Wonderful Baseball Catch!
Masato Akamatsu, outfielder for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, runs up the wall and denies Yokohoma’s Shuichi Murata a home run during a game on August 3, 2010.
Ray Gun Warfare Is Here
American, Russian, French, British, Swedish, and Chinese anti-ship missiles that fly at supersonic speeds and are now programmed to maneuver evasively as they attack. For several decades, the defense modern navies have used against those threats are computer-automated, radar-guide modern Gatling guns that fire hundreds of spent-uranium bullets at attacking aircraft or missiles. However, even those guns can overwhelmed if too many aircraft or missiles attack a ship.
The U.S. Navy is experimenting with laser guns defenses. Here’s a video, shown at the Farnborough (UK) Airshow this summer, which shows a 32-kilowatt infrared laser illuminating and setting fire to the wingtip of a remotely-controlled drone aircraft. The laser was built by Raytheon Missile Systems of Tuscon, Arizona. “Three similar drones were also successfully engaged at militarily significant distances by the solid-state laser” in May and June, said Mike Booen, the firm’s vice president. “It’s a world first over open sea.”
Ray gun warefare is a reality.
My Lecture in Singapore
I was honored on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, to give the Singapore Press Holdings Foundation’s third annual Media Lecture, before an audience of 400 people in the Drama Centre of the National Library of Singapore. Here is Razor TV’s news coverage of the speech.
Spain A ‘Sure Thing’ in the 2010 World Cup?
Bookmakers’ odd are out for the 2010 World Cup. Most favor Spain. In fact, bookmakers StanJames.com will refund new client’s betting registration fee if Spain wins. The firm currently gives these odds on the favorite teams:
- Spain 4/1
- Brazil 4/1
- Argentina 6/1
- England 15/2
- Netherlands 9/1
- Germany 14/1
- Italy 16/1
- France 20/1
New York Harbour in Autumn Light
I’m pleased that my aerial photo above will be in the Museum of Modern Art’s ‘Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront‘ exhibit, March 24-October 11th, 2010.
‘IsoTruss’ Bikes Beyond Carbon Fiber
I’ve been amazed by the past 20 years of progress in racing bicycle technology due to advance materials. The first reasonably affordable titanium-frame racing bicycles starting appearing in 1990 and shortly after 2000 the first reasonably affordable carbon-fiber-framed appeared. We now have the first new advancement: carbon fiber bicycle frames that aren’t entirely solid.
Above is a photo of the $10,000 (US) Delta 7 road bike. The junctions in its frame are made of regular carbon fiber but the main tubes of the frame consist of an open latticework of carbon fiber/Kevlar strings woven into a network of isosceles triangles. That latticework is up to 12 times stronger than steel but weighs ten times less.
Learn Broadcast Journalism in Two Minutes
From Charlie Brooker of BBC4 in London.
Roughing It On Safari
Emma hadn’t before been camping, and had some apprehension about sleeping in a tent. Pity us having to sleep in this one. July 20-21, 2009. Shamwari Game Reserve, near Sidbury, Eastern Cape, Republic of South Africa.
The Decade's Most Egregious Retouching Scandals
A few years ago, I posted an item here about American marketers retouching actresses’ photos to make their bosoms more buxom. Newsweek magazine recently published a photo story about the decade’s most egregious retouching scandals. I particularly like ‘the many shades of Beyoncé’.
The World's Best Hotels and the World's Dirtiest
TripAdvisor.com has released its 2010 list of the world’s best hotels and its list of the dirtiest, as selected by travelers themselves.
Absolutely the Wrong Lover
I couldn’t resist posting this, simply because it’s so sad: An innocent person picks the wrong lover. Absolutely, the wrong lover—a charismatic client of the photography studio where she works as a secretary. But even though she doesn’t know or understand his true character until almost the very end, she stick with him until the end.
The Bayeux Tapestry Animated
My niece Meredith pointed me towards David Newton‘s animation of the Bayeux Tapestry. Even without animation, people in the Medieval Period must of thought of it telling its story that way. I remember seeing the 70-meter long original in Bayeux during 1972.