Author: John

Oh No, Not Again. The Phoenix Lights Are Back

Oh boy… I can hear the UFO people running around making up stuff about this already..

Phoenix residents again lit up police switchboards and news hotlines as bright stationary lights were again visible south of the skies of Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday night. Many residents of Arizona are particularly diligent sky watchers as the most reported UFO event in history that is commonly known as the ‘Phoenix Lights’ is nearing a ten-year anniversary. On March 13, 1997 several events composed the event known as the ‘Phoenix lights’ with most seeing tapes and photographs of the orbs that were spotted southwest of the Valley of the Sun on news channels and TV specials.

Umm, it’s parachute flares from the military gunnery range south of Phoenix? Just like the ones 10 years ago. But you know, if your a believer of this stuff no amount of proof will sway you opinion. Catalog this under religious faith.

Arizona Ufo: Phoenix Lights Return?
Video from Channel 10 News

Best DIY 747 Flight Simulator Ever

Woooow! This is sooooo cool! Ok, I feel better now. I was scanning Neat-o-ramma tonight and saw this. This is the best DIY flight sim I have ever seen, even has multi axis movement simulation.

Australian amateur pilot and flight sim enthusiast Matthew Sheil spent 10 years and $230,000 to create a homemade flight simulator that precisely mimics the 747 cockpit down to the last dial, knob, and switch!
Link | Matthew’s website (tons more photos, but I can only see ‘em in IE, not Firefox)

[via neat-o-rama]
Matthew Sheil’s 747 Simulator

Minuteman III Launch On Wednesday

This is of interest if you are in southern California or, if people are lucky, in Arizona.

For the first time in years, the countdown for a Minuteman 3 missile test will include blasting open the 106-ton silo door at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The year’s first liftoff from the Central Coast also marks a return of closed-door missile tests. It’s planned for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday from Launch Facility 10 on north Vandenberg. The launch window remains open until 6:01 a.m. to accommodate any delays from unfavorable weather or technical problems.

Opening the doors isn’t a small matter. There are four explosives that are fired to generate gas that flings the multi tone octagonal door open so the missile can be launched in seconds. Normally the tests launches are done when the door has been winched open slowly but in this case it’s the whole show. It should be quite a site if you can be close enough to see the base when it launches.
The test is of an unarmed re-entry vehicle to see how well the missile works using GPS based satellite navigation instead of radio transponders.

Launch to test both missile, silo door

No Pulse? No Problem!

Simply amazing, I find the notion of not hearing your own pulse fascinating and very eerie.

A 65-year-old Quebec man who received a new long-term mechanical heart last month is being described as the only living Canadian without a pulse.
Dr. Renzo Cecere implanted the “Heartmate II” mechanical heart into Gerard Langevin in an three-hour operation Nov. 23.
Officials at the McGill University Health Centre say the device, which is about the size of a flashlight battery, could last up to 10 years

[via jwz]
Man with no pulse considered a medical breakthrough

DIY Valentines

Heart EggsOver on Cool Hunting there’s a lovely list of do it yourself Valentines Day projects.

Often considered a marketing invention to help boost sales in an otherwise slow economic period for retailers, Valentine’s Day needn’t be another excuse to express love through our capalitistic, consumeristic ways. There are plenty of options to give without hitting the mall, so this year CH decided to put together a list of homemade Valentines gifts (and kits).

I’m partial to the naughty ice cream sandwich myself but the sun jar would be cool to give as a gift.

Cool Hunting: DIY Valentines

Realtime Mandelbrot Fractal Generation

Now you can explore the wonders of fractals with this online generator. I’m with Revo of Ektopia on this one, I used to sit in front of my Commodore 64 and wait for hours as a short fractal zoom loop slowly rendered on the screen. After I moved to the PC platform I did the same thing with Fractint. Now there was a program!

[via ektopia]
Realtime Mandelbrot Fractal Generation CGI