Wednesday 26 June 2013

The Earthquake Rose

When a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook Olympia in 2001, Jason Ward (A shop Owner) discovered that a sand-tracing pendulum had recorded the vibrations in the picture. Seismologists speak that the “flower” at the center reflects the higher-frequency waves that arrived first, the outer, larger-amplitude oscillations record the lower-frequency waves that arrived later. You never think about an earthquake as being artistic, it’s violent and destructive. But in the middle of all that chaos, this fine, delicate artwork was created. The following two images are close-ups of the design made by the quake. The second is contrast enhanced to help you see more detail. Is it possible that there is beauty in the midst chaos and destruction? You be the judge.




Monday 24 June 2013

Wubbo Ockels Superbus

In the Netherlands registered a bus that can travel at speeds up to 250 km / h The ceremony was attended issuing registration numbers and Minister of Infrastructure of the Netherlands Melanie Schultz van Hogen Maas Geesteranus. Melanie then swept behind the wheel Wubbo Superbus. It is assumed that these “buses” will run between the major cities of the country by a dedicated lanes are built next to the existing highways. Wubbo Ockels Superbus boasts of having 16 doors and is capable of carrying up to 23 passengers with an exceptional level of comfort.







Daredevil Nik Wallenda Completes tightrope walk near Grand Canyon

Daredevil Nik Wallenda completed a record-breaking 1,400-feet-long tightrope high wire walk over a portion of the Little Colorado River Gorge in Northeastern Arizona on Sunday 23 June, 2013 without a safety net or harness. The walk, which was live streamed by Discovery Channel, was 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon. Using the same 2-inch-thick steel cable he used to cross the Niagara Falls last year. Nik Wallenda performed the stunt on a 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet above the river on the Navajo Nation near the Grand Canyon. He took just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the rope swayed.  Winds blowing across the gorge had been expected to be around 30 mph. Nik great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, fell during a performance in Puerto Rico and died at the age of 73 and many other family members, including a cousin and an uncle, have perished while performing wire walking stunts. He was performing with his family and has dreamed of crossing the Grand Canyon when he was a teenager. Sunday's stunt comes a year after he traversed Niagara Falls earning a seventh Guinness world record.


A Wild Idea

My colleague said that when they had dreams of a floating house just as the one appeared in Pixar movie “Up”. But a team from National Geographic has built a real “Up” using 300 helium-filled weather balloons and managed to get the house 10,000 feet up into the air. National Geographic Channel and a team of scientists, engineers and two world class balloon pilots effectively launched a house measuring 16 feet by 16 feet and 18 feet high, using 300 eight-foot colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles. The launch is inspired by the Pixar film “Up” set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted.  The house and balloons measured more than 10 storey’s high and reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet, flying for roughly one hour.  The record will be part of a new National Geographic Channel TV series has made a record of this experiment and you’ll find it in “How Hard Can it Be” series.











Sunday 23 June 2013

First Double Decker cable car in Mount Stanserhorn in Switzerland.

A new cable car system lets guests enjoy fresh air and great scenic views around Mount Stanserhorn in Switzerland. It seems that double-decker cable car has an open upper deck and riding to the top of the 1,900-meter Mount Stanserhorn with the fast wind in your hair, the stunning blue sky above you and a fantastic 360° panorama. That is the novel concept of the new cable car to replace the one from Kälti to Stanserhorn. I am sure it must be a crazy idea? Perhaps today we can see that it was a thoroughly viable one and so-called “CabriO” cable car is the world’s first cable car with a roofless upper deck. The very comfortable double-decker is the very newest in cable car technology. The lower level has space for 60 peoples, and an elegant staircase leads up to the sun deck, which has room for about 30 peoples. The riders can enjoy 360° panoramic views and fresh mountain air. The cable car moves on two side-mounted support cables a latest technological innovation of Garaventa AG, a central Swiss cable car company.
The latest cable car vision is to enhance the experience during the journey and offering the guests a new dimension in the new kind of cable car, and off course it was a great challenge for engineers, architects and builders and fact that the project was almost completely Swiss made from the initial idea down to the last screw. The investment volume for the new cable car project amounts to 28.1 million Swiss francs. Launched in 2010, the recapitalization was so successful that it was oversubscribed within a short time and some seven million francs mainly from locals flowed into the project.  The ride up to Stanserhorn is also a journey through local history. One witness is the old-timer funicular from Stans to Kälti. When it opened in 1893, it broke the record for the world’s longest funicular. Indeed, pioneers have enjoyed an affinity with Stanserhorn for some 120 years.
The new CabriO cable car in figures:

Length:                                2,320 meters
Base station:                     711 meters above sea level
Mountain station:             1,850 meters above sea level
Capacity:                             60 people
Conveying capacity:       465 guests per hour
Speed:                                 8 meters per second
Journey time:                    6 minutes, 24 seconds
Investment:                        CHF 28.1 million





Wednesday 5 June 2013

No Exams till Grade Four

In Japanese schools, the students don't get any Exams until they reach grade four (the age of 10) because the goal for the first 3 years of schools is not to judge the child's knowledge or learning, but to establish good manners and to develop their character.  These are beautiful little children and there is nothing wrong with this kind of schooling. Learning manners (which you have not) and building their character (which, again, you are lacking) Our world would be a better place with learning these 2 basic principles. Should be introduce in every school around the world.