As the title states, my 20 year old cousin, Sam, is studying abroad in Alexandria, Egypt. Unfortunately, a student from a different program in his resident hall became a victim of the pandemic swine flu, subsequently quarantining Sam, and the rest of residence hall for a period of seven days.
Sam's struggle for survival and sanity are chronicled in his blog, which can be found at: http://quarantinedegypt.wordpress.com/
Each entry combines depressing realism and hilarious hyperbole to give you a new perspective on how awful Egypt is... definitely check it out!
As a brand, the W chain of boutique hotels has practically claimed the concept of luxury to be its own; turning their properties into - must-do destinations for the hip, famous and wealthy. Just the mention of a new W property going under construction creates an immediate buzz that few other international brands could generate.
The latest W, and quite possibly the jewel in W's empire - is the newly opened W Retreat & Spa in Fesdu Island, Maldives. Already critics and patrons seem to agree its as close to paradise as you'll find on earth; a luxury playground whose physical beauty is almost overwhelming, where guests are totally indulged on every level.
The W experience begins even before you even arrive. Male airport boasts a chic W operated transfer lounge, where guests are greeted with all the modern conveniences of a big city airport - drinks, food, magazines, plasma TV and internet. It's here that new arrivals are supplied with a W kit before boarding the seaplane to W's private island.
...I bet that kit includes some Grey Poupon
[Link: TheCoolHunter]
The frozen pizza factory in this video manufactures 2 million pizzas a week! The entire process is completely automated from the application of sauce to the dicing of pepperonis. Factory location-- Naas, Northern Ireland.
Sorry I couldn't embed the video in this post- BBC is strict about the sharing of its copyrighted content.
[Link: BBC]
As shown above in the picture that I edited (poorly) in Paintbrush, the U.S. Air Force and Boeing have equipped a C-130 plane with an Advanced Tactical Laser for initial air-to-air tests. In September, it finally blasted something: A truck. Which is pretty sweet although there were no Michael Bay explosions or showers of twisted metal. Booo.
The parked truck's hood and engine gets burned through like butter, and as you can see in the video, the accuracy is pretty amazing. The laser can produce between 100-300 kW of power, and the next step is to trial it on moving targets. Even though the Air Force has scaled back the ambitious program's funding, perhaps we may still see the laser make it to battlefields. Maybe on the next gen of Predator drones that will spy over Afghanistan in 2011?
Predator with lasers? Oh man. The U.S. Air Force fucking rules. Reason 590344 why the United States is the best country in the world.
[Link: PopularScience]
How's the gravity where you live? The GOCE satellite, gliding on its drag-free ion drive, is mapping which parts of the Earth pull harder than others...
After six months of testing and very careful calibration, the European Space Agency’s GOCE satellite is sending back its first data sets as it now begins precisely mapping tiny variations in Earth’s magnetic field. How does one go about mapping the Earth’s fundamental force? As it turns out, very, very carefully.
The Gravity field and steady state Ocean Circulation Explorer launched from Russia in March with the aim of creating a better understanding of Earth’s gravity and in turn the natural processes of our planet. Though gravity obviously exists everywhere on the planet, it is not distributed evenly across the planet’s surface. Geological differences like mountains or ocean trenches, density variations within the Earth’s crust and mantle, and the rotation of the Earth can cause slight changes to gravitational force. Knowledge of these changes is crucial to accurately measuring ocean circulation and sea levels.
Very interesting, although the bulk of these findings will be used towards an understanding of the interior processes that occur beneath the Earth- near the core. So, unless you're a geoscientist, the ensuing discoveries won't mean much.
An industrious Swede spent 20,000 hours putting together this full-sized Batmobile replica. Built on a 1973 Lincoln Continental chassis, it's loaded with gadgetry, including machine guns, video cameras to see behind you, height-adjustable bodywork, and there's even a plasma TV stuffed in there somewhere.
The 700-horsepower techno-sportster is a one-of-a-kind creation, three-and-a-half years in the making. Check out this video:
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