Happy elephant is happy!

Found this picture and just had to share it!

:). Contact Juggling is cool

Yeah, I just watched some clips on youtube about contact juggling and I was impressed.  I mean sliding the ball around in that way is impressive and I liked how they create an illusion that the ball floats. But when I read about it I understood how it works.

It’s a crystal ball that is used, so you can’t easily tell if it’s rotating or not. Then the reflections remain exactly the same, which is why you get the floating sensation e.g. when he’s rolling it along his hand. But at the same time, you need to really be skilled at this in order to impress the audience. So it’s one part dexterity and one part optical illusion.

(ps: yes, I’m have started to blog again, just needed to take a small break. Hopefully I will return to my golden age when I used to write 23 posts a day… ehm. baby steps baby steps)

Non-newtonian Fluids /or/ Science Is Awesome!

Non-newtonian fluid is a substance that doesn’t quite act like a liquid or a solid. If you stand on top of it you will sink but you can run across it.

Wiki: The application of force — for example by stabbing the surface with a finger, or rapidly inverting the container holding it — leads to the fluid behaving like a solid rather than a liquid. This is the “shear thickening” property of this non-Newtonian fluid. More gentle treatment, such as slowly inserting a spoon, will leave it in its liquid state. Trying to jerk the spoon back out again, however, will trigger the return of the temporary solid state. A person moving quickly and applying sufficient force with their feet can literally walk across such a liquid.

A bit hard to understand without visual aid:

-badass

An example of non-newtonian fluid is quicksand. Quicksand, when undisturbed it often appears  solid , but a minor (less than 1%) change in the stress on the quicksand will cause a sudden decrease in its resistance inside the fluid. So if you step in it you will sink and if you  to remove a foot from quicksand at a speed of one centimeter per second the force require would be the same amount of force as “that needed to lift a medium-sized car.”

Now you might ask, how do I create this crazy fluid? Well, do not fret, youtube has the answer. Only need cornstarch which you can find in any shop and normal water.

Isn’t science awesome??

Fireman Inhales Kitty. Kitty Dies

I assume that this is false because it makes no sense whatsoever.

A fireman inhaled strongly and swallowed a kitty? Don’t think so, BUT there are porn stars that can take huge dicks down their throat without choking. Or so I have heard….

Still the article has hilarious imagery-

Onion article

Link

Kidnapped Boy Found Safe, Imagines Kidnapped Boy

MENA, AR—After an extensive three-month-long search, the Polk County Sheriff’s Department located missing 9-year-old Joshua Meyers in an abandoned home, rescued the child from his captors, and returned him to his loving parents, the still bound and gagged boy imagined Tuesday.

According to the kidnapped child’s imagination, Meyers was liberated from his abductors when 30 law enforcement agents swooped down from helicopters, crashed through the windows of the basement where he was being kept, and carried the desperate third-grader away to safety.

Blocking out the sight and stench of his surroundings, the boy’s imagination went on to report that Meyers was led by authorities into the arms of his overjoyed parents—a complete fantasy the 9-year-old was somehow able to conjure up despite the fact that he was lying face down on a filthy concrete floor, his arms and legs restrained by rope.

“I’m so happy to be free,” said a delirious Meyers, the sound of his voice muffled by the sock stuffed deep inside his mouth. “I knew my Mom and Dad would never stop looking for me. I knew they would find me.”

“They said everything is going to be all better now,” continued Meyers, disregarding strict orders from his captors to quiet down and stop moaning. “And that nothing like what happened back there will ever happen to me again.”

In his weak and weary mind, Meyers was then swaddled in a warm blanket, placed in the front seat of the sheriff’s car, and served hot chocolate with both marshmallows and whipped cream. Emergency medical technicians, envisioned by the shivering, emaciated child, reportedly examined Meyers’ injuries and determined that they were not life threatening and would not leave any physical or emotional scars.

“It’s over!” the kidnapped child said, his sudden exclamation sending several large rats scurrying from between his feet.

Following his fictitious rescue, the 9-year-old boy was driven to the Supreme Court, where he pointed out his abductors, sentenced them to a million years in jail, and was rewarded with a brand new bike for all he had been through. According to Meyers’ vivid imagination, he also received a formal apology from his captors, who admitted that they should never have dragged the boy away from his mother, blindfolded him in the trunk of their car, or told him that they were going to kill his dog if he didn’t cooperate.

“We are bad men and we know that what we did was wrong, but we were afraid Joshua would beat us up if we untied him,” said Ed Jackson, a mental composite of the three men currently keeping watch over the severely dehydrated and hallucinating child. “Sorry, Josh. Maybe you’d feel better if we gave you the gazillion dollars we took from your parents.”

“And the little pinkie finger you miss so much,” he added.

Meyers’ imagination, once used to play with his G.I. Joe action figures, then conjured up one last fleeting daydream, in which the boy, seated at the dinner table, was surrounded by his mother and father, his little brother Henry, and a warm viscous fluid that kept running out of his mouth.

Two movies that you must watch in 2009:

• Up

Up is an upcoming computer-animated 3-D film being produced by Pixar Animation Studios. (…) The film is directed by Monsters, Inc. director Pete Docter

I have two words! OH MY GOD! Ok, make that three words. The move seems to be beautifully animated and is directed by Pete Docter who made the exceptionally good Monsters, Inc. The tone of the movie looks to be more akin to Finding Nemo than WALL*e with a lot of  humour and a faster pacing in the story.

• Watchmen

Two great trailers:

Watchmen is an upcoming 2009 American superhero film directed by Zack Snyder. Based on the 1986 comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

I read Watchmen 1 year ago and immediatley thought that it was one of the greatest books I have ever read. It was so good. It had such a lovable and interesting cast of characters and an engaging story. If the Watchmen movie follows the book as closely as 300 did then this is a must-see movie. Considering Zack Snyder is directing it you should expect lots of slow-motion scenes.

The plot:

The story is set in an alternate 1985 where superheroes exist, Richard Nixon is still president, and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union are at an all-time high. The vigilante Rorschach is investigating the murder of a former hero, the Comedian, and uncovers a plot to discredit and murder various heroes. Rorschach discovers a far wider-ranging conspiracy involving his colleagues’ past which could completely change the course of history.

The final runtime for the movie:

Theatrical cut: Two hours and 35 minutes
Director’s cut: Three hours and 10 minutes.
Director’s cut w/ Tale of the Black Freighter – approximately 4 hours and 30 minutes (planned)

Yes, you read that correct, the complete version of this movie is approximately 4 hours and 30 minute. That is nothing but AWESOME. Hopefully they are including a pillow with that cut.

And we can’t forget this classic line:

The world will look up and shout “Save us” and I’ll look down and whisper “No”

Stupid people that make me angry: 8-year old die becuse of stupid parents

Link

LONDON – Eight-year-old Sophie Waller cracked a baby tooth eating candy, and set off the chain of events that led to her death.

Sophie refused to open her mouth for a dentist so doctors at her local hospital took out the tooth in an operation, one of the doctors told a coroner’s inquest. They removed all seven of her other baby teeth at the same time to avoid the need for future operations, the doctor said.

After the surgery Sophie refused to eat or even open her mouth for her parents, the couple told the inquest. But she was sent home anyway, and starved to death three weeks after the operation.

Janet Waller said she and her husband phoned the hospital to express concern about Sophie’s weight loss and refusal to eat, and were told not to bring her in, but to talk to the community child psychologist assigned to the case.

In short:

• Dentist pulls 7 teeth for convenience and without consent from the parents
• The psychologist being totallt retarded and wont acknowledge the problem
• Stupid parents that do nothing while their child eats nothing for three weeks
  

Wow, how do things like this really happen? It seems that the parents tried to enquire about the issue with their daughter but come on, how do you let it go so far that the kid starves to death?! And all the idiotic advice they were recieveing, or the refusal to acknoledge a problem.

The girl sounds like she had psychological issues and it probably was painful to remove 7 teeth at once. Not to mention that she was probably embarrassed to go back to school with a mouth without theeth.

In this case I totally blame the parents. Yes they heard from the doctors and their psychologist that it was ok for her losing a ton in weight and that it was ok  that she hasnt eaten in three weeks (all of these advices were given to the parents without the doctors or psychologist seeing her even once). BUT at some point in time the parents should have realized that their daughter can’t survive on nothing and they should have made sure that their child got some sort of sustenance the same day! It could be through force feeding if it had to. And they should have dragged themselves to the hospital and got her professional help immediatley.

These parents shouldn’t be allowed to have more kids and the doctors should have their license invoked.

Stupid people!!

Israeli legislative election, 2009

Incompetent fool

So, tomorrow Israel is holding their legislative elections. Last-minute israeli polls predict that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party will win. Benjamin is a super right wing conservatist that will just act as a hawk instead of trying to achieve peace or atleast cool down the region. He is the George W Bush of Israel. Nothing good will come out of him ruling the country.

But all hope is not lost becasue he is not an ideologue, he is just a cowardly opportunist who thought that running on a hard line plattform would be th easiest way to get elected. This means that the new Obama administration in the US can and should pressure him to do the right thing. But unfortunately he has been a PM earlier and he was probably the most incompetent PM in teh histroy of Israel. So it’s safe to assume that harsh times are ahead on all fronts.

The good news is that Netanyahu is not an ideologue, he’s a spineless opportunist who figured out running on a hard line platform is the easiest way to get elected. This means that the US can and should pressure him to do the right thing. Also historically, it was always the right wingers who removed settlements, as it is a political impossibility for a liberal government to do so.
The bad news is that he was probably the most incompetent PM in the history of Israel, so it’s safe to assume that rough times are ahead on all fronts.

A Short Hiatus.

Ghengis Khan was Badass!

Did you know that he and his army are thought to have killed around 35 to 40 million people. That’s a little more than the population of Canada, he also conquered 13 million square miles of land (in meter: 33669845434368 m²), so he basically couldn’t walk a mile without leaving three dead bodies in his wake.

Additionally, reports show that he was the father of the generation that went on and produced 0.5% of the worlds’ population. That’s 16 million people. That means for every two persons he killed, he impregnated one.

A famous quote of his is: “No. To crush your enemies, and see them fall at your feet – to take their horses and belongings, and to hear the lamentation of their women. That is the best life.” A phrase most people recognize from the Conan the Barbarian movie.

A highly reputable man. Don’t you agree?