The Beach House

Scary rockclimbing and kayaking vid - beautifully shot

2012-01-28T14:01:00.000+11:00

This is a beautiful clip shot by Corey Rich using a DSLR. Overt Nikon ad sure.

But tell me the solo climbing and the waterfall drops don't leave your palms sweaty!?

Via Martin Ollman

Be warned: watching this may put you off flying for a while...

2012-01-27T12:42:00.000+11:00

Landing + crosswinds = OMG!

Awesome work by the pilots.

What could possibly be better than the aurora photos this week? Aurora videos!

2012-01-26T14:13:00.002+11:00

Thanks to a rousing Sun, we've had a massive drop in work productivity this week while not wanting to miss any of the live webcams aurora pictures from the Arctic Circle and points further south. And the stills have been gorgeous too.

But this timelapse video by Orjan Bertelsen in Norway trumps them:

Auroras 22.01.12 Birtavarre Norway from Ørjan Bertelsen on Vimeo.

via @Nightskyonline

And then there is this beauty from Lapland in Sweden, by Light Over Lapland:

READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>

Clijsters and Wozniacki send a message about squealing tennis players - funny as video!

2012-01-26T12:22:00.000+11:00

Some tennis is just too hard to watch. The squealing and screaming makes it impossible unless you turn the sound off altogether. Channel 7's Summer of Never-ending Tennis therefore is often a no-go zone..

So this moment when Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki - in the middle of a game - decide to take the mickey out of it is pure gold!

What a con. "Miracle diet" using a fake news website

2012-01-26T12:09:00.000+11:00

Surely the US has laws to prevent this sort of con? I picked this up from an Australian journalist who tweeted:

@lenoretaylor: Want to lose any weight? go here: http://newzfor2012.com best product for losing weight

A clear case of her account had been hacked.

But the link is interesting in that it has been set up to look like a news website, featuring an amazed reviewer's account of how the product performed. But if you click any of the menus, they all just go to the same ad page.

The scammer must have thought it was the ultimate in irony to have this at the bottom of the "comments" section:

Comments have been closed due to spam. Please check back later.

There are some aspects of the ~~internet~~ society that really give me the royals.

From science teaching to space toilets and lots in between - what I've been reading this last week

2012-01-25T15:07:00.000+11:00

The Beach House weekly news summary, with some of what I've been reading and writing about over the week to 21 January. Recap, enjoy, grimace wryly, as appropriate.

The aurora-fest continues - check these stunning photos, plus links to lots of aurora brain food

2012-01-24T19:09:00.001+11:00

The Sun has been turning on a blast (literally) for anyone living in the high latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres over the last two days. The best aurora displays in seven years.

And it looks like we've got more to come, with another massive coronal mass ejection from the Sun yesterday that is slated to hit Earth's atmosphere tomorrow. This one could be a bit more serious though. Even talk of flights being re-routed.

This intriguing animation shows modelling of how the blast will travel from the Sun (yellow dot in the centre) to the Earth (green dot to the right). You can speed it up using the buttons at the bottom.

Meanwhile, NASA scientists assure us that the astronauts up in the ISS are safe from these blasts. What's that? Hasn't NASA closed up shop, you ask? Not likely. There have been at least three people living somewhere else other than on Earth for years now.

Via Discovery News comes this stunning photo by Bjørn Jørgensen in Norway. Click on it to embiggerate, then hop over to the site to see yet another jaw-dropper.

And to make the hop extra-worthwhile, there also a link to a short video clip showing auroras don't just happen on Earth - Saturn has them too! Which just makes Saturn even more so the coolest planet in the solar system.

Clever timelapse video of changing graffiti art in Canberra

2012-01-24T18:06:00.002+11:00

Most legal wall murals are painted once, and with luck remain undamaged for years.

But with this work in the City Walk of Canberra's CBD, the artists kept changing the work, and created a fantastic timelapse of the resulting animations.

Enjoy!

via @AmandaBresnan1

This is cool - explore the SpaceX Dragon capsule in 3D

2012-01-24T17:29:00.001+11:00

SpaceX is a prime contender for commercial delivery of goods and people to the International Space Station, under contract to NASA.

Their Dragon capsule is targeted for a first test run to the ISS soon. It was down for an early February flight but this has been pushed back maybe a month.
READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>

Auroras are going OFF today! Here's a clip of the blast that started it, plus pics #aurorawatch

2012-01-23T13:32:00.001+11:00

The Twitterverse is alive with aurora sightings today - across Canada, the UK, Scandanavia and more. The Aurora Australis was also supposed to be visible from southern parts of Australia overnight, but heavy cloud prevented confirming this. Maybe tonight?

It's all come about because of a massive Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun on Friday afternoon. That's how long it takes for the blast to get to us - if it is pointed the right way, which this one clearly was. Here's video of the CME from NASA:

In Sweden's Lapland, there is an aurora observatory, and they have a live webcam. Here are some screengrabs from it:

READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>

On parenting and science education - when Mum is an astronaut! Julie Payette video interview

2012-01-20T16:57:00.000+11:00

A good short interview with Canadian Space Shuttle astronaut Julie Payette about being the mother of two and science education in the home.

Julie was CapCom (Capsule Communicator - the main comms person between Mission Control and a space crew for several missions - I saw her quite often on NASA TV. NASA prefers to use an experienced astronaut to spearhead communications and ensure important information is not lost between two very busy worksites.

"The Scream" animated - to Pink Floyd! Brilliant.

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000+11:00

The pieces fit beautifully here. Pink Floyd's iconic music and Edvard Munch's world-renowned 1893 painting "The Scream" brought to life. Enjoy!

The Scream from Sebastian Cosor on Vimeo.

Via Kuriositas

GPS meets farming - Aussie research reshaping grazing management

2012-01-20T05:00:00.000+11:00

Researchers from Australia's premier science and research agency the CSIRO are working with graziers to develop new management systems that blend farming with GPS and computer technology.

RFID tagging has reformed livestock management, allowing tracking of individual animals, their movements between properties, their health and progress, and their lineage. Now adding GPS tracking to the mix is allowing their movements within a property to be monitored and even managed.

Things are really changing down out in the paddock. And Australian scientists are leading the way.

Holy Streetview Batman - a full driving simulator??

2012-01-19T16:35:00.000+11:00

Well here's an insight into where we'll be heading once the National Broadband Network is in place and we have high-speed internet streaming: a full driving simulator using a combination of Google's Maps, Earth and Streetview products.

First time in to this wondrous site, you'll be asked to install a browser plug-in. Then you'll be away.

Select Tour, add in a start and destination, then click on Play. And wait.

In time, the matrix of windows with start moving - one is a Streetview window, one is a Maps perspective (with 3D buildings added where they've been 'built'), one a Maps overhead, and one can change between a bird's eye view, a map and scenic photos along the way. Embiggerate the picture to get a better idea.

With high speed broadband, this could be an amazing tool for exploring the world without even leaving home. But if your connection is on the slow side, don't be tempted to speed up the simulated driving speed - the Streetview window will not cope and the experience is lost somewhat.

Happy exploring!

Amazing volcanic crater photos

2012-01-19T15:14:00.000+11:00

In the north-east of Ethiopia is a volcanic up-welling called Dallol.

Kuriositas has compiled some of the best photos available online of this somewhat inaccessible natural wonder.

READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>

"Australia has unwittingly become a social experiment..."

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000+11:00

istock photo

At the hands of the so-called 'shock jocks' and Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd media outlets - primarily among them being The Australian.

There's a bit of false advertising for you - because there is little that is Australian about The Australian beyond the masthead. Owned by an American who calls LA home, and very very far from the Australian ethic of a 'fair go'.

Outstanding Australian science magazine Cosmos recently published this good analysis by Stephan Lewandowsky of the pitiful state of 'debate' on climate change. Not - let's call it what it is - global warming!

No need for me to rephrase:

READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>

Next four months of space launch dates

2012-01-19T00:30:00.000+11:00

Delta 4 launch - Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance

Space fans will appreciate that Space.com have compiled a convenient list of all the space launches for the next few months.

And they start today, with a Delta 4 launch to deliver a US military satellite into orbit.

Alas, the first launch of the SpaceX to the ISS slated for early February has been postponed to give themselves more preparation time.

Why you should wear a seatbelt...

2012-01-18T14:30:00.000+11:00

If you have children, and you can watch this without getting a bit teary, then nothing will save your cold dead heart...

And yes - it is a very good ad.

Thanks to @sciencegoddess for the reminder.

A brilliant resource for teachers and parents: Academy of Science list of good science books for kids

2012-01-18T12:00:00.000+11:00

The Australian Academy of Science has compiled this comprehensive catalogue of books for kids covering all key streams of science.

As the site states:

Good science books do more than inform about facts. They also show how beautiful, intricate and interlinked physical existence is; and they are written in a way that helps children develop language skills. There is no need for gimmicks. Discovering the world around us is a wonderful experience and gimmicks tend to demean both it and children.

READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>

Challenge: keep your tapping foot still during this - Elmo rocks, and he knows it!

2012-01-18T07:09:00.000+11:00

Have to share this - very clever work to splice his clip together spoofing "I'm sexy and I know it".

Birthday video faves - you'll enjoy these...

2012-01-18T00:02:00.001+11:00

It's my birthday, so I'm sharing a mixed collection of a few of the cool video clips I've stumbled on but haven't previously posted. No links to each other - just all really cool in their own ways.

An amateur rocket that climbs to an incredible altitude of 37,000 metres - complete with curvature of the Earth clearly visible:

A comet that plunged in the Sun back in October, followed immediately by a massive coronal mass ejection. Scientists said it was most likely just a coincidence. Watch and decide for yourself:

READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>

Gorgeous timelapse landscape video

2012-01-17T22:57:00.002+11:00

You will love this three minute video clip by Dustin Farrell. Milky Way thrown in for good measure. Because you can never have too much Milky Way timelapse...

Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

Beautiful aurora photo

2012-01-17T12:39:00.000+11:00

Image taken by Juan Carlos Casado in southern Greenland. Moon and Jupiter to the right.

Source on www.NASA.gov via Google+ Earth

Did you know - how many of our planets have rings?

2012-01-17T08:30:00.000+11:00

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ciclops_ir_2011/6698_16165_1.jpg

Four - all of the gas giants: Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus.

They're just not all as visible as the glorious rings around Saturn.

Here's a good article about the rings around Uranus (snicker, snicker).

via @BadAstronomer

Picks from my readings and posts over the last week - the Weekly Beach House Wrap.

2012-01-16T16:07:00.000+11:00

Here's the weekly paper.li sieve of my week's posts.