Topic: STRANGE - on August 16, 2009 at 2:21:00 PM CEST
Skydiver survives 10,000ft fall to the ground
Paul Lewis, 40, jumped from a plane and plummeted through the air before crashing on to the roof of a hangar at Tilstock Airfield in Whitchurch, Shropshire.
He was rescued by firefighters and treated for head and neck injuries, before being airlifted to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, in Stoke-on-Trent.
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Topic: STRANGE - on August 16, 2009 at 2:18:00 PM CEST
Fallschirmspringer überlebt 3000 Meter freien Fall
Ein Kameramann in England hat auf spektakuläre Weise einen missglückten Fallschirmsprung überstanden. Nach dem Absprung öffnete sich sein Schirm nicht: Der Mann stürzte im freien Fall 3000 Meter tief, krachte auf das Dach eines Flughafengebäudes - und brach sich keinen einzigen Knochen.
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Topic: Glaubensfragen - on August 16, 2009 at 2:17:00 PM CEST
The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams
Man the maker looks at his world and says, “So who made this, then?” Who made this?—you can see why it’s a treacherous question. Early man thinks, “Well, because there’s only one sort of being I know about who makes things, whoever made all this must therefore be a much bigger, much more powerful and necessarily invisible, one of me, and because I tend to be the strong one who does all the stuff, he’s probably male.” And so we have the idea of a God. Then, because when we make things, we do it with the intention of doing something with them, early man asks himself, “If he made it, what did he make it for?” Now the real trap springs, because early man is thinking, “This world fits me very well. Here are all these things that support me and feed me and look after me; yes, this world fits me nicely,” and he reaches the inescapable conclusion that whoever made it, made it for him.
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Topic: NATURE - on August 16, 2009 at 2:15:00 PM CEST
Catwalk der Kamele
Wer hat den hübschesten Höcker, die längsten Beine, die niedlichste Nase, den prallsten Hintern? Beim jährlichen Schaulauf der Kamele im Emirat Abu Dhabi geht es zu wie bei einer Miss-Wahl. Doch es zählt nicht nur Aussehen - sondern vor allem viel Geld.
Nebel liegt über der Wüste, dicht wie ein Sandsturm. Im Schutz der Dunkelheit schleichen Kundschafter von Lager zu Lager. Vor vier Wochen sind Beduinenkarawanen aus Oman, Saudi-Arabien, Katar und anderen Ländern über die Arabische Halbinsel gezogen, um hier, an einem abgelegenen Ort im Emirat Abu Dhabi, an einer der großen gesellschaftlichen Veranstaltungen Arabiens teilzunehmen: dem jährlichen Schönheitswettbewerb der Kamele.
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Topic: Online-Fahndung - on August 16, 2009 at 12:09:00 PM CEST
Australian Law Proposal to Turn ISPs Into Copyright Cops
There’s a disturbing new development in Australia. A law proposal was disclosed to the public that would get ISPs to spy on the contents of all communications to monitor for compliance. Presumably, the amendments would get Australian ISPs to monitor their networks for p2p activity and hand all their information to copyright holders.
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Topic: GOOGLE - on August 16, 2009 at 12:05:00 PM CEST
Integrating 50 centimeter data from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
Today at the Camp Roberts exercise we integrated 50 centimeter data form the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) into our mapping stack, which is acting as a "incident" visualization dashboard. In short, Robert and Tom have built a lightweight Drupal aggregation hub sucking in Pakistan and Afghanistan incident reports coming in from both Relief Web and IRIN. The incidents are being geo-tagged thanks to Alex's (who is back in the DC office) work on a lightweight geo-coding tool that we have been investing in with the support of the Knight Foundation.
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Topic: DRUGS - on August 16, 2009 at 12:04:00 PM CEST
U.S. Seeds New Crops to Supplant Afghan Poppies
The Obama administration is overhauling its strategy for eliminating Afghanistan's flourishing drug trade, a key source of funds for the Taliban. Its plan hinges on persuading farmers like Mohammed Walid to grow something other than poppies.
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Topic: NATURE - on August 16, 2009 at 12:01:00 PM CEST
Thai elephant gets artificial leg
A 48-year-old Thai elephant has been fitted with an permanent artificial leg, 10 years after losing a limb from treading on a land mine.
Motola was measured up at an elephant hospital on Saturday before experts made the leg and fitted it on Sunday.
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Topic: MUSIK - on August 16, 2009 at 11:56:00 AM CEST
Noiseless USB Karaoke Mic
For those of you who enjoy singing Karaoke in the comfort of your own home, it's likely that your neighbors don't share your enthusiasm. You'll be pleased to hear, however, that there is a way that you can continue to sing all night long without bothering the folks next door.
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