01 October 2009
Jon Stewart disses the Democrats
Posted for those who are tired of hearing him bash the Republicans.
The photography of Lennart Nilsson
The top two photos are colorized scanning EMs. Nilsson's famous book, A Child Is Born, from the 1960s, is now being reprinted.
A brief, but impressive, biography is at Wikipedia. And here is the photographer's website, with additional photos.
These pix from a gallery of ten at The Guardian.
The evolution of caltrops
A caltrop is an antipersonnel weapon fashioned generally as a tetrahedron which will always have one point extending vertically. They have been in use since Medieval times, and are employed to stop or slow the advance of foot soldiers, war elephants, and especially camels.The etymology of the word is from the Latin calcitrapa [foot+trap].
This device was used with great success by the Scots against the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 to disable horsemen. The Drummond clan deployed welded nail caltrops, halting English cavalry in its tracks and saving vital Scots infantry in a battle that resulted in 4,000 English casualities and Edward II retreating without shield and sword. Their use undoubtedly contributed to the resounding Scottish victory.One of them was found in an archaeological dig at Jamestown. They have also been used in domestic disputes (labor strikes, environmental protests, etc) to disable vehicles. They were also deployed (by the criminals to slow pursuit) during last weeks helicopter-assisted robbery in Sweden.
The bottom one above has hollow spikes. Why?
"to puncture self-sealing rubber tires. The hole in the center allows air to escape..."Clever. Photo and quote credit Wikipedia, where there is more info.
Hand grenade embedded in the forehead
"I remember this picture from when I was going to X-Ray school 20+ years ago. The caption in that book stated that this soldier was walking behind a soldier who set off a mine. The grenade was blown off the webgear of the soldier who set off the mine and it struck this unfortunate guy."This is from the Vietnam War; note the victim is intubated, so presumably this wasn't a booby trap on a corpse.
Credit.
Gyroscopic wheel for bicycles
Developed as a replacement for training wheels on children's bikes, this looks like a clever (though probably very expensive) application of basic physics.
Via Neatorama.
Jimmy Stewart - doing what?
Found this photo today at Velveteen Rabbit. The links went back to a Tumblr blog called Old Hollywood which seems to have great images, but I can't seem to find it there.
The photo looks like a studio glossy publicity shot. I assume the upbending of the lateral canthus of the eye is meant to evoke the "Mr. Moto" movies of the 1930s or other oriental films, but what is the gesture he's making with his right hand? It's not the "shocker," and probably not Churchill's victory sign, but it does look vaguely like the "gang" gestures of more modern times. It presumably had some other significance two generations ago. Any ideas?
Driving home the reality of assembly-line food
The video above shows food being made in a factory - something you can see on television documentaries any day. But when the "robot pancake sorter" kicks into action it seems to transcend reality. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't watching a parody or a brilliant spoof by some Pythonesque wit.
But it's real.
Via Kottke.
BoxSpin3
Another flash game, for which the "rules" apparently have to be intuited by trial and error. I'm still trying to figure out how/when the colors propagate from the edges or corners to opposite edges.
My best score so far is 21. Harder than it looks.
The above image is a screencap. The game is here.
Via Neatorama (darn it, Miss Cellania - I have work I need to do!).
Don't count your fish until they're in the boat
This ~35 pound salmon had even been netted, and then...
Apparently this isn't a rare occurrence around Vancouver. A similar but longer video is here.
Found at The Presurfer.
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