Entries from August 2007 ↓

Michael Tavarez has created this incredible animation of Picasso’s girl with a violin. The animation is really amazing.

For more animation by Michael Tavarez, check out his site: The Work of Michael Tavarez

The History channel website has a great page that will tell you what significant events happened on this date in the past. It automatically shows you today’s date, but it also allows you to enter any date you want.
For a big history fan like me, I was a history minor in college, this site is great! Did you know that on this date in 1911, the first around the world telegram was sent? Or that on this date in 1975 the Viking 1 probe to mars was launched?

Check it out: This Day In History

SomethingAwful forum member Bruiser, has gone and created a 535 foot Slip ‘n Slide on some property he owns. The thing looks awesome! I wish I had the resources and the land to put up something like this.
Check out the pics of the slid in action at the SomethingAwful forums: I built a 535 ft. Slip ‘n Slide

This post is a little more on the gross and gruesome side. Justin Schwartz was bitten by a rattlesnake while on a hiking trip in Yosemite National Park, California. He was bitten very badly on the palm of his hand. The venom of the snake bite ate away and killed the flesh of his palm and lower arm. It took over 13 surgeries to restore his hand an lower arm back to usefulness after the bite.
At each step, Justin and his relatives documented his recovery with pictures and descriptions of what had been done to his hand. The pictures are amazing, though they are also a little gross looking.
Check out his story here:Justin’s Rattlesnake bite, and for the pictures look here: Justin’s Rattlesnake bite pictures.

A blogger has gone through the trouble of tracking down the first 100 .Com domain names registered. So if you were wondering which companies were the first to jump on the Internet bandwagon your in luck. The list is pretty interesting, both because of who is on it, as well as who isn’t.

Check it out: The 100 oldest domains on the internet.

Via WebbAlert: Webb Alert

The virtual cave has an amazing gallery of ice cave pictures from the mountains of Nepal and Alaska. Some of them are absolutely breathtaking.

Check them out at The Virtual Cave: Glacier Caves

If you want more Ice photos, check out Dry Valleys of Antarctica or the Harbin Ice Festival

Found this video on Nothing To Do With Arbroath. This little goat kid seems to think that the best place to hang out is on the back of a sheep. LOL

Roz Savage, a 39 year old management consultant, is attempting to row across the Pacific in a souped up rowboat. Last year she rowed across the Atlantic.
This year she is attempting to cross the Pacific in a series of three steps. The first step is taking place now. Starting in California, she is going to row 2,300 miles to Hawaii. After a break to rest, she will continue the trip by rowing from Hawaii to Tuvalu, a 2,600 mile trip. From there, she will take the final step to Australia, 2,300 mile stretch. All in all, an amazing trip.
Through the whole trip she will be tracked via GPS, and will be blogging about her progress using a laptop and a satellite Internet connection.
Check out her website here: RozSavage.com
Via Neatorama: Rowing Across the Pacific Alone

In the above picture both the A and the B squares are actually the same color. But because of the way they are drawn, they appear to be different colors. Don’t believe they are the same color? Click this link to see a “proof” image.
The illusion is based on a study by Edward H. Adelson, a Professor of Vision Science at MIT. The study is of light perception and the human visual system. Our eyes actually see the correct colors, but our brains reinterpret them based on the surroundings.

I found the entire study fascinating, though his paper was pretty technical. Still worth reading even if like me you don’t understand all of it. So check out his paper here: Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions

And if you want a more simplified explanation of the above picture read this: Why does the illusion work?

Michel Fournier, a retired French army colonel is attempting to break all previous skydiving records. He will be trying to sky dive from 25 miles up into the sky. Which puts him right on the edge of space. His goal is to both set the record for the highest parachute drop ever, and to be the first person to break the sound barrier in free-fall. He will be attempting the jump over the Saskatchewan plains in Canada next month.

Pretty amazing. The description of his drop reminds me of the drop sequence from the Robert Heinlein book, Starship Troopers. In that book, an assault team of marines is inserted onto a planet by skydiving from near orbit. The book is pretty good, and I do recommend it. Just don’t bother watching the awful movie that was based on it.

Man plans record skydive from edge of space