Threats to the Western World, and Geopolitical Intelligence
How to Win Your Wife’s Weight in Beer
Every year, the small Finnish town of Sonkajärvi hosts the Wife Carrying World Championships. All men have to do is sprint around an obstacle course while carrying their wives. And the women? They have to hold on tight — which isn’t as easy as it sounds. more…
Photo Gallery: [...]
In theory, the idea is simple: Lower the temperature of the clouds, and scientists could weaken a hurricane or even alter its path. In one scenario, airplanes would spread a layer of soot into the icy clouds at the top of a storm system, cooling them further and slowing the winds. Cut those wind speeds [...]
Scientists and engineers see a world of possibilities in lab-grown diamonds; jewelers are less enthusiastic.
I’m sitting in a fast-food restaurant outside Boston that, because of a nondisclosure agreement I had to sign, I am not allowed to name. I’m waiting to visit Apollo Diamond, a company about as secretive as a Soviet-era spy agency. [...]
Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened its doors on February 26, 2008 to the world.
This ‘Doomsday Vault’ is part of an effort to protect the planet’s diminishing biodiversity.
The facility was dug deep into the frozen rock of an Arctic mountain on Spitsbergen, one of 3 Arpichelago Islands in Norway. Any seeds stored here will be secure [...]
WHAT IF Troy was destroyed by an earthquake? What really brought down the walls of Jericho or the Colossus of Rhodes? These are some of the questions Stanford University geophysicist Amos Nur raises in “Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God” (Princeton University Press: 324 pp., $26.95), a book that posits seismicity — rather [...]
Whole yak penis or sheep testicles on a bed of curry, anyone? A Beijing restaurant serves painstakingly decorated gourmet dishes for the fearless. They’re supposed to increase male potency, but women should try a bite, too: Eating penis is good for the skin, apparently. By Stephan Orth in Beijing more…
Photo Gallery: Beijing’s Penis Restaurant
Bigger than [...]
For a decade, metallurgists studying the hulk of the Titanic have argued that the storied ocean liner went down quickly after hitting an iceberg because the ship’s builder used substandard rivets that popped their heads and let tons of icy seawater rush in. More than 1,500 people died.
Now a team of scientists has moved into [...]
In which our heroine Su Fei goes around Beijing, asking Chinese people what their English names are, and why they need them. Who said China is not a creative country? - Starring Su Fei, shot and edited by Luke Mines, with music by Fernando Fidanza
Watch the YouTube video here.
Check out the Sexy Beijing series here.
Sexy [...]
Modern-day scientific Magellans and Columbus’s, exploring the uncharted seas at the fringes of the Periodic Table of the Elements, have landed on one long-sought island - the fabled Island of Stability, home of a new genre of superheavy chemical elements sought for more than three decades.
Read More…
With populations moving closer to coasts and development proceeding at breakneck pace, is disaster in store?
By mid-century, more than half of the U.S. population will live within a day’s drive of a coast or lakeshore. Once the realm of small villages and ocean-based economies, these areas are now heavily developed and populated with tourists and [...]
Almost indistinguishable from the average insect, these cyborg spies will provide our military and counter-terrorism specialists with a huge surveillance advantage.
The U.S. military could deploy the cyborgs in hostage situations or even send them into enemy barracks. The goal is to engineer insects that can fly up to 300 feet away, land within 15 feet [...]
OK, what’s the capital of Comoros, and how many coup attempts has it suffered since gaining independence in 1975? What’s the life expectancy in Burkina Faso, and how many kilometres of roads does it have, both paved and unpaved? What’s the highest point in Hungary, and when does the country next hold elections? If you [...]
A leader of German military reservists has called for the reintroduction of the Iron Cross, a centuries-old soldier’s honor marred by the Nazis. But some say the medal is too burdened by its own past. more…
From ‘Anschluss’ to ‘Zyklon B’: New Dictionary Highlights Nazi Words to Avoid
Think redoing your kitchen is a headache? Imagine supervising one of these megaprojects. From the Panama Canal to the Yangtze River, the FP List looks at the most massive construction undertakings on the planet.
Read More…
The next time you’re juggling options — which friend to see, which house to buy, which career to pursue — try asking yourself this question: What would Xiang Yu do?
Xiang Yu was a Chinese general in the third century B.C. who took his troops across the Yangtze River into enemy territory and performed an experiment [...]
The search for looted Nazi gold and the so-called Amber Room continued on Tuesday in Deutschneudorf, a village in eastern Germany. Nothing has been found yet, but the treasure hunters remain confident. more…
Digging For Nazi Treasure: German Treasure Hunters Claim to Have Found Amber Room
Photo Gallery: The Fabled Amber Room
Terahertz scanners have already been used at NASA, the European Space Agency, and at airports to look beneath people’s clothes for concealed weapons. Now researchers are turning “T-rays” on church walls — and hoping to revolutionize art history in the process. By Angelika Franz more…
Photo Gallery: ‘T-Rays’ Reveal Secrets of Lost Art
Digging For Nazi Treasure: [...]
Has the Amber Room, the 18th-century chamber decoration the Nazis stole from the Soviet Union in World war II, finally been found? German treasure hunters say they may have solved the decades-old mystery. By David Crossland more…
Photo Gallery: The Fabled Amber Room
Russia eyeing return of Amber Room
United Press International - 3 hours ago
22 (UPI) — Russian [...]
A German song that is riding high on the country’s charts has ruffled diplomatic feathers as a result of its mixing of geographic and scatological issues. But the singer of “Finger in the Butt, Mexico” is unrepentant.
Read More…
Get airborne with the astonishingly realistic flight simulator hidden away in Google Earth
Most people have heard of Google Earth, the interactive world map that cleverly mashes satellite photography, 3-D graphics and internet data. Few, however, have fully explored it.
Did you know, for example, that it contains an amazingly realistic secret flight simulator? Or that you [...]
Nevada’s Groom Lake Is Homey Airport
Pilots beware! Your GPS contains the airport identifier and location of Groom Lake — where they keep the space aliens at Area 51, in Nevada — and it’s one airport you don’t want to fly into.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) recently noted the information has been in flight-planning [...]
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jun | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
