CarlosLabs, a design firm based in Sydney, created a Google Maps mashup of cities around the world and what they would look like if hit by various nuclear devices. You can choose your city and then a weapon (Fat Man, Little Boy, Tsar Bomba, Asteroid) and press "Nuke it!" and then see the extent of thermal damage.
The concentric circles of different colors mean different physical effects. The center of the circle is conflagration, where most people would die within 24 hours. The purple circle means 3rd degree burns, requiring medical care. The pink circle means 2nd degree burns, like burns from boiling water. And the yellow outermost circle means 1st degree burns, like a sunburn.
The map here shows the extent of damage if a nuclear device was dropped on Los Angeles.
carloslabs - check it out here - just search the place, choose the weapon and 'nuke it'!!!!
Some 4,000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are set to be decommissioned during this century. Instead of blowing them up, which costs milions of dollars and destroys marine life, how about converting them into an American Dubai of offshore luxury hotels?
Morris Architects proposes creating a self-sufficient, eco-friendly high-end resort experience in the Gulf of Mexico. The rooms could be pre-fabricated, designed to be transported out to the rig as a standard cargo container.
Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG fantasizes about what would happen next.
Image via Morris Architects
“Of course, if the real Dubai is any model for what might actually happen with such a resort, then we’ll probably see dozens of oil rigs partially converted to luxury hotels only to be abandoned by their construction crews and investors. As the lands of southern Louisiana continue to disappear into the Gulf, heavily armed refugees on fishing boats will move out to sea, recolonizing the derelict structures. There will be campfires at night, burning driftwood, and specialty gardens.”
– Geoff Manaugh, BLDGBLOG
By popular request, here are the neatolicious fun facts for ... beer:
1. Beer is old stuff: Recipe found in 4,000-year-old Sumerian tablet
The first references to beer dates to as early as 6,000 BC. The very first recipe for
beer is found on a 4,000-year-old Sumerian tablet containing the Hymn to Ninkasi,
a prayer to the goddess of brewing. It tells how to brew beer from barley:
The filtering vat, which makes
a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on [top of]
a large collector vat.
Ninkasi, the filtering vat,
which makes a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on [top of]
a large collector vat.
If you're curious as to how the world's oldest beer tastes like, the
Anchor Brewing Company produced a limited edition beer
(under the Ninkasi label) based on the recipe.
2. Beer is not mentioned in the bible
Wine was mentioned - many times, but not beer. Instead, the Bible mentioned
"strong drink," which some translated as fermented beverage made from grain
(i.e. beer). (Source)
3. The Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock Because It Ran Out of Beer
The Mayflower was supposed to sail to the mouth of the Hudson River, near
present-day New York City - but the Pilgrims decided to head to Plymouth Bay
because they were low on beer.
Colonists William Bradford and Edward Winslow wrote this first-hand account:
"We could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals
being much spent, especially our beer ..."
Why did the ship carry beer? It's because unlike water, beer don't go bad on
long ocean voyages - but lest you think the shipmates were all plastered all the
time, the type of beer they carried was "ship's beer," which wasn't very alcoholic.
(Source: The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams - though consider this rebuttal by
Bob Skilnik, author of Beer & Food: An American History)
The strongest beer in the world was the Sam Adams
Utopias MMII, a limited-run (only 3,000 bottles were
made) production by Boston Beer Co. It weighs in at
24 percent alcohol by volume in a mini, old-school,
copper-brewing kettles. If you want to get one, be
prepared to shell out at least $100.
hop vine (a cousin of the hemp, actually).
Early beers didn't use hops - instead, they were flavored
with wild rosemary, coriander, ginger, anise seed, juniper
berries and even wood bark.
Hop was used as flavorings as early as 400 BC by captive Jews in Babylon, but historians
think that the real reason it was used as additive was for its antiseptic properties. By adding
hops, brewers didn't have to have high alcohol content to prevent spoilage. This meant less
grains and therefore more profit. (Source)
6. Beer in a Bag
Quick - how many different ways of transporting beer can you think of?
Bottles, glass, cans and kegs? You've missed one: in China, you can buy beer in a plastic bag!
7. St. Arnold: Patron Saint of Brewing
St. Medard's Abbey in Soissons, France, began to brew beer.
He encouraged the locals to drink beer instead of water for its
health benefits (beer was healthier than water mainly because
it was boiled and thus sterilized from pathogens). No wonder they made him a saint!
8. How do you say Beer in Zulu?
Utshwala.
This website will help: here's how to say Beer in 78 Languages. Or if you want to order a beer in 50 languages.
9. "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" That's what Benjamin Franklin said, anyhow.
If you like the roses above, or just forgot about Valentine’s Day until all the roses were sold out, there’s an easy to follow instruction guide for them over on Instructables right now.
Psst, parents: are you sick and tired of your whiny baby? Want to raise a tough kid that
will take on real life and beat it so bad that it screams uncle? Here's the Neatorama guide
on how to toughen up your child:
First of all, you've got to start right. Remember, whatever doesn't kill your offspring
makes him or her tougher.
Melissa Williamson, 35, of Roanoke, Virginia, got the right idea - and from the looks of it,
the noise is the last thing the baby has to fear: Link
Forget a cozy and cute playpen - be sure to awaken your baby's animal instinct by raising him in a cage. Better yet, an electrified one, like this piece titled Mama Tried by Jack Daws.
Next, surround your baby with weapons of all kinds. Like these stainless steel baby crib and stroller
worthy of a lil' Klingon, created by Chinese artist Shi Jinsong - viaInvizible Red.
Next, your kid needs street cred, and nothing spells bad ass like knuckle tattoos:
This one is done by Italian photography company LSD s.l.r (Previously on Neatorama), but you can get your own Baby Tattoos
Daily ablutions is a necessity, even for tough kids. But don't coddle them with that no-tears shampoo.
After decades of coddling young kids, even Johnson & Johnson got the message with their new
shampoo: Nothing But Tears! (Previously on Neatorama)
All parents with tough kids know that pets are a must. But dogs and cats are for sissy kids.
Tough kids play with ... cobra!
a cutesy memory book if you can have this one: Baby's First Tattoo:
A Memory Book for Modern Parents
For years parents have been buying baby books to document all the precious moments in their new baby's life -- Baby's First Tooth, Baby's First Haircut, Baby's First Step. What have been ignored for too long are those "alternative" precious moments that really should be written down, celebrated, and remembered -- Baby's First Projectile Vomit, Baby's First Tantrum in a Crowded Grocery Store, Baby's 10,000th Dirty Diaper. Otherwise you might forget them and think of becoming parents once again.
How about you? Got any suggestions on how to raise a tough kid? Let's see 'em in the comments ...
or my kid will go to your house and beat you up!
Oxfam has just "recruited a crack team of Green Grannies" to launch Oxfam's Lifestyles Campaign.
If you don't like the look of Barbara, the Oxfam granny – and really how could you not like her? – then there's always Betty, the WI's Green Granny who advises on using tea bags on soil instead of compost and cleaning the sink using bicarb and lemon juice as part of the W-Icon series with Sky.
Behold, the Beer Bottle Dominoes. Apparently, this is what Danes do for fun in Denmark: Link [embedded YouTube clip]
What Google Earth did for mapping the Earth they now plan to do for the Earth’s oceans. Launched February 2,Ocean in Google Earth will allow users to navigate underwater without a snorkel, exploring shipwrecks, algal blooms, maps of tiny phytoplankton, even the homes of the jaunty nudibranchs. Within the layers, users can check out multimedia features that combine data and maps with videos, quizzes and other interactives, as well as photos from National Geographic. The idea for Google Ocean came about after Google Geo Products director John Hanke had a conversation a few years ago with NatGeo explorer-in-residence Sylvia Earle, marine biologist and tireless champion of the ocean and its inhabitants. She told John when he was working on Google Earth: "I hope someday, John, you’ll finish [Google Earth]. You’ve done a great job with the dirt, but there’s all that water out there– the world is blue."
In addition to National Geographic, several well-known marine institutions such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Scripps, and Woods Hole have contributed data.
[YouTube - Link]
When reporting a sad news about Molly Bish, a 16-year-old girl who disappeared eight years ago, WFSB Connecticut news anchor Kara Sundlund came face to face with an unlikely suspect … |
You know about the Miss America and Miss Universe beauty pageants. You are probably also aware of child beauty pageants, bodybuilding contests, transexual pageants, and pageants for married women. Then there are the odd beauty pageants. Last August, an Italian priest proposed an online beauty pageant for nuns. One day later, he rescinded the idea under pressure from local and religious authorities. But there are plenty of other beauty pageants that stray far from what you are used to.
The aim of the contest is to select the contestant who best exhibits the characteristics of an elephant, by virtue of her grace, elegance and size, to help promote elephant conservation causes in Thailand.
However, it appears that the last Jumbo Queen was crowned in 2005.
