Beads

| Olympus C4000 | F/2.8 | 9.1 mm Super Macro Mode | 1/50 Sec | ISO175 | No Flash | Post Processing: Resizing, Crop, Levels |


Just don't ask me what that is :p

Dandelions

| Olympus C4000 | F/2.8 Aperture Piority | 19.1 mm | 1/30 Sec | ISO100 | No Flash | Post Processing: resizing |

Very very cliche, I know. I still like it though.

Just swim the atlantic.

I cant seem to decide if this is a joke (on the same lines as google moonbase and google gulp after all April 1'st isn't too far away) or it is a system error. Check out the driving directions from Boston MA to Le Havre in France :



In case you missed it, look at step 9 again. yes, Swim 3,462 miles across the Atlantic. nice.

via boingboing

Series Summation

And so I shall return to my favorite topic... mathematics

Consider the series: S = 1-2+3-4+5-6...

Method 1 for solving:
S = (1-2)+(3-4)+(5-6)+... = (-1)+(-1)+(-1)+... = -Infinity

Method 2 for solving:
S = 1-(2-3)-(4-5)-(6-7)+... = 1+1+1+... = Infinity

Hence, -Infinity = Infinity. Obviously wrong, unless you believe that the number line is not indeed a line, but a loop with an extremely large radius, hence appearing to be a line to us mortals.

What's the fallacy in the above argument?

Darwin Awards (Only an honorable mention though)

(1982, California) Larry Walters of Los Angeles is one of the few to contend for the Darwin Awards and live to tell the tale. "I have fulfilled my 20-year dream," said Walters, a former truck driver for a company that makes TV commercials. "I'm staying on the ground. I've proved the thing works."

Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. But fates conspired to keep him from his dream. He joined the Air Force, but his poor eyesight disqualified him from the job of pilot. After he was discharged from the military, he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead.

He hatched his weather balloon scheme while sitting outside in his "extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased 45 weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair dubbed the Inspiration I, and filled the 4' diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, Miller Lite, and a pellet gun. He figured he would pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.

Larry's plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.

When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 42 helium balloons holding 33 cubic feet of helium each. He didn't level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.

At that height he felt he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more than 14 hours. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, where Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines pilots radioed in reports of the strange sight.

Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."

The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Safety Inspector Neal Savoy said, "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will be filed."

Italy vs Europe

Here is a hilarious (though slightly old) flash animation made by Bruno Bozzetto, about how the Italians are different from the rest of the Europeans. The best part is you replace Italy with India and the animation is still apt :p even the flags are similar!



Also be sure to watch the "Olympics" animation on that page.

Sokoban

The earlier puzzle post reminds me of the Sokoban game that had me hooked for a while on my linux box.



Here's a window version of the Japanese puzzle game (like Sudoku), that is equally addictive :)