WIGGUM DAILY

 

Italian IT Engineering student Danny Benedettelli has built a two part solution to automatically solve that 80’s puzzle sensation the RUBIK’S CUBE.

 

This compilation video show two large explosions resulting from industrial accidents in the USA.

 

 

You can read more about the 1988 PEPCON fire and explosion here and here.  PEPCON are the people who manufacture the fuel for NASA’s space shuttle and it’s SRB’s (Solid Rocket Boosters).  The SRB’s are those two big tanks strapped to the side of the space shuttle at launch and provide the shuttle with 83% of it’s total thrust, before being jettisoned into the ocean for later recovery and re-use.  You can see the magnitude of the explosions by the way the ground rumbles, just like those videos you see when they are conducting underground nuclear tests. I love the sound made by the approaching shockwave.

 

 

 

If you’re going to try this at (someone else’s) home, and we highly recommend that you do , always remember to use DIET softdrinks so there’s not a sticky mess to cleanup.  Just a wet mess. My favourite part of this is the drips from the ceiling

 

This video proclaims to demonstrate the production of instant-ice using noting more than common household items. Have a look for yourself.

 

 

I‘m guessing that the liquid in the glass is less than pure H2O to begin with. I’m guessing it’s more likely a super saturated solution of sodium acetate than just regular tap water. The tiny amount of salt he puts in would hardly alter the amount already present in tap water. Nor would the addition of salt aid in the expulsion of heat from water. Unlike the exothermic reactions possible with a sssa solution.

 

Observe…   (the straw and salt are for smoke-and-mirrors, distraction effect only)

 

 

I‘m not putting that "ice" anywhere near my glass of 12yo single malt scotch   

 

 

It’s colourless, odourless, non-toxic, and non-flammable. Just like tofu. And much like tofu, Sulphur Hexaflouride gas is also six times denser than air which means it can be stored happily in open containers without escaping. We’ve all seen the crazy helium voices people can make when sucking in lungfuls of that inert gas.  Have you ever wondered if there was such a thing as anti-helium ?  Well according to the anti-periodic table there is no elemental gas that meets the requirements, however the molecular gas sulphur hexafluoride DOES fit the bill nicely.  Observe…

 

 

Now with the help of sulphur hexaflouride, or SF6 as he’s known to his friends,  you can sound just like soul legend Barry White at a moments notice. Sure to impress the ladies… or have them running onto the streets in fear, it’s all good.  

 

 

Dutch artisit Theo Jansen calls himself a kinetic sculptor (what ever THAT is… ) who builds mechanical works of art that are self-powered by the wind. Whatever it is he does, Theo is a very clever man with an amazing "da Vinci" like vision for the structure and movement of the natural world. The results are spectacular…

 

THE STRANDBEEST 

 

BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP… That should be the thought running through your mind everyday if you own a computer. If your not doing it now, then you will. I’m not going to be too preachy here because I believe that the critical importance of GOOD data back is one of those things in life that has to be learnt, rather than taught. People only implement a solid data backup solution AFTER they have lost critical data at some point in their lives. I know that’s what happened to me many years ago.

 

Loosing mission critical data at some point in your life is not a matter of IF, but WHEN.  If it’s already happened to you, then you know the pain and loss involved. You’ve just lost years worth of irreplaceable digital photographs, or weeks worth of school assignments, or the last four years of your company finicial records and employee data, or ALL of the above if it’s all on the one machine. You already know that when it  happens, you would pay just about anything to have that data back.  Unfortunately this is more than often not possible. And in cases where it is possible, recovery requires the services of specialised data recovery firms, using highly specialist equipment, working in clean-rooms, to recover the data. This level of service will typically cost several thousand dollars just for them to take a look and give you an assessment. Then add many many thousands more to actually recover your data.

 

ENTER DROBO.

 

Drobo is the first consumer device of it’s kind to hit the market and has the potential to bring affordable enterprise level data security to the home user. Despite it’s name, Drobo is not a robot of any kind. It won’t walk around your computer desk searching for errant 1’s and 0’s. It’s just a box. But a very useful and clever box. I won’t explain it all here because the video does a much better job.

 

 

First things first. You WILL need headphones for this otherwise you might as well not bother. It won’t work. For those willing to take a few minutes to follow it through it’s worth your effort. If you’ve been reading this site for some time, you know that I’m NOT here to waste your time. If it wasn’t worth doing, I wouldn’t post it.

 

I suggest downloading the audio file onto your iPod or similar MP3 player. Put in your earbuds, sit down in your favourite chair, press PLAY and relax while our crew gives you a virtual trim and tidy up in the WD Barbershop. When listened to properly, in a quite room, with good earphones, this is a freakily cool experience. I’ve said too much already. Just download the sound file by RIGHT-CLICKING on the link below and SAVE-AS, and enjoy your virtual hair cut courtesy of the WD Team.

 

Get Your Virtual Haircut Here… 

 

In Spain the rain stays mainly on the plain… Well apparently NOT according to the folks who’ve built this amazing working full scale, production solar power tower to generate electricity near the city of Seville.  You can click on the pics below to get a look at this marvel of modern engineering, but you need to watch the video to get a true appreciation for the enormous scale of it all.

 

        

 

The good folk over at NASA’s always interesting APoD have a real visual gem today. This photo of an AURORA taken near BEAR LAKE by US Airforce Senior Airman Joshua Strang in 2005 while stationed in ALASKA is visually stunning.