The 110-million-year-old dinosaur fossil found in Canada’s oil sands.
The Canadian oil sands, a vast expanse of tar and sand being mined for crude oil, yielded treasure of another kind this week when an oil company worker unearthed a 110-million-year-old dinosaur fossil that wasn’t supposed to be there.
Continue reading… “Rare Dinosaur Discovered in Canada’s Oil Sands”
Is the gift card, a surprisingly desirable commodity for gift recipients, in need of a version 2.0? The decades old plastic present, predated by its paper cousin the gift certificate, may be in for a young and hip transformation at the hands of new startup GiftRocket.
GiftRocket’s version of the gift card is place-specific, but not in the traditional sense. The format is designed to open up the $100 billion-per-year gift card industry and allow gift givers to send gift cards to anyone via email for any thing — such as drinks, skydiving or a spa day — at any venue, regardless of whether the retailer sells its own gift cards…
Continue reading… “GiftRocket Makes a Gift Card Accepted Anywhere”
Maria Popova of BrainPickings has posted an excellent article about 7 micro-documentaries about occupations and crafts that are fast becoming obsolete. From being a shoe black to working the film projector to making glass signs, these are the stories of people who are the last of their kinds.
This one above is the story of Taiwan’s last sword maker…
Continue reading… “The Last Sword Maker in Taiwan”
Red Bull Can Racing
Sure, it may all just be an elaborate scheme to get you to buy more Red Bull, but it is a fairly ingenious scheme. In addition to a plethora of in-game advertising, the new Red Bull racing game for iOS devices also has an augmented reality component that lets you build tracks simply by lining up actual cans of Red Bull on the floor — at least twelve of them for a complete track, and only Red Bull will do, apparently…
Continue reading… “Red Bull Augmented Racing Game Lets You Build Tracks With Red Bull Cans”
Monirobo
A remote-controlled disaster monitoring robot has reportedly been dispatched to Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, to measure radiation levels within a site now so contaminated, it is unsafe for humans.
Monirobo (“monitor” + “robot”) was developed by the Nuclear Safety Technology Center, at Japan’s Ministry of Education. Monirobo is about 32 inches long, 52 inches in diameter, and 52 inches high, and weighs about 1300 pounds (600kg)…
Continue reading… “Japan Nuclear Crisis: “Monirobo,” the Radiation-Monitoring Robot Arrives”
Most of us think that eating fruits and vegetables can be nothing but healthy but there are hidden dangers in many common foods. Poisons that make you sick, paralyze and even kill you lurk behind some of our favorites…
Continue reading… “10 Everyday Fruits and Vegetables that are Poisonous”
Whales are affected by Naval Sonar Exercises.
Scientists have long been aware of a link between naval sonar exercises and unusual mass strandings of beaked whales. Evidence of such a link triggered a series of lawsuits in which environmental groups sued the U.S. Navy to limit sonar exercises to reduce risk to whales. In 2008, this conflict rose to the level of the US Supreme Court which had to balance potential threat to whales from sonar against the military risk posed by naval forces inadequately trained to use sonar to detect enemy submarines. The court ruled that the Navy could continue training, but that it was essential for the Navy to develop better methods to protect the whales.
Continue reading… “Naval Sonar Exercises Linked to Whale Strandings”
There are, to be frank, not many spaceports on the planet as of 2011. Of the thirty or so only six of them have sent people in to space. Four of those are located in the US, another in China and the sixth and oldest is to be found in Kazakhstan…
Continue reading… “The Baikonur Cosmodrome – The World’s Oldest Spaceport”
Chickflix has posted an Instructable that pierces the veil of mystery and describes how to mix your own Pop Rocks at home. The secret ingredient turns out to be pretty mundane, alas — I always assumed that they were filled with some violent, rare substance that ground its way through my guts on the way out. On the other hand, now that the secret is in the open, it paves the way for exotic Pop Rock flavors, such as French mustard, roast beef, and pineapple…
Continue reading… “How to Make Pop Rocks”
In the summer of 2010, Foursquare’s Head of Business Development Tristan Walker and American Express’s Vice President of Global Marketing Capabilities David Wolf started talking about ways to work together to redefine loyalty for local merchants.
The fruit of their conversations is now on display in the city Austin, Texas where 60 merchants — including Whole Foods, Starwood Hotels and Stubb’s BBQ — are offering Foursquare users “spend $5, save $5″ rewards when they load the special and swipe their AmEx cards.
The pilot program started Friday and will run through Tuesday, March 15. Participating merchants have posted “Austin Unlocked” window clings to highlight their participation, and Foursquare users need only register their American Express cards to unlock this new type of special — the Loyalty Special…
Continue reading… “How Foursquare & AmEx Are Putting a Fresh Twist on Loyalty Marketing”
Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis some 2,600 years ago, describing it as “an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules.”
A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain.
Continue reading… “Lost City of Atlantis May Have Been Found By U.S. Research Team”
This picture of the Sun was taken by Alan Friedman who used a filter that lets through only a very narrow wavelength of light emitted by hydrogen, so this tracks the activity of gas on the solar surface.
He also inverts the image of the solar disk to increase contrast. Somehow this adds a three-dimensional quality to the picture, and reveals an amazing amount of texture.
Continue reading… “Jaw-Dropping Picture Of The Sun”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.