastic animal sculptures of Ellen Jewett.
posted on Oct-26-14 at 10:01 PM
End the Tyranny of 24/7 Email — THIS Labor Day weekend, odds are you’ll peek at your work email on your “day off” — and then feel guilty about it.
posted on Aug-31-14 at 6:26 AM
Francesco Maglia: The Umbrella Maker Of Milan — The Maglia family have been partners with the rain since 1854, when they began producing umbrellas in Milan. Here's our portrait of Francesco Maglia.
posted on Jun-28-14 at 4:27 AM
Chili's Has Installed More Than 45,000 Tablets in Its Restaurants — When your server is a screen, you spend more money. Hungry? No human server in sight? With a flick of your wrist, you can instantly order more appetizers and drinks, indulge your whim for Baby Back Ribs, let the kids play games, read the news, pay your check (with a default tip), and get done faster. Be sure to save room for some Cinnamon Molten Cake: doesn't it look tasty?
posted on Jun-21-14 at 3:30 AM
Most expensive rescue in German history as man begins second week trapped 3000 feet underground in cave — It may take rescuers a week to evacuate speleologist Johann Westhauser after he was injured by a rockfall in the depths of Germany's Riesending Cave.
posted on Jun-14-14 at 12:00 PM
Camera Used by Astronauts on Moon "Pulls $940 Gs" at Auction — The history of Hasselblad cameras used (and perhaps abused) during the Apollo moon missions.
posted on Mar-27-14 at 5:00 AM
Ceramic artist Brett Kern creates puffy inflatable dinosaurs (studio views in his anaglyphic 3D Gallery).
posted on Jan-30-14 at 2:52 AM
Cuttlefish: Kings of Camouflage – (SLYT HD 53:26) PBS NOVA, April 2007. Wikipedia article, more images.
posted on Jan-26-14 at 4:50 AM
Olympus BioScapes Winners 2004-2013 — Photomicrography's small world is bigger than Nikon, after all (previously).
posted on Jan-5-14 at 10:34 AM
Painstakingly assembled insect sculptures by Edouard Martinet (more images on his Press page).
posted on Dec-26-13 at 3:41 AM
John Bell Hood’s Leg — "This marked Hood’s third major combat injury; he had suffered an arrow through the hand while fighting Comanche Indians in 1857, and had lost the function of his left arm after being struck by shell fragments at Gettysburg. Hood was a famous general, but he now faced an outlook shared by hundreds of thousands of other soldiers who were likewise injured during the war. He became dependent on the kindness of strangers, like the Little family, in order to start his long road to recovery in the midst of a realization that he would live the rest of his life as a disabled man." By Brian Craig Miller, New York Times, December 20, 2013.
posted on Dec-21-13 at 9:08 AM
China’s Space Program Is Taking Off — "Its engineers have caught up with Europe when Europe was 20 years behind the space-racing superpowers. But by 2020 or a little thereafter, when the International Space Station (ISS) may be on its last legs, Chinese space managers expect to have a Mir-class space station in orbit. ... As was the case with the Cold War space powers, China's leaders are using human spaceflight to signal the world—and the long-suffering Chinese people—that Beijing's state-capitalism approach has won modern superpower status for their ancient society." From Aviation Week & Space Technology, November 25, 2013.
posted on Dec-15-13 at 7:43 AM
The Great War’s Ominous Echoes — "It is tempting — and sobering — to compare today’s relationship between China and America to that between Germany and England a century ago. Lulling ourselves into a false sense of safety, we say that countries that have McDonald’s will never fight one another. Yet the extraordinary growth in trade and investment between China and the United States since the 1980s has not served to allay mutual suspicions. At a time when the two countries are competing for markets, resources and influence from the Caribbean to Central Asia, China has become increasingly ready to translate its economic strength into military power." By Margaret MacMillan, New York Times, December 13, 2013.
posted on Dec-14-13 at 2:43 AM
Long on speed but short on style, Luke Skywalker's X-34 Land Speeder has been handsomely improved by subsequent generations — more in the Air Drive gallery by photographer Renaud Marion.
posted on Dec-1-13 at 7:01 PM
Chess Portraits — a glamourous costumed set by photographer Francesco Ridolfi.
posted on Nov-26-13 at 3:33 AM
Luigi Prina: The Ships That Sail Through The Clouds — Italian architect creates beautiful flying air ships.
posted on Nov-23-13 at 7:07 PM
"Douglas County Model" gives libraries new e-book leverage — The public library system in Douglas County, where bedroom suburbs rub shoulders with century-old ranches, might seem an unlikely game-changer in the world of publishing. But the county's innovative e-book lending platform, which aims to flip the dynamic between publishers and libraries, is giving hope to cash-strapped libraries from Alaska to Australia that they'll be able to offer more electronic material to users, for less money. From The Denver Post, 11/21/2013.
posted on Nov-22-13 at 4:02 AM
What Combat Feels Like , Presented in the Style of a Graphic Novel. An animated film based on a true story by Iraq veteran Colby Buzzell (previously).
posted on Nov-19-13 at 4:58 AM
Auto Correct — Has the self-driving car at last arrived? From The New Yorker, November 25, 2013.
posted on Nov-18-13 at 3:28 AM
Redwood Saga (1946) — Once upon a time, how tiny lumberjacks with tools and muscle power fell the big ones.
posted on Nov-9-13 at 8:53 AM
Blonde hair, skimpy skirt, big blue eyes. Yup, it's ... INTERNET EXPLORER — Get ready for Inori, the 'personification of IE'. Microsoft launches ad campaign in Singapore featuring a new Internet Explorer 11 mascot (mildly NSFW anime, not hentai).
posted on Nov-8-13 at 3:14 AM
Containership’s Structure Visually Flexing in Heavy Seas — Underdeck time lapse video (16x normal speed) of the 294 meter MOL Excellence as she rolls, pitches, and yaws during a voyage from Tokyo to Los Angeles. Large ships are designed to flex while underway, but when seas get rough they can break like the MOL Comfort on June 17, 2013.
posted on Nov-2-13 at 7:59 AM
Have We Reached Gadget Fatigue? — Smartphones are everywhere, and smartwatches are poised to follow. Techies are eying Google Glass. And we now wear our technology on our sleeve. Have we finally reached gadget overload? From CIO, September 5, 2013.
posted on Sep-10-13 at 4:41 AM
Inside the Nanga Parbat Murders — One of the worst massacres in mountaineering history happened this summer in Pakistan. Will it happen again? from Outside Online, July 30, 2013 (more details in Climbers Recount Murder on Famous Pakistan Peak at National Geographic and Chilling Accounts of Nanga Parbat Massacre at Climbing). One Pakistani Taliban group claimed the attack was retribution for a U.S. drone strike that killed Wali-ur-Rehman on May 29, 2013. After a dangerous investigation by Pakistani Army forces and local police, 20 perpetrators were arrested by August 19, 2013.
posted on Sep-2-13 at 9:55 AM
Matte Shot - A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX ...the inventiveness and ingenuity of the craft of the matte painter during Hollywood's Golden Era. Some of the shots will amaze in their grandeur and epic quality while others will surprise in their 'invisibility' to even the sophisticated viewer. I hope this collection will serve as an appreciation of the artform and both casual visitors and those with a specialist interest may benefit, enjoy and be amazed at skills largely unknown today.
posted on Aug-10-13 at 3:03 PM
The Drone That Killed My Grandson — Dr. Nasser al-Awlaki, Fulbright scholar, founder of Ibb University and former president of Sana University, served as Yemen’s minister of agriculture and fisheries from 1988 to 1990. His 16-year-old grandson Abdulrahman (an American citizen born in Denver, Colorado) was killed by an American drone strike in Yemen on Oct. 14, 2011, two weeks after his father Anwar was killed by a previous drone strike.
posted on Jul-19-13 at 5:17 AM
In France, a Mission to Return the Military's Carrier Pigeons to Active Duty — Grounded After Modern Communication Devices Soared, Birds May Offer Low-Tech Solutions; No Round Trips [WSJ]. Let us not forget Le Vaillant, Cher Ami, and the other birds that save lives.
posted on Nov-11-12 at 7:17 AM
Email stress test: Experiment unplugs workers for 5 days — Slave to your email? Wonder what would happen if you had to do without it?
posted on Sep-6-12 at 4:29 AM
Speedqueens — Women in motorsport from 1898 to the present day. Fasten your seatbelts, gentlemen.
posted on Sep-2-12 at 9:07 AM
The Case of the Stolen Blanks — The real story behind the cheating scandal at the National Scrabble Championship.
posted on Aug-22-12 at 5:38 AM
NASA’s lunar lander crashes, ignites massive explosion (+video). The spider-like spacecraft called Morpheus was on a test flight at Cape Canaveral when it tilted, crashed to the ground and erupted in flames.
posted on Aug-11-12 at 6:26 AM
Prada Menswear Fall/Winter 2012 — starring Neo-Victorian gentlemen Garrett Hedlund, Gary Oldman, Jamie Bell, and Willem Dafoe. Photographed by David Sims. (*quote by Coco Chanel.)
posted on Jul-21-12 at 7:26 AM
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