The Presurfer

North To Norway

2013-05-22T12:44:00.005+02:00

Beautiful Norway. Filmed during 9 days in the western fjords of Norway.

Vimeo link

(via Everlasting Blort)

Skywhale Rises Over Australia

2013-05-22T12:43:00.003+02:00

image credit: Aaron Maras cc

The Australian state of Canberra is 100 years old this year. As part of the on-going celebrations the Skywhale - a 34 meter long hot balloon was commissioned to symbolize... well, a lot of Canberrans aren't exactly sure what. Skywhale has hardly gotten off the ground before she is the center of very divided opinion.

Irish Potato Famine Pathogen Identified

2013-05-22T12:41:00.001+02:00

image credit: Wally Gobetz cc

Scientists have used plant samples collected in the mid-19th Century to identify the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine. A plant pest that causes potato blight spread to Ireland in 1845 triggering a famine that killed one million people.

DNA extracted from museum specimens shows the strain that changed history is different from modern day epidemics, and is probably now extinct. Other strains continue to attack potato and tomato crops around the world.

Art And Culture Of Burning Man

2013-05-22T12:39:00.004+02:00

Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, USA. The event is described by many participants as an experiment in community, art, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance. This video offers a glimpse into the art and culture of this dynamic community with the hope to spark a dream within you.

Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

Like A Snowdrift On The Slope

2013-05-22T12:38:00.002+02:00

image credit: Pirmin Olde Weghuis cc

In the competition for tourists, Reinhold Streng, manager of the Pitztal Glacier Lift in Austria, came up with something rather special. At 3,440 meters above sea level, the slope is now crowned by a new upper station for the 'Wildspitzbahn' - with a spectacular design by the architects at Baumschlager Hutter Partners.

7 Signs We Are Heading For A Mass Extinction

2013-05-22T12:36:00.002+02:00

image credit: gnuckx cc

Today, many scientists believe we are on the cusp of a sixth mass extinction which could wipe out most life on Earth as we know it. Here are seven signs that they could be right.

10 Vintage Wartime STD Ads

2013-05-22T12:34:00.001+02:00

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During World War I, 18,000 US servicemen were out of action every single day thanks to venereal diseases. Military hospitals took in more men for VD treatment than any other condition apart from mumps, tonsillitis, and bronchitis.

Understandably, venereal diseases were a major concern during World War II as well, and so the military set out to reduce rates of transmission. The following 10 posters offer a look at wartime anti-STD advertising, opinions of the day on the subject, and other initiatives undertaken by the military to keep venereal diseases from spreading.

(S)he's Right Behind Me, Isn't (S)he?

2013-05-21T10:30:00.002+02:00

A collection of moments when someone is talking trash about someone else, and that person appears behind them.

Vimeo link

(via Kuriositas)

Ruins Of Super Science

2013-05-21T10:28:00.000+02:00

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If science and research run into a problem too large or too difficult to solve in the lab, the next logical step is often to build a bigger, or stranger, lab. The grandest scientific endeavors work to part the veil of the material world and tear the secrets of the universe from the ignorant darkness in order to discover new truths about our very existence. And when they are done, we drop them like a bad habit.

Take a look at some record-setting and awe-inspiring scientific ruins that seem too unbelievable to have been built, much less forgotten.

Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste Bad?

2013-05-21T10:22:00.002+02:00

It's a common breakfast disturbance. The foul taste of orange juice after you brush your teeth. This video explains why.

YouTube link

(thanks Kirk)

Ancient Discovery Set To Rewrite Australian History

2013-05-21T10:21:00.001+02:00

image credit: Rupert Gerritsen cc

Our history books teach us that Australia was discovered in 1606 by a Dutch explorer named Willem Janszoon when he reached the Cape York peninsula in Queensland with his ship Duyfken (picture of a replica of the ship above). Now, 5 copper coins might lead to a discovery that could rewrite Australia's history.

In 1944, Australian soldier Maurie Isenberg was stationed on an island off Australia's north coast. While sitting in the sand with his fishing-rod, he discovered a handful of coins in the sand. In 1979 he decided to send the coins to a museum to get them identified. The coins proved to be 1000 years old.

The discovery was apparently forgotten again until anthropologist McIntosh got the ball rolling a few months ago. The coins raises an important questions: How did 1000-year-old coins end up on a remote beach on an island off the northern coast of Australia?

10 Worst Civilian Nuclear Accidents In History

2013-05-21T10:18:00.002+02:00

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In 1945, towards the end of World War Two, two different atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ever since then, the word 'nuclear' has evoked a mixture of fear and suspicion in many minds.

Moreover, controversy still surrounds nuclear technology, even when it is used for nonviolent purposes - for example, as a source of power. For the doubters, these 10 civilian nuclear accidents won't be very reassuring.

Kratcast

2013-05-21T10:15:00.004+02:00

Who else could invent something practical to carry a beer crate on your bike? The Dutch of course! Kratvast means 'fixed crate.'

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

50 Stunning Ice Formations From Around The World

2013-05-21T10:14:00.000+02:00

image credit: Mike Beauregard cc

Ice that is found at sea may be in the form of sea ice, pack ice, or icebergs. The term that collectively describes all of the parts of the Earth's surface where water is in frozen form is the cryosphere.

Ice is an important component of the global climate, particularly in regard to the water cycle. Glaciers and snowpacks are an important storage mechanism for fresh water; over time, they may sublimate or melt.

Navigating A Passenger Boat

2013-05-20T11:11:00.002+02:00

How to drift a long passenger boat into a narrow passageway during an Amsterdam canal cruise.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Wurst

2013-05-20T11:10:00.001+02:00

The sausage gallery. A German showcase of what you can do with sausage.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Beardvertising

2013-05-20T11:07:00.005+02:00

A Kentucky-based ad agency came up with a high-concept platform that will take native advertising to the next level, putting ads in untapped real estate that consumers interact with every day: beards. Half joke, half genius, the scheme pays men with facial hair $5 a day to walk around with a mini ad in their beards.

Beardvertising website.

(via Neatorama)

The Explosive Potential Of Methane Frozen Beneath Abraham Lake

2013-05-20T11:04:00.003+02:00

image credit: 生活童話 cc

Something menacing - and explosive - lurks beneath the surface of the frozen Abraham Lake in Alberta, Canada. The crisp, bluish-white, cotton wool-like formations are actually frozen bubbles of flammable methane gas trapped in the icy manmade lake.

As spring sets in and the lake thaws, the bubbles break free and rise to the top. And when the ice cracks, the bubbles escape and vanish into the atmosphere. The methane in the lake is created when bacteria decomposes organic matter in the water. This organic matter includes plants, leaves, trees and also animals that have died and fallen into the lake.

Springbok Pronking

2013-05-20T11:02:00.003+02:00

When excited or disturbed, the springbok, a small antelope that lives in southern Africa, often bounces into a leaping trot with back arched, legs straight, and head lowered. This movement is known as pronking. Pronking comes from the Dutch word 'pronken' which means 'showing off'.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

False Alarm

2013-05-20T11:00:00.006+02:00

(via Criggo)

The Lonesomeness Of Mazinger Z

2013-05-20T10:59:00.002+02:00

image credit: elprimerpaso cc

When Professor Juzo Kabuto built the super robot Mazinger Z he envisioned a world protected from the forces of Dr Hell and his mechanical beasts by this, his ultimate invention. Made from Japanium (found only on the slopes of Mount Fuji) Mazinger B's sheer size and power would defend humanity against evil for generations.

He never imagined that his gargantuan brainchild would end its days in an unfinished suburb of a quiet Spanish town, rooted to the spot and silently, gently decaying.

10 Facial Reconstructions Of Famous Historical Figures

2013-05-20T10:57:00.001+02:00

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Why look at a painting of a historical figure when you can come face to face with one? Forensic facial reconstruction using scans of skeletal remains allows researchers to create 3D models of the face through a combination of science, history, and artistic interpretation. The results may be somewhat subjective, but they're fascinating anyway.

Here are 10 facial reconstructions of famous people.

Soap Making

2013-05-19T12:17:00.005+02:00

Kerri Mixon has turned her passion for soap making into a business, her home into a soap making factory and her husband into a soap salesman.

Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

What People Eat For Breakfast Around The World

2013-05-19T12:16:00.004+02:00

image credit: CeresB cc

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, keeping us healthy and sharp. But breakfast foods vary wildly from place to place. Take a look at some classic breakfast choices from countries around the world.

How Much Would It Cost To Build The Starship Enterprise?

2013-05-19T12:14:00.003+02:00

image credit: Tram Painter cc

So you want to build the Enterprise? Well good news: according to some quick, messy, napkin math, it's possible. Kind of. The bad news? It's going to be stupid expensive. But not unfathomably so!

Since we can't predict the future, or even come close to gauging the cost of development for revolutionary new inventions or substances like warp and impulse drives, shields, and teleporters, we're going to stick to what we know. It might not make us a real Enterprise, but it's about as close as you're going to get.