ope...a life di.nota.2
On 4 August 2020, a major explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, triggered by the ignition of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. The chemical, confiscated in 2014 from the cargo ship MV Rhosus and stored at the Port of Beirut without adequate safety measures for six years, detonated after a fire broke out in a nearby warehouse. The explosion resulted in at least 218 fatalities, 7,000 injuries, and approximately 300,000 displaced individuals, alongside property damage estimated at US$15 billion. The blast released energy comparable to 1.1 kilotons of TNT, ranking it among the most powerful non-nuclear explosions ever recorded and the largest single detonation of ammonium nitrate.
Compilation of videos showing explosion.
How Bar-Headed Geese Fly Over the Himalayas
High in the sky fly bar-headed gese. Twice a year, these amazing birds migrate over the Himalayas, the tallest mountains on the planet. Flying requires ten to twenty times more oxygen than resting. Yet at this altitude there's only half to a third of the oxygen.
Bar-headed Geese are adapted to fly in low oxygen conditions. They have larger lungs and breathe more efficiently than other birds. Their hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in the blood, also binds oxygen more tightly than that of other birds.
Amazing photography from astronaut Nichole "Vapor" Ayers on Instagram. An example:
Just. Wow. As we went over Mexico and the U.S. this morning, I caught this sprite.
Sprites are TLEs or Transient Luminous Events, that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below. We have a great view above the clouds, so scientists can use these types of pictures to better understand the formation, characteristics, and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms.
Zooming into a star that detonated twice. From the European Southern Observatory
This video zooms into the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5, the expanding remains of a star that died by detonating twice. This object is located 160 000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy that orbits the Milky Way.
This zoom was made by blending together images taken at different times with different telescopes. The video ends with an image captured with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), which shows the distribution of different chemical elements ejected when the star died. Calcium is shown in blue, and it is arranged in two concentric shells. This indicates that the star exploded with a double detonation.
Beware Of The “Lasagna Cell”: The Danger Of Food And Metals
Reactive pots and pans made of aluminum, cast iron, hammered steel, brass, or copper can react with some chemicals in foods, especially the acids and salts in sauces, brines, and marinades, and they can undergo a chemical reaction and create off flavors, and in rare cases, are toxic.
Perhaps the most extreme example is the lasagna cell. Lasagna lovers often are appalled when they open the fridge or oven and find holes in the foil on top of the pan and black spots on their dinner.
For a better understanding of the process, I asked the AmazingRibs.com science advisor Prof. Greg Blonder. He explained that the cook has essentially created a small battery, a cell, and the electric current running through it has etched away one of the battery’s electrodes. Huh?
The final line of the song (in the studio, live, and "Blurred Vision" versions, in the album and extended versions the line before the final "God works in mysterious ways... Mysterious ways...") is "fried chicken", although the lyrics say "one vision".
To cure hiccups, get a glass of water and a pen or pencil. Place the pen or pencil inside your mouth and lightly bite down on it. Drink the glass of water.
This may be a tad messy.
Remove pen or pencil from mouth. Enjoy your hiccup-free existence.
Bonus points: To avoid potential gastric distress, wash the pen or pencil before you place it in your mouth.
Unless you're into that sorta thing.
I do not judge.
TNG Skant – Uniform Analysis by Obsessive Costuming Dude at the Star Trek Costume Guide (including sewing patterns).
Very detailed info on the skant. For example:
As with all of William Ware Theiss’ TNG-era Starfleet uniform designs, the TNG skants were made of jumbo spandex (except the neckline/yoke piping, which was a lighter-weight spandex). Also typical of Theiss’ TNG-era uniforms, the jumbo spandex was cut with the fabric “weave” oriented horizontally, so the fabric stretched vertically (instead of around the wearer’s body).
The neckline on the screen-used women’s TNG skant I examined was only about 4 ¾” at its widest – about where the shoulder seams were. The lower yoke extended over the shoulder onto the upper sleeve, cut as a continuous piece; there was no “traditional” upper armscye seam.
Here, you can see the slight color/sheen differences between the jumbo spandex and lightweight spandex used for the neckline/yoke trim.
Both the front and back yokes were actually two separate pieces (upper front yoke, lower front yoke, upper back yoke, lower back yoke), with a seam establishing the contour of the yoke piping. The strip of lightweight spandex (used for the yoke piping) was sewn into the yoke seam, and the allowances were pressed upward.
The center front yoke depth of the TNG skant appears to have been comparable to that on the early TNG jumpsuit, although both varied considerably. As you might recall from my TNG jumpsuit analysis, the yoke depth on the jumpsuits fluctuated over the course of the first season and grew significantly deeper over the course of season two.
On the screen-used women’s TNG skant I examined, the vent was 12” on the front panel, but the side panel was slightly shorter, with the vent only being about 11 ¼” tall. The vent allowances were simply turned under and hand-sewn into place via catch-stitching. Curiously, the front vent’s hem allowance was 2″ at the top of the vent, but this widened to 2 ⅜” at the bottom of the vent.
In the early days of the web, pages were made primarily by hobbyists, academics, and computer savvy people about subjects they were personally interested in. Later on, the web became saturated with commercial pages that overcrowded everything else. All the personalized websites are hidden among a pile of commercial pages. Google isn't great at finding them, its focus is on finding answers to technical questions, and it works well; but finding things you didn't know you wanted to know, which was the real joy of web surfing, no longer happens. In addition, many pages today are created using bloated scripts that add slick cosmetic features in order to mask the lack of content available on them. Those pages contribute to the blandness of today's web.
The Wiby search engine is building a web of pages as it was in the earlier days of the internet. In addition, Wiby helps vintage computers to continue browsing the web, as pages indexed are more suitable for their performance.
Physics of badminton’s new killer spin serve
Serious badminton players are constantly exploring different techniques to give them an edge over opponents. One of the latest innovations is the spin serve, a devastatingly effective method in which a player adds a pre-spin just before the racket contacts the shuttlecock (aka the birdie). It's so effective—some have called it "impossible to return"—that the Badminton World Federation (BWF) banned the spin serve in 2023, at least until after the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
The most riveting 9 minutes of scifi filmdom you'll see this year. By Caroline Klidonas.
The Remote Controlled Fart Machine.
30 Louder Fart Sounds! Works up to 100 feet! Boom Box Blaster Feature! Remote Controlled Fart Machine No.2 is the successor to the original, highly-successful fart machine. This replacement has 15 louder sounds and now works up to 100 feet!
Since 1993 T.J. WISEMEN has been the international powerhouse in THE REMOTE CONTROLLED FART MACHINE industry. With worldwide sales in over 28 countries on 7 continents, we blow away all our competition!
The Remote Controlled Fart Machine even won the Spencer's Gifts Item of the Year Award.