What’s it like to sneak into New York City’s World Trade Center at 3 a.m., climb to the top of the new Freedom Tower and jump off? Three men did just that September and recorded the whole thing on video.
The B.A.S.E. jumpers turned themselves into police this week after a lengthy investigation led law enforcement to their homes, where officers found videos and other evidence they were involved in the stunt.
The men say they just strolled into the building and never encountered any security while climbing to the top of the 104-story building, according to The Verge. They say law enforcement should be more focused on the lack of security, rather than their actions. Nonetheless, the men are expected to face trespassing charges.
Stick with the video, it starts slow, but the jump is mesmerizing.
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Posted January 2, 2017 by markosun in Uncategorized
In the last few years, news of unexpected sinkholes swallowing cars, houses and people have made headlines with disturbingly high frequency. These reports are mainly coming from Florida, the U.S., where almost the entire state is karst terrain (made of limestone), which means it has the potential for sinkholes. Mexico, Belize and parts of Italy and China are also karst area, but the phenomenon of sinkholes suddenly appearing in apparently stable grounds is mostly American. Experts estimate thousands of sinkholes form every year in Florida alone.
Sinkholes form when water flowing underground has dissolved rock, mostly limestone and sometimes clay, below the surface, leading to the formation of underground voids. When the surface layer can no longer take the weight of whatever that’s above, it collapses into the void forming sinkholes. These sinkholes can be dramatic, because the surface land usually stays intact until there is not enough support. Then, a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur.
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A giant sinkhole caused by the rains of Tropical Storm Agatha is seen in Guatemala City on May 31, 2010. More than 94,000 people were evacuated as the storm buried homes under mud, swept away a highway bridge near Guatemala City and opened up sinkholes in the capital. (Casa Presidencial / Handout / Reuters)
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An aerial view of the damaged Gran Marical de Ayacucho highway in the state of Miranda outside Caracas December 1, 2010. Thousands of Venezuelans fled their homes after landslides and swollen rivers killed at least 21 people and threatened to cause more damage. (Photo by Miranda Government/Reuters)
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A construction vehicle lies where it was swallowed by a sinkhole on Saint-Catherine Street in downtown Montreal, August 5, 2013. (Photo by Christinne Muschi/Reuters)
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Pamela Knox waits for rescue after a massive sinkhole opened up underneath her car in Toledo, Ohio in this July 3, 2013 handout photo provided by Toledo Fire and Rescue. Toledo firefighters later rescued Knox without major injuries. Fire officials told a local TV station that a water main break caused the large hole. Picture taken July 3, 2013. (Photo by Lt. Matthew Hertzfeld/Toledo Fire and Rescue/Handout via Reuters)
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A stranded car is hoisted from a collapsed road surface in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, September 7, 2008. The road collapsed on Sunday afternoon and trapped the car in a hole, which measured 5 meters (16.4 feet) in depth and 15 meters (49.2 feet) in diameter, local media reported. Further investigation is underway. Picture taken September 7, 2008. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)
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An aerial view shows the debris of a residential building and a destroyed road in the village of Nachterstedt, July 18, 2009. Three residents were missing in the eastern German village of Nachterstedt after their lakeside home and another building suddenly collapsed early Saturday into the water. A 350-metre stretch of shoreline gave way next to an old open-cast coalmine converted to a lake, about 170 kilometres south-west of Berlin. (Photo by Reuters/Gemeindeverwaltung Nachterstedt)
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Rescue workers remove a bus with a crane from a Lisbon street hole November 25, 2003. The bus was parked on a Lisbon street when the ground began to open up and gobble it. No casualties were reported. (Photo by Jose Manuel/Reuters)
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A truck is seen in a hole after part of the structure of a bridge collapsed into a river in Changchun, Jilin province May 29, 2011. Two truck passengers were injured, while the cause of the accident is still under investigation, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)
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Cars lie in a sinkhole, caused when a road collapsed into an underground cave system, in the southern Italian town of Gallipoli March 30, 2007. There were no injuries in the overnight incident, according to local police. (Photo by Fabio Serino/Reuters)
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A giant sinkhole that swallowed several homes is seen in Guatemala City February 23, 2007. At least three people have been confirmed missing, officials said. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)
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A large sinkhole opened on East Monument Street in Baltimore in summer 2012. The sinkhole appeared above a 120-year-old drainage culvert after heavy rains, causing evacuations and closing the road. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun Photo)
Posted October 29, 2016 by markosun in Uncategorized
Waiting in the line-up at the grocery store and a little old lady is at the front going through her change purse looking for the exact amount of money to pay her bill. She unwittingly holds up the line for four minutes. What is it with humans that when they turn 75 years old they have to pay for everything with the exact change?
The countless man hours lost to this old age affliction is enormous. Society loses thousands of man hours as we wait for the old goats to dig through their purses and find that $2.87 exactly. Are they scared that when they die there will be hundreds of dollars of unused change in their bedroom drawers? An Old Lady will stipulate in her will that the children will have to dig up a metal box buried behind the barn and use the change in it to pay for the funeral.
Get on with it you old frail senior citizens and pass the clerk a ten-dollar bill!
I think it’s a remnant from before cash registers made change. These senior citizens started out in life bartering a hen for a bag of sugar or a knitted head scarf that took them a month to make for a 10 pound slab of lard. Money was so hard to get in the dirty thirties that they would spend their evenings counting and re-counting the household pennies and nickels. Change was regarded as the most important thing a person could possess, so why waste perfectly good change if you don’t have to?
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This one is going home on her scooter to get the correct change for her hearing aid battery.
All my life people have been waiting around to watch me die.
Evel Knievel
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Robert “Evel” Knievel was born in Butte, Montana, and saw his first motorcycle stunt show at the age of eight.
Later, he was fired from one of his first jobs driving an earth mover at a mine after he popped a wheelie with the massive vehicle and crashed it into power lines, knocking out electricity to the whole city.
He started going by “Evel” after a brief stint in jail alongside one William “Awful” Knofel. He bounced from thrill to thrill, winning ski-jumping championships, joining the army, and even hitchhiking to Washington, D.C., with a petition to end elk culling in Yellowstone National Park.
He eventually started his own daredevil show, stunning crowds with stunts, wheelies and (not always successful) jumps over rattlesnakes, mountain lions and other hazards.
After each crash and hospital stay, his profile only increased. Soon he started a routine of jumping over a number of cars, then returning to the same venue later to jump over one more.
On New Year’s Eve 1967, he got the opportunity to jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, a span of 141 feet.
He rang in 1968 with a crushed femur and pelvis, numerous fractures, a lengthy hospital stay and blooming fame.
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SNAKE RIVER CANYON ID – SEPTEMBER 7 1974: Evel Knievel holds a press conference before he attempts to jump a canyon on his X-2 Skycycle on September 7 1974 in Snake River Canyon, Idaho. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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I did everything by the seat of my pants. That’s why I got hurt so much.
Evel Knievel
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SNAKE RIVER CANYON ID – SEPTEMBER 8 1974: Evel Knievel prepares to attempt to jump a canyon on his X-2 Skycycle on September 8 1974 in Snake River Canyon, Idaho. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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He continued his pattern of jumping, crashing and gaining fans, and announced his intention to jump over the Grand Canyon.
The federal government would not allow that, though, so Knievel set his sights on Snake River Canyon in Idaho.
Knowing that a mere motorcycle would not do, Knievel hired an aeronautical engineer to design a steam-powered, rocket-shaped “Skycycle.”
On Sept. 8, 1974, cameras broadcast a close-circuit feed to cinemas around the country, as Knievel, dressed in his trademark star-spangled jumpsuit, was strapped into the Skycycle X-2.
Anybody can jump a motorcycle. The trouble begins when you try to land it.
Evel Knievel
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WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS – “Evel Knievel at Snake River Canyon” – Airdate: September 8, 1974. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images) CREW
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WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS – “Evel Knievel at Snake River Canyon” – Airdate: September 8, 1974. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images) EVEL KNIEVEL SPEAKING TO REPORTERS
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Just after the Skycycle left the launch ramp, its emergency parachute deployed prematurely, arresting the rocket’s trajectory. Knievel was sent drifting straight down into the canyon, with the wind blowing him back to where he started.
Spectators rushed to the cliff edge to try to see where he landed. Knievel could be seen struggling with his harness as he drifted toward the surging river.
As it happened, the wind was strong enough to blow him all the way back to the edge of the canyon, with the Skycycle crash-landing safely just feet from the water’s edge.
Knievel survived with just a broken nose to add to his more than 433 lifetime fractures.
Miss Universe wasn’t the only beauty pageant to take place this week. In the hinterlands of the UAE, Bedouin tribes from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Emirates are currently gathering at Al Dhafra Festival—an annual meeting best known for its Camel Mazayna, or “beauty contest.”
Men parade their finest dromedaries at auctions, races, and best-in-show events, and prizes are given for the fastest, “milkiest,” and most beautiful creatures. Less fortunate camels are served for dinner at a nightly majlis.
The festival, which runs through December 30, is a celebration of the Empty Quarter’s traditional heritage and way of life—a far cry from the contemporary turbo-Gulf culture seen nearby in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. That said, there’s still big bucks to be made: Prizes totaling Dh55 million (around $14.9 million) are up for grabs.
Despite a last-minute hairspray of humps seen here and there, judges are on the lookout for natural beauties this year. “Camels that are found with drugs in the lips, shaved, dyed in any parts of the body, or with changes from natural form are not allowed [sic],” states the entrants’ handbook.
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Beauty
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This guy had enough of the camels and decided to take a selfie and upload it to Facebook.
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And the Winner is:
From the Oblivion Desert, Miss Abu Omani, Two Hump Gazelda!
Irresistible!
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Posted December 26, 2015 by markosun in Uncategorized
In these trying times I am continually looking out for news that might bring some fun into the world and in so doing, brighten up your day. There is a farmer in Bathgate in Scotland who came up with a novel idea for brightening up the day for motorists who drive by his farm on the M8 motorway.
This story all started back in 2007 when a Scottish farmer named Andrew Jack decided to color his sheep blue to celebrate the Scottish national St Andrew’s Day holiday. Don’t worry the sheep didn’t get hurt as he used a special animal friendly spray paint. The effect was quite stunning don’t you think?
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The reaction to his blue sheep was tremendous. When asked for his reaction, Bob Carruth of the National Farmers’ Union Of Scotland commented “It’s a very patriotic gesture and it also reminds people how important sheep are to our agriculture” This support encouraged Jack and he decided to also add a few red ones to his growing flock of funky sheep.
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According to Jack he liked the idea of the funky sheep as it was his way to “Spice Things Up A Bit” so people could smile on their way to and from work while driving on the motorway. Once again the reaction was overwhelming and the drive past Jack’s farm became a bit of a tourist attraction.
Jack’s reaction to the publicity was to expand his color range even further and today if you pass the M8 you will most likely see a rainbow effect of colorful, funky , Scottish sheep all diligently brightening up the day for all the folks who drive by and It may look something like this.
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Jack frequently re-sprays his sheep and they remain colorful until it is time for shearing. If you are still concerned about the effect of the paint on the animals, the editor of “Sheep” magazine, Nathan Griffith states that it is not harmful to dye sheep with the right products, and that many sheep farmers count and identify their flocks by color coding their fleeces.
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Posted December 16, 2015 by markosun in Uncategorized
Bele from the planet Cheron in the Star Trek episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.”
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Venus the Cat, she has to be from the planet Cheron.
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The owner insists Venus is not photo-shopped or painted. See video below.
National Geographic
The three-year-old tortoiseshell has her own Facebook page and a YouTube video that’s been viewed over a million times, and appeared on the Today Show.
One look at this cat and you can understand why: One half is solid black with a green eye—the other half has typical orange tabby stripes and a blue eye.
How does a cat end up looking like that? Leslie Lyons, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies the genetics of domestic cats said she’s never seen a cat exactly like Venus.
“She is extremely, extremely rare,” Lyons said. “But you can explain it and you can understand it.”
Many reports about Venus refer to the cat as a “chimera.” In mythology, a chimera is a mishmash monster made up of parts of different animals. A feline chimera is a cat whose cells contain two types of DNA, caused when two embryos fuse together.
Among cats, “chimeras are really not all that rare,” Lyons said. In fact, most male tortoiseshell cats are chimeras. The distinctively mottled orange and black coat is a sign that the cat has an extra X chromosome.
But female cats, said Lyons, already have two X chromosomes so they can sport that coat without the extra X. That means Venus is not necessarily a chimera.
To find out would require genetic testing, said Lyons. With samples of skin from each side of the cat, “we can do a DNA fingerprint—just like on CSI—and the DNA from one side of the body should be different than the other.”
Cat’s Blue Eye Another Mystery
If Venus isn’t actually a chimera, then what would explain her amazing face?
“Absolute luck,” Lyons said. One theory: perhaps the black coloration was randomly activated in all the cells on one side of her face, while the orange coloration was activated on the other, and the two patches met at the midline of her body as she developed.
Cat fanciers who are transfixed by Venus’s split face may be missing the real story: her single blue eye. Cat eyes are typically green or yellow, not blue.
A blue-eyed cat is typically a Siamese or else a cat with “a lot of white on them,” she explained.
Venus appears to have only a white patch on her chest, which to Lyons is not enough to explain the blue eye.
“She is a bit of a mystery.”
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Posted December 13, 2015 by markosun in Uncategorized
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