In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11’s moon landing, National Geographic Channel will be featuring "Naked Science: Living on the Moon" on Sunday, July 19.
Watch this exclusive video preview "Moon Colony" – Humans are colonizers, and the Moon is ripe for populating.
"Man has always dreamed of living on the moon, and now a team of NASA scientists is proving that dream could be achieved in our lifetime. We take viewers inside Constellation, the space program's plan to establish a human outpost on the moon by 2020. Take a closer look at the plans under way, from upgraded space suits to housing modules and moon vehicles, and examine the challenges ahead, such as finding water, making oxygen, growing food and protecting residents from deadly radiation. Then, using 3-D animation, we'll visualize how the remarkable outpost will take shape."
Also don't miss this video that discusses water on the Moon.
Today's pictures & links:
Clock Made from a Computer Hard Drive
This idea is not entirely fresh, but quite nicely executed in this example (and easily purchased from this website)
Zapped!!... perhaps with some enlightening consequences.
(original unknown)
Shown above is Kazan' Church in Romanovo-Borisoglebsk, close to Yaroslavl, Russia.
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These Eyes...
(original unknown)
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Screw-driven tractor spotted in Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska: Our reader Jason Kray took pictures of this fascinating mechanical dinosaur (maybe an aged Decepticon):
(images courtesy Jason Kray)
Detroit Arctic Expedition "January 1926: Three snow motor tractors were brought to Alaska for towing sleds filled with aviation fuel and oil, radio equipment and gas... This was to support the Wilkins-Eielson's first attempt of a Transpolar flight North America to Europe.
The tractors proved to be unsatisfactory... they were basically modified Fordson tractors with the spiral threaded cylinders that provided the propulsion. They were built by Snow Motor Co. of Detroit." (info Pioneer Air Museum, watch video of one in action)
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Look into the "jaws" of... manta ray!
"Manta rays in the Maldives gather for a roiling, whirling feast"... National Geographic has more pictures, click here.
Jan Vormann answers the urgent appeal to repair Amsterdam!.. with LEGO blocks.
This project was commissioned by Arne Hendriks from Platform 21more info and images here and helped by a dozen of enthusiastic students from the Institute for Architecture in Amsterdam.
A very cute "DustCart" on the narrow streets of Peccioli, a small Tuscan town. More info and pictures are here
Unrelated: This beautiful, adorable, little car was found somewhere in Russia -
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Make an extra room using an airplane
Great idea for renovation - literally thinking out of the box! See a lot more aviation-inspired and recycled-airplane houses in our article Aircraft and Boat House Conversions
This used IL-18 airplane was used to expand the space of an official 'flight enthusiasts" youth club of Susuman, small town in Magadan area, Siberia, Russia.
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What's Up?!?
(original unknown)
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Covered
(original unknown)
Any details of this particular event? Seems like the similar accident was described in Chicago Tribune: "An aging railroad drawbridge collapsed Friday night on a Cypriot freighter as the ship passed under it on the Calumet River..."
UPDATE: Here is the page with more info about this incident. This happened in China, near the eastern seaport of Ningbo, Zhejiang province (see the video)
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A couple of cool contests
First, an good offering from America's National Parks Foundation - click here - film your adventure in one of the national parks and win a groovy digital camera.
For those readers of Dark Roasted Blend from Canada, here is an interesting contest from Guinness that promises to send lucky winners to: ... space... bottom of an ocean... to hang out with the Black Eyed Peas... more info also on their Facebook page
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Approaching Jupiter
Wonderful animated gif, made from photographs of the Voyager 1 probe flyby:
The second spanish flag, with the oval shape) it's a pre-republican flag. Used until 1931.
It's followed by the republican tri-color flag and then by the Franco, the dictator, flag, used until 1977 (2 years after his dead).
Nowadays, it's strange to see republican flags (used in some parades against monarchy or government) with the iconography. Being most in plain tri-color scheme.
I was so excited to see this article. Being Hawaiian now living in NYC I thought I might see the Hawaiian Royal Flag and Arms. Hawaii was a very short but bright Kingdom and I wish we were still independent. Perhaps next time. Great article!
Great post, as always. Just one thing: of the two flags of Italy, the right one is the royal flag, while the left one is the (current) flag for the navy.
East Germany (1949 – 1990) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Flag_of_East_Germany.svg
Third Reich (1933–1945) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_Germany_1933.svg
Bavarian Soviet Republic (April – May 1919) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Socialist_red_flag.svg not very sofisticated ;-)
Republic of Central Lithuania (1920–1922) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Flag_of_Central_Lithuania.svg
Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków, called also The Republic of Cracow (1815–1846) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Flag_of_Krakow.svg
In many pictures appears the Catalan flag (four red bars over yellow), which is one of the oldest in Europe (dating back to 1150) and it is still widely use in the territories catalans ruled (includings parts of spain, france, sicily but even athens) until they lost the war against castilians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senyera
According to a 14th century legend, the flag dates back from the 9th century, when the four red bars were drawn, as an act of gratitude, on Wilfred I the Hairy's (Count of Barcelona) golden shield by king Charles the Bald's fingers drenched with blood from the Count's war wounds prior to Wilfred's death in 897 during the siege of Barcelona by Lobo ibn Mohammed, the moor governor.
A slightly modified catalan flag with a star is used nowadays to claim independence for the Catalans.
However, the Byzantine flag with the black double-headed bird on a yellow background is related to the Orthodox Church specifically.
Though they didn't fly flags in the sense that we do today, the banner representing the government in Constantinople was a cross with four betas (pronounced v in Greek), one in each corner.
The four betas stand for Vasilefs Vasileon, Vasilevon Vasilevonton - Greek for the "King of Kings, Rules the People". It was most likely a reference to Christ, though many contemporary emperors called themselves the king of kings, so we cannot be 100% sure.
Here would be an adition as well, a total different flag for Switzerland, proposed by the French and used in the "Republique Helvetique" for 5yYears, before Switzerland was again Swiss and not French anymore...
For Yugoslavia (formerly Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians), you only showed coat of arms. Actual flag were simply 3 horizontal stripes: blue, white and red. And those stripes stayed for the Yugoslavia till the end in '90. with addition of a red star.
My point is...if this is wrong, and I read something about Italian flag too...what else is wrong?
Thank you all for great additions and info... the Kingdom of Italy flag was fixed, and we are hoping to include the rest of great tips into a next article about flags.
Great article though is a shame the inclusion of that so-called flags from Japan ¿Do this people have always to do everything copying the west? They have obviously a very poor meaning compared to the flags above. Flags must have significance given by history, they must not become a design hobby. I pity them.
Interesting collection. Just thought I'd point out you got the Iranian flag wrong, that is the Imperial standard and not the state flag that was used up to 1979. The state flag was the Lion and Sun which has a much older history than the Pahlavi Imperial standard.
Some more flags of non-existing countries and provintions related to polish history:
Free City of Gdańsk (under Prussian protection) [1807-1814] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Gdansk_flag.svg
Kingdom of Poland (called also Congress Poland, under Russian protection) [1815-1916] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Flag_of_the_Congress_of_Poland.svg
Grand Duchy of Posen (under Prussian protection) [1815-1848] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Flag_of_Wien.svg
The same flag as above was used by Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien mit dem Großherzogtum Krakau und den Herzogtümern Auschwitz und Zator (under Austrian protection, what a name - typisch österreichisch) [1772-1918]
Flag used during January Uprising, with symbols of Poland (eagle), Lithuania (racing knight) and Ukraine (archangel Michael) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Chor%C4%85giew_powsta%C5%84c%C3%B3w_styczniowych.PNG
And yet another flag of United Kingdom of Poland [1320-1386] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Alex_K_Kingdom_of_Poland-flag.svg
When I was in high school and a rabid fan of the brand-new "Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD" comic book (which shows you how long ago it was), I drew a pastiche in which Fury exposes a world-domination plot by a cadre of disgruntled descendants of Austro-Hungarians. They dreamed of restoring the True Empire. Wish I'd had your article for reference.
The interesting thing about flags is that they, like ethnic or territorial claims, are attached to specific dates or events. Like those claims they establish an abstract "year zero" for the flagmaking power. As long as the flagmaker stays in power he gets to wave the real flag on behalf of the true country. Examples: USA; claims by earlier conquerors or the original(?) inhabitants are merely History. Iran: for the late Shah's die-hard gfans his is the real flag, regardless of what came before or after. Similarly the Catalonians can trace their flag to the 12th century, but what was the flag for the 11+ centuries before?
In the end flags are expressions of the most artificial of human constructs: the country, the nation, the empire, the true faith.
@Jamie Actually, every town in Japan has its own flag, not just the cities/wards in the Tokyo era.
Actually, many cities around the world have it's flags. I know that every bigger city in Poland has. The same in Germany. And perhaps the same in most of European countries. Some of them contains city coat of arms, some just traditional colors.
flag of free state of Dubrovnik, which played important role as one of the biggest mediterian trading harbours in 12th to 18th century, then taken by Napoleon and lost its soverenity.
The double eagle motif was also used in the flag of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick...the fictional country in the novel & film "The Mouse that Roared" Johnleemedia
Very fascinating article. For the flag of Byzantine Empire, i have to add that part of it was what inspired Albanian National Hero , Scanderbeg to use it as the flag that was raised in 1443.
Oops, Not to toot my own horn but I built a site for exploring flags and their locations. This post is beautiful, I was thinking of adding some of your finds to my site: http://www.flagthousand.com
I was so excited to see this article. Being Hawaiian now living in NYC I thought I might see the Hawaiian Royal Flag and Arms. Hawaii was a very short but bright Kingdom and I wish we were still independent. Perhaps next time. Great article!
Great post, as always. Just one thing: of the two flags of Italy, the right one is the royal flag, while the left one is the (current) flag for the navy.
East Germany (1949 – 1990) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Flag_of_East_Germany.svg
Third Reich (1933–1945) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_Germany_1933.svg
Bavarian Soviet Republic (April – May 1919) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Socialist_red_flag.svg not very sofisticated ;-)
Republic of Central Lithuania (1920–1922) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Flag_of_Central_Lithuania.svg
Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków, called also The Republic of Cracow (1815–1846) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Flag_of_Krakow.svg
^^ ... Which makes sense since Daniel Dociu was the lead artist on Guild Wars: Factions -- as well as the other games in the series. (Actually all of the images posted here for him are from Guild Wars: Factions concept art, not just the last one.)
(And not to get pedantic or anything, but some of those those aren't moving cities... Maybe the Leviathans can be called that although they're more like war vessels, but the other images are just normal cityscape in the game. You can even see it's anchored to rock in the seaside picture.)
I was going to mention Guild Wars too, and Daniel is a major reason why it's one of the most beautiful games out there. I have the "Eye of the North" expansion which is just gorgeous. Immense architecture, sprawling winter landscapes, and that on a really old PC with graphics on "medium-low". Crank up the graphics, you can walk your character around the North with your jaw on your lap.
The pic with the Praktica SLR shout be at the technical museum, Dresden, Germany. it is the old factory of Praktika and displays some touchable models like this.
I can't recall the Bertin Aerotrain to be seen in Truffaut's Fahrenheit.
But there's for sure a futuristic suspended train in this movie, the SAFEGE prototype (see http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Orbit/1061/safege/ for instance). Sadly enough, both projects were abandoned, without much consideration, and left to rot in remote hanger (the SAFEGE firm has patented a kind of monorail system, anyway).
The monorail in 451 was an underslung model, see here: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Orbit/1061/safege/safege.html The Aerotrain would have been much more interesting, though it would not have fit into the mundane landscape quite as well as the more utilitarian one actually used.
Beneficial info and excellent design you got here! I want to thank you for sharing your ideas and putting the time into the stuff you publish! Great work!
Wow, I actually saw the meeting of the waters! We traveled up the Rio Negro from Manaus, though, so we didn't get to see most of the cool stuff you did, but it was still awesome... If you ever go back, I would recommend trying to see the "fish festival." I don't remember much about it as I was maybe nine years old at the time, only that people came from miles around to watch performers dance in spectacular fish costumes in a concrete soccer stadium, and it was amazing. to give you an idea of the size of the celebration, the small village it was held in was out of beer for a full week.
A correction: It's ribeirinhos. I think so that typical costumes of Boca de Valeria is about the Parintins costumes not from the indians of Amazonia or it's just for the foreigners
I'm from Manaus, and this is one of the wonders of the city which is one of the city's in Brazil that's going to be the World Cup Soccer Championship. If you don't know it, come and visit!
Ehh... that's good that you're posting your P.P. like that, however.. I don't believe that the ability to change it at any time w/o direct user notification is a good thing (and even though IANAL I believe it may be illegal too...) Otherwise please keep up the good work, I check on DRB daily for your cool articles, especially of CCCP tech!
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Maybe it's a Fordson Snowdevil
See it in action
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=568_1233111054
I think the boat struck the bridge bringing it down. The stern is now low in the water beacause of the weight of the bridge on it.
That ILM short was actually done in 2000.
heres the story with the ship
http://seawayblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/ship-collapses-bridge.html
The Jupiter animation was not made by Cassini. It was made by Voyager 1. ;)
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